NYC NOW - Midday News: MTA Unveils New Gates to Curb Fare Evasion, Knicks Are One Win Away from Advancing in Playoffs, and Tentative NYS Budget Explained.

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

The MTA will test modern fare gates with sliding glass doors at 20 subway stations this fall, part of a pilot aimed at curbing fare evasion that costs the agency hundreds of millions annually. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are one win away from advancing to the second round of the NBA playoffs as they play the Pistons at the Garden. Plus, New York state lawmakers have a handshake deal on the state budget that's almost a month late. WNYC state government reporter Jimmy Vielkind. Has the details.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, April 29th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The MTA says it will install modern faregate designs at 20 different subway stations at fall. WNMIC's Ramsey-Khalifa reports it's part of a pilot program that aims to crackdown on fair evasion. This isn't your grandfather's subway turnst. Officials say these new gates, which have sliding glass doors, make it harder for people

to ride without paying. And that's a big priority for the agency, which loses an estimated $700 million a year to fare beaters. MTA construction president Jamie Torres-Springer says the new gates mark a major step forward for the agency. These gates are the cutting edge and are aimed at both ensuring fair compliance and making the system more accessible and easier to use. The agency will pilot new fare gates from four different companies at selects.

stations. Officials plan to eventually roll them out to 150 stations. That's if lawmakers in Albany fully fund the MTA's expansive construction plan. The New York Knicks are one win away from the next round of the NBA playoffs. Double-in-Massiz. Sean Carlson has more. They may be getting the orange and blue confetti ready at the world's most famous arena as we speak. The Knicks are up three games to one in their best of seven playoff series against the Detroit Pistons. That means if they win their game tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks will knock Detroit out. and punch their ticket to the next series. If the Pistons win, that'll send the series back to the Motor City for a Thursday night game,

but the Knicks would still only need one win to advance. The NICS got to the second round last season only to be defeated by the Indiana Pacers, and they have not won an NBA championship since 1973. 71 and sunny now, sunny and warm. 82 increasing winds gusting to 26 miles an hour today. Stick around. There's more to come. NIC

Just shy of a month after their deadline, New York state lawmakers have a handshake deal on the state budget. Here to tell us all about it is WNIC state government reporter, Jimmy Vielkind. Jimmy, for those who have been following every twist in turn like you have, why does it take so long to hammer out the budget? Well, Michael, the first reason is that it's a lot of money. The state is talking about a $254 billion, billion with a B-dollar budget, which spends money on everything from health care programs to schools.

That's about $2 billion higher than Governor Hockel first proposed in January. But more than dollars in cents, the budget is basically a vehicle where state passes lots of its legislation for the year. And the reason this took so long is that Governor Hockel used the budget as a vehicle to push a few controversial policies. That includes a bell-to-bell ban on student use of self-relevant. phones during the school day and changes to how evidence is shared before a criminal trial. That's the discovery process. Lawmakers have decided that it's going to get harder for defense lawyers to dismiss a case as a result of information not being turned over by prosecutors. Now, Jimmy, what about restrictions on wearing masks in public? Because I know that was an issue.

We know, we know that was one of the last sticking points. Well, that's right. And it was a somewhat later proposal by Governor Hockel. Initially, she backed the creation of a new law that would have made it illegal to wear a mask with the intent to harass. But there was lots of pushback and lots of questions about how would you ever know somebody's intent? How would you know if someone's wearing a mask for medical reasons or for religious reasons? So that was going to be really hard to enforce. Instead, lawmakers now say that they will toughen penalties for people who commit other crimes like petty larceny or assault while they're wearing the mask or fleeing the scene of that crime. Governor Hockel the other day,

said that this was a matter of public safety. Here she is. We have to protect our citizens. And those who are trying to, you know, hurt others and vandalize or threaten, disguising their identity, they shouldn't be able to get away with that. What about the school's cell phone van, Jimmy? When does that take effect? Well, it should be in place for the coming year, Michael. Each district needs to adopt its own policy. There will be exceptions for students who, who serve as caregivers for another family member or loved one, as well as exceptions for people with disability accommodations.

Now, Hockel made this announcement four weeks after the budget deadline, but are things actually done and what happens next? No, they're not actually quite done. We know that state legislators still haven't finished all the nitty-gritty of everything else, and that includes things like hospital funding and how much they're going to raise payroll taxes to fund the MTA. After that gets done, there will be a series of budget bills that need to be debated, voted upon, and we assume that will take up at the very least the rest of this week.

Jimmy, this is happening as Congress itself is also discussing a new budget plan. How might that affect what New York lawmakers are doing? Well, it's a huge risk. This budget relies on more than $90 billion of federal funding, mostly for the Medicaid program, which is a program that provides health insurance, to low-income and disabled New Yorkers. So if Congress makes cuts, New York lawmakers are basically going to have to start again. And there's not just a butt here.

There's an and. You have to think also about stock market volatility that's been caused by President Trump's tariffs. That could also have a major impact on state revenues. And it's another reason that lawmakers assume that they will be back later this year, probably in the fall, to once again work on a budget. Well, Jimmy, what else is on Albany's agenda once this, gets done? You know, this really is going to be most of the action for the year, but the lawmaking session extends until the middle of June. Some of the big items that I expect are going to come up

include a medical aid in dying bill, which is actually set for a vote in the State Assembly this week. It would allow terminally ill patients over age 18 to get doctor approvals to take prescribed medication to end their life. I also expect we're going to hear lots more debate about whether New York should pass a broader sanctuary policy, which would restrict how local police departments can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It's called the New York for All Act. There's no consistent policy around the state, and as we see deportations roll along, there are more concern among advocates for immigrants and several lawmakers, and I expect that could culminate in some kind of legislative action. Jimmy, you've covered a lot of ground in this conversation. Remind us

once again, what is the next step to finalize the state budget? Well, there are still talks ongoing as to the final details of what's going to be in that budget. But at this point, it does seem to be a finished deal. Lawmakers will write the bills. They'll be introduced. I will be reading them. Maybe some listeners will be reading them, but I'll certainly be reading them. And hopefully they will be debated and voted upon over the course of this week and maybe a little bit into next week.

That's WNYC's Jimmy Vialkind. Jimmy, as always, thank you so much. Thanks, Michael. 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 times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be back this evening.