NYC NOW - Midday News: Detained Columbia Grad Student Mahmoud Khalil Granted Contact Visit with Infant Son, Jersey City Bans AI Rent Pricing, and AmeriCorps Cuts Threaten Childcare in Brooklyn Community

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Detained Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, has held his infant son for the first time after a judge blocked the Trump administration’s effort to keep them separated. Meanwhile, Jersey City lawmakers are banning landlords from using AI software to set rents. Plus, AmeriCorps funding cuts by the Trump administration threaten childcare programs in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, May 23rd. Here's the midday news. I'm Jenei Pierre. Detained Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil has held his infant son for the first time. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, has been in immigration detention since March. Authorities did not allow him to attend his first child's birth last month. But this week, a federal judge.

judge blocked the Trump administration's effort to keep the father and infant separated by plexiglass. He was allowed a contact visit with his wife and child yesterday morning. Authorities have not accused Khalil of a crime. They say his role in protest against Israel's war in Gaza undermines U.S. policy interests. A judge is currently weighing whether Khalil can be released while lawyers appeal a ruling that he can be deported. Khalil says he believes Israeli agents could assassinate or kill him if he's deported to the Middle East because he's become a high-profile critic of the country. Local lawmakers in Jersey City are banning landlords from using artificial intelligence software to set rents. WMYC's Mike Hayes has more on this first in New Jersey legislative action.

The City Council in Jersey City voted unanimously 9-0 to ban the use of rent-setting algorithm programs like Real Page by local property. owners. Major corporate landlords and RealPage currently face numerous state and federal lawsuits alleging that they colluded to use the AI tools to jack up rents in places like Jersey City. Councilmember James Solomon called the AI ban in Jersey City a message to landlords gaming the system. But some property owners complain that the ban doesn't address the real problem, which is a lack of new affordable housing being built fast enough to meet demand. The ban in Jersey City will take effect next month. Stay tuned for more

after the break. In Sunset Park, Brooklyn, AmeriCorps volunteers provide child care to working parents in return for a stipend and money for college. But the Trump administration has slashed funding for AmeriCorps, threatening to destabilize vital programs in the community.

WMYC's Jessica Gould reports. Xavier Harmon towers above a sea of elementary schoolers in the gym at PS-506 in Brooklyn. He's monitoring a gentle game of dodgeball with a watchful eye and encouraging cheers. He's been working with kids in the community since he joined AmeriCorps during the pandemic in 2020.

Honestly, just to give back, but also to better myself and really go through college and have those experiences so I can use it for a future. Now, he's working to become an occupational therapist. He says AmeriCorps changed the whole tree. trajectory of his life. It just, they came to me at a long time, and, you know, it kept me on a straight and arrow, so I'm probably grateful for that I experience. Harmon's journey is just what AmeriCorps founders envisioned back when it started decades ago.

It's similar to the Peace Corps, young people volunteer, but in the U.S., helping with child care, cleaning up after natural disasters, and building homes. They earn a stipend for living expenses and grants for college, and maybe get inspired. to pursue a career in public service. They gave me a sunset purpose, honestly. But last month, the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency suddenly cut nearly $400 million at AmeriCorps programs. Thousands of volunteers across the country stopped getting stipends,

including dozens here in Sunset Park. Christy Mansell oversees after-school programs through the nonprofit Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, which has partnered with AmeriCorps for years. It was devastating, and we had to bring all the members together and give them this news. After the cuts, the center hired AmeriCorps members as temporary staff, just to help them cover their bills through the end of their contracts in June. But it's not clear whether they'll still be able to get the college grants they were promised.

And Mansell worries about the impact on such idealistic young people. I think for that generation, it could create some cynicism and disappointment and deciding not to try and volunteer and get involved in the future. She says without the AmeriCorps volunteers, her after-school programs will have to cut hundreds of slots for kids, which parent Barbara Avila says would be devastating. I'm a working mom. All my family works.

I don't have child care. I will probably have to take off of work to stay with them and who's going to go by the necessary things. 25 states are suing to stop the cuts. But officials with the Trump administration say AmeriCorps has failed multiple audits, so they're restructuring it. Federal officials overseeing AmeriCorps say it was in the process of making improvements when the Trump administration made the cuts. Jessica Gould, WNYC News. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you. you get your podcast. See you this evening.