The Brian Lehrer Show

Three Long Island community groups came together to create a "The People's Plan" for police reform that goes beyond what each county submitted to the governor. Shanequa Levin, CEO and founder of the Women’s Diversity Network and Long Island United steering committee member, and Frederick Brewington, Nassau County-based civil rights attorney and member of Long Island Advocates for Police Accountability (LIAFPA), talk about the plan and the process of creating it and where it differs from the official county submissions.

An Asian American woman was viciously attacked by a man on a Midtown street on Monday. Several people seemed to have witnessed the incident, but did not appear to intervene.  Dax Valdes, senior trainer at Hollaback, a global organization aimed at ending harassment in all of its forms, and Sandy Yang, director of communications and marketing for Protect Chinatown, talk about what it means to be a good bystander and how to support or help a victim of harassment or violence if you see it happening. 

Listeners call in to share how they've spent, or are planning to celebrate and observe, religious holidays coming up, including Passover, Easter, Ramadan and more.

Even as the CDC warns against a potential fourth surge, with COVID cases rising, including here in the Northeast, the agency announced some encouraging news this week. Celine Gounder, professor of medicine & infectious diseases at the NYU School of Medicine; Bellevue Hospital doctor, medical analyst for CNN and the host/producer of American Diagnosis and Epidemic podcasts, explains what a CDC study of essential workers found, including confirmation that the vaccines prevent illness from COVID-19 in real-world conditions and that they appear to prevent even asymptomatic infections.

As vaccine eligibility expands around the county the question remains:  Is everyone eligible getting the shot and, if not, is it because of hesitancy or difficulty scheduling appointments for other reasons?  In a series of conversations, Mitra Kalita, co-founder of URL Media and CEO and publisher of Epicenter-NYC, joins to talk about how about how ID requirements can be a barrier for some vulnerable or undocumented New Yorkers. Need help making an appointment or want to help someone in your life make an appointment? You can call Epicenter-NYC at 917-818-2690 or fill out this registration form.  Read: What We Learned Registering Thousands of Our Neighbors for Vaccines 

As Women's History Month draws to a close, Alexis Coe, historian and author of, now out in paperback, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington (Penguin Books, 2021), joins to discuss some groundbreaking women who were the first in their industries, and listeners call in to share their favorites.

Elie Honig, CNN legal analyst, host of the CAFE daily impeachment podcast Third Degree and author of the forthcoming book Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department (HarperCollins, 2021), offers insight and analysis on the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd.

New York recently launched a vaccine passport called the "Excelsior Pass." Brian Behlendorf, general manager of Blockchain Healthcare and Identity at the Linux Foundation of Public Health, talks about what it is, and how people in the open source community are advocating for systems like these to be linked, so people don't need multiple apps. Then, Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) at the Urban Justice Center, a New York–based civil rights and privacy group, and a fellow at the Engelberg Center for Innovation Law & Policy at NYU School of Law shares concerns about privacy and the digital divide.

While New Jersey ramps up its vaccine distribution, the state is contending with a stark rise in coronavirus cases and persisting disparities in vaccinations. Karen Yi, WNYC reporter covering New Jersey, and Dr. Stephanie Silvera, epidemiologist at Montclair State University, bring the latest.

Every Tuesday evening through May 4th, The Greene Space and the non-profit advocacy organization Worth Rises are holding virtual panel discussions about the business side of the prison industry, asking: who profits when people get put away? We're previewing those discussions with a weekly segment here on The Brian Lehrer Show. This Bianca Tylek, Worth Rises’s executive director, and Paul Wright, founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center, and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), explain how private companies that contract with jails and prisons can make money by offering financial services to incarcerated people who don’t have other choices.  EVENT, 7pm: Sign up for Tuesday's live virtual panel discussion HERE.

Gabriel Debenedetti, national correspondent at New York Magazine, talks about the latest news from Washington, D.C., including the uphill battle the Biden administration faces as it confronts the previous administration's legacy on foreign policy, and the challenges of diplomacy facing the new president.

Christopher Robbins, reporter for Gothamist, and Karen DeWitt, Capitol bureau correspondent for New York State Public Radio, talk about the biggest issues being discussed in Albany ahead of the April 1st budget deadline.

Alyson Martin, co-founder of Cannabis Wire, talks about the latest cannabis-related news from Albany as lawmakers eye legalization.

Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, and formerly a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, talks about the recent outrage over the NCAA's unequal treatment between men and women athletes competing in March Madness, and her own experiences covering women’s sports over her career.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D NY) answers questions about the issues facing the senate and the state, including regulating firearms meant for military use, sexual harassment and due process, and the toxic 'burn pits' the Army uses to dispose of chemicals and electronics.