A follow up on some lingering questions from Wednesday's interview with Thomas King of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. First, BL Show producer Jody Avirgan fact-checks the stats about the number of out-of-state weapons in New York. Then,  Paul Browne, Deputy Commissioner at the NYPD, discusses the tools law enforcement has at their disposal to trace illegal guns brought into New York City and State.

New York's magazines and newspapers cover the world, but they also produce great journalism about the tri-state region. Eddie Robinson spoke with Jody Avirgan, a contributing editor at Longform about the best 2012 nonfiction about our community.

Grab your shovel. Four years ago this week, on the day after the 2008 election, we asked you to answer the question "By 2012, what will Obama actually change?" We put your predictions into our online "time capsule," and now, we'll open it up and look at some of what you had to say. Remember, we're doing it again: make your predictions for 2016 here. Now let's revisit some of your 2008 predictions, grouped by category.

WNYC asked Longform to pick great stories as background reading for our 30 Issues in 30 Days series. These are stories that help illuminate and humanize the important issues this election year. Part Five of 30 Issues looks at "social issues" -- from abortion to gay marriage, race, guns, and gender. See all the guides here.

For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s app to read the latest picks.

WNYC asked Longform to pick great stories as background reading for our 30 Issues in 30 Days series. These are stories that help illuminate and humanize the important issues this election year. Part Four of 30 Issues looks at the role of government in housing, energy, health, and military funding and policy. See all the guides here.

For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s app to read the latest picks.

WNYC asked Longform to pick great stories as background reading for our 30 Issues in 30 Days series. These are stories that help illuminate and humanize the important issues this election year. Part Three of 30 Issues looks at those in foreclosure, returning veterans, the safety net, and other questions of inequality. See all the guides here.

For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s app to read the latest picks.

WNYC asked Longform to pick great stories as background reading for our 30 Issues in 30 Days series. These are stories that help illuminate and humanize the important issues this election year. Part Two of 30 Issues looks at fiscal debt, infrastructure spending, and tax policy. See all the guides here.

For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s app to read the latest picks.

WNYC asked Longform to pick great stories as background reading for our 30 Issues in 30 Days series. These are stories that help illuminate and humanize the important issues this election year. Part One of 30 Issues looks at unemployment, manufacturing, the future of education, and the victims of the great recession.

For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s app to read the latest picks.

This seems to be the election of the fact-checker, with the media becoming more emboldened to hold politicians accountable for their misleading statements. But we've also seen some fact-check-creep. Brooke went on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show to discuss what exactly a "fact" is, and why some organizations feel pressure to label traditional news analysis fact-checking. Take a listen below, and listen to the OTM segment on fact-checking here.

We hit the streets of Charlotte to ask delegates to the Democratic National Convention: How has personal experience shaped your politics?

Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan for his vice presidential pick. Reihan Salam of the National Review will be discussing the pick on Monday's Brian Lehrer show. In the meantime, here's some background reading on Ryan.

On the Brian Lehrer Show Tuesday, Micah Sifry of Tech President talked about how the Obama and Romney campaigns are using data to target and tailor their messaging to raise cash and rustle up votes. Below is some of the background reading we did to get ready for the conversation.

The first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ("the other BLS" as we like to say here at the BrianLehrerShow) releases the monthly jobs report. Here are some quick highlights from the report that we're keeping our eye on as we get ready to discuss it at 10am with Quincy Krosby. Read the full report for yourself here.

+ Topline Number, Weak Report: 80,000 jobs added, unemployment remains at 8.2% Estimates going in expected 150k or more jobs.

+ One important factor to watch are the revisions – the bureau of labor statistics is notorious for significant revisions. This time, revisions were mixed: April revised down by 11k, but May revised up by 8k.

+ Average of 75k jobs a month created over last 3 months. Some estimates are that economy would have to add almost three times that per month in order to complete the recovery over the next five years.

+ From Justin Wolfers: The public sector jobs bleed is petering out. We lost only 4k this month, after -28k last month.

+ Unemployment rates: adult men 7.8%; adult women 7.4%; teenagers 23.7%; whites 7.4% (unchanged from last month); blacks 14.4% (up almost 1% from last month) ; Hispanics 11.0%. Asians 6.3%.

