The Brian Lehrer Show

Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter talks about Mayor Mamdani's first month in office, including challenges like this week's big snowstorm and a major budget crisis.

Russell Berman, a staff writer at The Atlantic, talks about how Republicans in Congress are speaking out against the deportation operation (and the fatal shootings), in a rare intra-party rebuke to President Trump, and what this might signal ahead of this year's midterm elections.

Lloyd Minor, M.D., dean of Stanford Medicine and leader in medical AI education. He discusses AI in diagnostics and pathology. He covers AI helping tumor boards and clinical trial matching. He talks about wearables for chronic disease monitoring. He warns about bias and skill loss and describes Stanford’s mandatory AI training for clinicians.

Nostalgia for 2016 is a trend on social media this month, so we ask our listeners to reflect on the recent past. Are you nostalgic for 2016?

Reuven Blau, reporter for The City who covers criminal justice and the city’s prison system, talks about the man appointed by a federal judge as "remediation manager" and what that means for the jail's future.

As the cold weather continues, Patrick Spauster, City Limits housing and homelessness reporter, talks about the obligations landlords have to keep apartments heated, and what tenants should do if their heat or hot water isn't working. 

Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast and Truman Capote fellow for creative writing and law at Yale Law School, and Rachel Poser, features editor at The New York Times Magazine, discuss their reporting on the The Federal Bureau of Investigation under the leadership of Kash Patel, after speaking to forty-five current and former employees on the changes they say are undermining the agency and making America less safe.  

Snow clearers, liquor store owners, restaurant and bar proprietors...or anyone: call in to share whether this week's storm was good or bad for your business, financially speaking.

The United States version of TikTok has new owners, and among them are several corporations and investment firms with ties to President Trump. Vittoria Elliott, senior writer for Wired covering platforms and power, talks about the new era of TikTok in America, including a controversial new terms of service, concerns about surveillance and data privacy, and claims of censorship

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of Truth, is a longtime promoter of science and critical thinking. He discusses how to evaluate information, defends scientific methods against 'post-truth' claims, explores pluralistic ignorance and free speech, weighs evidence around UAPs and AI deepfakes, and distinguishes subjective versus objective claims about gender.