Hi, Brian Lairer here.

Up next, Brian Lairor Weekend,

three of our favorite segments from the week,

packaged together for you to listen to on the weekend.

So enjoy, and I'll see you back on the radio Monday at 10 a.m.

on WNYC and WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Here's a reality with the Supreme Court canceling much of the Voting Rights Act. The court locked the federal government out of the redistricting debate to a large degree and gave it almost entirely to the states. You probably know that. And it's just the latest example of how much political change in

whatever direction now runs through state capitals. Texas and California and others have now

changed their congressional districts just this week, South Carolina, surprised some people

by deciding not to lock out their only black member of Congress, Jim Clyburn. The New York

state budget finally got approved last night with many policy changes that respond to the court

and to the Trump administration. We'll look at some of those specifics in our next segment.

So political change in whatever direction runs so much through the state capitals now. It runs through Trenton and

Albany and Sacramento, yes, through Austin and Baton Rouge, through Columbus and Columbia,

through Madison and Tallahassee, less through Washington and more through Lincoln.

That's the capital of Nebraska. You didn't know that, did you? Well, one former New York state

lawmaker is now the co-founder of a movement called the States Project, an author of a new book

called The Fourth Branch, How State Government Can Save Our Union. Daniel Squadron argues that

not just during the Trump years, but over the last 15 to 20 years,

states have done more harm or good than Congress on almost every issue.

Let's talk.

Daniel Squadron used to represent much of Western Brooklyn in the New York State Senate.

As a Democrat, he's also been an aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, among other things.

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