NYC NOW - March 25, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Some people at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park on the border of Queens and Nassau County may have been exposed to measles in the last week after a patient who visited the emergency department was diagnosed with the respiratory illness. Meanwhile, this week marks the beginning of celebrations for many in New York City's Jewish, Hindu, and Christian communities. WNYC's Tiffany Hanssen has more. Plus, New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy has exited the U.S. Senate race, leaving Congress member Andy Kim as the sole frontrunner among at least three candidates to replace Bob Menendez. With some of the state’s most powerful Democratic political bosses previously endorsing Murphy, she was in a good position to make a run. So why did she decide to exit the race? WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with New Jersey editor Louis Hochman to make sense of the decision. Finally, the number of auto thefts in New York City has spiked over the past 5 years but has been trending down lately due to some new and unusual tactics that police use to catch thieves. WNYC’s Matt Katz reports.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, March 25th. Here's the midday news for Michael Hill. Some people at a hospital on the border of Queens and Nassau County may have been exposed to measles in the last week. Officials at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park say a patient who was in the emergency department on Thursday has been diagnosed. with the respiratory illness. The hospital says it's contacting people who visited the emergency department at the same time as the measles patient with special focus on those who are high risk. The State Department of Health said last week it identified a young, unvaccinated child with measles

in Nassau County. It says Nassau County health officials already have begun contact tracing. This week marks the beginning of celebrations for many in New York City's Jewish, Hindu, and Christian communities. W. U.N.Y.C's Tiffany Hanson has more. Over the weekend, Jews in New York dressed up ate hamantash and read the book of Esther in celebration of Purim, the holiday known as Festival of Lots, celebrates the Jews' fifth century salvation from tyrannical Persian rule. For Hindus, today is holy. The festival celebrating love, colors, and the arrival of spring. It's famous for the throwing of colorful powder. And Christians began Holy Week yesterday with Palm

Sunday, a day meant to celebrate Jesus's entry into Jerusalem before his death. St. Patrick's Cathedral is live streaming their Holy Week services culminating with Good Friday and Easter this coming Sunday. Forty-three with sunshine out there now, sunny today and a high of 52, breezy as well. Tomorrow, mostly cloudy in 50. Then on Wednesday, a chance of drizzle or light rain with fog, clouds, and upper 50s. 43 with sunshine right now. Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC. New Jersey, First Lady, Tammy Murphy is out of the U.S. Senate race.

Her surprise departure announcement leaves Congress member Andy Kim, the sole frontrunner, among at least three candidates in the race to replace Bob Menendez. For months ago, Murphy entered the race in what looked like a coronation, with some of the state's most powerful Democratic political bosses lining up to endorse her. that usually means smooth sailing to the Democratic nomination and even the general election. I'm joined now by WNIC's New Jersey editor, Lewis Hockman, to talk about why Tammy Murphy's had such a bumpy road. Lou, welcome to Morning Edition. Good morning, Michael.

What do we know about why Tammy Murphy is leaving the Senate race and why now? Well, today was the filing deadline for candidates to send in their petitions. So if a candidate doesn't see a good road ahead, today's often when they're going to get out of the race. So last night, Tammy Murphy releases this video on social media. She says, continuing would mean waging a divisive campaign. She didn't want to do that. She said with Donald Trump on the ballot. She didn't want to spend her time going after a fellow Democrat.

But in a lot of ways, this has already been a bruising campaign. Over and over again, Kim's been attacking not so much Murphy on her qualifications or her capabilities. She's considered a very formidable candidate. but about the fact that she is part of political machinery that seemed intent on getting her the nomination, that the fix is in, that she's part of the problem, that she'd be part of this dynasty with a fait of complete. She didn't mention Kim by name in her video, but she did seem to respond to it. She said she'd campaigned about issues that mattered families, not, and these are her words, process and politics.

So when Kim argues the fix is in, what does he mean, mother? So this is a state where we've got these really intensely powerful political machines and political bosses. You just don't see it persist the same way in a lot of other states. And this election season, you've probably started to hear about something called the county line. It's this very unusual ballot system where if you get the political machines endorsement in a given county, you get grouped on a slate with all of the other candidates who are endorsed. So you've got President Biden, let's say, at the top, and then everybody else. and that gives a big advantage in the primary election to whoever is on the line.

