NYC NOW - Midday News: Neighbors Recall Man Killed by NYPD in Astoria, Hochul Fights Wind Project Pause, and Feds Take Aim at AG Letitia James

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Neighbors say the man fatally shot by police in Astoria this week struggled with mental health issues and had been left without support following his parents’ deaths. Meanwhile, Governor Hochul vows to fight the Trump administration’s decision to pause a major wind energy project off Long Island. Plus, in this week’s Politics Brief, a Trump administration official is asking prosecutors to investigate whether New York Attorney General Letitia James committed mortgage fraud, former Governor Cuomo faces mixed news in the mayoral race, former Mayor Bill de Blasio reappears alongside Mayor Adams, and state lawmakers weigh a ban on flavored nicotine pouches as budget talks continue.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, April 17th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Neighbors of the man who police shot and killed the Nestoria earlier this week are shedding new light on his past. Residents of Nica's Woodside houses say 60-year-old King Wong had mental health issues and was left to fend for himself after his parents' done.

died a few years ago. Ronda Ferguson says she often shared food with Wong after seeing him scrounging for scraps in the garbage outside. You know, he was the harmless guy, and I really feel bad to hear that this happened to him. The NYPD says several people called 911 early Monday morning to report that Wong was acting erratically with a large knife. They say officers shot him after Long allegedly lunged at them. Police say they're taking. Hazers didn't work to subdue him. Governor Hokel says she will fight the Trump administration's pause on major wind energy projects off the coast of Long Island.

The federal Interior Department says it's reviewing whether the Biden administration rushed approving the Empire Wind Initiative without enough analysis. Supporters of the project say it would power more than a million homes and create hundreds of jobs while helping New York meet its clean energy goals. Construction was already underway on the first part of the project. The pause comes after President Trump issued an executive order demanding federal agencies review wind projects across the country. There's an elevated fire risk right now because it's so dry in windy near New York City, in the lower Hudson Valley and on Long Island. Today, sunny and 63 and gusty tonight, a low around 48.

Stay close. There's more after the break. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC. It is time for politics brief, our weekly segment where we break down the news out of City Hall and Albany. We're joined by WNYC's John Campbell in Albany and WNYC's Bridget Bergen right here in downtown Manhattan. John, let's start with some national news. A Trump administration official is asking prosecutors to investigate whether New York Attorney General Lettisha James committed mortgage fraud. What can you tell us about that one? Yeah, Sean, you're talking about a lot.

letter from William Pulte. He's the head of the federal housing finance agency, which that's the agency that regulates the home mortgage market. He sent it to the Department of Justice, and it hones in on these documents that have been circulating in recent days in right-wing media outlets. One has to do with a mortgage that Letitia James co-signed with her niece for a small, modest home in Virginia. The document has a line saying that the borrowers intended to make that home their primarily primary residence, excuse me. Now, my understanding is it is the niece's primary residence, but obviously not the AG's residence. She lives in Brooklyn. Another set of documents has to do with the Attorney General's property in Brooklyn. Its certificate of occupancy lists it as a five-unit property,

but the Trump administration official suggests the AG represented it as a four-unit property at various points. So he made a formal referral to the Department of Justice to investigate whether the state attorney general committed fraud. And he's basically accusing her of lying on the forms to get better loan terms. Now, we should note here that the New York Attorney General and President Trump had a lot of history. She won a civil case against the Trump administration for inflating the value of properties to get more favorable terms. So is Trump looking for a retribution here? Well, that's the big question, right, Sean?

I mean, the AG is one of Trump's top political enemies, has been for years. And that's kind of what the AG and her. Her allies are saying that this is retribution. A spokesperson for the Attorney General issued a statement accusing the Trump administration of, quote, weaponizing the federal government. Spokesperson also said that the AG, quote, will not be intimidated by bullies. And, John, I should just jump in to note because all things come back to the New York City mayor's race. Speaker Adrian Adams actually issued a statement from both her government accounts and her political handle on Twitter coming to the AG's defense. You know, of course, James was instrumental in really drumming up some support for Adams before she jumped in this race. Her statement on her political account was, quote, Trump's latest move to target the New York Attorney General is political retaliation, plain and simple.

He's already attacked our schools, colleges, law firms, immigrants, and economy, now are AG. Any mayor should be ready to have her back, I will. Wow. All right. Well, let's stay on the mayor's race now that we're talking about it. Former Governor Cuomo seems to have a bit of a bit of a minute. Mix week, huh? Decent poll numbers, yes, but a few other hiccups. Yeah, you know, look, on the upside, another poll shows him solidly ahead of the pack.

