NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Rye Playland Opens Memorial Day Weekend, $750 Million Settlement Reached Over Former Doctor’s Sex Abuse, NY State Could Weaken Oversight for Religious Schools and Immigrants Weigh Voluntary Departures

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Westchester County officials say Rye Playland amusement park will open in time for the season after all. Also, two New York City hospitals have agreed to a $750 million dollar settlement of hundreds of sexual abuse claims by patients of former gynecologist Robert Hadden. Plus, New York State lawmakers are loosening requirements for private and religious schools to show they provide a basic education. And finally, some undocumented immigrants are opting to leave the country on their own, rather than risk deportation.

Rye Playland opens on Memorial Day weekend. A $750 million settlement reached over a former doctor's sex abuse. New York State could weaken oversight for religious schools and immigrants weigh voluntary departures. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jinné Pierre. We begin with some pretty good news out of Westchester County. Officials say Rye Playland Amusement Park will open in time for the season this spring after all. The park's opening for 2025 had been in peril amid a dispute with operator's standard amusement.

County officials accused them of abandoning their contract and leaving the park in shambles. Standard officials say the county didn't make promised infrastructure upgrades. But Westchester County executive Kenneth Jenkins says the county is committed to keeping the century old park's legacy alive. We all love Playland. It's part of all of us. We have to do this and we will do it safely and responsibly. Another company is now handling inspections and repairs. Officials say the amusement park will be free on Memorial Day weekend when it opens up. Two New York City hospitals have agreed to a $750 million settlement of hundreds of sexual abuse claims by patients of former gynecologist Robert Haddon. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say it brings the total legal payouts to over $1 billion. Haddon was accused of

molesting patients during a decades-long career at city hospitals, including Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York Presbyterian. He was convicted in 2023 of federal sex crime charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Lawyers for the hospitals did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. New York state lawmakers are loosening requirements for private and religious schools to show they provide a basic education. WMYC's Jimmy Fieldkind has more. Private schools must show their instruction is substantially equivalent to public schools. Governor Hockel says she's reached a deal to give schools as much as seven more years to comply with regulations that took effect in 2022. That includes Orthodox Jewish yeshivas, whose allies pushed for the change.

We're not eliminating the requirement. We're just adding more pathways for people to be compliant. State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa says the existing regulations make sure students are prepared for jobs. down this issue does not serve our children well. Lawmakers are set to vote on the proposal this week. Some undocumented immigrants in New York are opting to leave the country on their own rather than risk deportation. More on that after the break. The Trump administration says it will give undocumented immigrants $1,000 if they leave the country or self-deport as the officials put it. A more formal term is voluntary departure. And as WMYC's a room Vinikapal found,

even before the incentive was offered, some of the city's immigrants have been quietly complying. Yamaya is a resident of the Bronx who practices Afro-Caribbean faith traditions. And on a recent day, as she stood in front of an altar in her living room and sang to Yamaya, the goddess of the sea, she was overcome with emotion. She's a su, yesu, it's a good kind of cry. Her husband Jose sat nearby watching his wife. Yaya is a U.S. native, but Jose is an asylum applicant from Venezuela. They spoke on condition they wouldn't be fully identified due to Jose's immigration status.

Out of fear that he'll be picked up in an immigration raid, or detained in a foreign country, the couple have decided to leave the United States. They're coming for everyone. There's no due cause. There's no due process. So it means making real decisions about what keeps your family safe. They're not alone. Lawyers and immigrant rights activists say people are leaving the country, often quietly, and from communities who've watched as long-time immigrants have been sent back to their native country in shackles or held in central American prisons. The Trump administration has aggressively marketed the measure, saying it's easy. This is Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem in an interview with CBS News.

The message there is self-deport now or this could be you. Absolutely. That is absolutely the message, is that you have the option to go home on your own terms. We'll help you with a plane ticket. We'll get you booked. We'll facilitate it. And you get the chance to come back. In a statement to WNYC, the Department of Homeland Security said thousands of people, have left the United States on their own so far. At the same time, the administration's efforts to deport immigrants by conventional means are far behind their stated targets. Immigration lawyers say

some of those leaving the U.S. have spent years trying to attain legal status here. I think they're just feeling like, you know, what is it that we are striving for. Pratindar Jitora is a lawyer in Richmond Hill Queens and says seven of her clients have left the U.S., all men over the age of 60. They don't have this fight left in them anymore. But some attorneys and advocates discouraged their clients from leaving. A lot of you don't have nothing to go back, too. Nula Odorte Naranjo runs the Jackson Heights Immigrant Center.

They've sold their house. They've abandoned family members to come here. And how do you go back without the situation being solved? If you're fleeing persecution where people are trying to kill you and you've given up everything to get here to be safe, How do you go back to the danger? But Jose and Yaya have made up their minds. They say they've researched their options and hope to move to one of four countries, Canada, Spain, Mexico, or Colombia.

Each of which has pros and cons in terms of language, cost, and ease of finding work or legal status. They're debating what to take with them. The cat will likely go. The fish and fish tank will stay behind. Yaya says her older son from a previous marriage can decide whether he wants. to come, and the couple planned to get a password for their youngest, a baby boy who was born just days before we met. It's been a long day.

Back in Venezuela, Jose was a risk assessment analyst for the government. He fled the country after his life was threatened on multiple occasions. The U.S. appeared to be the country of liberties, he said. Then he moved here, found work as a bicycle deliverista, and saw an entirely different side of the country. He says he saw deportations, unjust ones, people deprived of due process. Now he's afraid for himself, for his wife, and for their baby.

The family keeps shifting between various friends and family members' homes, safe houses, as they call them. As we spoke in one of them, Jose held his newborn in his arms. I can't feel good because I have my children in this moment. He says, this moment can feel amazing to have my son in my arms, a roof, food to eat, my family. But as soon as we finish this interview, I need to get on that bike. I need to go outside and find work. And I don't know what's going to happen.

That's WMYC's A Room Vanikapal. Spring sure has been lovely. But there's a sign that summer is coming in hot. The schedule of free summer shows in Prospect Park was released Wednesday. Bricks Celebrate Brooklyn's lineup for this year's summer festivals includes 14 free shows and four paid benefit concerts for the nonprofit organization. Among them, headliners Grace Jones and Janelle Monet on June 9th, Dinosaur Jr. and snail mail on July 17th and so many more. You can find all the details at our new site, Gothamist. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC.

I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.