WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show

This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, writer and director Nisha Pahuja talks about her film "To Kill a Tiger" that tells the story of a family in rural India that decides to fight back in court after the daughter is sexually assaulted.

"To Kill a Tiger" is screening at Manhattan's Quad Cinema on W. 13th St.

Check out the interviews with all the nominees.

This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, director Mstyslav Chernov , Pulitzer Prize-winning video journalist at The Associated Press and president of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, talks about his feature documentary, 20 Days In Mariupol, and his experience with his fellow journalists trapped in Mariupol as the Russians invade.

Check out the interviews with all the nominees.

For this Black History Month, Zinga Fraser , assistant professor of Africana Studies and Women's and Gender Studies and director of the Shirley Chisholm Project at Brooklyn College, joins us as we explore the life and legacy of Brooklyn's Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005), the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and the first woman and African American to campaign for a major party's nomination for president.

Mustafa Akyol , senior fellow at the Cato Institute focusing on Islam and modernity, and the author the forthcoming book The Islamic Moses: How the Prophet Inspired Jews and Muslims to Flourish Together and Change the World (St. Martin's Essentials, 2024), argues that perceived indifference to Palestinian suffering in Gaza is alienating moderates across the Islamic world and has the potential to tarnish the appeal of liberal democratic values in the United States and the West.

Over 61,000 New Yorkers have submitted a claim of EBT fraud since August of last year. Bahar Ostadan , WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering the NYPD and public safety, reports on how these thefts are happening and who is targeted. And NY Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (AD-34, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside) joins us for a few minutes to explain how lawmakers are dealing with the issue.

This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, director and producer Maite Alberdi talks about her film, "The Eternal Memory" that connects the individual crisis of an Alzheimer's diagnosis to the societal need to preserve its history through the story of a prominent Chilean couple.

→ Check out the interviews with all the nominees.

Jia Tolentino , staff writer at The New Yorker , author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion (Random House, 2019), discusses her reporting on the rollout of marijuana legalization in New York, specifically on those who are struggling to capitalize on a state program that promises dispensary licenses and on the seed money to those who have been adversely affected by the drug’s criminalization.

Eric Klinenberg , professor in the social sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University and the author of 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed (Knopf, 2024), tells the story of New York in 2020 through the lens of seven New Yorkers, and talks about the ongoing effect of that traumatic year.

→ Eric Klinenberg will talk about the book "2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed" with Columbia history professor Kim Phillips-Fein on Monday, March 4th at 6:30pm at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on 5th Avenue at 40th Street.

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, plus news that the mayor is suing social media companies over declining teenage mental health, and also being sued by the Legal Aid Society for not expanding housing voucher access to more low-income New Yorkers.

While history looks back on both Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as revolutionary figures in their own rights, their ideological roots led them to pursue different visions for Black American liberation. Peniel Joseph , professor of history and public affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (Basic Books, 2020), peels back behind the veneer of history, provides a deeper look at the ideologies they subscribed to throughout their lives, and reflects on how integrationism and Black nationalism have worked out in modern American society.

After last week's news of comments from Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on Biden's age and mental agility hit a nerve, Damon Linker , senior lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania and writer of the Substack newsletter “Notes from the Middleground,” explains his argument expressed in a recently published piece for The Atlantic that "Democrats Should Pick a New Presidential Candidate Now ." What would the process for choosing that new candidate could look like? And who might the Democrats be considering?

It's been 130 days since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, which has reignited both violence in Gaza and discourse here in the United States about the relationship between state of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Marc Tracy , New York Times culture reporter, formerly a writer for Tablet, where he covered contemporary Jewish life, and editor of the essay collection, "Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame ," discusses how recent events have impacted the way Jewish Americans think about their relationships to Israel, its government, its history, its people, and its treatment of its Palestinian neighbors.

This year's winners of the Lehrer Award for Community Well-Being focus their work on caring for the migrants arriving in NYC from the southern border. Nuala O'Doherty-Naranjo , attorney, community activist and the founder of the Jackson Heights Immigrant Center; Jesus Aguais , president of Aid for Life ; and Power Malu , founder of Artists Athletes Activists , talk about their work connecting migrants with the services and the community they need.

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: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (Random House, 2019,) offers analysis of the oral arguments held at the Supreme Court over Colorado's decision to disqualify Trump from the primary ballot.

Errol Louis , political anchor of Spectrum NY1 News, host of Inside City Hall, New York Magazine columnist and host of the podcast You Decide , and Rich Barrabi , co-anchor of "Mornings on News 12" and host of "Power and Politics " on News 12 Long Island, recap News 12 Long Island's debate between Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip, who are in a tight race for a special election to replace George Santos in Congress in New York's 3rd Congressional district, and discuss the major issues at play.

Today, we're taking NPR’s Special Coverage of the oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the case of Trump vs. Anderson .

Beginning at 9:30am, Brian is joined by Emily Bazelon , staff writer for The New York Times Magazine , co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast, Yale Law School fellow and author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (Random House, 2019), to briefly preview the oral arguments the Supreme Court will be hearing over whether former President Trump is ineligible to hold office and appear on the primary ballot in Colorado.

