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City Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-5, Upper East Side) talks about the latest news from City Council and takes calls from listeners. Photo: Speaker Julie Menin speaking at a rally for Hands Off NYC (Photo courtesy of New York City Council) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Elana Schor, senior Washington editor at Semafor, talks about the latest national political news, including the U.S. strikes on Iran which hit more than 170 Iranian military targets on Tuesday and Wednesday and what comes next. Photo: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to members of the media as the Trump Cabinet briefs members of Congress on Iran at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ann Larson, a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register (One Signal/Atria, 2026), talks about what she learned about the economy and workers when she went from reporting on low-wage work to taking a job during the pandemic at a local supermarket. Photo: People shop near 'Sale' signs in the meats section of a grocery store on July 7, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners talk about their teens' summer jobs, the value of those jobs, and the current state of the summer youth employment market. Photo: Teenage workers man the cash register at Apponaug Village Creamery in Warwick, RI, on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at the Nation, assesses the Supreme Court's term (First) | Atlantic staff writer Rose Horowitch considers the question: are we in a 'postliterate' age? (Starts at 49:05) | The many insects of NYC (Starts at 1:17:25) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

U.S Representative (D NY 6) Grace Meng talks about her primary victory, the state of the Democratic party and where birthright citizenship stands after the Supreme Court ruled to preserve it last month. Photo: UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 3: Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., attends a "Women For Suozzi Rally," for former Rep. Tom Suozzi, Democratic candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District, in Port Washington, N.Y., on Saturday, February 3, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo discuss the chapter's sweeping victories in last month's primary elections, their implications for the future, and their reflections on Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tenure so far. Photo: Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks during the "Our Team, Our Year" Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, on June 18, 2026. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Noah Shachtman, contributing editor at WIRED and contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, discusses his investigation into how Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan has surveilled his arenas and compiled databases of high-profile guests, allegedly tracking a trans woman, lawyers and protesters. Photo: NEW YORK, NY - June 30: General views around Madison Square Garden on June 30, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Andrea Renault/Star Max/GC Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As part of the yearlong series "Wild NYC," Marielle Anzelone, urban botanist and ecologist and the founder of NYC Wildflower Week, and Jessica Ware, entomologist and division chair of Invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History and co-founder of Entomologists of Color, talk about the moths, beetles, flies, and butterflies living around us and their role in making the ecosystem work. Photo: Ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), a striking damselfly species native to New York City. (Photo by Marielle Anzelone) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ilan Stavans, publisher of Restless Books, professor of humanities and Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College and the author of A Nation Wrestles with God: American Prophets, Philosophers, and Firebrands (Restless Books, 2026), talks about the broad spectrum of American religious thought, from Cotton Mather to Lana Del Rey. Photo: KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA - JULY 03: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 03, 2026 in Keystone, South Dakota. Trump is holding a rally and fireworks show at Mount Rushmore, kicking off a weekend of 250th Independence Day celebrations across the country. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.