30 Issues in 30 Days: Rikers Island; The Latest on The Firings at the CDC; Tentative Hope in Gaza and Israel; Coffee Prices Up and Up

The Brian Lehrer Show | Oct 14, 2025
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On today's show:

  • Elizabeth Glazer, founder of the journal Vital City and former director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, talks about the challenges the next mayor will face regarding Rikers Island, and what each says about the current plan to close Rikers in favor of borough-based jails.
  • On Saturday, the Trump administration rescinded the layoffs of hundreds of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were mistakenly fired the day before. Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter at The New York Times, explains what happened and who remains at the CDC.
  • Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters With the Islamic State (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2019), offers analysis of the current ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza, and why one Palestinian philosopher told him he feels a "paradoxical optimism" that the current peace will hold.

  • Listeners share whether they're seeing higher coffee prices due to tariffs yet, and if that's changing their caffeine habits.

Transcripts are posted to each segment as they become available.

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