COVID-19 News Update; What Haaland's Appointment Would Mean for Native Americans; Ask the Mayor; MTA Update; Community Well-Being: Keeping Queens Resilient

The Brian Lehrer Show | Dec 4, 2020

Coming up on today's show:

  • Dara Kass, MD, emergency medicine physician at Columbia University Medical Center and Yahoo News medical contributor, talks about the latest numbers and the latest on vaccine development and distribution.
  • Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy with Data for Progress, narrative change director of the Natural History Museum, and a fellow of the Type Media Center, NDN Collective, and the Center for Humans and Nature, talks about the potential for Rep. Deb Haaland to be appointed the first-ever Native American Cabinet Secretary, and what it would mean for Native American communities and environmental policy.
  • New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners and discusses this week in NYC.
  • The MTA is in dire financial straits, since ridership has plunged during the pandemic. WNYC transportation reporter Stephen Nessen talks about what the agency is seeking from the federal government -- and what will happen if it doesn't get it.
  • Denean Ferguson, co-chair of QR²-Queens Recovery & Resiliency/FRANC and director special projects at Arverne Church of God, talks about working with with her community through challenges and tragedies from Super Storm Sandy to COVID-19.

Transcripts are posted to the individual segment pages as soon as they are available.

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

Top Stories

America at 250: A View from Britain, with “The Rest Is History”

The historian-podcasters Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland explain why losing the thirteen colonies “annoyed” the British, but “it could have been a lot worse.”
The New Yorker Radio Hour |

NYC Rent Guidelines Board approves 2-year rent freeze, fulfilling Mamdani campaign pledge

About 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will be shielded from rent increases for the next two years after the historic vote.
Gothamist |

Are Carriage Horses a Thing of the Past?

Liam Quigley talks about the latest efforts to ban carriage horses in Central Park.
The Brian Lehrer Show |

Feds indict former Mayor Adams adviser Frank Carone in migrant housing bribery scheme

One of former Mayor Eric Adams' oldest and closest allies was arrested Wednesday on federal corruption charges, joining a growing roster of Adams aides facing prosecution.
Gothamist |
YOU ARE ONLINE