The Brian Lehrer Show

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Gov. Hochul's Climate Law Rollback May 12, 2026

Show notes

As state lawmakers continue to hammer out the details in this year's budget, Jon Campbell, Albany reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, reports that it looks like the state will loosen the emissions goals in the landmark 2019 climate law, and explains why Gov. Hochul is dedicated to this, and why environmentalists are furious.
Photo: Factory smoke via rawpixel.

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10-Question Quiz: Numbers in the News May 12, 2026

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Listeners try their hand at a quiz based on numbers in the news.

Image: Stock illustration, (GrafikLab via Getty Creative)

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Wild NYC - Air Migrations May 12, 2026

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As part of the yearlong series "Wild NYC," Marielle Anzelone, urban botanist and ecologist and the founder of NYC Wildflower Week, and Christian Cooper, science and comics writer, host of the National Geographic TV series Extraordinary Birder, NYC Bird Alliance board member, and the author of Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World (Random House, 2023), talk about the spring migration of birds and butterflies, happening now.

Photo: Northern Parula, a small warbler, perched on diagonal perch in Spring, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, New York (Adria Photography via Getty)

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Spring Cleaning: Purging Clothes May 12, 2026

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As part of a series on "spring cleaning," Kaitlyn Wells, senior staff writer for The Wirecutter, offers advice on how to purge your old clothes, including where to send them when they're out of your closet.

Image: Stock photo; (smirart via Getty Creative)

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What's in the New York State Budget? May 11, 2026

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Jimmy Vielkind, New York State Issues reporter for WNYC, digs into the details of the new, though still not final, $268 billion dollar New York State budget.

Photo: The New York State Senate. (Credit: The New York State Senate)

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How to Fix Penn Station May 11, 2026

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As the Trump administration is in the process of revamping Penn Station, Tom Wright, CEO and president of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), talks about a new report that offers the RPA's ideas for how to increase capacity and make the transit hub work for commuters.

Photo: A clock at Penn Station. (Credit: Boaventuravinicius via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0)

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Kimberlé Crenshaw's Life and Work May 11, 2026

Show notes

Civil rights scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, founder and executive director of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School, distinguished professor and Promise Institute chair for human rights at UCLA Law School and Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher professor at Columbia Law School, and author of Backtalker: An American Memoir (Simon & Schuster), talks about key moments in her life that helped her develop groundbreaking legal concepts. Crenshaw is popularly known for her development of “intersectionality,” “Critical Race Theory” and as the host of the podcast Intersectionality Matters! She'll be in discussion about Backtalker at NYPL on Wedneesday.

Cover art courtesy of Simon & Schuster

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The Persistent Gender Gap in Housework May 11, 2026

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Jessica Grose, opinion writer at The New York Times, discusses the still-mostly-unequal division of household labor.

Photo: Two women wash dishes in a kitchen in Australia in 1944. (Credit: Jim Fitzpatrick via National Library of Australia/Wikimedia Commons)

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Brian Lehrer Weekend: Spirit Airlines; Rent Guidelines Board; Avoiding Scams May 09, 2026

Show notes

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

Demise of Spirit Airlines (First) | Is a Rent Freeze Coming? (Starts at 38:21) | Avoiding Phishing Scams (Starts at 57:35)

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Photo: The self-service check-in kiosks of Spirit Airlines stand idle with a message to customers after the company ceased global operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 2, 2026. US air carriers mobilized Saturday to help passengers and crew members stranded by the overnight shutdown of Spirit Airlines, after last-minute talks with creditors and the White House collapsed. The budget airline known for its bright yellow planes succumbed to crushing fuel prices and announced in the early hours of Saturday that "all flights have been canceled, and customer service is no longer available" as it "started winding down its global operations, effective immediately." (GIORGIO VIERA / AFP via Getty Images)

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NAACP Legal Defense Funds Weighs in on SCOTUS and Voting Rights May 08, 2026

Show notes

Janai Nelson, president-director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks about the implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Callais V. Louisiana, which they say gutted the Voting Rights Act. Plus, her reaction to the news that the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the voter-approved redistricting ballot measure that would have been a boon to Democrats.
Photo: United States Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C., (Marielam1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

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