Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.

Navigating health insurance denial claims in New York (First) | The next thing in our 100 Years of 100 Things series: 100 Years of holiday gift shopping (Starts at 24:30) | The winners of our 2024 Best Photo contest (Starts at 37:45)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Every year, The Brian Lehrer Show asks you to submit the best photo you took that is sitting on your phone – and every year, you deliver with some truly impressive snaps! 

This year, you submitted over 700 photos! Our partners at Photoville, along with a special guest judge, photographer, filmmaker and Bronx-based photo-historian, co-founder of Seis del Sur, Edwin Pagán, picked out their favorites (check out their 'Top 50' gallery), and then Brian and the team joined in to help select three winners to present their photos on the air.

Brian speaks with Edwin and Laura Roumanos, executive director and co-founder of Photoville, about the three winning photos, which you can see below. Plus, this year's contest winners, Valerie Ramshur, Zai, and Taylor Mason talk about their winning photos.

This Year's Winners:

Weight of the World (Zai)

"just another day, another display case, and another hour to kill" (Valerie Ramshur)

Navy Yards figurine (Taylor Mason)

Damian Woetzel, president of The Juilliard School, talks about his commitment to making Juilliard more accessible and affordable, including an education program the school runs for younger students who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in classical music.

For several months in 2023, the number of traffic-related tickets issued by New Jersey state troopers dropped dramatically—and crashes almost immediately increased. Tracey Tully, New York Times reporter covering New Jersey, reports on her investigation into why police behavior changed, how it affects traffic safety and the criminal investigation the state AG has launched on the slowdown. 

Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, offers legal analysis of the settlement between ABC and President-elect Trump, after the latter filed a defamation lawsuit against the news outlet and its anchor George Stephanopoulos, and what effect this and other threats and lawsuits by the president elect might have on the media.

David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, rounds up the latest housing-related news, including that a real estate group has sued over the new law banning broker fees, disputes over landlords not returning security deposits and more.

The federal government is headed for a shutdown after President-elect Trump and Elon Musk appear to have scuttled a funding deal. Kadia Goba, politics reporter for Semafor, reports on what's going on, and whether there might be a solution to prevent the shutdown.  

Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator (D NY), talks about her work in Washington, including her push for President Biden to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, President-elect Trump's nominations, drones and more.

Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York Campaign, discusses the issue of health insurance claim denials and offers advice to New Yorkers for navigating today's health care system.

The holiday season can be a hard time of year for people who are grieving over friends and family members who have died. Listeners call in to offer personal tributes to their loved ones they lost this year.

As our centennial series continues, Philip Olson, CFP,  and Julia Lorenz-Olson, AFC, hosts of Two Cents, an educational PBS digital show about personal finance, look at this century of holiday shopping, as Christmas became more commercial.