NYC NOW - January 10, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

The National Weather Service has extended a flood warning until 1pm Wednesday in the Bronx, and officials are warning people to avoid areas around the Bronx River. In New Jersey, some residents were evacuated near Crystal Lake and there are more than 100,000 scattered power outages reported. Meanwhile, a New Jersey Transit bus hit and killed a pedestrian on Wednesday morning in Fort Lee. Also, school officials in Maplewood, New Jersey, say a teen basketball player was prohibited from the first quarter of a varsity girls game because she had beads in her hair and the school district has filed a racial bias complaint. Plus, Mayor James Belford of Little Falls, New Jersey is bracing residents for rising floodwaters after yesterday's rainstorm. Finally, WNYC’s Community Partnerships Desk is highlighting stories within our communities that center around the idea of fresh starts. Meet Minbiyew Ashagre from Manhattan.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, January 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The National Weather Service has extended a flood warning until 1 o'clock this afternoon for the Bronx. The Bronx River is now in moderate flood stage as runoff from the storm keeps rising water levels there. Officials are warning people to avoid that area, neighborhoods that will have. flooding include Mott Haven, East Tremont, Riverdale, Co-op City, City Island, Woodlawn, and Fordham. Police in Oakland, New Jersey, in Bergen County say they evacuated some residents near Crystal

Lake overnight as streets there flooded. More than 100,000 scattered power allergies in New Jersey, where some schools have stayed closed today while others have had closed or delayed openings. An NJ Transit bus has hit and killed a pedestrian. It happened this morning in Fort Lee. That's according to North Jersey.com. NJ. Transit says the crash happened on the 159 bus line at the intersection of Le Moyne Avenue and Bruce Reynolds

Boulevard, about 520 this morning. The bus was heading from Fort Lee to the Port Authority in New York. The pedestrian has not been identified. Fort Lee Police are investigating. School officials in Maplewood, New Jersey, say a team basketball player was prohibited from the first quarter of a varsity

girls game because she had beads in her hair. WNIC's Nancy Solomon reports. The Maplewood South Orange School District filed a racial bias complaint this week about the incident. Coach Aaron Brightman says that in a game against Caldwell, a referee wouldn't let the player onto the court. The student question was clearly upset. She was embarrassed, and the rest of the team was very confused.

Then he says the school showed the referee the rules, and she was a lot. allowed to play. The State Athletic Association says it's reviewing the incident, but confirmed hairbeads are allowed. New Jersey passed a law prohibiting restrictions against hairstyle after a wrestler was forced to cut his dreadlocks in 2018. In New Jersey, we're going to take a look now at Little Falls with the mayor's bracing residents for rising floodwaters after the storm dumped rain over the region last night. Mayor James Belford says the Passag River is expected to breach its banks tomorrow for the second time in three weeks. You know, after the first one, I saw the resiliency.

Now with the second one in just three weeks, I fear that that's going to change to frustration and, you know, additional concerns. Belford says residents affected by the flooding should plan to evacuate early or stay safely inside while the water is at its highest. Today we have a slim chance of early afternoon showers, partly sunny, temperature, falling to the mid-40s, breezy and gusty, cold tonight in the city in the mid-30s and gusty, then tomorrow it looks as if we dry out, sunny and 45, not as windy. Stay close. There's more after the break.

A lot of people see the new year as a time to leave the past behind and envision a future full of possibilities. As we settle into 2024, WNIC's Community Partnerships desk is highlighting stories within our communities that center around the idea of fresh starts. My name is Minbiyu Ashagre. I'm from Manhattan, and I am a case manager at a place called Project Renew in Manhattan. Project Renew is an organization that helps people that are coming out of the system, that have low-income, poverty-stricken.

This job means a lot to me. It was something that I've always been wanting a role as a case manager. I owe Project Renew a lot. They've given me kind of a second chance in life. It was very hard to get where I'm at right now. It seems like it's nothing, but I really went through a lot of hurdles. I am Ethiopian born. I grew up in Idis Ababa.

From being born, I've had some rough starts. I was kidnapped from my parents when I was young. Through the kidnapping, I was forced to bag on the streets for money. I was stabbed in the left eye. I had an infection in my eye that was going to kill me if I didn't get it treated. My story got out. I was adopted by doctors in the U.S. When I went to high school, I joined a lot of different programs,

but what I excelled in was track and field. I was very good at that. I felt like it was something that could send me to the Olympics one day. When I was getting ready to go to college, my life changed for the worst. I ended up getting shot. The bullet paralyzed me from the team. chest down fully. That stopped everything. When you're told that you're never going to walk again, that's just like, geez, you don't even believe it at first. Months of months, you learn to

accept your, not your fate, but you learn to accept what is. You know, you have to learn to move forward. I'm happy where I'm at. I'm grateful, very grateful to be alive. I think about everything I have been through in life where I'm at now. I always just say to myself, I'm truly blessed. Mindinio Ashagre lives in Manhattan. He's a case manager with the nonprofit organization Project Renew. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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