NYC NOW - July 17, 2024: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is appointing a new leader to oversee children’s services amid criticism of his administration’s handling of early childhood education programs. WNYC’s Jessica Gould reports. Meanwhile, new data reveals that the higher women earn in New York City, the wider the pay gap is between them and their male counterparts. Plus, Mayor Adams dismisses claims that FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is stepping down due to sexism in the fire department.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, July 17th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is appointing a new leader to coordinate children's services. WNIC's Jessica Gould reports the move comes as the administration faces criticism for how it's handled early childhood education programs. Asia Badi will lead the children's cabinet responsible for liaising between agencies,

nonprofits, and the private sector. Mayor Adams has faced criticism from parents angry about budget cuts to the city's free preschool program. The mayor says he's reorganizing the program to better meet children's needs. Body previously worked in the city's Health and Human Services Department and with homeless youth. She steps into the new position a week after the administration announced another staffing shake-up. The official in charge of early childhood education announced she was leaving the post for a position outside government. A new report finds that the more women earn in New York City, the wider the pay gap is between them and men in the same salary level, and the disparity is the widest for women of color.

The report is a collaboration between the nonprofit women creating change and the Center for New York City Affairs at the new school. Lena Moe co-authored the report and is an associate director at the Center for New York City Affairs, she says the trend may be different from what we would expect. As women climb the income ladder, as they gain more experience in the field, or they've spent more years working, they're actually falling further behind their male counterparts. Researchers say the disparity is especially noticeable for people who work in education. They say white men with higher incomes make nearly twice as much as their women counterparts, even after accounting for education level and experience.

Mayor Adams says there's no reason to believe FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh is stepping down because of sexism in the fire department. Kavanaugh is the first woman to hold the rule. She had faced sharp criticism from male fire chiefs over personnel and policy changes. I want to get to a day in this city and country where if a woman decided to do something else with her life, she's not all of a sudden saying, oh, you couldn't cut it? It was too much for you. It was too hard for you. The mayor says he hasn't started looking for a new commissioner,

but the Kavanaugh is more than welcome to stay in his administration. 79 and partly cloudy right now. Heat advisory till tonight. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms today. Some could be severe. A high near 94. The heat wave breaks tomorrow. 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.