NYC NOW - May 3, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

New York's late $229 billion budget boosts minimum wage, MTA funding, bans fossil fuel hookups, and supports education. The Museum of Natural History's Gilder Center for Science, Innovation, and Education opens tomorrow. Lastly, more migrant-filled buses arrive in NYC from Texas. Mayor Adams condemns Governor Abbott for resuming this practice, WNYC's Aria Sundrum reports from the Port Authority, where the buses are arriving throughout the day, on the situation.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, May 3rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York finally has a state budget. Lawmakers finish approving a $229 billion spending plan. Just before 11 last night, that's a month before it was due, or month after it was due. It's the latest state budget in 13 years.

but Senate Majority Leader Andre Stewart Coussin says it's worth the wait. This state budget targets our greatest areas of need to lift the burden and generate future prosperity. The budget includes measures to raise the minimum wage, boosts funding for the MTA and eventually ban fossil fuel hookups in newly constructed buildings. It also includes $35 billion in school aid and clears the way for 14 new charter schools in New York City. It's a big day for science tomorrow in New York City. The Museum of Natural History opens its Gilder Center for Science, Innovation, and Education wing to the public. The museum first announced plans for the massive expansion, which is meant to give visitors a better look at the research that happens there back in 2014.

Visitors can see leaf-cutter ants transverse or transparent sky bridge, stand inside a 360-degree theater, and walk through a butterfly vivarium in the new wing, among other, The center was originally supposed to open in February. A spokesperson said staff needed additional time to complete final installations. 54 and mostly cloudy, some sun here and there. Scattered afternoon showers today, mostly cloudy and 58. And then tonight a chance of overnight showers will low around 47, so cool once again.

And we'll need an umbrella again tomorrow, a 50-50 chance of morning showers, mostly cloudy and 59. More buses full of migrants sent up from Texas are arriving in New York City. Mayor Adams condemned Texas Governor Greg Abbott for resuming this practice, which he called morally bankrupt. Abbott says migrants are going to New York City willingly. WNIC's race injustice reporter Aria Sundaram was at the Port Authority where the buses were arriving early Wednesday morning. These are the first known chartered buses to arrive in months.

Do city officials think this is the start of another wave of the rivals? That is what is expected at this point. So up until this point, city officials say that there have been about 200 to 300 migrants arriving for day in the city, and that number is expected to go up to as many as a thousand in the coming week, with the end of a pandemic-era border ban called Title 42, which was invoked by President Trump and then continued by President Biden. And it's going to be coming to an end next week, which is expected to send a new wave of migrants crossing the border and potentially up to New York City. And Governor Greg Abbott has, of course, said that he is resuming sending buses to New York City after beginning doing so last year. Yeah, that deadline for that Title 42 ends on May 11.

That's next Thursday, I believe. I understand Manuel Castro, the commissioner of the mayor's office of immigrant affairs was there. What did he say this morning? He again condemned Governor Greg Abbott for inhumanely, as he put it, busing people up to New York City for a lack of coordination, a lack of transparency about what's going on. You know, they often don't even find out about these buses directly from the governor's office, but rather through advocates.

And he criticized the federal government, quite frankly, for their lack of leadership, for, you know, failing to provide war permits for many of these people, which has been a month-long plea of the Adams administration, because many of these migrants want to work legally, but cannot do so because they can't get work permits because of months, potentially years-long backlogs. And many can't even apply in the first place because they haven't gotten their court documents to start their asylum process, which they were supposed to get at the border at. WNIC's ARIA, Sunderlander, thank you.

Thank you, Michael. 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. More this evening.