The leaders of PBS and NPR went before a House subcommittee led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to defend their networks against charges of liberal bias. Bill Grueskin, professor at Columbia Journalism School and a former senior editor at The Wall Street Journal and Miami Herald, offers analysis of the testy hearing. 

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Columbia University agreed to the Trump administration's demands in order to restore $400 million dollars in federal funds, leading some faculty members to protest, and take legal action. David Graham, staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic daily newsletter, plus author of the forthcoming book The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2025), reports on the latest in the school's relationship with the administration, and what it might mean for academic freedom at schools across the country, plus the latest on the Trump administration.

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U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill (D, NJ-11) talks about her campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, and her work in Washington.  

 

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Polo shirts, khaki shorts, and boat shoes: the classic uniform of elites on their days off. As our centennial series continues, Avery Trufelman, host of the podcast Articles of Interest, delves into the last 100 years of preppies and their clothes.

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As our centennial series continues, Clay Risen, New York Times reporter and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America (Scribner, 2025), goes through the history of the Cold War-era struggle inside the US between the FDR progressives and social conservatives and how it continues to reverberate.

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Mayor Adams holds one off-topic press conference per week, where reporters can ask him questions on any subject. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, recaps what he talked about at this week's event, including various aspects of the mayoral campaign and his recent appointment of Randy Mastro as a deputy mayor.

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A recent legal judgment could force Greenpeace to pay $667 million in defamation and vandalism-related damages, from the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline leading environmentalists to worry that the ruling could have a chilling effect on climate activism. Michael Gerrard, professor of law at Columbia Law School and the founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, shares his legal analysis of the case, and what it could mean for the environment.

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Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter for The New York Times, focusing on science and global health, discusses the government's approach to Bird Flu, and why veterinary scientists say that RFK Jr.'s approach (letting the infection burn through flocks to identify birds with high immunity) will likely cost more than it helps. 

 

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Jimmy Vielkind,  New York State Issues reporter for WNYC and author of the substack "Notes from Jimmy", talks about the status of budget negotiations ahead of the April 1 deadline, the possibility of a mask ban, and federal funding that's included in the forecasts.

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New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni and White House reporter Luke Broadwater, co-authors of Mad House: How Donald Trump, Maga Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby and a Man with Rats in his Walls Broke Congress (Random House, 2025), discuss their new book about dysfunctional House Republicans—and the extent to which the GOP-led Congress has provided a rubber stamp to President Trump's agenda.

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On Friday, Columbia University's administration agreed to demands from the Trump administration over the institution's responses to pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Columbia faculty members Joseph Howley, associate professor of Classics, followed by Ester Fuchs, professor...

Last week, Americans learned that ICE sent 238 Venezuelan migrants to the CECOT mega prison in El Salvador under the unsubstantiated pretense that all were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Annie Correal, reporter at the New York Times, shares her reporting on the conditions at this prison, why Donald Trump and El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele have partnered on this endeavor, and the Venezuelan family members who fear their loved ones have been disappeared.  

 

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Andy Kim, U.S. Senator (D-NJ), talks about Social Security in the new Trump administration and what he's learned hosting town halls in Democratic and Republican districts across his state.

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

Is This What Democracy Looks Like: Heather Cox Richardson (First) | Local UAW Leader (Starts at 30:48) | 100 Years of 100 Things: New Yorker Cartoons (Starts at 1:15:26)

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

 

 

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A recent article in Vox documents the writer's goal to get rejected a number of times per week, as an exercise in 'shooting your shot.' Listeners call in to share their stories, lessons and musings about being rejected, and the silver linings that can come from being told 'no.

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The Trump administration is intent on downsizing the Education Department, leading to confusion for the millions of people who hold federal student aid. Annie Nova, who covers personal finance for CNBC, reports on the state of Trump's Department of Ed and the predicament for student borrowers.

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Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs columnist at The Washington Post, and the author of the Today's World View newsletter and column, breaks down the latest news in global headlines and listeners with ties to countries outside the U.S. call in to talk share the news from abroad.

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Brandon Mancilla, UAW Region 9A director, talks about his union's diverse local membership, which includes auto workers, as well as public defenders and workers at museums, movie theaters, higher education, and nonprofits; the effects of Trump administration cuts; and their ranked-choice-voting campaign in the mayoral primary.

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Listeners call in to share their favorite hidden gems and secret spots that they frequent around New York and New Jersey, including parks, views, shops and buidlings.

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Shane Goldmacher, national political correspondent for The New York Times covering the major developments, trends and forces shaping American politics, shares his reporting on how the Trump administration is attempting to sabotage Democrats' operations, and how it could affect elections and Democrats' ability to gain power in the future.

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As our centennial series continues, Liza Donnelly, writer and cartoonist at The New Yorker and the author of Very Funny Ladies: The New Yorker's Women Cartoonists, 1925-2021 (Prometheus, 2022) and the Substack "Seeing Things", talks about the evolution of the ...

Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Future, talks about their ideas for how NYC can retain young families.
→ 5 Ideas for Retaining NYC's Young Families

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Mayor Adams holds one off-topic press conference per week, where reporters can ask him questions on any subject. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, recaps what he talked about at this week's event, including on the mayoral campaign and fundraising numbers, subway safety and more.

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Listeners north of the border weigh in on the impact of Donald Trump's second term on their country's politics.

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Heather Cox Richardson, professor of American history at Boston College and author of "Letters from an American" on Substack and several books, including Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (Viking, 2023), offers a historian's take on the first weeks of the second Trump presidency.

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After Chuck Schumer voted last week to prevent a government shutdown, Democrats have been deeply divided on whether he made the right decision or not, largely along generational lines. Philip Bump, national columnist for The Washington Post and the author of The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America (Viking, 2023) reports on how polls are showing voters are feeling about the episode and Charlie Mahtesian, senior politics editor at Politico, offers analysis of Schumer's decision and the Democrats' response to President Trump.

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The Trump administration is rapidly canceling grants at the National Institutes of Health. Katherine Wu, staff writer for The Atlantic, explains how the agency is beginning to terminate active research grants — seemingly on political grounds.

 

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Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the "Work in Progress" newsletter and host of the podcast "Plain English," and Ezra Klein, New York Times opinion columnist and host of their podcast, the "Ezra Klein Show," co-authors of Abundance (Simon & Schuster, 2025), discuss their new book that argues limits placed by past generations to protect jobs and the environment are preventing solving shortages today.

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Andrew Weissmann, professor of practice at NYU School of Law, MSNBC legal analyst, and the co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024), offers legal analysis of the ways the Trump administration has challenged the rule of law in the first few months, including on deportations, fired inspectors general and more.

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S. Mitra Kalita, co-founder of URL Media and CEO and publisher of Epicenter-NYC, reflects on the COVID shutdown, how it profoundly changed the city and which consequences from it are still lingering and affecting people's lives.

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