The Brian Lehrer Show

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

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)

David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the Rent Guidelines Board's preliminary vote on rent regulations for about one million regulated apartments, and other housing news.Photo:  The Queensbridge public housing development in the neighborhood of Long Island City in Queens, New York, (NewYork 1956 at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Ian Shapiro, professor of political science and global affairs at Yale University, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of After the Fall: From the End of History to the Crisis of Democracy, How Politicians Broke Our World (Basic Books, 2026), traces the breakdown in democratic institutions to missteps by Western leaders following the fall of the Soviet Union. Photo: US President George HW Bush (in grey suit) and Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin (1931 - 2007) (in black suit) wave as they step off Marine One, Maryland, June 17, 1992. (Photo by Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)

Author Alva Gotby's book They Call it Love: The Politics of Emotional Life (Verso Books, 2023), coined the term emotional reproduction to describe the unseen and unappreciated labor involved in maintaining relationships that tends to fall on women in heterosexual pairings. For this Mother's Day, listeners call in to share how this concept appears in their lives and appreciate the emotional reproduction of the mothers in their lives. Photo: A woman gives a child a hug. (Credit: Myles Grant/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 2.0)

Dean Seal, corporate news reporter for The Wall Street Journal, talks about how the Iran war and higher fuel prices were a major factor in the demise of Spirit Airlines, and how the budget carrier shutting down may mean higher fares across the board.Photo: Author John Mckenna, CC BY 2.0. Public Domain

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan district attorney, talks about recent work his office has done vacating wrongful convictions, a statistical decline in crime and more. Photo: Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., the District Attorney of New York County photographed on Central Park West and 74th Street (CmdrDan, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Suzanne Goldberg, professor of law at Columbia Law School and co-founder of the school's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, talks about the Trump administration's investigation of Smith College over its policy of admitting transgender students, plus the administration's lawsuit against The New York Times on behalf of a white man who is alleging the paper discriminated in their hiring practices. Photo: A brick wall sign with SMITH COLLEGE stands before a stately building amidst lush green trees under a bright sky, capturing a serene campus entrance. (Credit: Brian Logan via Getty Images Plus)

Listeners call in to talk about the latest or best book they've listened to, plus discuss the types of books they prefer to listen to over read. Photo: Stock image (Credit: mi-vector via Getty Creative)

Andy Kim, U.S. Senator (D NJ), talks about his work in the Senate and the issues in New Jersey, including the war with Iran and partisan redistricting in the Garden State and around the country.Photo: US Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ). December 2024, Office of Senator Andy Kim U.S. Senate Photographic Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

NYC Health and Hospitals announced plans to shut down a storied program at Bellevue Hospital that treats torture survivors, citing tenuous federal funding and the possibility of ICE raids at the hospital. Allen Keller, M.D., associate professor of medicine and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and founder of Bellevue's Program for Survivors of Torture, and Ibrahim, former patient at Bellevue's Program for Survivors of Torture, discuss the impact of the program and why they're fighting to keep it open. Photo: Bellevue Hospital - NYC (Credit: ajay_suresh via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

The U.S. fertility rate dropped to another record low in 2025, according to provisional CDC data, marking a 23% drop since 2007. Jill Filipovic, attorney and author of several books, including OK Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2020),  and Karen Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center and a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explain what's behind the decline, the current Republican and far-right conservative policy plans to try and reverse those trends and what actually works to incentivize a growing population. Photo: A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of the fetus on Dec. 17, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. (Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Wes Jackson, president of BRIC, unveils the lineup for the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Prospect Park, where the theme this year is "radical joy."  Photo: A Celebrate Brooklyn! performance at the Lena Horne Bandshell in July 2022. (Credit: BailieSchaefer via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

On Monday, the Supreme Court temporarily reinstated a Food and Drug Administration rule allowing the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine. Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation and author of Killers of Roe: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights (Hachette, 2026), explains the legal battle over the abortion pill playing out in courts and how abortion access in the United States could be upended if reproductive care becomes inaccessible through the mail. Plus, Kristyn Brandi, MD, abortion provider in New Jersey and previous board chair with Physicians for Reproductive Health, explains how abortion access has expanded via telemedicine post-Dobbs and how abortion care providers are navigating shifting policies. Photo: Trans man and abortion rights advocate Artemis Duffy of New England shows a box of mifepristone he is taking outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2024. (Photo by Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Zellnor Myrie, New York State Senator (D-20, parts of central Brooklyn including Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Park Slope), talks about his bill that would allow survivors of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein to seek damages from the Epstein estate, plus other budget-related news of the day. Photo: State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, center, questions New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James, Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and Joseph Popcun, deputy commissioner of the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, during a joint legislative budget hearing on public protection on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)

Melissa Murray, NYU law professor, co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, MSNOW commentator and the author of  The U.S. Constitution:  A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader (Simon & Schuster, 2026), explains the Constitution and how all the problems inherent in the founding are contained in it, not solved by it. Photo: The first page of the US Constitution. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Wikimedia Commons)

