NYC NOW - December 20, 2023 : Midday News

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

A Queens man is being accused of casting absentee ballots that belonged to other voters. WNYC's Charles Lane reports. Also, New York nursing homes are pleading with state lawmakers to give them more flexibility when it comes to staffing. And in Little Falls, New Jersey officials are encouraging people living near the Passaic River to evacuate as waters continue to rise and flood streets. Back in New York City, education officials say school safety is a priority after three separate stabbings this month, but data on these incidents are hard to come by. Education reporter Jessica Gould reports. Lastly, the federal government is giving New York City a 30 million grant to improve the safety of Queens Boulevard, that has been known as the "Boulevard of Death" due to pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, December 20. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. A Queen's man is being accused of casting absentee ballots that belong to other voters. WNYC's Charles Lane has more. Abdul Rahman allegedly submitted 118 absentee ballot application is designating him as the authorized person to pick them up.

32 of those applications were approved. Prosecutors charged him with 20 counts of illegal voting. Rahman is active in Democrat and South Asian charitable circles. He pleaded not guilty. His lawyer declined to comment. Queen's District Attorney Melinda Katz as he cast ballots in the Democratic primary in the 15th State Senate District in August of 2022.

One of the candidates, Japanese Singh, acknowledged working with him. New York's absentee law was changed in 2021, making this type of fraud easier to detect. New York nursing homes are pleading with state lawmakers to give them more flexibility when it comes to staffing. New staffing minimums were put in place during the pandemic to make sure patients get adequate direct care. Nursing homes that don't comply can face fines of up to $2,000 a day, but nursing home group say most facilities can't meet those standards because of an ongoing workforce shortage. Stephen Hans is president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association.

We've sent the governor a letter requesting that if these fines are levied. That money go right back into nursing home staffing recruitment. Enforcement of the law has been delayed multiple times, but noncompliance notices started going out this summer. It's 39 right now, sunny and 45 this afternoon, around the freezing mark overnight and sunny and 42 tomorrow. And this is WNYC. in New York. I'm Michael Hill. Officials in Little Falls, New Jersey are encouraging people living near the Passaic River to evacuate as the river's waters continue to rise and flood streets. Authorities in nearby towns are warning residents, they are likely to keep searing serious flooding

as well as the Passaic River runs through several counties and has tributaries throughout New Jersey. But yesterday afternoon in Little Falls, the river had reached flood stage, which happens at about seven feet. The river remains at more than 10 feet this morning. The National Weather Service expects the Passaic River to remain above the flood stage for several more days heading into this holiday weekend. Education officials in New York City say school safety is a priority after three separate stabbings this month, but data on these incidents are hard to come by. WNIC's Jessica Gould reports. It's not easy to find out how safe a particular school is parents can check a state website, but those stats are two years old, and they conflict with

internal NYPD data obtained by WNYC. According to the NYPD at one high school in Chelsea, there were 159 weapons recovered that year. The state says there were zero incidents of weapons possession. Transparency advocates say part of the problem is that there's no clear definition of what constitutes a weapon. They say the NYPD sometimes considered combs or pins dangerous weapons. Parents say they just want a better sense of what's going on at their kids' schools. The federal government is giving New York City a nearly $30 million grant to improve the safety of Queens Boulevard. That stretch of road was once known as the Boulevard of death because of the high number of pedestrians and cyclists killed or hurt along it. It was a major

priority under former Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero program, which aimed to reduce traffic fatalities across the city. The improvements to the boulevard include expanded medians and shortening the length of crosswalks along the infamously wide thoroughfare. The Ram will also fund the better data collection after traffic crashes and add technology to hundreds of city vehicles that limits their speed. Construction on Cleans Boulevard should start next fall and last for three years. 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. We'll be back this evening.