NYC NOW - Midday News: City Tests Housing Options for Pregnant Shelter Residents, No Charges Against Police Officers in Jamaica Station Shooting, and New Jersey Prepares for Hurricane Season

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

New York City is launching a pilot program to reduce the number of babies born in homeless shelters by testing different housing interventions for 500 pregnant people. Meanwhile, the state attorney general will not pursue charges against MTA officers who fatally shot a man at Jamaica Station last year. Plus, with hurricane season starting Sunday, New Jersey DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette discusses how the state is preparing its coastline for extreme weather.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, May 30th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The Adams administration wants to reduce the number of babies born in a homeless shelter. WNMIC's Karen Yee reports. Starting this summer, the city will fast-track housing options for pregnant people who are facing homelessness. In the last fiscal year, more than 2,000 babies were born. born in shelter. The city wants to test what's the most effective way to cut back shelter stays and

make sure babies have permanent homes. The plan will randomly assign 500 pregnant people at risk of homelessness into one of three groups. One will get an immediate housing voucher. Another will be encouraged to stay with a family member or friend who can get a monthly city stipend. And the third will be placed in shelter as a control group. Advocates for the homeless applaud the city's goals, but say the plan makes no sense. They say all pregnant people should be offered housing. New York's Attorney General's office will not pursue criminal charges against the MTA police officers who shot and killed them,

they say, groped 18 at Jamaica Station. Bashi McDaniel was shot and killed during a 2023 encounter with MTA police. The AG's office of a special investigation says police tried to apprehend McDaniel after they matched him with the picture of a sexual assault suspect. suspect. Police said McDaniel's own gun discharge as he was resisting arrest. The officers then backed away. They say that's when McDaniel grabbed his gun and pointed it at them. The officers then opened fire. Investigators say they reviewed body-worn camera footage and witness testimony and concluded the officers reasonably used deadly force.

69 and mostly clouding now with the chance of showers, maybe late afternoon thunderstorms 's mid-70s today. Stay close. There's more after the break. The official starting of the Atlantic hurricane season is this Sunday, June 1st. New Jersey shore towns get aggressively hit during major rainfalls even outside of hurricane season. How might the coastline hold up in the most hard-hitting time of the year? Well, it's a question we're putting to Sean LaTorrette. He's commissioner of the Garden State's Department of Environmental Protection. So, Commissioner, I have to ask you this.

What do you see as inevitable? I hear the words erosion. I hear climate change or climate crisis. What do you see as inevitable when it comes to the Jersey shore and hurricane season? So what's inevitable is how the rising sea levels are affecting both our risk of sunny day flooding, where we see sunny day tidal flooding even when there is not a storm or it just rains a little hard. We're seeing that routinely all throughout areas of our shore, most notably, down in areas like Atlantic City. But as that sea level rise continues, that storm surge risks

increases. You know, we're expecting two feet of sea level rise by the year 2050 and five by the year 2100. And that doesn't all happen at once. It is incremental. And so we need to tool ourselves, both as a matter of policy and building things stronger, ensuring that what we build today stands the test of time while we're investing in these nature-based solutions that engineer with nature to keep our communities, our people, and our economy safe. Now, you referred to this a second ago. What major changes have been made since last hurricane season and what's still coming? Some specifics, if you can. Sure. So since the experience of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, we've doubled down dramatically in the state of New Jersey by investing more money in our shore protection fund,

once capitalized at $25 million a year, year over years now, $50 million a year. And that matches money that we get from the federal government in partnership between the DEP and the Army Corps. So just this season now, we're deploying a $60 million joint project in Northern Ocean County. we finished up at Sican Island, building out the dune system and replenishing the shoreline to resist coastal erosion and storm surge. Now, that's not the only thing we need to do. We need to work on policies for protection of assets and critical habitats as well, things like elevation programs and where necessary buyouts of homes in the most vulnerable areas where people are willing. It's an all-of-the-above approach. Commissioner, what kind of collaboration do you have with local municipalities there

along the shore about development and building in certain spots? Is there a policy? Is there something written and so forth when you're communicating with these local municipalities about what kind of projects they should allow to be built close to the water? One way is through our coastal area facilities review act. It's a special law here in New Jersey that regulates development in the coastal zone, including the Atlantic coast and other tidily influenced areas of the state, even up the Delaware River, which is tidal to Trenton. Right now, we are working on a major regulatory reform called resilient environments and landscapes are real because climate change is real and the risks of hurricanes and sea level rise. That's all real, too. What these rules will do is improve building safety. standards by requiring elevation to a higher degree to account for increasing risks. And, you know, in some parts of the state, you know, folks might greet a change like this as somehow controversial

or chasing away development. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. This is America, and private property rights are a thing. We just want to make sure that you're building safely so that your asset is protected into the long term because these risks are now occurring within the life of a typical mortgage or commercial financing. Here we are in 2025, and I mentioned to you that by 2050, we can expect two feet of sea level rise. So the folks who issue bonds to municipal governments are watching for things like this. And they give New Jersey high marks. So for example, Moody's gave our reform high marks, because to undertake protective measures is deemed credit positive by the folks who are going to issue bonds, insurance, and lend you money.

Commissioner one switch gears just a little bit here. What's the impact of federal funding cuts to your department as we enter this critical season? I think they're a bit unknown, which gives me some concern because we have long led a very, very important relationship with our friends. federal partners across administrations on both levels, across gubernatorial administrations and presidential administrations. New Jersey is the third biggest recipient of FEMA recovery funding in the country, right? Number three, because we have such a mixed bag of risk, right? We have fluvial inland flooding risk than meets our title storm surge related risks. And so we live at this intersection, and then of course, as I think has come into the consciousness more recently,

we're actually quite a wildfire-prone state. And so that relationship with our federal partners has really helped to carry many of these initiatives along. Our guest has been Commissioner Sean LaTorrette, leading New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection. Commissioner, thank you so much for this. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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