NYC NOW - Midday News: New York Lawmakers Demand Release of Ecuadorian Family, the Push for Gaming Licenses in New York State, and the Strange Mystery of Static Electricity on One City Block

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Governor Hochul and some New York lawmakers are demanding an Ecuadorian family's release after agents detained them at a Manhattan immigration court last week. Plus, backers of eight casino projects are vying for three downstate gaming licenses that New York State plans to award this year. But they first have to get past reviews by local community advisory committees. And finally, we look into what might be causing people’s hair to stick straight up at 41st Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, August 19th. Here's the Midday News from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hochle and some New York lawmakers are demanding an Ecuadorian family's release after agents detained them at a Manhattan Immigration Court last week. They say the family was attending a check-in at 26 Federal Plaza, where immigration authorities have been arresting people in recent months. Homeland security officials are identifying the mother as Martha Lojana Gwapa. She's being held with her seven-year-old daughter at a Texas detention facility, while New York officials say her 19-year-old son is being held in Newark. DHS says the family unlawfully entered the country in 2022,

and an immigration judge has ordered their deportation. Backers of A-Casino projects are vying for three downstate gaming licenses that New York State plans to award this year, but they first have to get past reviews by local community advisory committees. WN.N.I.C.'s Rune Venigal Paul has more. Community Advisory Committee is the kind of nomenclature that can make your eyes glaze over. But in the case of the casino projects vying for a license, these CACs are extremely powerful entities that can make or break a lavish multi-billion dollar project.

Each CAC in the city is made of appointees from the governor and mayor. as well as local elected officials, and each has to secure a two-thirds committee vote to advance. They're doing this through a public process playing out over the coming weeks. A state gaming panel decides the matter for good by years end. And we have more for you at our new site, Gothamist. 75 and partly sunny now, mostly sunny today in a high of 76. A shocking phenomenon in Times Square is capturing New Yorkers' attention. steps away from the New Amsterdam Theater's back entrance at 41st and 7th.

Something seems to be causing people's hair to stick straight up as if charged with static electricity. DEMC's Catalina Gonella has been trying to figure out what the heck has gone on over there. And she's with us now. Hi, Catalina. So, Catalina, you went to Times Square amid some videos going viral on social media. But for those who haven't seen them, describe what exactly is happening at 41st and 7. Yeah, so as you said, those viral videos showed people's hair sticking straight up as they walked by that area near Times Square. And I've talked to several people describing accounts of this happening, dating as far back as 2014.

So here's Nile Sams, who says he's been walking through the area for nearly two years. When I walked by it, I could kind of feel like some type of like, I don't know how even to describe it, like a buzzing or like annoying. almost like you're spied. So people in the comment sections, of course, were wondering, what's the cause, is this dangerous? I set out to see if I could observe it myself. I visited the area several times, and sometimes it did happen more than others. Two of the times I went, it was really going.

When people would walk by, especially over subway grate there, their hair would kind of levitate, especially the finer or wispier their hair was. I actually took a video of two people whose hair was dyed blue and green, and you can really see it there. And when I went, I could actually feel it myself when I would walk by there. The hairs on my arm were raising from the static electricity. Interesting, interesting.

Remind us how static electricity works. You're talking about that same thing that makes the hair or your arm stand up when you pull clothes out of the dryer. Exactly. So I had the same question at the start of all of this. Static electricity happens when there's an imbalance of electric charges in objects. usually resulting from two objects rubbing together. So like when you walk across a carpet on a cold, dry winter day, I talked to Dave Mayuo. He works in the physics department at Rutgers University.

And he says it's unlikely that people are becoming charged from the friction of walking across the sidewalk, right? Especially on a hot day. Okay, were you able to find out what's causing this? So we're still not sure. Dave Mayo from Rutgers says it seems like there's a charged up object nearby if it's not that, you know, people are getting charge up themselves. Perhaps from a ventilation system underneath that grate that I mentioned earlier, because that's where people's hair gets really frizzed up. Where the static charge could be occurring is actually from a belt on some machinery because as the belt rubs over the machinery, that that rubbing actually causes static charge. He admits that that's just speculation, though.

We actually went out with a static meter yesterday, and unfortunately, this was one of those trips where it wasn't happening as much. It was quite a bit cooler, though, than it's been. So if it is a ventilation system, it could be that there wasn't any static because maybe it was off since it was a cooler day. So, Catalina, I got to ask, is it at all dangerous? That is a question many people had. So after I told Con Ed about this, they sent out a crew, and they said that they found no stray voltage for those worried about an electrical issue there. The area is near a subway rate, right? So I reached out to the MTA, and they said that they weren't aware of this, and they had no further comment.

May you and another expert I spoke to said that if the static is built up in the area, you might feel a little zap, but, you know, it's not going to be enough to injure you. you. One expert I did speak to said that it could be concerning if a spark happened near flammable liquid, for example. But mostly it's not going to be a large enough spark to injure you just from the static itself. Trying to find out what's going on at 41st and 7th, WNIC's Catalina Gondela. Catalina, thank you. Thanks, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day.

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