NYC NOW - July 25, 2023: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: July 25, 2023

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York forms a new unit to probe potential wrongful convictions. In New Jersey, a judge nears a ruling on the state's accountability for school segregation. Also, Mayor Adams sets his sights on dismantling the nearly 400 miles of scaffolding dominating New York City sidewalks.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, July 25th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of the York has forming a new unit to investigate potentially wrongful convictions. WNYC Samantha Max reports. Federal prosecutors say the Conviction Integrity Commission

will create a formal process in the attorney. attorney's office to re-examine old convictions. The office has assigned a prosecutor to lead the new team, but to review requests from people who claim they were convicted of crimes they didn't commit. It will be up to prosecutors to decide if they want to look into any of those cases. Local DA's offices across the five boroughs have already created similar units. They have collectively overturned hundreds of convictions, mostly based on police or prosecutorial misconduct. Anyone who wants to make a wrongful conviction claim can find more information on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website.

A New Jersey judge is expected to rule soon whether the state is responsible for the segregation of its schools. W.N.C.'s Karen Yee reports the outcome of the case could affect thousands of students. The core of the lawsuit argues New Jersey is violating its own constitution by requiring students to attend schools based on where they live. A coalition of nonprofits that sued the state in 2018 argues that practice extends residential segregation into the classroom. Javier Robles is the president of the Latino Action Network, one of the plaintiffs in the case. We're systemically keeping young black and brown kids in these neighborhoods

without giving them a choice as to where they go to school. Robles says if the Mercer County judge finds the state liable, then all parties will have to come up with a plan to integrate the schools. Mayor Eric Adams says he wants to dismantle the nearly 400 miles of scaffolding looming over New York City's sidewalks. Mayor Adams detailed the plan yesterday to find property owners who keep scaffolding in place for an excessive amount of time. Here's the mayor. We're announcing our plan to take down unsightly sidewalk sheds and reclaim our streets. The buildings department also plans to shorten scaffolding permits to just 90 days. City Hall says scaffolding covers 3% of New York City sidewalks. Your forecast now, and sunny now, slim chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms will reach the mid-80s

and the mostly sunny skies. Tomorrow we begin a warm-up. Sunny are near 90 and then Thursday and Friday in the 90s, but it'll feel like 105. 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.