NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Council Speaker Adams Sets Lofty Agenda, Lawmakers Grapple with Proposal for Involuntary Commitment and March Astronomy Forecast

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams delivered her annual State of the City this week ahead of a possible mayoral run. Plus, a proposed plan backed by Gov. Hochul could help reduce homelessness. And finally, March marks the spring equinox, when the night skies transition from winter to spring. It’s an exciting time for stargazers.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he's willing to work with federal officials on immigration. He testified at a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday on Sanctuary Cities. Comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue. While the solution is not within my control as a mayor, I encourage. committed to working with federal officials to go after violent gangs and those who harm residents of our city. Mayor Adams says he applauds immigrants' contributions to New York City,

but adds that he's not tolerant of violent criminals. Lawmakers also asked Adams about the federal corruption case against him and any deals he may have with the White House. Adam said there's no deal and he's done nothing wrong. New York state lawmakers are grappling with a new proposal that they argue will help reduce homelessness. WMYC's Jimmy Vildkind has more. Tom Harris is a former police officer who now leads the Business Improvement District in Times Square. During a recent press conference at the state capital, he was making the case for New York to change its standards for involuntary confinement.

He shared the story of a homeless woman he often sees on the streets. He says lots of groups have tried to help her. He uses a pseudonym to protect her. identity. Jane tells the groups she has a lease for that street corner and she repeatedly declines all services. Tom says he's watched the woman's mental and physical health decline for seven years. She is dying slowly on our streets. In New York, the law allows police to take mentally ill people for medical treatment against their will if their behavior is likely to result in serious harm to themselves or others. But what about someone who doesn't seem well, but doesn't seem to be posing a threat

either. That's the kind of person Governor Kathy Hokel had in mind when she proposed a new standard earlier this year. Our laws must be stronger. And that's why I'm willing to stand up and say, we need to expand involuntary commitment into a hospital to include someone who does not have the mental capacity to care for themselves. Harris went to the state capital to join the debate. He and other people from business improvement districts back the governor's plan. But not everyone agrees. Many lawmakers and civil rights advocates say the proposal would infringe on people's rights and create a drag net for anyone who's unhoused. State Senator Samra Brooke is one of them. She pushed the state's mental health commissioner, Dr. Anne Sullivan, during a recent

budget hearing. How do you think we avoid this from being a sweeping change so that we are essentially saying homelessness now equals you could be involuntarily committed? Let me be very clear. homelessness equal involuntary commitment. And this is a very small select group of individuals who are at very substantial risk. Evelyn Graham Nyasi knows what it's like to be involuntarily committed. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital for more than a week after someone in her home called the police.

I am diagnosed with bipolar depression. And if I am having a problem, because I know how serious having that is, I would check myself into the hospital. Graham Nyasi says treatment is most effective when it's voluntary. She now works coaxing other people in mental health crisis to get services. And she says that's where the state should focus. It's not right. You know, and what they need are they need services.

How about that? How about giving them an appointment or, you know, having some kind of center or something that they can go to? Mental health providers are making exactly that case at the state capital. Glenn Liebman of the Mental Health Association of New York State says changing the commitment standard is meaningless unless there's also more funding. It's nice sound bites, but the reality is it doesn't get to where we need to go as a system of care. Lawmakers are now haggling over both changing the standard for commitment

and providing more mental health funding. Assembly member Tony Simone says he wants to do both, but a lot will depend on what happens in state budget talks this spring. Unless you can prove to my colleagues the resources are, are there. So when the individual you find in the street that could be screaming at top of his lungs and frightening moms, but is only doing it because he needs his medication, you're not going to solve the whole equation. Lawmakers have until the end of March to figure out how to strike the right balance. That's WNYC's Jimmyvillekind. This month marks the transition from winter to

spring. After the break, we discuss what that means for stargazers. Stay close. This is NYC now. When it comes to stargazing, March marks the transition from winter to spring night skies. Later this month is the spring equinox. That's when we'll have equal amounts of daytime and night hours. For a look at this month's astronomy forecast, my colleague David First talked with WMYC's Rosemary Mystery. She starts the conversation describing something called a city killer asteroid, which is predicted to soon pass near Earth.

The city killer asteroid is actually called Asteroid YR. 4. And it was originally spotted just before Christmas of 2024. At worst, the probability that it would hit Earth was about a 2% chance. And they had that dated for the year 2032. The asteroid is roughly 100 by 300 feet, big enough to cause damage. If it hit New York City, it would have caused a sonic boom. It would have evaporated windows, exploded buildings. It would have caused a lot of destruction. All very bad things, yes. Yes. But the good news is that NASA scientists mapped out and studied its orbit. And earlier this week, they downgraded the probability that it would hit Earth to zero. But our moon might be in trouble. The moon might be in trouble. So as they mapped out

the orbit of this asteroid, they found that there is roughly a 2% chance that the moon will get hit on December 22nd, 2032. Does that knock the moon in our direction or what does that do? No, it wouldn't knock the moon out of its orbit. It wouldn't split the moon in half or take a piece off of it. Due to the lack of atmosphere on the moon, it would just make a crater. And NASA scientists said that they're going to keep monitoring the asteroid and will continue to give updates. Okay, so at the very least, I'm rescheduling my plans to visit the moon at that time. But back to some peaceful stargazing, what's happening in the skies this spring that we can observe? Well, you know, this month is the spring equinox on March 20th. And that's a day of equal day hours and equal night hours. But that also means it's a transitional

moment in the night sky when stuff in the winter night sky is fading away and you're going begin to see some of the spring celestial objects. You know, the daffodil of the night sky, the herald of the spring night sky is the Leo constellation. It's the first sign of spring for stargazers. The daffodil of the night sky. See, for me, if we're looking for a plant comparison, I always think of skunk cabbage as the first sign of spring. But I guess calling something the skunk cabbage of the night sky doesn't sound quite as nice. No, but it's interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time. You know, Leo is one of the few constellations that actually kind of looks like its name. It's supposed to be a lion. And if you're looking for it in the night sky, it kind of looks like a backward question mark or a sickle.

And the easiest way to find it is there's a star right in the center of the constellation. It's called regulus. It's a pale blue star, and it will appear next to the moon on March 11th. And that is a really easy way to find the constellation Leo. All right. And to wrap up, tell us about two eclipses that are happening this month. Yeah, this is the highlight of this month. We haven't had a full lunar eclipse in New York City since 2022. And if you want to catch it, it'll start to happen on March 13th just before midnight, 1157 p.m. be exact. And you'll see the moon cross into the shadow of the earth, and that shadow will block the moon

from getting any direct sunlight. And here's the kicker. The moon will turn blood red between 226 a.m. and 3.31 a.m. The interesting thing about eclipses is that they tend to chase each other. So usually when there's a lunar eclipse, not long afterwards, there'll be a solar eclipse, which will happen on March 29th at sunrise. It's not a full solar eclipse, but it's noticeable. It's about 30% of the sun will be eclipsed by the moon. So it'll look like a cookie with a bite in it. It reaches its maximum at 6.46 a.m. But you want to get out there at the latest before 7 a.m. because then you'll miss it. And do not look directly at this without very serious approved protection. Yes. Break out your eclipse glasses and look at the sun safely. Just grab your coffee and start your workday with a

beautiful solar eclipse. That's WMYC's Rosemary Misdairy talking with my colleague, David First. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.