NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYC Council Joins Advocates’ Call to Block ICE on Rikers, NY Lt. Gov. Delgado Launches Campaign for Governor, Council Speaker Adams Unlocks Matching Funds, NYC Child Welfare Removals Show Racial Bias and Modern Garbage Trucks in Harlem

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Immigration advocates and the New York City Council are urging a judge to block federal law enforcement officials from working on Rikers Island. Plus, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is running for governor of New York. Also, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams banked $2 million last week in matching funds thanks, in part, to her opponent. Meanwhile, the city’s child welfare agency is seven times more likely to investigate a Black family than a white one according to the agency’s own numbers. And finally, a Harlem neighborhood is the first to have its trash fully containerized and picked up by a fleet of new garbage trucks.

The New York City Council joins advocates called to block ice agents on Rikers Island. Lieutenant Governor Delgado launches his campaign for governor of New York. Counsel Speaker Adams unlocks matching funds with help from her opponent. New York City's child welfare removals show racial bias and modern garbage trucks roll out in Harlem. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Immigration advocates and the New York City Council are urging a judge to block federal law enforcement officials from working on Rikers Island. The Tuesday court hearing comes after first deputy mayor

Randy Mastrow issued an executive order in April that allows the federal government to open an office next to the jail complex. A lawyer for the city council says the order is tainted by a possible quid pro quo between the mayor and the Trump administration. Adams denies the accusation. His lawyer says the issue should be a policy dispute, not a court case. The judge is expected to make a decision by next week. New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is running for governor. He'll be taking on his boss, Governor Kathy Hockel, and next year's Democratic primary. In a launch video, Delgado calls for, quote, bold, decisive, transformational leadership. He says he's running to represent everyday New Yorkers, not the powerful and well-connected. Hockel appointed Delgado as her number

two back in 2022, but their relationship soured after he broke ties with her over former President Joe Biden. He also skipped a joint re-election run and has spent recent weeks holding town halls ahead of his announcement. New York City Council Speaker Adrian Adams banked $2 million last week in matching funds. WMYC's Bridget Bergen reports that vital cash for her mayoral bid comes in part thanks to one of her opponents. For Adrian Adams, the latest 8-to-1 matching funds payment is crucial. Her campaign had struggled to raise the 250,000 in matchable contributions needed to unlock those public funds from the campaign finance board. But the day before the fundraising period ended, something unusual happened. Her opponent, Assembly member Zoran Mamdani, dropped a video asking

his supporters to donate to her. He said it would help defeat the frontrunner in the race, Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani's supporters listened. Adams received more than $72,000 in matchable donations that day. Her single largest fundraising day of the campaign, and vaulting her over the thresholds. Meanwhile, the campaign finance board withheld another $675,000 from the Cuomo campaign. The board found his campaign broke campaign finance rules by coordinating with a super PAC on an ad. Board member Richard Davis says this comes on top of the $622,000 they already withheld from Cuomo in connection to the same ad. The board has withheld public funds in the amount of the total spent on this ad to date, $1,297,475.75.

This amount also counts towards the campaign spending limit for the June primary. Cuomo's campaign says it's in full compliance with the rules. The board says their investigation into improper coordination is ongoing. That's WMYC's Bridget Bergen. New York City Child Welfare Removals show racial bias. That's according to the agency's own numbers. After the break, we profile some of the families behind the statistics. This is NYC now.

New York City's child welfare agency is seven times more likely to investigate a black family than a white one. That's according to the agency's own numbers. Now, a new report compiled by the legal defense group, the Bronx defenders, profiles some of the families behind these stubborn statistics. WNYC's Karen Yee reports. In 2021, Brianna Hunt was picking up extra work at a hair salon in Washington, D.C., when she got a dreaded phone call. Her one-year-old daughter had nearly drowned during her bath while she was being watched by her dad. Hunt sped back to the city in an Uber and found her child in a coma. Just to see my kid like that, it really broke me.

Hunt didn't know if her daughter would survive. Then, later that night, when she stepped out of her daughter's hospital room, a representative from the administration for children's services, known as ACS, was waiting to ask her questions. ACS accused Hunt of neglect. They promptly removed Hunt's three older children from her custody. Her one-year-old would also be removed after she recovered. I should have never been punished because I truly did nothing and I wasn't there, you know, and if I could be there, I doubt that anything would have happened. The family was split up for a year until ACS withdrew its case against.

her, a rare move for the agency, and her kids were allowed to return home. Hunt's story is one of more than a dozen illustrated in the Bronx Defender's latest report. It argues that the cases show how ACS is racially biased against black and Latino parents. The report also concludes the agency took punitive measures against them that aren't used against white parents. Anne Van Heisen is a supervising attorney for the Bronx defenders. There's a whole segment of parents in this city who have no idea what this system can do to a family. Everyone assumes it what won't be for me. And black and Latin parents don't have that luxury.

ACS has acknowledged racial disparities exist, but they say they're working to reduce the number of families unnecessarily impacted by investigations. Hunt says her kids still get anxious when they're apart and ask her when she's coming home. But she says the incident hasn't shaken her confidence as a mother. Don't let nobody tell you any different or make you feel like you're any less of a parent because at the end of the day, those smiles, that's your proof. That's WMYC's Karen Yee. One neighborhood in Manhattan is getting a taste of the future, at least when it comes to trash collection. WMYC's Liam quickly joined the sanitation crew for a shift on New York City's newest garbage truck.

It's 5 a.m. in Harlem, and two New York City sanitation workers are just starting their shift. Anthony J. Martin, sanitation worker at Manhattan West 9, 19-year veteran. Sanitation worker Marvin Hernandez, district M9, almost 13 years. On a normal route, workers like these two would lug bag after bag of trash into the rear of their truck. But this isn't a regular garbage route or a regular truck. Hernandez is inside using a joystick to steer a mechanical lift on the side of the truck and Martin is outside keeping a close eye on the process. He's directing his partner with hand signals.

A huge lift descends towards the pavement and hooks under the bin. Then Hernandez lifts it up and a bunch of trash bags slide into the top of the truck. The one to the left where you see the line in the middle, that helps me align the truck to the bin. Trucks like this one with lifts on the side. on the side are common across the world. But they're new for New York. And sanitation officials say they will order hundreds more in the coming years as they

require all garbage to be put out in containers instead of putting bags on the curb. Those bins will be placed in parking spots across town. But for now they're being tested out in Upper Manhattan is part of Mayor Eric Adams' so-called trash revolution. A gentleman came over to me and said, I see a lot less rats and it looks like it's working. So, you know, that's promising. Teresa Leovano is a sanitation department supervisor in the neighborhood. She says the new bins are getting a warm reception from supers

who deal with tons of garbage every day. That way, if they don't live on site, they don't have to come back here at 8 o'clock at night to bring the trash out. They don't have to bring 20 bags of trash out at the same time. For now, the containers in Harlem are just part of a pilot. The sanitation department is saying it's already using 16 of the new side-loading trucks. Rolling out the trash revolution

to the rest of New York City is going to fall to whoever is mayor next. That's WMYC's Liam Quigley. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.