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After the overheated rhetoric of the mayoral inauguration, temperatures turned frigid--literally--and snow blanketed the region, presenting Bill de Blasio with his first test as mayor. He came out...um..shoveling. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein, Beth Fertig and Brian Lehrer break down a very manic week.

Brian Lehrer hosts a politics special with all the results, speeches, and analysis of what comes next for the region and the country.

Watch WNYC host Brian Lehrer's historic conversation in The Greene Space with four of the country's top experts on environmental science and policy: physicist and visionary environmental scientist Amory Lovins; Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York State, Richard Kauffman; Margot Anderson, Executive Director of the Energy Project for the BiPartisan Policy Center; and Guy Nordenson, structural engineer and professor of architecture appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the New York City Panel on Climate Change.

Michael Bloomberg won't be remembered as the anti-asthma mayor, as he will the anti-smoking, anti-obesity and anti-murder mayor. But he's done a lot more to fight the disease than I ever imagined he would.

I recently got a chance to speak at the presentation of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, put on by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Here are my remarks, with advice for writers young and old.

I was asked to choose some words of advice to give to young writers. I have three words: write, rewrite and stop.

If you want to make it at something, do it all the time. If you love to write and want to be a writer, write along with your life. Write about the mundane things that happen in your day and you'll wind up finding meaning in them that you didn't know was there until the writing made you start to think. I sometimes tell people I think with my fingers, meaning give me a keyboard, any keyboard, when I want to really think something through. So write along with your life. Then write about things outside your life.

New York City will soon be electing a new mayor, but the city's current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has left an indelible mark on the nation’s largest city. After 12 years and three terms, he will move on in January 2014. Brian Lehrer, host of WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show, discusses Mayor Bloomberg's legacy. 

In New York, a once-disgraced politician is trying to be the next comeback kid. Last night, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced his candidacy for New York City Comptroller. Governor Spitzer discussed his candidacy on our co-producer WNYC's program, The Brian Lehrer Show, earlier today. Brian Lehrer joins us to discuss these candidates looking for a comeback.

After the initial surge of news on Monday, we hit a news lull, so many outlets filled their air with recycled video, speculation, sorrow on the scene, pundits, consultants and blather. We asked the best call-in host we know, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, what you're supposed to say on-air when there isn't new information but people still want to tune in. 

When a deadly and historic storm struck New York and New Jersey in late October, WNYC Radio became the hearth for a shell-shocked community to share needs, demand answers to pressing questions and get vital information.

On that evening of Oct. 29, WNYC lost electric service along with the rest of Lower Manhattan, but managed to stay on the air with generator power, austerity, and the sheer will of a dispersed staff. In a city without subways and tunnels, hosts, reporters and producers walked in the dark to reach our studios, and improvised to report from far-flung storm-ravaged areas.

Brian recently visited China on a trip for journalists sponsored by the Committee Of 100. He and his fellow travelers will be posting reflections on the blog over the next week.

Five American journalists went on a one week trip to China sponsored by the Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese-Americans founded by I.M. Pei, Yo-Yo Ma and others with a foot in both worlds who are dedicated to having our two countries understand each other better. They conduct and sponsor tours like this for journalists each year. I want to start by thanking the C-100 for leading an ambitious and supremely organized trip, introducing us to so many many top people in different walks of life, and exposing us to so many different points of view about China (and us!) It was a very rich experience and I'm sure it will add great value to all our readers/viewers/listeners through the more sophisticated understanding we will now have of China (and us.)

Brian recently visited China on a trip for journalists sponsored by the Committee Of 100. He and his fellow travelers will be posting reflections on the blog over the next week.

WNYC host Brian Lehrer, WQXR host Terrance McKnight, and On the Media co-host Brooke Gladstone talk about how they celebrate Thanksgiving and share some of their favorite holiday recipes.

A new draft makes sense to my notions of fairness, smart decision-making and national unity. But I have a hard time getting too passionate about imposing a draft.

Back in February The Brian Lehrer Show, which appears on our co-producing station WNYC, began a series. It was called “The End of War,” and it featured conversations about whether or not war is inevitable. On the last day of the series, we’re talking with host Brian Lehrer and John Horgan, the author of “The End of War,” the book that inspired the series.

Is war inevitable? That question has been put to professionals from all backgrounds in the new Brian Lehrer Show series "End of War," which questions the conventional wisdom behind explanations for mass violence. Celeste sat down with Brian Lehrer, host of our co-producer WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show," and John Horgan, author of "The End of War," to discuss what – if anything – can be done to stop future wars.

Brian Lehrer and Caitlin Thompson welcome you to the podcast -- launching on January 11th.