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Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.

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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Brian Lehrer Weekend: SOTU & Voting Rights; ICE at Columbia; Finding Your Style IRL

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

Unpacking Trump's Voting Proposals from the State of the Union (First) | Finding Your Style: Getting Offline (Starts at 20) | ICE at Columbia (Starts at 35)

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

Photo credit: Protestors take part in anti-ICE rally outside Columbia University after federal agents detained a student inside a residential campus building in New York City, New York, U.S., February 26, 2026. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

10-Question Quiz: Media History

For this pledge drive, listeners try their hand at a quiz. Today's theme is broadcast media history.

 

Photo: Edward R. Murrow lived here (blue plaque), Westminster (Matt Brown, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)


 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

It's All About Control

Historian Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic,  host of their podcast "Autocracy in America" and author of Autocracy Inc. (Penguin, 2024) and offers her analysis of how President Trump and his administration are seeking to control elections, as well as science and culture, and why.

 

photo: "I Voted" sticker worn on lapel of fuzzy winter coat, shot during the November 2025 election in St. Paul, Minnesota.  (Funknendai, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Finding Your Style: Avery Trufelman

Avery Trufelman, host of the podcast Articles of Interest, talks about her work digging into the interesting historical and cultural questions about what we wear. Part of a short series about personal style.

Photo: Well-dressed in a camouflage jacket and a cream v-neck sweater, Milan Fashion Week Menswear Spring/Summer 2025, June 15, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

 

 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Public Song Project 2026

WNYC's Public Song Project invites musicians to incorporate works of art that have entered the public domain into new compositions. All of It producer Simon Close shares more about the project and how they are hoping musicians will participate.

For more information, click here.
 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

ICE at Columbia

After a Columbia student was detained by agents from the Department of Homeland Security, Mayor Mamdani said he spoke about it to President Trump, and she was released. Arya Sundaram, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering race and immigration, reports the latest on the news. Plus, Brigid Bergin, senior political correspondent for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the mayor's surprise trip to the White House to meet with the president.

Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images: Protestors take part in anti-ICE rally outside Columbia University after federal agents detained a student inside a residential campus building in New York City, New York, U.S., February 26, 2026.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

10-Question Quiz: Black History Month

For this pledge drive, listeners try their hand at a quiz. Today's theme is Black History Month.

Photo: Carter G. Woodson memorial on RI Ave at 7th NW in Washington, D.C. by David from Washington, DC, CC BY 2.0.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Oscar Docs: Cutting through Rocks

Again, this year, we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, directors Sara Khaki, and Mohammadreza Eyni talk about their film "Cutting Through Rocks."

Photo: Still from "Cutting Through Rocks" courtesy of the guests.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Finding Your Style: Getting Offline

As part of a short series about finding your personal style, Emilia Petrarca, author of the fashion and style newsletter Shop Rat, talks about how getting offline and going outside changed the way she thinks about fashion and style. 

Photo: Evi Wave is seen wearing an oversized puffer jacket in soft pink and taupe-grey clogs in soft suede from Birkenstock, December 3, 2025 in Duesseldorf, Germany. (Photo by Moritz Scholz/Getty Images)

 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Why Some Immigrant New Yorkers Can't Get Commercial Driver Licenses Now

Jessica Gould, education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about why a funding threat from the Trump administration means some immigrants won't be able to get commercial driver licenses, and how this will affect school bus drivers in New York City.

(Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)


 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Thursday Morning Politics: SCOTUS Tariff's Decision and The Washington Post

Ruth Marcus, contributor to The New Yorker, former columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover (Simon & Schuster, 2019), comments on the Supreme Court's tariff's decision and other political news—and the state of journalism in the aftermath of mass layoffs at Jeff Bezos' Washington Post.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Expanding NYC's Child Care

Emmy Liss, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Child Care, talks about the deadline for families to apply for 3K/Pre-K and the mayor's plans for expanding child care options, generally.

(Photo by: Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

10-Question Quiz: February Holidays

For this pledge drive, listeners try their hand at a quiz. Today's theme is media history.

Photo: Valentine's Day Cupcakes / Stephanie Clifford, Wikimedia Commons


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Finding Your Style: A Hard-Soled Kind of Guy

Why WNYC and Gothamist digital producer James Ramsay aspires to be the kind of person who wears hard-soled shoes. This the first segment in a short series about finding your personal style.

NYC used to be a hard-soled shoe town. Could I be part of a revival?

Photo: Well-dressed in burgundy corduroy trousers and black leather loafers with silver metal bit hardware. Milan Fashion Week - Menswear Fall/Winter 2026-2027, on January 17, 2026 in Milan, Italy (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Unpacking Trump's Voting Proposals from the State of the Union

Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones, offers analysis of President Trump's State of the Union address, especially his talk of voter fraud and push to pass the SAVE act.

Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the Capitol on February 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images).


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Preserving Black History

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, concludes our three-part Black History Month series with a look at current efforts to end DEI initiatives and rewrite museum exhibit information.

 

photo: Smithsonian National African American Museum  by John Brighenti from Rockville, MD, United States, CC BY 2.0 , via / Wikimedia Commons )


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

The Consequences of EPA’s Endangerment Finding Repeal

In early February, the EPA repealed the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a landmark regulatory move reversing the determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health. Pat Parenteau, emeritus professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School and former EPA regional counsel under President Ronald Reagan, explains what happens next, including the many challenges the Trump administration is facing from environmental groups, and how the repeal could impact both health and climate change.

Photo: [Smog obscures view of Chrysler Building from Empire State Building, New York City] / World-Telegram photo by Walter Albertin.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

How to be a Good Neighbor During and After a Blizzard

Taylor Jung, digital producer and reporter for Epicenter NYC, offers tips on how to stay safe and be a good neighbor during the aftermath of the blizzard.

 

Photo: Snow, Touro College (320 West 31st Street), 31st Street and 8th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, 27 February 2010.  credit: Jazz Guy from New Jersey, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

The Day After the 2026 Blizzard

Brittany Kriegstein and David Brand, reporters for WNYC and Gothamist, discuss the aftermath of the blizzard, including what's up and running and what is not, plus how the city managed to get vulnerable people to safety so far.

 

photo: Cars are seen buried under snow on Lincoln Avenue on February 24, 2026 in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City.  (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Oscar Docs: Mr Nobody Against Putin

Again, this year, we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, David Borenstein, documentary filmmaker, talks about his film "Mr Nobody Against Putin." 

 

photo credit: Pavel Talankin, courtesy of Kino Lorber


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

State of the Union Predictions

Listeners call in to talk about what they will be watching for at President Trump's State of the Union address tonight.

Photo: President Trump delivering last year's State of the Union address. Credit: The White House via Wikimedia Commons.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Democratic Socialists Take on the Mayor's Budget

NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo respond to Mayor Mamdani's preliminary budget and tax hike proposals, as well as some recent policies, like restarting sweeps of homeless encampments.

Photo: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani releases the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Preliminary Budget. City Hall. Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Oscar Docs: Come See Me in the Good Light

Again, this year, we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, Ryan White, documentary producer and director, talks about his film "Come See Me in the Good Light."

"Come See Me in the Good Light" is streaming on Apple TV and available for rent on Prime.

 

Image: Andrea Gibson in "Come See Me in the Good Light," now streaming on Apple TV. Courtesy of Apple TV.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Monday Morning Politics: Tariffs; Polls and More

Following a storm update, Jonathan Lemire, co-host of Morning Joe on MSNOW; writer for MSNOW and contributing writer to The Atlantic, talks about the latest national political news, including Friday's Supreme Court tariffs ruling and this week's State of the Union address.

Photo: Front Gate of the White House on a Warm Sunny Day (2018) by Mathieu Landretti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

How Queens and Brooklyn Are Coping with the Blizzard

Queens and Brooklyn borough presidents Donovan Richards and Antonio Reynoso talk about how Queens and Brooklyn are handling the big snowstorm, including how the city is trying to help its most vulnerable residents.

Photo: People walk along snow covered streets as snow falls during a blizzard on February 23, 2026 in Flatbush. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

 


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Brian Lehrer Weekend: California Billionaire Tax, Alabama Solution, Central Park Cyclists

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

California Billionaire Tax  (First) | Alabama Solution (Starts at 28:29) | Central Park Cyclists (Starts at 43:15)

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


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Theater of War On the Radio: ICE in Our Schools

Recent reporting in The New Yorker examines how schools, teachers and students in Minneapolis are being impacted by the recent actions of federal immigration enforcement agents. But conversations about how to navigate ICE's presence on and around school proper...

The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Trump Threatens War With Iran

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), breaks down the latest as the Trump administration repeats its calls for Iran to end its nuclear program while sources tell CNN that the U.S. military is prepared to strike the country as early as this weekend.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

The Year of the Fire Horse and Your Lunar New Year Celebrations

As Lunar New Year celebrations kick into full swing, we speak with Master Pun-Yin, Feng Shui Consultant and Chinese Zodiac expert, about the significance of the year of the fire horse and hear from callers about their new year's traditions.

Image by Rhododendrites, Wikimedia Commons.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Audio • WNYC

Will NYC Schools Meet the New Mandate for Smaller Classes?

New York State passed a law limiting class size for city schools, but the city is struggling to fund it. Jessica Gould, education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the roadblocks schools are encountering as they try to comply with the law.


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