Jody Avirgan

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. 

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.

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.

Yesterday on the show we tested your knowledge in our annual year-end news quiz. (Listen here) Below are 10 of our favorite questions from the True/False lightning round at the end of the show. See how much you were paying attention in 2011 -- and no googling.

Happy New Year from everyone at the BL Show!

Smartphone apps are big business, and increasingly complicated to develop. WNYC producer Jody Avirgan talks with Rekha Murthy of PRX and Lisa Bettany of Camera+ about what it takes to get one made -- and pitches his idea for an app to Bob and Brooke.

Fill out the survey!

To wrap up our New Littles project, the Brian Lehrer Show asked local artists and illustrators to represent the various new neighborhoods we'd discussed on a map. Not knowing what to expect, we put out a call for entries and waited. The response was incredible, full of talent, inventiveness and community spirit. Check out the entries below, and be sure to visit the artist's website to support their work - many of the pieces are even for sale! Thanks to all for participating in The New Littles.

We won't bury the lead - there wasn't much new in President Obama's morning press conference on the debt ceiling negotiations. But at the end of a long week of highly partisan standoff (and ahead of what looks to be a working weekend in Washington) here are five talking points that caught our ear.

Over the course of our New Littles project, we've identified some of New York's overlooked ethnic communities. Now, we want artists and illustrators to draw a new neighborhood map. Our favorites will be featured on the WNYC website and on-air during the Brian Lehrer Show. Upload your artwork directly below, or post a link in the comments page. Deadline for submission is Monday, July 11th. Here are some of the neighborhoods you may want to include (though you can obviously include others you know about):

UPDATE: Check out the New Little Map Below! We've taken our data set and mapped it.

Each Thursday in June, the Brian Lehrer Show and Andrew Beveridge of Social Explorer will discuss New York’s diverse communities - areas of ethnic concentration you may not know about or are changing quickly. ...

I'm a light enough sleeper that even the phone's buzz will wake me up. There was no way I was sleeping through the four calls, five texts, and other forms of digital intrusion that descended upon my device just before 11pm on Sunday night. 

 

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.