NYC NOW - August 28, 2023: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: The City Council’s Land Use committee is deliberating on the extension of the Garden’s soon-to-expire 10-year permit. Meanwhile, 51-year-old Joseph Morelli from upstate New York receives a three-month prison term for threatening Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Also, the NYPD is considering expanding its drone usage for faster crime scene assessments, according to Chief of Patrol John Chell.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, August 28th. Here's the morning headlines from David First. The future of Madison Square Garden will become clearer today. The City Council's Land Use Committee is meeting to vote on how long to extend the garden's operating permit. Its 10-year permit expires this year. Rachel Foss, as with the Good Government Group, Reinvent All

Albany, she recommends a three-year permit because of the uncertainty surrounding renovations at Penn Station and says the council should also pass a resolution calling for an end to the garden's state tax break. She says the garden has saved over a billion dollars. The benefit that MSG receives from that tax break is far greater than what New Yorkers have gotten in return. Earlier this year, the Department of City Planning recommended the garden get a 10-year permit. the full counsel and mayor must approve today's decision. A man from upstate New York has been sentenced to three months in prison for making threatening phone calls to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green.

51-year-old Joseph Morelli pleaded guilty in February to three counts of interstate threatening communications. Prosecutors say he called Taylor Green's Washington, D.C. office to threaten her. Morelli, who's from just outside of Binghamton, New York, York was sentenced last week in a Syracuse federal court. In a statement posted online, Taylor Green said Morelli's three-month prison sentence wasn't harsh enough. The NYPD may soon expand its use of drones to survey crime scenes. Chief of Patrol, John Shell, says drones can collect information about crimes even before a police car arrives on the scene. Here he is speaking on the news

station, Pix 11. We can't get the drones at quicker than a police car. and they could spot out what the situation is mow ahead and give us a heads up as to what we're looking at. Mayor Eric Adams has already loosened restrictions on using drones in the city. This year alone, the NYPD has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on drones. The mayor traveled this past week to Israel, where he reviewed advanced drones at the Israeli National Police Academy. 71 degrees right now, we're expecting mostly cloudy skies, a high of 78 today. Tonight, a low of 68 degrees with a chance of showers overnight. This is WNYC.

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 dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.