The Legal Aspects of Jordan Neely's Killing; Debating Free Expression; Teenagers and Mental Health; A Poet's Garden

This photo taken on May 13, 2014 shows dwarf crested irises in the New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, New York, that are cultivars of native species.

On today's show:

  • Errol Louis, political anchor of Spectrum NY1 News, host of Inside City Hall, New York Magazine columnist and host of the podcast You Decide, offers analysis of the legal aspects of Jordan Neely's killing and comments on the closing arguments, happening today, of E. Jean Carroll's trial accusing Trump of rape and defamation.
  • In a preview of their PEN World Voices dialog, Ayad Akhtar, president of PEN America, playwright and novelist and the author of Homeland Elegies: A Novel (Little, Brown and Company, 2020), and Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America and the author of We Need To Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy (Beacon Press, 2022), now in paperback, talk about the tension between protecting marginalized groups and freedom of expression.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report in February that showed an increase in teenagers struggling with their mental health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has declared mental health challenges for teens a "national emergency." Peter Gray, research professor at Boston College, founder of the group Let Grow and the author of books including Free to Learn (Basic Books, 2015), argues one major reason kids are facing these issues is the decline in freedom that kids and teens now have to do things on their own or with friends.
  • Camille Dungy, poet, professor at Colorado State University, and the author of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden (Simon & Schuster, 2023), links up gardening, motherhood, race and the environment in her new book, that tells the story of starting a garden in her Colorado neighborhood with restrictions on the types of plants that could be grown.

Transcripts are posted to each segment as they become available.