NYC NOW - Midday News: NY Senate Passes Medical Aid in Dying Act, NJ Primary Voters Head to the Polls, Grand Central Fire Disrupts LIRR Service, and DOI Pushes for More ACS Oversight

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

New York’s State Senate has passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which would allow terminally ill patients to request life-ending medication. The bill now awaits Governor Hochul’s decision. Meanwhile, it’s Primary Day in New Jersey, where voters are selecting party nominees for governor and state assembly seats. Also, a fire at a Grand Central Madison substation disrupted Long Island Rail Road service. Two people were injured. Plus, NYC’s Department of Investigation says it needs more authority to hold the Administration for Children’s Services accountable. Commissioner Jocelyn Stauber explains as lawmakers weigh new transparency legislation.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, June 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. It's up to New York Governor Kathy Huckle to decide if the medical aid in Dying Act becomes law. The state senate narrowly passed it late last night. The bill would allow terminally ill patients to request medication to end their life. Democratic State Senator read Hoyleman. Siegel says it's about relieving people of their pain.

This is about exercising one's own freedom to control one's own body. Republican Senate Minority Leader Rob Ord says Democrats should be worrying about other things. Assistant suicide. That's the priority with all the issues facing New Yorkers. The governor's office says she's reviewing the bill. It's primary day in New Jersey. Voters are choosing candidates to be their party's nominee for governor and a host of of other races, including the entire state assembly, six Democrats and five Republicans running to become their party's nominee for governor on the ballot. Polls closed at 8.2.9.

A fire at Grand Central Madison Stub station this morning is causing widespread disruptions to Long Island Railroad Service. The smoke hurt one firefighter and one other person. Authority said more than 100 firefighters and EMS responded. Metro North Service, they say, is uninterrupted. The city says ventilation fans are working to clear the smoke from Grand Central. Taking a look now at that forecast, 67, with some rain out there, we do have a flood advisory for a few more minutes here for parts of the city, Westchester, and Northeast New Jersey. Shows are maybe a thunderstorm.

After noon, some sunshine and maybe a thunderstorm, a high near 76. Then we begin to stretch a warm, even hot, sunny, dry weather. Stay close. There's more after the break. City's Department of Investigation says it needs better access to information from the agency in charge of protecting children. That's the administration for children's services. Jocelyn Straubber is the Commissioner of DOI and she joins us now. Commissioner, your agency investigates other city agencies, but ACS is already overseen by the State Office of Children and Family Services.

Would you tell us why, in your opinion, that's not enough? It's not enough because the oversight that we provide is in. independent and it leads to more public transparency about the work that ACS is doing. OCFS supervises ACS. They're responsible for them. But that's not independent oversight that an inspector general like DOI can provide. And the work that OCFS does to oversee ACS, like the internal investigations that ACS will also do, for example, in the case of a child fatality of a family known to ACS, that is not independent oversight. And that is not independent oversight. And that's And that does not give the public insight into the work that its city government is doing and how it could be improved.

That's what we do, but we can't do it without better access to the relevant information. What's blocking you now from that access? It's really state law. So state law for certain categories of information, that is investigations of child abuse and neglect, that are unfounded, that is, that are deemed without basis. we can't get any access to those records whatsoever. For other records, for example, a child welfare investigation where abuse or neglect is found, we need to go through OCFS, the state agency that you mentioned, and it is up to them whether we get access or not. Now, let me back up a second here.

You said unfounded and you explain them. Why do you want access to those records if it's unfounded? So let me give you an example. Let's say we have a child fatality case. The history of that child and family with ACS may involve a number of cases where there were complaints of abuse and neglect that were unfounded. Just because they were unfounded doesn't necessarily mean they were rightly unfounded. We are not able to look into those investigations and kick the tires on those conclusions,

regardless of how they were conducted, regardless of whether there's a flaw in the work that ACS did. And so that's why, to understand the full history of the family with ACS, that's why we need access, not just to founded records of abuse or neglect, but unfounded as well. Now, Commissioner Straubber, doesn't giving DOI more access to case information, doesn't that raise privacy concerns? Well, we think to the extent that it raises privacy concerns, those concerns are outweighed by the value of an independent investigation that ultimately could yield recommendations that would improve outcomes for children and families. I would also say that we receive all kinds of confidential information about families that interact with the city in various

ways. So I think first, we can be sensitive to those concerns and take them into account. And second, I don't think they outweigh the need for rigorous oversight in this particularly important area where we're dealing with vulnerable children and families. Let's talk about how that can change. Right now, the need. New York State Assembly is considering legislation that supporters say would force ACS to be more transparent. You've written in support of this. You'd lobby for this.

Tell us what that bill would do, what this legislation would do. Well, it would remove the barrier to DOI receiving the unfounded records that we've been talking about. And it would also streamline and facilitate the process by which we would obtain access to the other records for which we currently need OCFS approval. we would be included within the category of entities like DA's offices in certain cases or the NYPD in certain cases that have access to those child welfare records. Maybe what you're yearning for would make a difference in this regard, too, to switch gears here just a little bit. We reported on WNIC that ACS's own numbers show black families are seven times more likely to be investigated compared.

to white ones. Do you expect this proposed new law would have any impact, any effect on that statistic? I think it's really hard to say without having access to those records, but certainly if we're able to see the full picture of ACS's interactions with families, we will be able to have a better sense of whether there's some disparity in the way families are handled by ACS. But I couldn't say for certain whether what we would have. access to if the legislation goes through would impact that statistic or not. Our guest has been Commissioner Jocelyn Straubber, head of the Department of Investigation for New York City. Commissioner, thank you for joining us.

Thank you. The ACS says it's committed to transparency and that they appreciate the oversight role of the DOI. They say they proactively provide critical information to DOI on a regular basis and look forward to further discussions about the bill. Thanks for listening. this is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines

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