NYC NOW - Midday News: Multiple Suspects Sought in Bushwick Stabbing, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams Criticizes Mayor on Deportation Prep, Albany Targets Menacing Masks, and Senator Pushes Cockloft Fire Safety Bill

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Police are searching for multiple suspects after a man was stabbed and killed in Bushwick Thursday. Meanwhile, NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams says Mayor Eric Adams should have done more to prepare for President Trump’s deportation plans. Also, lawmakers in Albany are considering a bill that would ban wearing masks to menace or threaten violence. Plus, WNYC’s Tiffany Hanssen speaks with State Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. about legislation to address cockloft fires, which break out in the space between the ceiling and the roof of a building and can spread quickly.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, January 24th. Here's the midday news from Tiffany Hanson. Police say they are looking for multiple suspects after a man was stabbed and killed in Bushwick yesterday afternoon. The NYPD says it happened around 3.40 outside a home on Halsey Street near Central Avenue. The agency says officers found a 24-year-old man stabbed in the chest outside the home. Paramedics took him to a local hospital in critical condition where he later died.

Officials have not released the man's identity as they work to notify his family. No arrests have been announced. New York City Council Speaker Adrian Adams says the mayor should have done more to prepare for President Trump's deportation plans. Several other cities prepared for this administration and for the things that were preemptively going to happen. New York City administration had no plan. The president signed a raft of executive orders targeting immigration, including one that would end birthright citizenship in the U.S. Speaker Adams is also urging the mayor to join the legal fight against Trump's birthright citizenship order. A federal judge has temporarily blocked that order.

The mayor hasn't responded to the speaker, but during an event on Wednesday, he said he's committed to protecting all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status. And a city council bill that restricts lobbying by former top aides to any mayor is heading to Mayor Eric Adams' desk. The legislation bans senior mayoral staff from lobbying city agencies for two years after leaving office. Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Wrestler says the move takes direct aim at longstead. issues of ethics in city government. This is important because it's the people in the office of the mayor, his most senior staff, his direct reports that oversee our 300,000 person, $110 billion government. City Hall did not immediately comment, but earlier in the week, a spokesperson said the administration

had pushed for stricter rules, including a two-year ban on lobbying executive agencies and expanding it to city council leaders, but the council rejected those suggestions. Lawmakers in Albany are eyeing a new bill that would prohibit wearing a mask for the purpose of menacing or threatening violence. The bill's sponsor, State Senator James Scufus of Orange County said his goal is safety in the face of crime. He says his bill would make exceptions for masking at protests because of public health concerns. But lawyers with the New York Civil Liberties Union say exceptions aren't always effective. They're particularly worried about the loss potential for over-enforcement on poor people and race. racial minorities. Republicans had called for mask bans last year amid protests over the war in Gaza.

Weather today we can expect sunshine this afternoon with a high right around 33 degrees tonight, clear and a low in the upper teens. Right now we're sitting at 30 degrees here in Soho with some sunshine 30 degrees in the park as well. Stay close. There's more after the break. New York City's fire. Commissioner says bitterly cold weather has people turning to unconventional and sometimes dangerous methods to heat their homes. Multiple space heaters plugged in, ovens turned on overnight can cause fires. And in some homes and buildings, these blazes can be especially dangerous because of an outdated structural quirk called a cock loft, which can help fires spread rapidly.

State Senator Joseph Adoppo, Jr. of Queens, has been pushing legislation for more than a decade that aims to curb the threat of cockloft fires, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator. Tiffany, good morning. Well, let's first start by having you explain what a cockloft is exactly and why it exists. Yes, so many decades ago, when the houses were being built, especially in certain areas of Queens, these cockloves were open air shafts that allowed air to circulate amongst attached homes. So in the days when air conditioning wasn't a, you know, it was more of a luxury than just a common item to have in the house, these Cogloff air shafts were allowing air to, I guess, go through these homes to make the homes cooler free AC air conditioning. But we're seeing now, they're becoming quite dangerous.

Well, let's talk about this residential structure fire prevention act. You've been advocating for it for about a decade at this point. So what drew your attention to the issue in the first place? Was it just repeated fires, dangerous situations in your district? What was it? Yeah, it's witnessing these fires that spread quite rapidly. So in a row of attached homes, a fire would start in one home, but this cockloft airship would allow the fire to spread quickly

to the other adjacent attached homes. But the idea here is there's a way to remedy this. And so no longer our homes built with this cockloft, but to cure the prior structural building of these homes. That's the purpose of this bill. Versions of this bill have been vetoed previously. Insurers, for example, had opposition to a provision that compelled insurance companies to give these discounts to people who perhaps install smoke alarms in their cockloughs.

There was concern from state agencies who had authority over smoke detection standards in these places. So I'm curious how this bill has changed in response. to the previous obstacles you faced with it? Yeah, you know, it is talking to the insurance companies, but the fire detection that we have now and technology who make these fire alarms much, much more accurate, but unfortunately, the fire spread so quick through the cockloft that it makes the fire alarm almost insignificant

because the fire spread so quickly. So the alarm goes off, but unfortunately it may be too late. And so therefore, it's actually the only way to do it properly least to seal the cock loft off. It's an unnecessary air shift to have anyway. Now what most houses is having air conditioning. So now the question becomes how do we pay for it as a state or do a tax credit? And that is about putting it in the budget. And so the argument being we're looking to prevent a fatality. We're no longer looking to react to one. We're looking to prevent one. So as the governor just kicked off the budget season here in Albany with the executive budget, my hope is to have this kind

negotiation and discussion during the budget process. Well, as I understand it, you just reintroduced this bill, so I'm wondering how you're feeling. Are you optimistic about its future? I start every budget season with optimism, Tiffany. I do. And so, you know, we are thankfully so in a good fiscal state right now. We are not in a deficit this year, so to speak.

But when we compare the cost of this bill, which is, you know, it's not hundreds of millions of dollars here. And when we look at the cost compared to saving a life, obviously the benefits far away the cost here. So I hope I don't get into an argument about how much this bill would cost because right now, the value of a life far exceeds that of a cost of this bill. New York State Senator Joseph Adabo Jr. is one of the sponsors of the Residential Structure Fire Prevention Act. Senator, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for your time, Tiffany. Thank you. Thanks for listening.

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