Politico campaign reporter Daniel Strauss discusses the latest candidates to join the Democratic presidential primary, like Washington Governor Jay Inslee, plus the big names not running.

"One of the biggest tells before a presidential candidate formerly announces is hiring staff and hiring veteran operatives," says @DanielStrauss4 on the @politico scoop that Joe Biden nabbed the big-name Latino operative, Cristóbal Alex.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his opponents, if he runs, point out that he backed or opposed legislation that conflicts with the du jour political policy proposals that Democrats are really excited about right now." https://t.co/WyicFHbiMH

"Inslee was not shy about saying that climate change remains the definitive, most important issue of our era," says @DanielStrauss4 on Washington Governor Jay Inslee's single issue presidential campaign.

"I don’t think that the location of LIC is a coincidence. This is a major part of Elizabeth Warren’s platform, to fight overreach by major companies... I would not be surprised if she addresses Amazon while she’s there," says @DanielStrauss4.

New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray and Alicia Glen, former deputy mayor for housing and economic development, talk about the four newly announced statues of prominent women, one per borough. Statues of Billie Holiday (Queens), Elizabeth Jennings Graham (Manhattan), Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trías (Bronx), and Katherine Walker (Staten Island) join the planned Shirley Chisholm monument in Brooklyn.

"She’s a Queens girl and has made many contributions to the City and the world with her jazz styling," says @NYCFirstLady on the newly announced statue of Billie Holiday in Queens.

"She integrated NYC’s transit system. In 1854... she refused to get off of a streetcar that was reserved for white commuters and they had to drag her off.... she sued the line and she won," says @NYCFirstLady on the announced statue of Elizabeth Jennings Graham in Manhattan.

"Dr. Trías was a pediatrician, the first Latina director of the APHA, she worked with sexually abused children... fought against forced sterilization, she’s another woman who most of us have never heard of," says @NYCFirstLady on Dr. Trías's planned statue in the Bronx.

"This woman was only 4’10” and for 30 years she guided the sailors through this very rough channel in Staten Island which was bustling in those days... she saved more than 50 lives over the course of that time," says @NYCFirstLady on statue of Katherine Walker.

Shawna Thomas, VICE News Washington bureau chief, talks about the latest political news out of Washington, including how the House Democrats' investigations into President Trump's personal finances has become a theme of his presidential campaign for 2020.

"We’ve seen President Trump do rallies for his presidential campaign and when he yells ‘witch hunt,’ that gets people riled up. We should understand what our president has done and what he’s doing, I also think politically he can use this to bolster his base," says @Shawna.

"There are now questions about whether his testimony in front of the American public was totally truthful and the Republicans worked really hard in that hearing to question whether Michael Cohen is the kind of witness you want to trust," says @Shawna.

Dr. Saad Omer, vaccinologist, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor at the School of Medicine at Emory University, explains how the measles vaccine works.

Wesley Morris, New York Times critic-at-large and co-host of the “Still Processing” podcast, grew up a die-hard Michael Jackson fan.  He describes his reaction to watching the new HBO documentary which details allegations of child sexual abuse against the King of Pop, and takes listener calls.

"You realize Michael Jackson is not this child in the way that we like to think of him as being, he is a fully sentient adult who makes choices," says @Wesley_Morris of HBO's "Leaving Neverland" documentary.

"I had been sitting with these stories about Michael Jackson and children for almost as long as I was aware that there was a Michael Jackson.... Now begins the process of trying to figure out what to do with this information," says @Wesley_Morris.

Beth Fertig, WNYC senior reporter covering courts and legal affairs, tells the story of a Honduran family of asylum-seekers, where an 18-year-old daughter was separated from her mother, treated as an adult and left to navigate the complex immigration without her parents.

"She said ‘the police treat us well.’ That seemed to be the nail in the coffin in trying to pass this credible fear test because if you say 'the police helped me' to an asylum officer it sounds like you don’t have a case," says @bethfertig.

"Under our law, if you’re under 21 and unmarried you’re allowed to go a credible fear interview with your parent, you're considered a minor under U.S. law. But at the border, the border agents consider you an adult," says @bethfertig.

Read Beth's entire story here.

The Trump administration's recent changes to the Title X family planning program would shift tens of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood toward faith-based clinics. Laura McQuade, CEO at Planned Parenthood of New York City, discusses the potential consequences for New York State.

"This is an abomination. This is an incursion by politicians into medical care that is unprecedented. Politicians practicing medicine without a license and frankly committing malpractice," says Laura McQuade of @PPNYCAction on the Trump admin changes to Title X. pic.twitter.com/BZsWTzaoKJ

"A provider can't be mandated by law to limit information from patients... and that is exactly what the restrictions on this Title X program do," says Laura McQuade of @PPNYCAction. "It forces providers not to tell their patients [about] access to safe and legal abortion."

Member of the New York State Senate from the 13th district, Jessica Ramos, talks about her first budget season in Albany, Amazon, and her proposals, including the decriminalization of sex work and universal rent control.

"We want to ensure that those who have engaged in sex work can vacate charges related to labor trafficking for victims so they can find other work if they so choose. People’s criminal records are often a barrier to seeking employment," says @jessicaramos.

"We want to create an environment where sex workers are comfortable coming to authorities and reporting any violence so that we can go after the traffickers themselves." 2/2 https://t.co/DtYsKC9MQw

"There’s a huge blue wave that has catapulted Albany into a can-do attitude. We’ve been able to move through the backlog of progressive legislation over the last two months... all we’re asking is for Cuomo to remember the little people," says @jessicaramos.

"I have 34,000 unregulated apartments in my district and if we’re going to continue talking about economic development, we need to ensure that people can stay in place.. that’s why we need strong rent protections," says @jessicaramos.

For this membership drive, we will end each show with a ten minute explainer on a different topic each day. Up next, Jeremy Bearer-Friend, acting assistant professor of taxation at NYU Law School, explains the origins of the U.S. income tax and what it says about America's values.

Jake Dobkin, Gothamist publisher and the author of Ask a Native New Yorker: Hard-Earned Advice on Surviving and Thriving in the Big City (Abrams Image, 2019), answers questions on how to survive in New York City from his perspective as a lifelong New Yorker.

"This is such an important milestone in the life of any New York City kid…. They say you become a man at your bar mitzvah, but I think it’s actually the first time you successfully transfer to the F train at 4th Avenue and get home, which is what I did," says @jakedobkin.

And listeners weighed in:

Probably around 5th or 6th grade so like 10/11?

@BrianLehrer I started riding the subway by myself when I was 11 but only in Queens. I knew the stops since I used to ride w/my mom. That was 1971. I started riding to Manhattan when I was 14.

Not a native New Yorker, but grew up in Philly. My parents wouldn't let me ride the subway alone until I was ten or eleven - though I was tall for my age. Importantly, before they let me do it, they gave me 'rules' for proper subway comportment & consideration.