Gov. Hochul wants to revise the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to exempt smaller housing development projects from the review. Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, a group advocating more housing construction, talks about why housing advocates, and even some environmental groups, support the reforms.

Photo: Views of the Gowanus neighborhood, where dozens of large housing construction projects along the Gowanus Canal on December 24, 2024 in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. (Credit: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Last week, book publisher Hachette canceled the forthcoming U.S. publication of the horror novel “Shy Girl” after it was flagged for sounding like the author used artificial intelligence. Andrea Bartz, novelist, author of The Last Ferry Out (Ballantine Books, 2025), discusses her latest guest op-ed in The New York Times on the controversy and what its like being a writer in the A.I. age.

Photo: Barnes And Noble bookstore in Manhattan, New York, United States of America, on July 5th, 2024. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

 

 

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The St. John's University Red Storm men's basketball team are into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the 10th time in the program's history. Jason Gay, sports columnist at the Wall Street Journal, talks about the long career of St. John's coach Rick Pitino, and Katie Honan, senior reporter at The City, co-host of the podcast FAQ NYC and massive St. John's basketball fan, claims her bragging rights about the team's great season so far. 

Photo: Bryce Hopkins #23 of the St. John's Red Storm drives to the basket during the first half of the 2026 Big East Men's Tournament - Quarterfinal game against the Providence Friars at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2026 in New York City. (Credit: Ishika Samant/Getty Images)

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Kian Tajbakhsh, Iranian-American scholar, visiting professor of international relations at New York University, fellow of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University and former political prisoner, and William Christou, Middle East reporter for The Guardian, break ...

Lev Facher, addiction reporter at STAT News, reports on how opioid overdose deaths began to fall in mid-2023 and have continued to decline.

Photo: An emergency opioid overdose kit at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. (Credit: Chris Woodrich via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0)

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Christine Quinn, president & CEO of Win, the largest provider of shelter and supportive services for homeless families in New York City, talks about the mayor's seeming turnabout on a campaign promise to expand the CityFHEPS rental assistance program and offers her take on City Hall's approach to addressing homelessness.

Photo: A for-rent sign displayed outside. (Credit: Photos Public Domain/Dipankan001 via Wikimedia Commons)

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On MLB's opening day, Ken Davidoff, sports journalist and former New York Post baseball columnist, and Harley Rotbart, MD, pediatrician, former Parents Magazine columnist and little league coach, talk about baseball's lessons for success in life beyond the game. Rotbart and Davidoff are co-authors of the new book 101 Lessons from the Dugout: What Baseball and Softball Can Teach Us About the Game of Life (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Photo: Cover art for 101 Lessons from the Dugout. (Credit: Bloomsbury)

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Lindsay Ellis, Wall Street Journal reporter, talks about the tough job market for new college graduates, and how much AI is responsible for it.

 

Photo: Graduation hats being tossed in air by business school graduates. (Credit: Artessa via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0)

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David Gelles, a reporter on the New York Times climate team who leads the Climate Forward newsletter and events series, discusses his latest reporting on why scientists are saying several of the Earth’s systems are changing faster than predicted as global temperatures rise.

Photo: A temperature device measures heat from the asphalt on a summer day. (Credit: Danielteolijr via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0)

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Washington Post travel reporter Andrea Sachs advice on navigating the airport amidst long delays and TSA staffing shortages due to the DHS shutdown. Plus, Clint Henderson, managing editor at The Points Guy, reports live from the airport.

Photo: Airplanes await departure from a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport. (Credit: Angelo DeSantis via Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0)

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Ibram X. Kendi, professor of history and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, and the author of Stamped from the Beginning and his latest, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age (One World, 2026), talks about his new book charting the history of the idea that motivates many white nationalists, and how to counter it.

 

cover image courtesy of the publisher

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The Supreme Court appears likely to overhaul the way many states count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day but are postmarked before the deadline. Carrie Levine, editor-in-chief of Votebeat, talks about what could change.

Photo: A ballot dropbox in Arlington, Va. on Dec. 6, 2024. (Credit: Jack Walker/WNYC)

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Andrew Weissmann, professor of practice at NYU School of Law, co-host of the podcast Main Justice and and the co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024), draws on his experience working with Robert Mueller to reflect on his legacy after his death this past weekend at age 81.

Photo: Displayed on a television screen in Times Square, Special Counsel Robert Mueller makes a statement about the Russia investigation, May 29, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

 

 

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Listeners call in to talk about how their relationships have been impacted by pets -- either when one person in the relationship doesn't get along with a pet, or what happens to pets after a split.

Photo: Young child and an old person are petting grey cute cat (Nenad Stojkovic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).

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Alexander Bolton, senior staff writer at The Hill, discusses the major takeaways from the Senate's rare weekend session, including Republicans' push to pass the SAVE America Act, ongoing controversy over DHS funding, and more.

Photo: The United States Capitol on May 4, 2004. (Photo by Kevin McCoy via Wikimedia Commons/C.C. 2.0)

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order last week to establish an Office of Community Safety. Ben Feuerherd, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering public safety and policing, talks about this new office and other public safety news, including Commissioner Jessica Tisch's move to change the way the NYPD publicly reports hate crimes.

