NYC NOW - Midday News: Dozens Arrested While Protesting Military Parts Sent to Israel, Bronx Casino Plan Advances, and NYC Leaders React to Trump’s Immigration Enforcement

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Police arrested dozens of people Wednesday who were protesting logistics giant Maersk for its role in delivering U.S. fighter jets to Israel. Meanwhile, the New York City Council has advanced plans for a casino at the former Trump Golf Course in the Bronx, bringing the project closer to state approval. And in this week’s politics segment, we look at New York leaders’ reactions to President Trump’s immigration policies, Zohran Mamdani’s proposed wealth tax, and a major endorsement for Andrew Cuomo.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, June 12th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Police have arrested dozens of people protesting at a shipping company yesterday. Demonstrators say the company plays a key role in delivering fighter jets to Israel. WNRC's Samir-Ferdosey reports. The protest was organized by two activist organizations. the anti-Zionist Jewish Voices for Peace, and the Palestinian youth movement.

About half of the protesters occupied the lobby of Grand Central Tower on 45th Street, aiming to disrupt logistics company Mersk. Many more protesters were outside the building in a circle chanting to end the U.S.'s military funding for Israel. The NYPD blocked off a section of 45th Street and loaded dozens of people onto two buses. They needed an extra one once the arrest started. Mersk has previously told the AP it doesn't send weapons to conflict zones.

but does transport parts internationally that are used in the F-35 supply chain. The Bronx is one step closer to getting a casino after the city council gave a key approval for construction on the site of the former Trump golf course yesterday. Lawmakers approved a measure backing Bally's plan to build a casino and resort on the Ferry Point site it took over from Trump. The company still needs to win a gaming license from the state, and the city would need to pay the Trump organization 115 million. if the deal goes through. Council Speaker Adrian Adams says the economic boom to the Bronx would be worth it. We are looking to set Donald Trump aside and look more towards economic equity in the district.

Legislative leaders say Albany is likely to approve the project now that the council has signed off. 81 and sunny right now, but with an air quality alert till midnight on WNYC, I'm Veronica Advae. Stick around. There's more to come. NYC. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC. And it's time for politics brief, our weekly segment where we break down the news out of City Hall and Albany. Today we're joined by WNYC's John Campbell in Albany and Elizabeth Kim in our downtown Manhattan studios. All right, Liz, let's start here in the city.

The New York City mayoral primary is less than two weeks away. Early voting starts on Saturday. We saw the protests against President Trump's immigration policies intensify and Miller Manhattan last night in part in response to the activation of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles. What are the mayoral candidates saying about all this? They're saying quite a lot, actually. I was with Andrew Cuomo in Harlem. And he's delivering some of his strongest statements yet about Trump since he entered the race. You know, he said that the president is trying to divide cities. He basically framed this as an authoritarian attack on cities. He basically framed this as an authoritarian attack on

cities. Now, Cuomo is the moderate frontrunner in the race, but his remarks on Trump are becoming pretty aligned with his left-leaning opponents. Some of those opponents are trying to use their elected office to intervene. For example, city controller Brad Lander last week escorted three families at a federal immigration court. He felt that his presence there could deter ICE from arresting individuals. The city council speaker, Adrian Adams, this week, demanded an investigation into the possible collaboration between the NYPD and ICE. And then you have Zoran Mamdani. He is the most left-leaning candidate in the race. You might remember he had a viral moment a few months ago when he was trying to confront Trump Bordersar, Tom Homan, in Albany.

You know, looking ahead, I think what's interesting will be whether Mamdani and and Lander choose to attend one of the protests. They did go to the New York rally for Mayor Ros Baraka, who was detained and arrested by federal agents. You know, would they attend a protest in New York City days before the election? I asked their campaigns, and they said that they're deliberating it. Hmm. Yeah, and Liz, up here in Albany, Governor Hockel, in contrast,

has been pretty quiet about those protests in California and New York. She did sign on to a statement with her fellow Democratic. governors where they decried the president's decision to summon the National Guard in California over the governor's objections. But that's the extent of what she said about it to this point. Speaking of Governor Huckle, John, you wrote this week about Zoran Mamdani's plan to tax the rich. Now, that would put him in direct conflict with the governor. Tell us more about that. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Zeran Mamdani wants free buses in New York City. He wants city-owned grocery stores. He wants universal child care. All of that costs money and his plan to pay for that

includes putting this extra 2% tax on people who earn a million dollars or more in the city, or who are New York City residents. And Governor Hockel, that puts the two of them in contrast with each other because Governor Hockel hasn't increased income taxes since she took office and has been very steadfast against it. Now, I asked State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs about that this week. He's a big Hockel ally. And he said, you know, Zeran's got some good ideas like that plan for fair free buses. But Jay Jacobs says Hockel's anti-tax type policy is the right one here. I'm not so sure that he'll be raising the money that he thinks the 2% increase will yield if the people expected to pay it and then some move out entirely. And then he gets nothing.

Now, we've seen this situation play out before. Back in 2014, Andrew Cuomo was the governor then. And Bill de Blasio won the mayor's race on this promise of universal pre-K. And Liz, de Blasio said he was going to tax the rich to pay for it, right? He sure did. And he said it many times. He ran, as some listeners might remember, on this idea that New York City was a tale of two cities. And raising taxes on the rich was something that was always core to his eyes.

ideology. He really never wavered from that mantra, and he's very similar to Mamdani in that respect. Now, how did Bill de Blasio try to get it done? He put a lot and lot of pressure on Cuomo to do it. But John, as you recall, Cuomo wasn't having it, right? Yeah, he did not tax the rich at that point in time. Cuomo made other state money available to pay for this universe of pre-K. So de Blasio got the pre-K, but he didn't get the taxed. on the rich. Now, Andrew Cuomo is a leading Democratic mayoral candidate in the polls, and he scored a big endorsement this week. Liz, who is the latest big name to come to the Cuomo camp? It is former mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He came out and endorsed Andrew Cuomo. It's a very big endorsement. In part because when you think about sort of the Uber managers, you know, I mean, I think when people think about Michael Bloomberg, two things come to mind. He's a billion. and he was a very good manager. And that's something that even candidates running for mayor will often invoke his name. But it was still a surprising endorsement because at least publicly, Bloomberg has tried to

stay out of the mayoral primaries. Now, he did not endorse in the 2021 primary. He did go on to endorse Eric Adams in the general, right? So this was an interesting moment, the decision by him to endorse Cuomo. I will describe it as a marriage, the relationship between the mayor and governor. His marriage with Cuomo was rocky at times, but it was clearly not as spectacularly dramatic as the one he had with Bill de Blasio. But in his statement, Bloomberg talks about his relationship. with Cuomo. And he said, quote, I served with four New York governors and had differences with all of them, including Cuomo. But I also know his strengths as a leader and a manager. So, you know, I think that this kind of endorsement could play well with a lot of people who remember Bloomberg fondly.

And Andrew Cuomo picked up another endorsement this morning. That would be former governor David Patterson. That one's a little bit less of a surprise. Andrew Cuomo and David Patterson have been allies in the year since Patterson. left office. That is politics brief. If you want to answer questions or keep hearing more from our politics team, be sure to sign up for emails at gothamist.com slash newsletters, John and Liz. Thanks so much. It's a busy couple of weeks for you. Thanks, Sean. Thank you, Sean. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. NYC NYC

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