NYC NOW - Midday News: Gov. Hochul Welcomes Texas Democrats, Delacorte Theater Reopens, and Hudson River Crabs Take the Spotlight

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Governor Hochul says she’s welcoming Texas Democrats who departed their state to protest a Republican redistricting plan. Meanwhile, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park reopens this week following an 18-month, multi-million dollar renovation. Plus, the latest episode of Terrestrials, a podcast from Radiolab, explores the surprising ecosystem of the Hudson River with a focus on one unexpected resident: crabs. Producer and music director Alan Goffinski joins us to talk about it.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, August 4th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hokel says she's hosting some of Texas Democrats who departed the Lone Star State, where lawmakers are rewriting congressional districts to favor Republicans in the midterm elections next year. The Democratic state lawmakers left Texas yesterday to prevent a quorum in the Texas House of Representatives, which is voting on a rare mid-decade redistricting plan that would potentially create five new Republican-friendly districts. And a statement of Hockel applauded the lawmakers for, quote,

standing up for the future of democracy. The lawmakers plan to appear with the governor this morning at a news conference in Albany. The home of free Shakespeare in the Park reopens this week after a multi-million dollar renovation. WNIC's Sharon Carlson has more. The Delacourt Theater in Central Park has been closed for 18 months for upgrades. The space hadn't seen meaningful capital improvements since 1999. Some of the new features include a new exterior, accessibility upgrades, expanded bathrooms, and more seats. The renovated Delicourt can now accommodate more than 1,800 patrons. The cost of the improvements totaled $85 million.

Curts go up on Thursday with a star-studded cast and a production of Shakespeare's 12th night, featuring Peter Dinklage, Lepitinio, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sandra O. 82. It's sunshine now. Air quality alert. Widespread haze out there, sunny and a hot one today. Up to 88 degrees. It's tomorrow partly sunny and still hot at 87 with the cold wind. Stay close. There's more after the break.

NYC. People call New York City a concrete jungle, but there's a whole natural ecosystem out there that's diverse and complex. And a new installment of the podcast Terrestrials, a show for, for all ages from Radio Lab, dives into the secret life of one animal that calls the Hudson River home. Imagine your skin hardens like a rock. And it turns red and blue and olive green and your bones vanish. Your torso squishes wide and flat like a cheeseburger as you plunge.

Into the depths of a river. You grow long, whip-like antenna. To help you feel and smell. You sprout six new sets of limbs. Your eyes stretch wide open and you can see front, back, side to side, all at once. The blood in your veins becomes blue. You have become a blue crab. That's right, crabs.

Our next guest, Alan Gafensky, is the producer and the music director for Terrestrials. He joins us now to share what he learned about the creatures on a real. recent outing to the river. Alan, thanks for joining us. Great to be here. Alan, you went out to a kind of a hidden aquarium along the Hudson. Would you tell us about this? Yeah, way out towards the end of Pure 40 as part of the Hudson River Park,

tucked away on the right in the little boat dock area, is this secret aquarium that is filled with wildlife. I like to think of it as kind of a critter hotel. This aquarium, they call it the wet lab. it is a flow-through aquarium where all of the conditions in the tanks are exactly the same as the water in the Hudson River. And all of the fish, all of the wildlife that are on display are actually all native to the waterway just outside, the Hudson River. And they're only there for a short time. In addition to being this educational opportunity for anyone who wants to come by and check it out during open hours, it also is a research facility.

What does this all say about the ecosystem in the Hudson River? Everything from, you know, crabs to flounder, to oyster toadfish, to mud snails, to even seahorses are thriving in this waterway right off the shores. And I'll tell you what, I had no idea that there are actually eight species of crabs that all have a pretty well-established habitat in the Hudson River right alongside New York City. One creature in particular, the long-nosed spider crab, that one is a really interesting indicator of waterway health because the long-nosed spider crab is what is called a decorator crab. It actually camouflages itself by placing bits of its surroundings onto its own shell like Velcro. Like it's got a velcro-like shell that it places like little bits of algae or old barnacles or sometimes in the case of a polluted waterway little plastic bits. So you can actually kind of gauge the health of an ecosystem just by looking at the spider crabs, the long-nosed spider crabs back. And in some cases, finding bits of plastic and trash that it's using to camouflage itself in the Hudson River.

Now, there's a shell abrasion coming up this week where we can see some of these creatures and learn more about them right. Notice I said a shell abrasion there. Well, you know what? We at Terrestrials love a good pond. So I appreciate you indulging. But yeah, we're actually joining our friends over at Little Island. And we are inviting the folks at the Hudson River Wet Lab to come join us. They're going to bring some of their crabs.

They're going to bring some of their fish in tanks. That's happening both Wednesday, August 6th, Thursday, August 7th, out at Little Island at 10 a.m. And then, you know what? We've got a special secret show both of those nights. We're not telling you anything about it, but it's at 5 p.m. show. We're doing a live taping of a brand new episode of Terrestrials. That's top secret. So you'll have to come out and learn more about it.

Wow. Our guest has been Alan Gafensky, producer and music director for WNYC Studios Terrestrials. To learn more about the upcoming shell abrasion and to hear the latest episode, head to Terrestrials Podcast. At org or wherever you listen to podcast. Alan, thank you for this. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WMYC. 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 soon.