Photo: Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Renita Francois appears with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Credit: Michael Appleton/Office of the Mayor.

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Nate Swanson, former director for Iran at the National Security Council between 2022 and 2025, current director of the Iran strategy project for the Atlantic Council and writer for Foreign Affairs, offers analysis of the war with Iran, and why he thinks Tehran may dictate the terms of the end of the war.

Photo: The aftermath of a March 3, 2026 airstrike on Tehran. (Photo: محمدعلی برنو / Avash Media via Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0)

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

Gov. Hochul Hopes to Delay Implementing Climate Law (First) | The Growth of DHS Detention Camps (Starts at :40) | Opera and Democracy (Starts at 1:15)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

 

Image: An original poster for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera, The Marriage of Figaro (not stated, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

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Actors Jesse Eisenberg, Rosie Perez, and David Patrick Kelly performed a reading of “Cash and Carry,” a personal essay written by David Sedaris for The New Yorker, to kick off a conversation with listeners about the challenges and joys of being neighbors, our duty to strange...

Joshua Keating, senior correspondent at Vox covering foreign policy and world news, breaks down his latest reporting on how Russian President Vladimir Putin is benefitting from the United States' war in Iran, including how Russia is now earning an extra $150 million per day in oil sales due to the price surge since the start of the war and much more.

Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin

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McKay Coppins, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Romney: A Reckoning (Simon & Schuster, 2023), discusses his year-long foray into the world of sports betting, and his observation of how gambling has permeated "every nook and cranny" of American life in a very short amount of time.

Photo: The fantasy sports website DraftKings is shown on October 16, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. DraftKings and its rival FanDuel have been under scrutiny after accusations surfaced of employees participating in the contests with insider information, (Scott Olson/Getty Images).

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Stephen Nessen, transportation reporter for the WNYC Newsroom, talks about the latest MTA news, including its lawsuit over federal funds for the Second Avenue subway construction and the transit union's lawsuit over staffing at booths. Plus, the MTA's plans for new subway cars for the numbered lines.

Photo: MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber, MTA New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow, and MTA Chief of Rolling Stock Jessie Lazarus announce the release of an RFP for the R262 subway car class at the Railcar Acceptance and Testing Facility on Thursday, Mar 19, 2026. The contract will be for the largest such order in MTA history. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

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Kathryn Jezer-Morton, author of The Cut's Brooding newsletter, talks about her plan to "friction-maxx" this year in life and in parenting—that is, to build tolerance for "inconvenience" despite tech companies' attempts to make our lives smooth and frictionless.

Photo: match, meet matchbox. Credit: Yann Segalen via Wikipedia Commons.

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 Giulia Heyward, WNYC and Gothamist reporter, talks about the tug of war between the state and the federal government over transgender care for those 19 and younger. Then, Jack Turban MD, MHS, adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist and author of Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity (Atria Books, 2024), offers best practices for transgender care for those 19 and younger.

Photo: Dusk view of entrance to new Children's Hospital at NYU Langone, New York - stock photo. Credit: Barry Winiker, Getty Images.

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Paulette Perhach, freelance writer and writing coach, shares tips on how to prevent your aging relatives from getting scammed. Plus, we take calls from listeners with their stories and questions about protecting yourself and loved ones against financial fraud. 

=> "How to Prevent Aging Parents and Relatives From Making Financial Mistakes" (New York Times, January 2026)

 

photo: A woman over 90 years old makes a phone call with an iphone on 16.03.2025 in Norden (Lower Saxony). Photo: Matthias Balk/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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John Heilemann, chief political columnist at Puck and host of the podcast "Impolitic with John Heilemann, " and senior national affairs analyst for MS NOW, talks about the latest developments in the war in Iran and the role Israel has played.
 

Photo: Donald Trump at a United Nations event on Religious Freedom Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. (Photo: Shealah Craighead / White House)

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Faiyaz Jaffer, Ed.D, executive director of the Islamic Center and chaplain at New York University, talks about how communities in our area and around the world are observing Ramadan this year.

Photo: Muslims gather in Times Square to perform the Tarawih prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on February 20, 2026, in New York City. The event, held annually in Times Square since 2022, includes Quranic recitations, congregational prayers, and the distribution of meals for iftar, the breaking of the fast at sunset. New York City has an estimated over 800,000 Muslims and is the largest municipal Muslim population in the United States. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

 

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Martha C. Nussbaum, distinguished service professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago and the author of The Republic of Love: Opera & Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2026), offers her analysis of opera as an arm of the Enlightenment, from Mozart to today.

 

cover image courtesy of the publisher

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Megan Messerly, a White House reporter at POLITICO, talks about the Republican support for the war in Iran and the concerns of the isolationists.

Photo: American flags near the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.CImage byMatt Hecht

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Daniel Immerwahr, historian, contributing writer at The New Yorker, the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University and the author of How to Hide an Empire (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019) offers historical context on the war in Iran and Trump's overall foreign policy.

Photo: The aftermath of a US-Israeli strike on Tehran, Iran on March 3, 2026. Credit: محمدعلی برنو/Avash Media via Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0

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