+ From report: Among the marginally attached, there were 821,000 discouraged workers in June, a decline of 161,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

+ Via Nate Silver: The household survey shows +127K jobs per month in Q2, slightly better than +75K in the establishment survey. Why the discrepancy?

+ Tweet from Dan Gross: Kind of cute and charming how many smart econo-pundit types expect this jobs market will spur Bernanke to action. Gang, he's done.

→ Listen to the show, comment on the ruling, here

At the Brian Lehrer Show, we are bracing for various scenarios in Thursday’s health care ruling. Here’s what’s in the works, what you need to know, and one weird scenario to keep in mind...

+ Our Coverage Plan

As you no doubt know, the Supreme Court has been somewhat cagey about their schedule. We know that opinions are released on Monday and Thursday mornings, but beyond that it’s a guessing game. Hence the many anxious mornings in June. But now that we’re at the end of the month, it’s a virtual certainty that we’ll get a decision on health reform around 10 a.m. Thursday. 10 a.m. is when the judges, after they get dressed in the “robing room”, begin to release information – but they first announce “orders” (what cases they will hear in the future) and then “opinions” (their judgments, read from the bench). Health care is one of three opinions on tap for Thursday, and expected to be announced third, so it may be closer to 10:20 before we have final word.

The Brian Lehrer Show begins at 10:06, so we’ll be recapping the basic arguments and the possible scenarios with health policy expert Michael Sparer of Columbia as we wait for information to trickle in. We’ll also have The Takeaway’s Todd Zwillich on the steps of the Supreme Court, where there’s likely to be a lively scene of protesters and supporters of health care reform.

After we learn more about the judgment, we’ll do quick analysis of both the policy and political fallout with Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute, Paul Starr of Princeton, and many more.

What you need to know to get ready for the ruling below...

The Philadelphia 76ers spoiled the Nets' final game in New Jersey with a 105-87 victory Monday night. For New Jersey fans it was a bittersweet game. In the fall, the NJ Nets will be re-billed the Brooklyn Nets and play in the yet to be completed Barclays Center.

From "Carry Me Ohio" to "Sweet Virginia"; "Superbad" to "I'm Set Free" -- take a listen to songs that will get you in the Super Tuesday mood. We've hand-picked some tracks that have "super" "Tuesday" and "Free" in the title, as well as songs that pay tribute to the ten states voting today. 

You've probably seen this by now -- the latest Romney attack ad on Newt Gingrich that features neither Gingrich or Romney (or at least not until the disclaimer at the end). Instead, it's all Tom Brokaw, from a 1997 NBC Nightly News segment.

NBC has now asked that Romney pull the video, with Brokaw adding that he feels "extremely uncomfortable" with the use of his likeness. On today's Brian Lehrer Show, ABC chief White House correspondent Jake Tapper weighed in on the controversy:

Here's the full Tapper response from today's Brian Lehrer Show:

What do you think? Fair use on the part of the Romney campaign? Over the line? Let us know in the comments!

A few weeks ago, I pitched Bob and Brooke on my idea for an iPhone app that gives you ideas for iPhone apps - plus some of the ideas that would be in my app. (They were skeptical.) I then asked listeners to send along their own great ideas for apps by emailing me.

Lots of you did, here are some highlights. If you have more, email me at ideasfortheideasforanappapp@gmail.com or Tweet to @jodyavirgan.

This is Politics Bites. Every once in a while we'll post short audio to It's A Free Country: The Podcast that deserves a little extra attention.

The Story Pirates take stories written by kids and turn them into musical theater. For the State of the Union 2012, It's A Free Country asked our audience to answer the question: “What would you say if you were addressing the country?”

The Story Pirates compiled the answers and some responses from their own workshops - with kids from ages 6 to 17 - and here are the results. Take a listen, download for free!

We're gathering tonight in The Greene Space for the State of the Union viewing party, but you can join in the fun from home. Here's the playlist of songs about states we're listening to as we get ready for the speech, courtesy of Brian Lehrer Show producer Jody Avirgan.

States of Our Union from jta on 8tracks.