WNYC has been targeted by scammers who posed as hosts and offered authors interviews -- for a fee (which WNYC would never do). Rachel Tobac, co-founder and CEO of Social Proof Security, and Kenneth Atkins, assistant director of IT and data security at WNYC, talk about how to spot sneaky online phishing scams, and how to deal if you fall for it. Photo: Stock image (Vertigo3d via Getty Creative)

Nick Corasaniti, New York Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections, talks about how the Supreme Court's recent voting rights decision could fuel "endless redistricting wars," and how this may affect this year's midterm elections and beyond. Photo: Campaign signs in Takoma Park, Md. on Oct. 27, 2018. (Credit: Edward Kimmel/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 2.0)

Christine Clarke, commissioner and chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights, talks about her new role, the Mamdani administration's priorities in human rights and the state of New York's anti-discrimination laws. Photo: Christine Clarke, chair and commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. (Credit: New York City Commission on Human Rights)

Derrick Palmer, cofounder of the Amazon Labor Union and the author of Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century (Auwa Books, 2026), tells the story of organizing the first successful labor union for Amazon workers at the JFK8 Warehouse on Staten Island and offers advice for other workers seeking to organize. Photo: Cover art for Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century by Derrick Palmer. (Credit: Macmillan Publishers)

Last Friday was "decision day" for high school seniors who are making plans to go to college in the fall. Listeners call in to share how much politics - or the job market - played into their decision (or their child's decision) on where to go. Photo: Stock image via fotosipsak/Getty Creative

Join WNYC and Theater Of War for a series of programs hosted by Kai Wright and TOW artistic director Bryan Doerries that re-imagine works of journalism in innovative and engaging ways, including performances by acclaimed actors.  Actors Adepero Oduye (12 Years a Slave, Pariah, The Big Short) and Jumaane Williams (NYC Public Advocate) performed “Our Longing for Inconvenience,” a recent essay written by Hanif Abdurraqib for The New Yorker. The essay helped kick off a conversation with WNYC listeners about “falling in love the old fashioned way” in a world mediated by phones and apps. We explored the tension between our desire for convenience and the friction of older technologies — like Walkmans, disposable cameras, and VCRs — that transport us back to less distracted, seemingly more authentic, times. And we talked about strategies for staying present and resisting the allure of instant gratification to feel more alive.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. AI Creeps Into the Classroom (First) | PEN World Voices & Global Free Expression (Starts at 35:49) | Why Hospital Admission Is Getting Harder (Starts at 1:05:28) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Farnaz Fassihi, United Nations Bureau Chief for The New York Times, reports on the latest in the negotiations around the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: A pro-Iran demonstration in Iran on March 31, 2026. (Credit: 110 and 135/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 1.0)

Lawmakers in Albany are going back and forth over a bill that would require so-called "super speeders" — drivers who get caught speeding more than 16 times per year — to install speed governors in their car. J.K. Trotter, associate editor for Streetsblog NYC, explains the problem, the legislation, and his reporting on one NYPD cop who has racked up more than 500 speeding tickets. Photo: A speeding camera sign in Huntsville, Ala. pictured May 7, 2015. (Credit: formulanone/Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0)

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released new guidance that prioritizes childbirth over contraception. Mary Ziegler, UC Davis law professor and the author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession (Yale University Press, 2023) and Personhood: The New Civil War over Reproduction (Yale University Press, 2025), explains what's in the guidance and why she believes that the Trump administration is launching the most serious effort in decades to curb contraception. Photo: Birth control pills and pregnancy tests sit on a pharmacy shelf. (Credit: Sarahmirk/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 4.0)

The New York Times released a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. Lindsay Zoladz, pop music critic at The New York Times and the writer of the music newsletter The Amplifier, talks about the luminaries on the list, and shares who she wishes could have been included but were left off. Photo: Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at BC Place on December 06, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

The Supreme Court heard arguments on two cases where the Trump administration is attempting to end TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, for thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the US. Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president for International Programs at International Rescue Committee, and Daniel Berlin, policy director of Protection Pathways at the International Rescue Committee, offer their take on why the program should stay legal, as well as talk about the humanitarian crisis they say is ongoing in Haiti.Photo by Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons): Panorama of the west facade of United States Supreme Court Building at dusk in Washington, D.C., United States of America 

The Trump administration's work requirement changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, officially took effect this month. Karen Yi, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering homelessness and poverty, explains what has changed for SNAP recipients in New York and New Jersey. Photo by Lance Cheung/U.S. Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons:  A farmer's market in Baltimore tests out wireless payment through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Nicholas Enrich, former civil servant who worked at USAID under four administrations and the author of Into The Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID (Summit Books, 2026), talks about the effects of DOGE cuts on USAID, and of his efforts to publicize them and what the cuts meant for countries receiving U.S. assistance. Photo courtesy of United States Coast Guard via Wikimedia Commons: USAID packages being delivered by United States Coast Guard personnel. 

