The Brian Lehrer Show

Rachel Louise Ensign, economics reporter with The Wall Street Journal, explains the economic forces keeping Americans stuck in their homes and jobs, and how it impacts daily life.

Throughout this membership drive we are talking about the animals we love and care for in our homes -- our pets. Today, Sam Laroche, manager of Petqua, a pet store on Manhattan's West Side, talks about keeping reptiles as pets and how to help them thrive.

Listeners hear a description of a place in the tri-state area and try to guess where it is.

New Jersey is generally viewed as a state with some of the strongest abortion protections, but Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli has some plans that could change that. Terrence McDonald, editor at the New Jersey Monitor, talks about the parts of both candidates' platforms that could change or strengthen abortion protections in the state.

Andy Kim, U.S. Senator (D NJ), weighs in on the Trump announcement that the Gateway tunnel project is "terminated."

Listeners hear a description of a place in the tri-state area and try to guess where it is.

Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, talks about the latest news from the mayoral campaign as Election Day is just weeks away.

Throughout this membership drive we are talking about the animals we love and care for in our homes -- our pets. Today, Elias Weiss Friedman, aka @TheDogist on Instagram, author of This Dog Will Change Your Life (Ballantine, 2025) and host of a new YouTube talk show talks about the dogs he's met and why he thinks they make us better humans.

Brigid Bergin, Gothamist and WNYC senior political correspondent, talks about the proposal that NYC voters will see on this year's ballot that would move local elections to take place during presidential election years.

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and the host of The New Yorker Radio Hour, talks about the latest national political news, and previews this year's New Yorker festival.

Listeners share whether they're seeing higher coffee prices due to tariffs yet and if that's changing their caffeine habits.

Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters With the Islamic State, offers analysis of the current ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and why one Palestinian philosopher told him he feels a "paradoxical optimism" that the current peace will hold.

On Saturday, the Trump administration rescinded the layoffs of hundreds of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were mistakenly fired the day before. Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter at The New York Times, explains what happened and who remains at the CDC.

Elizabeth Glazer, founder of the journal Vital City and former director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, talks about the challenges the next mayor will face regarding Rikers Island, and what each says about the current plan to close Rikers in favor of borough-based jails.

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), offers analysis on what comes next for Israel and Gaza as Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were released, and the ceasefire deal takes effect.

Elie Honig, senior legal analyst at CNN, New York Magazine columnist, former state and federal prosecutor and author of several books, including When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ’s Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump (Harper, 2025) offers legal analysis of the Trump DOJ case against New York Attorney General Tish James.

Julian Brave NoiseCat, writer, filmmaker and student of Salish art and history and the author of We Survived the Night (Knopf, 2025) talks about his new book, the story of North American indigenous people through his reporting and his own story, all in the style of a traditional "coyote story."

Andrew Zwicker, New Jersey State Senator (D, District 16), and Dawn Fantasia, New Jersey Assembly Member (R, District 24), debate the hot-button issues in education and how they are playing out in the governor's race, including parents' rights, book bans and more.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. 30 Issues in 30 Days: New York City Schools (First) | Who is María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Price Winner? (Starts at 1:12) | From Railroad to Rail-Trail (Starts at 1:50) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Daisy Khan, founder and executive director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) and the author of 30 Rights of Muslim Women: A Trusted Guide (Monkfish Book Publishing Company, 2024) , and Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, discuss how to fight both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at a time of polarization over the Mideast in the context of concrete policy proposals from the New York City mayoral candidates, Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa.