NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo under federal investigation. Possible measles exposure in New Jersey. And an old boat finds a new home.

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

The Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, health officials in New Jersey say that concert-goers who attended Shakira’s concert at MetLife Stadium last Thursday may have been exposed to measles. And the first-ever dog park on a NYCHA property is now open — at the Castle Hill Houses in the Bronx.

The Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, concertgoers who attended Shakira's show at MetLife Stadium last week may have been exposed to measles. And the first ever dog park on a NYTher property is now open at the Castle Hill houses in the Bronx. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. The Federal Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation. into former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's according to the Associated Press, which cites a person familiar with the matter

who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. The investigation comes just a month before the Democratic primary in New York, in which Cuomo is the frontrunner. A spokesperson for Cuomo says the former governor was never informed of any investigation and calls it election interference. Health officials in New Jersey say that concert goers who attended Shakira's show at MetLife Stadium last Thursday may have been exposed to measles. According to New Jersey's health department, someone attended a concert while infectious. Anyone who was there between 7.30 p.m. and 1 a.m. should monitor for symptoms like fever, rash, and cough through June 6th and check their vaccination status. Because measles is highly contagious, officials advise anyone who's feeling sick to call the doctor's office first rather than simply showing up.

Democrats will keep control over a state Senate district in Southern Brooklyn after a special election Tuesday. Sam Sutton will represent the 22nd District after besting Republican opponent Knockman Caller. He replaces Simkafelder, who left the seat vacant earlier this year after being elected to the city council. The district is heavily orthodox, with twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. But local Republicans had hoped to make headway with voters, who sometimes cross party lines. Most recently, the district swung for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Coming up after the break, an old ship gets a new home. Stick around. Fifteen years ago, workers at the World Trade Center site made the discovery of a lifetime.

They uncovered a ship deep in the muck that dates back to the Revolutionary War. Now, that ship is finally getting a permanent home. But WMYC's John Campbell reports, part of its journey remains a mystery. A handful of workers are standing at a table in the New York State Museum in Albany. They're in the corner of a big, empty exhibit space, and they're surrounded by planks of old brown wood. One worker grabs a steamer and sprays some of the timber down. Another uses a cue tip to carefully clean the muck out of every nook and cranny. On the other side of the room, Angela Paola uses a handheld tool to grind away at a piece of foam.

We're currently just trying to get the platform for the keel leveled out. That's the structural backbone of a ship. So once the keel is all level, we can actually start building the boat out from there. She's talking about what's become known as the World Trade Center ship, a wooden boat found 22 feet below the surface at Ground Zero. It's been the talk of archaeologists since its discovery made national news in 2010. Construction workers digging at the old side of the World Trade Center at Ground zero here in Manhattan yesterday, unearthed a boat encased in mud, believed to date back to the

1700s. Since then, researchers have worked tirelessly to piece together its story. They analyzed rings in the wood grain to figure out it was likely built in Philadelphia in the 1770s, right around the Revolutionary War. And they know it was long buried by 1818 since that part of the Manhattan and shoreline had expanded into the Hudson River by then. But there's still a lot. They don't know. What's the biggest unanswered question that you still have about this? That button.

The button is the one. How did it get into the boat? That's Dr. Peter Fix, a research scientist at Texas A&M who's reconstructing the ship. He's talking about a small pewter button found in the boat inscribed with the number 52. He remembers chatting about it years ago with the museum curator. And he said, well, we have this button. The button is for a British regiment, 50 second a foot. How did that get in there?

Then that piqued my brain. That's about when researchers realized the boat was probably a gunship made for war, not a sloop or a cargo ship like they first thought. And the evidence, that button, suggests the British captured it, but we don't know how or when or how it got to New York City. Scientists are still working on those questions. How much time do you spend thinking about that button? Probably too much.

Dr. Fix and a team of grad students have temporarily relocated to Albany. They're getting help from some state workers, too. For the next several weeks, they'll be reconstructing the remnants of the boat for a permanent exhibit in the New York State Museum, a short walk from the Capitol. Michael Lucas is the museum's historical archaeology curator. He says the public's invited to watch it all happen and ask questions of the people doing the work.

It's a once-in-lifetime opportunity. You're not going to have an opportunity to see an 18th century ship being constructed probably again in your life. State officials tried to find a home for the boat near the Ground Zero site, but they struggled to find a museum that had the space for it. The ship was likely about 50 feet long, but some of it was destroyed when the Old World Trade Center was built in the 60s. Workers were able to save about 30 feet of the boat, and that's what will be on display in Albany.

Alyssa Carpenter is a recent grad who's part of the Texas A&M team. Our plan is to finish by the end of June. The whole thing reassembled and constructed. So that's our timeline. That's our goal. Once the boat is reassembled, the museum plans to make it the centerpiece of a planned exhibit on the Revolutionary War. The goal is to have it already for the 250th anniversary in 2026. That's WMYC's John Campbell.

The first ever dog park on a Nijer property is now open at the Castle Hill houses in the Bronx. WMYC's Catalina Gonella reports it's already helping to build a sense of community. Jose Carri-on is sitting, watching his pit bull Duke run around off-leash. This will be my third time. I like it, and not only that, he likes it. The dog park opened less than a week ago, and already Carri-on and Duke are regulars. He says pitfalls are popular at Castle Hill, but owners have been. have been guarded when walking past each other with their pups. Now that's beginning to change.

It takes a dog park to get people together for them to talk and communicate. What a sudden everybody knows each other's name? It's crazy. They're separated spaces for small and large dogs, space to run, turf mounds, and doggy water fountains. Carry on is one of the more than 800 residents who voted on the project. It's part of an initiative led by the Public Housing Community Fund to create open spaces at Ford Nica developments in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The Green Space Connections program allows residents to choose what they want. Here it was a dog park.

It's a safe space for the dogs. You know, it's no better way to put it. Over at the small dog section, it's Tunisia Losey's first time visiting. Her friend she Kali and her Shih Titsu, Elon, run freely. off-leash, something she would never let them do in the public housing complexes other open spaces. The facility is primarily for dogs, but Losey says she sees the benefit it's bringing residents. This is a space. People get to know each other more. The dogs get to be comfortable around each other and know each other versus, you know, always seeing each other. It's like they always are

tension. It's more comfortable, you know. Yeah, this is something that will definitely bring people together. The next Green Space Connections project will open next month at the Patterson Houses in the South Bronx. Their residents voted for a new playground and an outdoor adult fitness center. That's WNYC's Catalina Gonella. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre.

We'll be back tomorrow.