NYC NOW - January 5, 2024: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: Mayor Adams's administration is suing 17 bus companies for allegedly carrying migrants to the city from Texas. Meanwhile an NYPD officer is facing disciplinary charges for tackling and arresting an 11-year-old who hadn't broken the law. Plus. respiratory viruses are surging in New York City.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, January 5th. Here's the morning headlines from David First. Mayor Adams' administration is suing 17 bus companies for allegedly carrying migrants to the city from Texas. The lawsuit seeks more than $700 million. The city says will recoup the cost of providing emergency care and shelter to the tens of thousands of people. sent to New York under the program. WNYC's Elizabeth Kim says New York State's social services law is at the heart of the city's case against the bus companies. It essentially says that anyone who knowingly brings a non-citizen into the state who will primarily have to rely on government assistance must pay for their expenses or transport them out of the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending the buses in 2022. Abbott called the lawsuit baseless. An NYPD officer faces disciplinary charges for tackling and arresting an 11-year-old who hadn't broken the law. WNYC's Samantha Max reports.

In July 2019, Lieutenant Francie Monastime heard officers call for help about a man with a firearm and race to a park in the Bronx. He says he saw a boy running and decided to chase tackle and arrest. him because he thought the boy had a gun. But the boy, now in high school, says he was running because a group was fighting with police nearby, and he was scared. Police brought the boy to the precinct, but didn't charge him with a crime. The team's family moved to North Carolina after his arrest, and he says he's still traumatized. Investigators say Monastime violated department policy. The police commissioner will decide whether to discipline him. If you're coughing and sneezing your way through the first week of the year, you have company

respiratory viruses are surging in New York City. WNYC's Jacqueline Jeffrey Wollensky has the latest on the so-called tripledemic. More and more New Yorkers are turning up at doctors' offices and ERs with viral respiratory illnesses. That's the catch-all term for nasty bugs like COVID and flu and RSV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says transmission of all three is very high in the metro area and New Jersey. For COVID, at least, there's a known culprit. behind the spike. It's called JN1. It's a new variant that scientists say is better than its ancestors at dodging past immunity. The new COVID vaccines do offer good protection against severe disease and

death, though. You can book appointments for COVID and flu vaccines by going to vaccinefinder. mysc.gov. 27 degrees right now in New York City. We're expecting a high today, around 40 degrees with sunny skies expected. Tonight, a low of 29. Tomorrow, cloudy. Rain and snow. likely after 4 p.m. 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. See you this afternoon.