A week ago, Kim was in court trying to argue that's undemocratic. He's suing to get a change before the primary. That could be decided any time. And he's been making a pretty strong case that attacks the deck against him. He keeps winning a lot of these conventions where the political machines award the line. But in some places, political bosses just award it themselves. And Murphy was slated to get that preferential treatment in most of the the state. So if the Kim Murphy fight is something of a proxy battle over this county line,

does this signal change could be around the corner? It's hard to say. Kim says he's still going to push ahead with his case because New Jersey deserves fair ballots. Part of his argument to the court was that this made him an underdog even though he was doing better in the polls. So we'll see what the judge thinks about that. There's been a lot of talk about whether Murphy, dropping sort of releases some of the pressure to change the county line system, that maybe it gives the political establishment time to figure something else out. Legislature leaders in both parties wrote a letter last week together saying they're open to some kind of change. And that's pretty remarkable political coordination across the aisle. It's clear none of the political establishment

from either party wants this in the courts. We don't know what kind of other system they might be entertaining and whether that's going to protect establishment power in some other way. Much more to come on this. Louis Hawkeman is the New Jersey editor for WNYC. Lou, thank you. Thanks so much, Michael. The number of auto thefts in New York City soared over the last five years. Now, car thefts are starting to tick down.

WNIC's MacC's MacCats takes a look at some of the new and unusual tactics that police are using to nab those thieves. One of those tactics might be while you're stuck in traffic right now. Last August, the NYPD was tracking a stolen range rover speeding down the Staten Island Expressway, headed to the Verrazana Bridge. He did a lot of creative driving to try to get away from us. NYPD captain, Glorsel Lee, was on duty that day when police commanders initiated what they call a mitigation plan.

Assistant Chief Joseph Galada explains. What the mitigation plan calls for is closing down. The bridges, shutting down parts of the highway, and then slowing that traffic down. So there's no place for these cars to go. That's right. To trap suspects who are in a stolen vehicle, the NYPD is now creating traffic jams. And we've seen some real success, especially on the Verrazana Bridge. The idea is to get that traffic slowed out enough so we can get the car we're looking for stuck in traffic.

This is just one technique that area police are using. Across our region, police are developing innovative tactics. aimed at nabbing thieves while avoiding high-speed chases, which can be deadly. So I wasn't doing a high-speed chase in a vehicle, ended up being on foot while he was in the car. When the NYPD caused traffic jam and snared the men in the Rangerover, the suspects bailed from the vehicle. Captain Lee pursued on foot.

The men then jumped off the bridge into Fort Wadsworth. So it was very close to the Staten Island, and it wasn't like they jumped off the bridge. They ran into the fort, and with the help of the Coast Coast Coast Coast. Right? Close guided. We were able to get them. Traffic jams created by police sometimes mean the closure of just one lane.

Other times, they'll shut the entire bridge. Frustrated commuters probably just assume there's a crash up ahead. As far as closing down bridges, it would never be an extended period of time. 15,000 vehicles were stolen in New York City last year, more than any year since 2005. So far this year, though, data shows the car theft rate is down, almost 10%. And new tactics aren't just being applied in the city. There's been a drop in car theft and tiny old Westbury on Long Island, too. Police Chief Stuart Cameron bought Batmobile-style tech to tackle the village's biggest crime problem.

We'll be alerted through a license plate reader network in Newark, New York, New Jersey, that the cars are in Newark within 45 minutes of being stolen here. Chief Cameron describes a regional issue, where high-end cars, often with key fobs left in the cup holders, are stolen from driveways and taken to the port, where some have been found loaded onto container ship. headed to Africa for resale. Police and different departments can now communicate in real time

through phone apps and special radio channels to track these vehicles. But how do they stop them? I've told their officers, if you're behind a car that's stolen or confirmed wanted in a crime before you even attempt to stop it, take it with the GPS. GPS darts are part of a $45,000 system the department purchased called Starchase. They're lightweight, made of foam, and shot from a barrel mounted on police cruisers. The darts stick to the end of fleeing vehicles with heat-activated glue and then track the car's movements. There's a laser that you can beam out to the back of the car to show you the point of impact.

So that map you're looking at right now, that's where your police cruisers are now. Then once the darts deployed, the dart would automatically pop up on the map to show that there's been a star chase deployment. We went out to the parking lot of old Westbury's small police department to take a look at a launcher on one. one of the police cruisers. So it looks a little like E.T's eyes. Nice. Thanks. Just like this opens up, you have a pop and it shoots out. We're ready in case it happened.

The chief shows me another tool they own, stopsticks, which are laid out in a road and deflate the tires of fleeing vehicles. And the chief's next purchase? A drone with thermal imaging cameras that can find someone who maybe just jumped out of a stolen car that had its tires deflated by stopsticks. and its movement tracked by a GPS dart.

Matt Katz, WNYC News. 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. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.