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The Brian Lehrer Show — News
The Brian Lehrer Show

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

Copyright: © WNYC

Latest Episodes:

Local News Day: New Jersey's Media Landscape Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

In observation of "Local News Day," Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media in the College of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, talks about the local news picture in New Jersey, and Penda Howell, co-founder, CEO and publisher of New Jersey Urban News in Newark, and Aaron Morrill, founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of the Jersey City Times, talk about their local news organizations and the challenges of covering local issues in NJ.

photo: Newark City Hall, April 2014 (Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

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Believers, Agnostics and Atheists Call In Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

Listeners with differing relationships to religion and faith tell us why they do or do not believe in God.

Photo: Holy Cross Church in Frankfurt, Germany. Credit: A. Savin via Wikimedia Commons.

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The Iran Ceasefire: Day 2, and Beyond Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs journalist at The New Yorker, discusses Trump's approach to Iran, how the White House has 'never fully understood' the war it started, and what it could mean for the success, or failure, of the ceasefire.

Photo: Supporter of pro-Iranian Hezbollah hold pictures of assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, as they shout slogans in front of the office of the Lebanese Prime Minister in Beirut. (Photo by Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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Mayor Mamdani's First 100 Days Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Errol Louis, political anchor of Spectrum NY1 News, host of Inside City Hall and The Big Deal with Errol Louis, New York Magazine columnist and host of the podcast You Decide, and Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, talk about Mayor Mamdani's accomplishments and challenges as he approaches 100 days in office.
Photo: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa F. Garcia announce that the City is investing $108 million to upgrade and replace more than 6,700 catch basins over the next decade. Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

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Avoiding IRS Tax Scams Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Ahead of the tax deadline next week, Kelly Phillips Erb, tax attorney, senior writer at Forbes, and author of the blog Taxgirl, discusses some of the most common IRS tax scams and offers advice on how to avoid them.

Photo: Income tax calculations. (Photo by stevepb/Pixabay).

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International Law, War Crimes and the War In Iran Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Lt. Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham, national security law expert and former chief legal advisor for international law at U.S. Central Command, where she advised on operational and international legal issues related to the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Eliav Lieblich, professor of international law at Tel-Aviv University, explain international law as it applies to the war with Iran, including the limits of conflict jurisprudence and how leaders in the US, Israel and Iran think about following, or skirting, the rules about what constitutes 'war crimes.'

Photo: Iranian flags and graffiti reading 'No King' are seen amongst debris at Sharif University of Technology which was hit by US-Israeli strikes on April 7, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Sharif University of Technology is one of Iran’s leading scientific universities. Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images).

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The Future of AI in Journalism Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Margaret Sullivan, columnist at The Guardian and author of the Substack American Crisis, and Isabella Simonetti, media reporter at The Wall Street Journal, discuss the ambiguous future of AI in journalism and how publications are deciding what role the technology should play in their newsrooms.

Photo Credit: Stephan Röhlvia, CC-BY-SA 2.0

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Sales Tax for World Cup? and Other NJ Budget News Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Michael Sol Warren, New Jersey reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the proposal to hike New Jersey's sales taxes for non-residents during World Cup this summer and updates the status of the state budget.

Photo: The Panini America FIFA World Cup 2026™ Sticker Collection Album Cover for Canada and the United States, unveiled today at MetLife Stadium on December 03, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Panini America)

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Why 'Slingshot' Around The Moon? And Other Artemis II Questions Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist and science educator at the American Museum of Natural History, explains the Artemis II mission, which marks the first time since 1972 that a crewed spacecraft has traveled to the 'lunar neighborhood,' beyond Earth's gravitational sphere of influence. Plus, listeners call in with their questions about the mission, and the future of lunar exploration.
Photo: NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon. (Credit: NASA, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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Medicaid and Medicare in Peril? Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

President Trump recently said it was "not possible" for the federal government to fund Medicaid and Medicare, despite a White House budget proposal that boosts defense spending to $1.5 trillion. Maya Goldman, healthcare reporter at Axios, unpacks what that means for the millions of Americans who rely on those programs and the states who'll have to fill the gaps.

Photo: Department of Health & Human Services, Washington, D.C., September 16, 2011. Credit: Sarah Stierch via Wikimedia Commons.

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