Halle Newman, writer, talks about her recent piece for Slate, "My Dad Used to Have All the Answers. Now He Asks ChatGPT," and the people who outsource their advice-giving to generative AI. Photo: close-up of a man using a laptop. Credit: SHVETS via Pexels.

Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, co-chief executive officer of PEN America, and Dinaw Mengestu, novelist and writer and president of PEN America, talk about free expression around the world and the World Voices Festival underway. Photo: A shelf of books. (Credit: Desnathas via Wikimedia Commons BY CC 4.0)

Listeners call in to share about an interesting or out of the box job they are hiring for, or a job they recently got that they'd like to talk about.Photo: Help wanted sign spotted at Gaudalupe in Austin, Texas, (Credit: Andreas Klinke Johannsen, Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast, Truman Capote fellow for creative writing and law at Yale Law School and author of Charged (Random House, 2019), offers legal analysis of today's arguments before the Supreme Court over Temporary Protected Status for certain refugees, plus reacts to the Louisiana redistricting decision.Photo: United States Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C., (Marielam1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Dana Kaplan, criminal justice reform expert, talks about her new role as Mayor Mamdani's Close Rikers Czar, leading NYC's efforts to close Rikers in favor of borough-based jails as required by law. Photo: An aerial image of Rikers Island. (Credit: U.S. Geological Survey via Wikimedia Commons)

Listeners call in to talk about what they feel unsure about in this age of certainty and political polarization. Photo: A person sits at a restaurant in New Orleans on Feb. 5, 2008. (Credit: Bridget Coila via Wikimedia Commons)

Elisabeth Rosenthal, senior contributing editor at KFF Health News, former ER physician, and author of An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back (Penguin Press (hardcover, 2017)), discusses her latest reporting on how patients in emergency department are getting stuck waiting for days to be transferred into an inpatient ward. Photo: Rooms in the emergency department are made up at the new UCI Health hospital in Irvine, CA on Thursday, November 6, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)    

Cory Booker, U.S. Senator (D, NJ) and the author of Stand (St. Martin's Press, 2026), talks about his efforts to gain support for a war powers resolution to stop the war in Iran, and other national news. Photo: U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks at the National Action Network's annual convention on April 11, 2026 in New York City. A horde of 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls will descend on a Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan this week for Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference, nearly two years before the first primary votes will be cast (by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images).

Gideon Levy, Haaretz columnist, talks about the current state of violence and settlements in the West Bank.Photo: US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (C) and the Palestinian mayor of the village of Taybeh, Suleiman Khourieh (C-L), tour the fifth-century Church of St George in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on July 19, 2025. In the villages and communities around Taybeh, Palestinian authorities have reported that settlers had killed three people and damaged or destroyed multiple water sources in the past two weeks alone. The July 7 arson attack on the remains of the Church of Saint George, which date back to the 5th century, was the last straw for many villagers, who blame Israeli settlers for a spate of recent attacks. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP via Getty Images)

This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that centers on Monsanto and Bayer's weedkiller Roundup—and its active ingredient glyphosate. Maureen Groppe, Supreme Court correspondent for USA Today, and Lianne Sheppard, Rohm and Haas endowed professor of public health at the University of Washington, explain the legal questions and the science, respectively. Photo: Roundup weed killing products are offered for sale at a home improvement store on May 14, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images.    

David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the Mamdani administration's new Office of Deed Theft Prevention, and six-month lien moratorium after Councilmember Chi Ossé's arrest at a deed theft protest. Photo: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, left, and New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, right. (Credit: NYC Office of the Mayor)

Jessica Winter, staff writer at The New Yorker, covering family and education, discusses her latest reporting on how artificial intelligence tools are cropping up in the classroom, like the pre-installed AI tools on Google's Chromebooks, and why an increasing number of parents and educators are becoming concerned. Photo: Cam Eaton, 9, works on a Chromebook during home schooling on March 18, 2020 in New Rochelle, New York. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)    

Brian Stelter, chief media analyst for CNN Worldwide, lead author of the Reliable Sources newsletter and the author of several books, including Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for America (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2024), offers his perspective of the shooting at this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, including how commonplace it is becoming for Americans to experience this kind of trauma.   photo:  Guests take cover after a unknown safety event took place as President Donald Trump was to speak to attendees of the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner April 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. According to reports, President Donald Trump, along with other government officials, were evacuated from the Washington Hilton after what sounded like gun fire. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has testified before Congress several times over the past month. Chelsea Cirruzzo, Washington Correspondent for STAT News, offers analysis as to why he seemed to move away from some of the more radical MAHA messaging he has promoted in the past. Photo: Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivers remarks at a White House event announcing the Make America Healthy Again Commission on May 22, 2025. (Credit: Joyce N. Boghosian/White House via Wikimedia Commons)