NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: The Mayor Travels to the Dominican Republic, FAA Runs Drone Detection Test, Backlash to Proposed Local Law in New Jersey, and the Tale of Astoria the Wild Turkey

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams is in the Dominican Republic to honor the victims of last week’s roof collapse at a popular nightclub. Plus, a lawsuit filed by a former Brooklyn principal against the DOE can move forward. Finally, the odd adventures of a wild turkey.

Mayor Adams honors the victims of a roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic. A former Brooklyn principal wins a small victory in her lawsuit against the Department of Education and the adventures of a wild turkey in New York City. From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Sean Vowditch. Mayor Erica Adams is traveling to the Dominican Republic Monday to honor the victims of last week's roof collapse at the jet-set night Club in Santa Domingo. More than 220 people died when the roof came down. Adam says he wants to support the Dominican community noting the longstanding ties between New York City and the Caribbean nation. The mayor is joined by City Transportation Commissioner Adonis Rodriguez, who is an

immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Newly appointed first deputy mayor Randy Mastro is overseeing the city's operations in the mayor's absence. The FAA is ramping up efforts to detect and track drones. This time, the testing moves beyond airports. Starting Monday, the agency will begin a two-week drone detection test in Cape May, New Jersey. According to the FAA, more than 100 drones, including large and commercial types, will fly over the water and near the Cape May ferry terminal during weekdays. The public is urged not to fly recreational drones in the area while the tests are taking place. It's part of a broader national effort to make drone use safer, especially near airports. A former Brooklyn principal investigated for suspicions of communist activity recently won a small legal victory against the city's Department of Education.

Jill Bloomberg claims the department retaliated against her for speaking out against racial discrimination. The city has been fighting her lawsuit in court for years, but as WNYC's Samantha Max report, a judge, ruled last month that the case can move forward. Good to meet you. I'm Jill. Nice to meet you. Jill Bloomberg and I meet at the entrance to Prospect Park a few blocks from Park Slope Collegiate. It's the middle and high school

where she served as principal for about 15 years. I loved my job. You know, I loved what I did. I loved the students. I loved the interactions with the teachers. But Bloomberg retired ahead of schedule in early 2020. I was no longer doing the job that I wanted to do. do. And I wasn't doing it well. Bloomberg says her career started to unravel in 2017. She says

she was frustrated that her students, who were mostly black and Latino, didn't have enough sports teams. I just knew like our boys really wanted a soccer team, but we kept going to turn down for a soccer team. Meanwhile, another school called Millennium Brooklyn High School had recently moved into the same building and was sharing the gym, along with students from its Manhattan campus. Millennium had more white students, and they also had way more sports teams. I was like, what is going on here? Bloomberg had complained before about what she saw is racial discrimination against her students. She called for the removal of the school's metal detectors.

She criticized disciplinary policies that she thought were overly punitive and harmful to students of color. With the sports teams, she says, she'd had enough. This is terrible. So Bloomberg wrote a letter to the official who oversaw school sports. She said the Department of Education was segregating students and should combine the teams. Shortly after, Bloomberg learned she was under investigation. According to her lawsuit, she later learned someone had accused her of trying to recruit students to join the Progressive Labor Party, which is a communist organization.

Communist organizing. I'm like, well, what does that mean? City officials wouldn't talk to me, but court records show they were investigating whether Bloomberg violated a policy that restricts political activity in New York City public schools. An investigative report shows a teacher raised concerns about movies that were screened at the school and flyers found in the building about a Black Lives Matter march and a Mayday rally. Bloomberg denied wrongdoing. And officials ultimately found she did not break the policy according to an investigative report. But she says she decided to leave her job anyway. I felt like this is never going to end.

Like if I'm the principal of this school, it's just going to be, you know, death by a thousand cuts over and over and over and over again. The Department of Education has denied retaliating against Bloomberg and says a complaint was lodged against her months before she wrote her letter. Derek Black is a professor at the University of South Carolina Law School, who, who specializes in education. The rules are pretty clear. He says the law is explicit that school employees shouldn't be punished for complaining about discrimination. But he says teachers and administrators don't have the same free speech rights as their students. And he says many people who work in schools are reluctant to talk about controversial topics like race,

especially now when the education system is under so much scrutiny. There's still that fear, right, that if I say the wrong thing, I could get in trouble even if it's not banned by law. City lawyers have tried to get Bloomberg's lawsuit dismissed. But last month, a judge ruled that her case can proceed. There's still likely a long legal process ahead. Bloomberg will have to either prove her case in court or convince the city to settle. For now, she says she's happy with this small win. That's WNYC's Samantha Max reporting.

Coming up, a fight is brewing over a proposed law in the town of Summit, New Jersey, that would put homeless people in jail. Stick around. Officials in Summit, New Jersey are facing backlash over a proposed local law that would put homeless people in jail. Here's WNYC's Mike Hayes. A $2,000 fine or 90 days in jail for sleeping in public, some prominent New Jersey Democrats say no way. I'm not wild about this, I have to tell you.

Governor Phil Murphy says it's offensive to think that a person experiencing homelessness could pay a $2,000 fine. Blaming the person whose homeless is not the way to start this process or conversation. But another candidate to replace Murphy, Republican State Senator John Bramnick, said he supports the proposal in summit. I think this is pretty simple. I don't believe that people should sleep wherever they want. In response to the criticism, Summit Mayor Elizabeth Fagan is noting that the city's homelessness

task force has helped 21 people in the city get back into housing since June. In a statement, she tells WNYC that work will continue. Summit's council is scheduled to vote on the proposal April 22nd. If it passes, Summit will join at least four other New Jersey towns that have enacted similar measures since a 2024 Supreme Court decision that okayed local crackdowns on homeless people sleeping in public

spaces. That's WNYC's My K's. Okay, before we go, let's talk a little turkey. No, no, really. New Yorkers on the east side got an unexpected visit this past Sunday. WNYC's Catalina Gonella

has more on the latest adventure of Astoria, the wild Turkey. A story of the wild turkey is back in Manhattan, and she might be looking for love. She was spotted wandering around on East 56th Street, a far cry from her usual home on Roosevelt Island. David Barrett runs the popular Manhattan Bird Alert account on X. He raced over as soon as he got word. I'm delighted to see her. She's looking good, but she shouldn't be here. This is a dangerous place for her. Barrett's been tracking Astoria for nearly a year.

Ever since she mysteriously flew into Midtown last spring, then settled on Roosevelt Island, a quieter, greener space with fewer threats. But now as turkey mating season kicks in, Astoria appears to be expanding her range. She was calling while doing it, and that's a sign that she was looking for a mate, a male turkey. Astoria's unexpected arrival drew a small, crowd. The NYPD even showed up to help. Neighbors say she flew up into a tree to escape the commotion. Barrett says he hopes she flies back across the East River soon. That's WNYC's Catalina Gonella. And that's it for us on this Monday. Thanks for listening. I'm Sean Boutich and this is NYC now.

We'll be back tomorrow.