NYC NOW - January 26, 2024 : Midday News

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

James Cromitie, the last of the “Newburgh Four” co-defendants, has been granted an early release from prison. Plus, significantly fewer people died in city jails in 2023, according to the New York City Department of Correction. And finally, WNYC reporters Stephen Nessen and Ramsey Khalifeh, along with editor Clayton Guse, join host Sean Carlson for our weekly transit segment "On the Way."

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, January 26th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The last of the Newburgh four co-defendants has been granted in early release from prison. 58-year-old James Cromiddy was sentenced to 25 years in prison more than a decade ago for plotting the bomb Jewish sites in the Bronx and military aircraft upstate. But Judge Colleen McMahon ordered compassionate. release and said the FBI invented the conspiracy.

Kerry Lawrence is permitted's attorney. This was the most egregious case of government entrapment I've ever encountered, and I was a prosecutor in that office for 10 years and have been on the defense side for more than 20. So I've never seen anything like this and haven't seen anything like this since. Three others convicted an applaud where granted compassionate release last summer. The U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI are not commenting. The New York City Department of Correction says significantly fewer people died in city jails last year.

Double Eidomac's Jesse Edwards reports. Nine people died in Department of Correction custody last year compared to 19 people the year before. The department says that's because it trained most of its staff to use the overdose reversal drug NACAN and trained more staff in CPR and suicide prevention. They say they also stopped thousands of weapons and drugs from entering Rikers. But Veronica Vailer of the Legal Aid Society says the number of deaths is still far too high. Any deaths is a tragedy, but nine deaths is still a huge number, so they've just gone from sort of outrageously horrible to, you know, very bad. Two people have died on Rikers Island already this year.

44 with clouds out there, fog clearing up early afternoon, a high of 47 today. And then tomorrow, mostly cloudy 48 rain, likely Saturday night Sunday. we turn cooler with rain, a high near 41. Stay close. There's more after the break. It's time for On the Way, our weekly segment on all things considered, breaking down the week's transit news. Joining us, WMIC's transportation reporter Stephen Nesson, reporter Ramsey-Kulife, and editor Clayton Goosa.

Okay, everybody, we have lots to talk about this week, including some news developing just this afternoon that Stephen you've been covering. Tell us the latest on the one train derailment. Right. So the one train derailment, which not to be confused with the F train derailment also this month, but the one train was when, if you'll recall, two trains were going kind of slow through the tunnel in the Upper West Side and slowly collided. There were more than two dozen injuries, but the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, is looking into it. And, you know, it was kind of a strange incident because a vandal had pulled the emergency brakes on a bunch of trains.

And so one of them had no passengers, the other had passengers. And an operator was operating the train from the middle. And there was someone in the front sort of guiding him over the radio. And then they apparently went through a signal and collided with the train with passengers. The preliminary report that we have so far indicates that the radios on the train. where the two train drivers were operating wasn't working. The MTA said today that they tested them after and that they were working after the crash. They're not sure maybe it was on the wrong frequency or it was turned off.

But there's some questions, but it's unclear, but the NTSB seems to indicate it may be a radio issue. The MTA, for its part, says it's looking at the conduct of the individuals involved and as well as the MTA procedures around radio use. and what to do when, you know, a train is being driven from the middle of the car with someone guiding it, although the MTA says that actually happens pretty frequently, 10 to 12 times a week. Meanwhile, New Jersey Transit says it's planning to hike fares 15% this year. Tell us about that. Governor Murphy announced it Wednesday, train and bus fares, Sean, 15%. He wants to start that increase on July 1st.

We should note the NJ Transit hasn't had a fair news. increase since 2015. And just an indication for riders, what does that mean practically? You know, a one-way bus ride from Tom's River to the Port Authority would go from 21, 25, to 2440? Yes. And a one-way ride from Princeton Junction to Penn Station would go from $16 to $18.40. You know, starting next year, Murphy does want to make that fair hike more predictable, something like 3% every year. that's actually something the MTA already does with its biannual fare increases of about 2% a year.

