It's the Brian Lairn Show on WNYC. I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom, filling in for Brian today. On today's show, we're going to preview two big elections

happening across the pond in France and the UK. In both countries, things are not looking good

for the party currently in power. We'll have more on that with two correspondence from the

economist. Plus, later in the show, in advance of Independence Day here, we're going to take a step back and have a big think conversation with a CUNY political science professor about the democratic ideals of the founding fathers and where things stand today.

And lastly, you know how libraries offer fun summer reading challenges for kids?

Well, our pals at All of It have won for all of us to join.

All of It, producer, and Book Maven Jordan Lough will lay out the challenge for you

summer reading bookworms and maybe wannabe bookworms out there.

But first, we start with the latest from City Hall. On Sunday,

the City Council officially adopted the new $112 billion budget for the new fiscal year. We've been

unpacking it throughout the week. The final deal, how the mayor and council landed the plane,

as he was fond of saying, included more money for libraries,

housing, schools, and public safety. Much of what was one came after organized protest and push back

to the mayor's proposed cuts from the council, advocates, and regular New Yorkers. At his weekly

press conference, the mayor prefaced his comments

on the budget by pointing to a recent op-ed in the daily news from Reverend L. Sharpton. In it, Sharpton

makes the case that Adams has made significant progress over the past two and a half years,

boosting jobs, lowering crime, and investing in

critical services, and that his critics, largely in the media, are mistreating him, not unlike

the city's first black mayor, David Dinkins. Much of these comments were connected to how

that same paper covered the question of who gets credit for what actually ended up in that budget.

I just thought Reverend Sharpton really laid out a real message of what our successes are

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