They're not just a New York power couple. Former New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks and former First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright have launched a new podcast, focusing on their decades in public service. "The Beacon and Blueprint" aims to "inspire, educate, and activate" listeners toward civic engagement.

Banks and Wright joined NY1's Errol Louis to discuss their new project and their current work in consulting, literacy initiatives, and affordable housing. They also reflected on the state of Black political power, emphasizing the need for a clearer agenda and a stronger collective strategy. Banks and Wright pointed to their City Hall accomplishments as well, including the five boroughs' rollout of a new approach in teaching reading in public schools.

Novelist and critic Emily Gould joined NY1's Errol Louis to talk about building a writing career and sustaining a creative life in New York City.

Gould recounted moving to New York in 2001 at 19 years old, starting in book publishing and being recruited as editor for the Gawker blog. She also discussed the economics of book advances and how child care and market rent make savings difficult despite steady work, and how Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to help change that.

Renowned legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joined NY1's Errol Louis to discuss the politics of presidential pardons and how he thinks that Gerald Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon created a dangerous precedent that reverberates in politics today.

Their wide-ranging conversation also tackled ICE's national crackdown and upcoming Supreme Court cases on birthright citizenship and a Louisiana Congressional redistricting case that could fundamentally change the Voting Rights Act.