The Brian Lehrer Show

Nikita Biryukov, reporter who covers state government and politics for the New Jersey Monitor, talks about the latest in New Jersey elections news, including early voting turnout, how Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump are weighing in on the gubernatorial race and Justice Department election monitoring for Passaic County.

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Jessie Gómez, reporter at Chalkbeat Newark covering Newark Public Schools, discusses the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates' visions for public education in the state—and how they intend to fund the schools.

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Arlan Fuller, Project HOPE’s director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and other countries, as listeners report what they're hearing from friends and family in the area.

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Calder McHugh, reporter at POLITICO Magazine, talks about the scandal surrounding leaked messages from the Young Republicans' group chat, and why he thinks they might be a "sign of where we could be headed."

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Ethan Geringer-Sameth, discusses the mayoral candidates' stances on overdose prevention centers in New York City, including Zohran Mamdani's reversal of his longstanding stance to increase the centers, Andrew Cuomo's stance to keep existing centers but not expand them and Curtis Sliwa's stance against the existing centers. Plus, Sam Rivera, executive director of OnPoint NYC, talks about the two overdose prevention centers that OnPoint runs, in East Harlem and Washington Heights.

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Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, and Brigid Bergin, Gothamist and WNYC senior political correspondent, talk about the early voting numbers—which are way up from both the primary and the last mayoral election, so far—and other news from the campaign trail in the last week before Election Day.

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Seth Berkley, MD, an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies; an adjunct professor and senior adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University; former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; cofounded COVAX; founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; and the author of Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity (University of California Press, 2025), talks about the need for vaccine equity and lessons learned (and ignored) from the COVID pandemic.

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Nick Garber, politics reporter at Crain's New York Business, talks about where the NYC mayoral candidates stand on jobs and the minimum wage, and discusses their relationships with the broader business community.

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Listeners still making up their minds on whether and how to vote share their dilemmas on candidates for any office and ballot questions.

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Due to the government shutdown, millions of Americans are likely to miss their Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) paychecks starting this Saturday. Grace Yarrow, food and agriculture policy reporter for POLITICO and author of POLITICO Pro's daily Morning Agriculture newsletter, reports on which states will be most impacted and how recipients are preparing. Plus, Karen Yi, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering homelessness and poverty, breaks down the latest news of how New York State will provide an additional $11 million to fund SNAP benefits for some 2.8 million New Yorkers.

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