John Chell, chief of patrol at the NYPD, offers his take on current crime rates, subway safety and explains the department's recent social media strategy, which includes calling out journalists by name.

Recently, the United States' census moved to recognize people of Middle Eastern and North African descent, creating a separate race and ethnicity option outside of 'White' and allowing for clearer representation. Karen Zraick, reporter for The New York Times, explains the changes to the census coming in six years, how people of MENA navigated government forms previously, and why these changes are coming now.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.

Judith Butler on Gender (First) | Robotaxis on New York City Streets? (Starts at 34:45) | English 'Loan Words' in Your Language (Starts at 57:40)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Skies will dim on Monday as the moon passes between the sun and the Earth. Joshua Winter, physics instructor at BASIS Independent Brooklyn with 20 years experience teaching astronomy topics, offers a short preview of the total solar eclipse after a reaction to today's earthquake.

Alexander Gates, department chair and professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University and co-author of Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes New Edition (Facts-on-File Inc., third edition, 2006), discusses the preliminary information on New Jersey's 4.8 magnitude earthquake which occurred on Friday morning and was felt in the tristate area.

Yasmeen Abutaleb, Washington Post White House reporter and co-author of the book Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration Response to the Pandemic that Changed History (Harper, 2021), offers analysis of the U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza after President Biden apparently warned Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu the humanitarian situation in Gaza had to improve.

Brian and WNYC host Sean Carlson provide live coverage of the earthquake, including a press conference with Mayor Adams and other officials, calls from listeners all over (including near the epicenter), seismologists Antonios Marcellos (from Hofstra University) and Benjamin Fernando (from Johns Hopkins), and officials including MTA chair Janno Lieber and NYC Commissioner of Emergency Management Zach Iscol. 

In a lawsuit, the state of New Jersey is arguing against congestion pricing, citing environmental concerns. Stephen Nessen, transportation reporter for the WNYC Newsroom, reports on how the state's lawyers presented their case in the courtroom this week, and how likely it seems to derail the toll program's June launch. Plus, a check-in on the state of infrastructure after the tristate area was hit by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake and updates from Governor Kathy Hochul.

David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC/Gothamist, talks about the deal taking shape on housing in the state budget; whether "squatters" are a real and growing issue and a state Court of Appeals decision that might upend NYC's property tax system.

Judith Butler, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of several books, including Gender Trouble, and their latest, Who's Afraid of Gender? (Macmillan, 2024), talks about their pioneering academic work on the concept of gender and how fraught and misunderstood the topic has become.