You know, NJ Transit did give a few reasons for this massive fare increase. You know, they cited inflation, ridership declines from COVID, and also their COVID relief aid from the government has run dry. You know, they are facing a shortfall and they say, without this increase, they may have to resort to cuts to service. And unlike the MTA, New Jersey Transit doesn't have to. have dedicated taxes to help balance their books, they rely on the legislature for funding. Now, those are huge fair hikes. It's going to cost commuters a lot. And Clayton, they come as Murphy is suing over another high cost for commuters, the MTA's congestion pricing program, everyone's favorite topic. Yeah, I mean, we talk about New Jersey's lawsuit over congestion

pricing, it seems every week on this segment. And it's really, it offers really interesting context to the New Jersey Transit fair hikes, right? The congestion pricing will charge $15. to most drivers who go below 60th Street in Manhattan during the day. Jersey drivers get a $5 credit if they cross a tunnel and already pay a toll. But Murphy has, for more than a year, way before the lawsuit was issued, said it's unfair because, you know, NJ Transit can't handle more riders that people need to drive to New York. But he's kind of telling on himself in a way and saying that, you know, oh, I fail to invest in the agency. I failed to make trains run on time.

And then what's also interesting, and we've talked about this previously, is that they amended their lawsuit complaint, the justification of their lawsuit. They're suing the federal government over its approval of congestion pricing. And now they're saying that it would violate the U.S. Constitution because it would hinder the ability for interstate commerce. Now, you know, passenger rail maybe not in our state commerce, but it is New Jersey saying, hey, New York, you got to pay also a little bit more to come to New Jersey to the tune of 15%. That context is just kind of interesting right now as the fight continues in court between the two states over the tolls. All right. So back to New York City. Some updates this week on the MTA's newest subway cars.

We've heard about the new R-211 trains on the A line, but they have another new type of car. it's the so-called open gangway cars. Dublin-Mysse Ramsey broke some news about these cars. Ramsey, can you tell us what they are and what you learned about them? Yeah, these exciting new open gangway trains, like you said, the ones where you can walk openly between cars. You know, they're seen in subway systems in Paris and Tokyo.

We learned that they actually can't run on certain express tracks. The MTA has two of these trains, and they've been testing them without passengers for months, you know, to see how it would work in New York. They were supposed to run on the A and the C lines, but we obtained internal memos that say, would be, quote, impossible for them to run on the express A-line. They only run on the local C-line instead. That's the plan. Why is that? Well, essentially, you know, in an emergency breaks or trip,

let's say that happens. Operators are required to get out of the train and fully inspect every side of every car to see if brakes were activated by an object or maybe, you know, a person on the tracks. So now imagine this. The express tracks in the middle. There's two local tracks in between them. This makes it more difficult. When the emergency brakes are tripped, again, in the situation, Train operators are then instructed to go to car to car and lower themselves between those cars. That's just to make those inspections. But according to the Membo, it's going to be harder to do that on open gangway trains because there isn't actually space between the cars.

Right, you can't do it, right. Yeah. New York City Transit President Richard Davy actually addressed this today. He says the MTA ordered step ladders for crews to get down on the sides of these open gangway cars and lights below to help them, you know, reactivate these. brakes if they get like deactivated if someone pulls the emergency lever. And he says the MTA actually chose not to run these on the express tracks. Here's what he has to say. For a new car class, we just thought it was more prudent to have that car stopping at stations more frequently. So

this is not a mistake. It's not a design flaw. This is the first step in a testing. And, you know, frankly, our A train customers are getting a lot of R211. So we thought we would give a little love to our C train customers as well. He did say, you know, as far as safety concerns. There are worries that if there's a fire on the train, he doesn't want the train to be too far from a station, like if it's on an express line.

So for now, out of caution, they say they're just going to run it on the local tracks. And he says the public may see them as soon as next week, or he said the next couple of weeks. He left it open. Okay. It's another big week in transit news. You can stay in the know and even get your question answered by

signing up for our weekly transportation newsletter at gotthmus.com slash on the way. Stephen Clayton Ramsey, thanks so much. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.