The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show

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The Brian Lehrer Show episodes

  • Who's Stealing New Yorkers' SNAP Benefits?

    Rosa Goldensohn, contributing writer at The City Reporter, discusses her story on the large number of New Yorkers scammed out of SNAP benefits and the state's failure to address the issue.

    Photo: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 13: A grocery store stands along a street in Brooklyn on July 13, 2026 in New York City. The Urban Institute released new data that found more Americans using credit cards and other means to cover their grocery bills as food prices continue to rise, along with other necessities. The study found that a cumulative 32% increase in food costs over the last five years has forced more than one in four working-age Americans into credit card debt to cover their grocery bills. According to the the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for "food at home" - the cost of groceries - increased by 2.7% between May, 2025 and May, 2026. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

     

     


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    23 min
  • A Heart Surgeon on Lindsey Graham's Cause of Death

    This past Saturday, Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly of an aortic dissection. Dr. Adham Elmously, an attending surgeon in the Section of Adult Cardiac Surgery at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explains who is at risk, how to monitor for the condition and what symptoms to look out for.

    Photo: US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) arrives to attend a meeting by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to brief Senators on US military action in Iran, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026. The United States hit hundreds of targets across Iran, and Israel expanded its bombing to Lebanon on Monday as President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the first US deaths in the war he launched to topple Tehran's ruling clerics. Iranian forces fired missiles and drones across the Middle East, killing people in Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in retaliation for the conflict that began February 28 with the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)


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    24 min
  • The Long Lines of NYC

    Brock Colyar, a features writer at New York Magazine, talks about their cover story this week on NYC's "line culture" and how it's evolved.

    Photo: People wait in line to purchase the new Apple iPhone 3G outside of the Apple Store, Soho on July 11, 2008 in New York City, New York. (Photo by Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic)


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    14 min
  • Speak to Speaker Menin

    City Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-5, Upper East Side) talks about the latest news from City Council and takes calls from listeners.

    Photo:  Speaker Julie Menin speaking at a rally for Hands Off NYC (Photo courtesy of New York City Council)


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    41 min
  • Monday Morning Politics: Lindsey Graham, Trump and Iran

    Elana Schor, senior Washington editor at Semafor, talks about the latest national political news, including the U.S. strikes on Iran which hit more than 170 Iranian military targets on Tuesday and Wednesday and what comes next.

    Photo: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to members of the media as the Trump Cabinet briefs members of Congress on Iran at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)


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    30 min
  • What's Unseen at the Grocery Store

    Ann Larson, a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register (One Signal/Atria, 2026), talks about what she learned about the economy and workers when she went from reporting on low-wage work to taking a job during the pandemic at a local supermarket.

    Photo: People shop near 'Sale' signs in the meats section of a grocery store on July 7, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)


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    29 min
  • Summer Jobs

    Listeners talk about their teens' summer jobs, the value of those jobs, and the current state of the summer youth employment market.

    Photo: Teenage workers man the cash register at Apponaug Village Creamery in Warwick, RI, on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)


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    11 min
  • Brian Lehrer Weekend: Elie Mystal Assesses the Supreme Court Term; Are We in a 'Postliterate' Age?; Wild NYC: Insects

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

    Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at the Nation, assesses the Supreme Court's term (First) | Atlantic staff writer Rose Horowitch considers the question: are we in a 'postliterate' age? (Starts at 49:05) | The many insects of NYC (Starts at 1:17:25)

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    1 hr 35 min
  • Friday Morning Politics: Rep. Grace Meng

    U.S Representative (D NY 6) Grace Meng talks about her primary victory, the state of the Democratic party and where birthright citizenship stands after the Supreme Court ruled to preserve it last month.

    Photo: UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 3: Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., attends a "Women For Suozzi Rally," for former Rep. Tom Suozzi, Democratic candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District, in Port Washington, N.Y., on Saturday, February 3, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

     


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    40 min
  • NYC DSA on Their Big Wins, and the Future

    NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo discuss the chapter's sweeping victories in last month's primary elections, their implications for the future, and their reflections on Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tenure so far.

    Photo: Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks during the "Our Team, Our Year" Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, on June 18, 2026. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP via Getty Images)


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    35 min

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