NYC NOW - August 23, 2023: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: Mayor Adams is launching a social media campaign to address critiques of his migrant crisis management. Meanwhile, nurses at New Brunswick's Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital enter their third week of striking due to stalled contract negotiations. Also, New York City seeks residents' help in identifying businesses bypassing the Sanitation Department's mandate for enclosed trash bins.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, August 23rd. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is unleashing a social media blitz to combat criticism over his handling of the migrant crisis. WNMAC's Elizabeth Kim has more. Set against rousing music, a video produced by City Hall. showcases city workers helping migrants.

What we do here is we help people to apply for asylum and receive legal status. According to an email obtained by WNYC, Mayor Adams, who is currently on a visit to Israel, ordered all city agencies to share the video, including those with no apparent involvement in the migrant crisis. The strategy comes as he faces criticism from Governor Kathy Hokel that the city hasn't prioritized helping migrants apply for asylum and amid growing backlash to the location of new shelters. So far, more than 20 city agencies have shared the video. And Adam spokesperson said this is an all-hands-on-deck crisis that will impact every city agency.

The nurses at a New Brunswick Hospital are on strike for a third week. WNIC's Karen Yee reports the Union and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital have yet to make much progress. in contract talks. Both sides have met just twice since about 1,700 nurses walked off the job. The union says its nurses are overworked and need the hospital to set safer staff to patient ratios. We've been made to feel like we're just disposable very much so, and that's been a hard thing for a lot of nurses. Sarah Kaylee is one of the nurses on strike and says they're also asking for a freeze on health care premiums. RWJ officials say they've hired more nurses to alleviate the workloads since 2022 and did everything to avoid a strike. The hospital is a trauma center. That means it

handles the sickest patients in the region. The last nurse's strike was in 2006, and it lasted four weeks. Have you seen any piles of garbage bags on the city's sidewalk recently? The city's asking New Yorkers to squeal on any establishments that skirt the sanitation department's new program requiring food and chain businesses to secure trash in enclosed bin. It's the latest effort in the ongoing saga to try to curb the city's rat population. Anyone whose spots a violation is being asked to rat them out to the city, which will start issuing summons on September 1st. 67 and mostly clear now.

Sunny today in a high of 78. Once again, 67 and mostly clear. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dive. and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.