It was a poll out of the Sienna Research Institute shows Cuomo at 34 percent, followed by assembly member Zoran Mamdani of Queens, at 16 percent, and really the rest of the field just in single digits. Now, in the full-ranked choice scenario, Cuomo still ends up the winner, with 64 percent to Mamdani's 36 percent, the poll at a margin error of about five points, which just jumped out of me. felt a little bit larger than normal, but still, it shows Cuomo, you know, is, you know, undeniable with his name recognition is the leader of the PAC. He's also picked up some more union support from the hotel workers union, 32BJ, but there were this series of glitches. You know, his campaign spelled both of the union leader's names wrong in the press release announcing the endorsements. Oh. And Bridget, I mean, there were some issues with a housing policy paper that he put out too. There were some garbled passages that is AIDS blamed on voice to text

software. And there was a link to a Gothamist article that was actually served up by chat GPT. I mean, David Brand just coming up in all kinds of ways, including in the governor's housing plan, you know. And then of course there was the matching funds. He was supposed to get more than $2 million from the city's campaign finance board this week. The campaign says there was a glitch in the software. They weren't able to collect all the information they needed, so they weren't able to get the money they were expecting from the campaign finance board. But, you know, it's not as though there aren't some pretty powerful backers out there spending money on the governor's behalf. There's a pack like Fix the City that is collecting money to boost Cuomo's campaign. The group

has about $5 million. And this week picked up about a quarter million dollars from Bill Ackman. He's that well-known hedge fund manager, Trump supporter. So, you know, you're going to see those Cuomo commercials on the TV. They're just not from the Cuomo campaign. Okay. Some other interesting news here, former Mayor Bill de Blasio made an appearance with current Mayor Adams today, where the city was announcing a partial restoration of some funding for early childhood education. What's going on there?

What does that mean, if anything, for the mayor's race? You know, like, just it's interesting to see the two mayors appear together. both from Brooklyn, but really this was about early childhood education. And they were restoring some funding that's become a little bit of a political football during the Adams administration. The more interesting part related to the mayor's race was some comments the mayor made. First, he was asked whether he was ready to endorse in this race. I think we have some tape ready to play. So this is what he said about making an endorsement.

I have not endorsed anyone. I don't have an intention at this moment to endorse anyone. We're going to see what happens along the way. But there is a long time on the clock. If you go back and someone can do the research, we go back to this day in 2013. I believe I was in fourth place in the primary. And none of you had any reason to report on me. You know, poking a little fun at himself, Mayor de Blasio there.

Now, of course, you can't talk about Mayor de Blasio and former Governor Cuomo without the note that they were famously feuding with each other for the duration of most of their administration. So when asked about Governor Cuomo specifically, this is what de Blasio said. I don't think he should be mayor. There you go. Short and sweet. Short and sweet. And the, you know, the Cuomo campaign sent a very long statement responding to that, touting those union endorsements I mentioned, all of his infrastructure accomplishments,

taking a dig at, quote, the least popular mayor in New York City history, which was likely aimed at Adams. But the statement was written, I think, to be somewhat purposefully ambiguous. because it could have been a dig at, you know, their rivaled Blasian. Yeah, me, anyhow. Okay, John, in the last minute or so we have here, let's try to squeeze the budget in. Governor Hokel and state lawmakers are still negotiating a final estate budget, which is now more than two weeks late. But we want to ask you about something that people have been talking about at the Capitol, these flavored nicotine pouches, some Democratic lawmakers in Albany want to ban them.

Is there a chance that they're going to be successful with that? Yeah, we're talking about pouches like Zinn and Rogue and Veele Those are the brand names in there. These little things that go between your lip and your gums and they dissolve. They're really popular right now. There's a bill in Albany that would ban those pouches if they're flavored, wouldn't apply to unflavored pouches with the idea being that flavors can be used to market to kids. The Assembly Health Committee was set to put it to a vote last week, which is a key step,

but then they pulled it at the last second. Assembly member Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan sponsors the bill. She pointed to a big lobbying push by companies behind the products, tobacco giants like Philip Morris International. She says she's going to try to get it passed later in the legislative session, which runs into June, but this was definitely a setback. Okay. Well, now is the time for a question for our listeners. Do you think New York should ban flavored nicotine pouches? We'd like to know. That's politics brief. If you want to answer our question or keep hearing more from our politics team, be sure to sign up for emails at gotthmus.com slash newsletters, John Bridgett. Thanks so much. Thank you.

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.