The Brian Lehrer Show

A new report finds that New York City is losing population across income levels, and subsequently schools are losing students. Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, shares his group's recommendations for how to stem the tide of people leaving.

Photo: ThibautRe, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In honor of World Book Day, National Library Week and the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary, librarians from Brooklyn Public Library have put together a list of 250 books that have been important to the United States. Linda Johnson, CEO and president of Brooklyn Public Library, talks about some of the books on the list and why librarians chose them.

Photo: Rare books at the Brooklyn Library Central Branch. Credit: MMHAD via Wikimedia Commons.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jamelle Bouie, opinion columnist for The New York Times and guest judge for the Hillman Prize, talks about the Hillman Prize, plus some of his recent columns, which are about national politics with an eye toward history and Michelle Adams, professor of law at the University of Michigan, former member of the Biden administration’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, Hillman Prize winner and the author of The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North (Macmillan, 2025), talks about her Hillman Prize-winning book and work.

photo:  Photograph of Downtown Detroit taken from over the Detroit River between Windsor, Ontario, Canada and Detroit's riverfront, November 2021(Lrgjr72, CC BY-SA 4.0  via Wikimedia Commons)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has become a litmus test for Democrats after a campaign appearance with Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Jonathan Cowan, co-founder and president of the centrist think tank Third Way, and Daniel Denvir, journalist, host of the Jacobin podcast The Dig, and author of All-American Nativism (Verso Books, 2020), address Piker's statements and debate whether or not politicians should interact with him, and more broadly, if he belongs in the Democratic coalition.

Photo: Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, addressed his supporters after the historic mayoral election victory on Tuesday night, November 4, 2025, in New York City, United States. Famous online streamer Hasan Piker attends Mamdani's election watch party (by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images).

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Fred Kaplan, Slate's War Stories columnist and the author of many nonfiction books and his latest, a novel, A Capital Calamity (Miniver Press, 2024), talks about Iran's military capabilities even as President Trump extended the ceasefire, plus offers his analysis of President Trump's unconventional negotiating tactics.

Photo: A man reads a newspaper with a front page article referring to anticipated US-Iran peace talks, at a stall in Islamabad on April 22, 2026. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump for extending a ceasefire with Iran and indefinitely pushing back the end of the two week truce, with Tehran silent on the decision early on April 22. (by Asif HASSAN / AFP via Getty Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist and science educator at the American Museum of Natural History, gives an astrophysicist's view of Earth Day.

Photo: In this handout image provided by NASA, a view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman from the Orion spacecraft's window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026. (Photo by Reid Wiseman/NASA via Getty Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jodi Kantor, New York Times investigative reporter, co-author of She Said (Penguin, 2019) and author of How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work (Hachette, 2026), expands on her Columbia University commencement address where she tried to answer the question: “How, in this environment, is anyone supposed to find and start their life’s work?”

Photo: Cover art for How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work. (Credit: Hachette)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Earth Day, Lisa Friedman, reporter covering climate policy and politics at The New York Times, talks about her reporting on how EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has drastically changed the mission of the EPA, and more related environmental and climate news.

Photo: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is shown during CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Abigail Savitch-Lew, a former staff reporter for City Limits and now the author of the novel Livonia Chow Mein (Simon & Schuster, 2026), talks about her novel about inter-generational and cross-cultural conflict and community in Brooklyn.

Photo: Cover art for Livonia Chow Mein. (Credit: Simon & Schuster)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, recaps her event with Mayor Mamdani, where they talked about the lessons he has taken from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and other news from his first 100+ days in office.

Photo: Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears live at a WNYC forum entitled “Mamdani's First 100 Days: Lessons from La Guardia" on April 20, 2026. (Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.