New York City’s landmark emissions reductions law took effect earlier this month. Rohit T. Aggarwala , chief climate officer and commissioner of NYC's Department of Environmental Protection, Simon Mugo , program manager of NYC Accelerator, and Andrew Chintz , financing specialist at NYC Accelerator, which provides free guidance to meet energy efficiency upgrades for buildings, talk about the implementation process so far, how owners can work to retrofit their buildings and what tools are available to them.

→ For more information about compliance, visit the NYC Accelerator website .

A recent Pew Research poll found that 28% of the United States' population of "adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics or 'nothing in particular.”' Furthermore, "'nones' tend to vote less often, do less volunteer work in their communities, and follow public affairs at lower rates than religiously affiliated people do." Listeners who fall into the category of "nones" share how they find community without religion in their lives.

Jonathan Blitzer , New Yorker staff writer and the author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis (Penguin Press, 2024), tells the larger story of the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border through the stories of individuals making the journey from Central America -- and talks about the politics of the current crisis, including the bipartisan compromise just negotiated.

There was some multigenerational synergy at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, as an 80-year-old Joni Mitchell performed with 40-something Brandi Carlile, and Tracy Chapman sang her hit song "Fast Car" with Luke Combs, the country artist who had a hit with his cover of it last year. Listeners call in to share their multigenerational music crossover tastes—what their 20- and 30-something kids have turned them on to, and what music "kids" in their 20s and 30s have gotten their parents into.

The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York got a big grant that will allow the school to work toward free tuition at a time when the profession is undergoing big changes. Craig Newmark , founder of craigslist and philanthropist, and Graciela Mochkofsky , dean at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, contributing writer for The New Yorker and the author of The Prophet of the Andes: An Unlikely Journey to the Promised Land (Knopf, 2022), talk about what this means for the school, individual students and the future of journalism.

House Republicans have begun the process to impeach the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border policy. Jacqueline Alemany , Congressional investigations reporter for The Washington Post, explains what Republicans are thinking, how they haven't actually presented any impeachable offenses and why Democrats say the GOP is abusing impeachment and using it as a political tool ahead of the 2024 election.

Winter blues and reflection during the early weeks of the new year can bring up a feeling of being absolutely stuck in life. Adam Alter , professor of marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business, affiliated professor of psychology at NYU, and author of Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most (Simon & Schuster, 2023), explains why this feeling of being stuck may occur and how to get your life back on a fulfilling track.

Elizabeth Passarella , magazine writer and the author of the essay collections It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway and Good Apple (Thomas Nelson, 2023), discusses the phenomenon of excessively permissive parenting and its connection to gentle parenting, while listeners share how they're balancing discipline with the need to teach their children boundaries and how to work through their feelings.

Three U.S. service members were killed in Jordan this week, and now some Republicans are proposing that the United States should attack Iran. Fred Kaplan , Slate's War Stories columnist and the author of many books, including The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War (Simon & Schuster, 2020), explains why we even have troops in Jordan and other places in the Middle East at all, and how this is all related to the Israel-Hamas war.

With the next presidential primary taking place in South Carolina, Meg Kinnard , national politics reporter at The Associated Press, writer of their "Ground Game" newsletter and a South Carolina resident, shares her reporting and analysis on the politics of the Palmetto State—including the issues that voters there care most about, and how they feel about the fact that their former governor, Nikki Haley, is on the ballot.

In his State of the City address, Mayor Adams declared social media to be a public health hazard, at the same time that Florida is working on a ban for all teens under 16. Katherine Keyes , professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, talks about what her research has shown on the good and bad effects of social media. Plus, Andrew Gounardes , New York State Senator (D, District 26 - Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, the Columbia Street Waterfront District, Dumbo, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, Gowanus, Park Slope, Red Hook, South Slope, and Sunset Park), explains two new proposed state laws that aim to protect anyone under 18 online, including one which would prohibit social media companies from collecting and selling information and another which would curb features like curated algorithmic feeds.

Yesterday, Pew Research released a results of a study showing that only 45% of young adults ages 18 to 34 are completely financially independent from their parents. We hear from listeners -- both parents and young adults -- about giving and receiving financial aid within their families, what this aid is used for, how this dynamic affects their relationships, and their aspirations for financial independence in the future.

Anya Kamenetz , author of the parenting newsletter "The Golden Hour", The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, And Where We Go Now (Public Affairs, 2022), and advisor to the Aspen Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network , brings us into the story of a modern day polycule as documented in The Cut while listeners share how they're practicing polyamory in their homes in 2024.

New York State's Medicaid budget is one of the biggest in the country. Bill Hammond , senior fellow for health policy at the Empire Center, and Elisabeth Benjamin , vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York Campaign, explain why Medicaid spending is over budget and what all that spending provides for New Yorkers.

Writer E. Jean Carroll is taking former President Donald Trump back to court, this time focusing on what damages, if any, Trump must pay Carroll for defaming her. Andrea Bernstein , journalist reporting on Trump legal matters for NPR, host of "We Don't Talk About Leonard" podcast from ProPublica & On The Media (previous podcasts: Will be Wild and Trump, Inc) and the author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps and the Marriage of Money and Power (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020), breaks down the first two days of the trial and what comes next.