NYC NOW - Midday News: NYC Teachers Union Expands Childcare Site, St. Patrick’s Cathedral Unveils Immigrant Mural, and New Jersey Governor’s Race Tightens

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

New York City’s teachers union is expanding access to its childcare “matchmaker” website, now open to all families after launching last year for members only. Meanwhile, a new mural at St. Patrick’s Cathedral honors generations of immigrants as church leaders clash over rhetoric on immigration. And in New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli enter the final stretch of a close governor’s race, with urban turnout likely to play a key role. WNYC’s Mike Hayes reports.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, October 8th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York City Teachers Union is expanding the reach of a website. It's calling a digital matchmaker for parents and child care providers. Members of the United Federation of Teachers have had access to the NYC Child Care Navigator since last year, and the union is now opening it up to the public. Paraprofessional Ernest Suarez says he'd struggle to find child care and then relied on his mother for help.

So it was very hard finding child care with the, you know, income that I have, and the prices were very outrageous. The navigator was able to link him with a voucher to cut cost and a center 10 minutes from his home in the Bronx. The site includes not only license providers, but parents are encouraged to vet and visit their top choices. A new mural inside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown celebrates generations of New York City immigrants from 19th century Irish newcomers to today's new arrivals. WNIC's Arias Sundaram explains that the mural comes as church leaders are disagreeing about rhetoric around immigration. The nearly 2,000 square foot painting is the largest permanent artwork ever commissioned for the cathedral. It features immigrant saints, priests and community leaders.

with ties to the city. But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who commissioned the painting, is facing backlash from some for praising slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a, quote, modern-day St. Paul. The Catholic group, the Sisters of Charity of New York, issued a statement condemning Dolan's praise, noting what they call Kirk's, quote, anti-immigrant rhetoric. The Archdiocese of New York declined to comment on the controversy. Low sixies now, slim chance of afternoon showers becoming Sunday. Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC.

Democrat, Mikey Sherrill, and Republican Jack Chitterelli are in the final sprint in what is likely to be a close election to become New Jersey's next governor. Election day is November 4th, and we've reported before the suburbs are a key battleground in the Garden State. But what about urban voters? Turnout in New Jersey cities has declined in recent gubernatorial elections, and that could have a huge, on this year's outcome. Joining us now is WNIC's New Jersey reporter, Mike Hayes. Mike, give us a rundown. What's been going on with voter turnout in New Jersey's cities? Sure. Hey, Michael. So in the last governor's race in 2021, New Jersey cities like Newark, Camden, and Patterson all saw around 20 percent voter turnout. That means in that election,

only one in five eligible voters cast a ballot. Now, compare that to a presidential election. In 2024 and all those cities I just mentioned, turnout was roughly double, around 40% voted. Now, whether we're talking about cities, suburbs, rural areas, turnout is always going to be higher in presidential elections. But if you go back just 20 years, Michael, New Jersey's urban centers were seeing high 30s in terms of voter percentage. So over the past few decades, these numbers have really declined. And that poses a challenge for a Democrat like Mikey Cheryl, because cities have

long been strongholds of Democratic support. Okay, how does this compare to suburban turnout in the state? Yeah, so the suburbs generally have high turnout in off-year elections. I was talking with you a few weeks ago, Michael, about how suburban places like Morris County are full of very reliable voters who turn out any time there's an election. Now, Jack Chittorelli, the Republican in this race, he is very strong in the suburbs.

For instance, in 2021, when he lost to Governor Phil Murphy by just three points, Chidorelli won key battleground suburban areas like Morris County by 10 points. So Democrats need to run up the numbers in urban areas to compensate for suburban and rural parts of the state where they know Cheryl isn't going to perform as well. I talked to folks working with the Cheryl campaign, and they told me they understand this is a problem for Cheryl that they'll have to solve if they want to win. Cheryl Campaign Vice Chair, Patricia Campos-Medina. We are concerned, but that's what we're doing the work. We realize specifically after last year that we need to go back to the basics in urban outreach. So she told me that means assembling teams of canvassers from all different communities, African-American, Mexican, Peruvian, to knock on doors, reach out on social media

and get their particular community out to vote. Mike, you report that Chittarelli is also going after urban voters. Tell us what he's doing. Yes, so keep in mind, even if Cheryl can indeed gin up increase turnout in cities, it's still an off-year election. It's still going to be very likely smaller than we'd see in a presidential year. That means if Chittarelli can just chip away at that margin by a decent amount in places like Camden and Trenton, it could help him build a path to victory here.

And one reason for him to be optimistic that he can do that, Michael, is President Donald Trump. The president dramatically improved his and the Republican parties showing in urban parts of New Jersey in 2024. And if you look at Chittarelli's campaign stops over the last month, he's been in black churches in Newark and Hispanic festivals and cities like Pisaic. Here's what former city councilman for Newark, Oscar James, said to me about the Chittarelli campaign. And one of my close conversations with Jack, he was just clear. He said four years ago, I could never even come in Newark. And now I'm in Newark as often as people invite me. James is an interesting character here.

He was elected and served in Newark as a Democrat, but he said he's breaking with the party and supporting the Republican this time around. The candidates have a debate tonight, Mike. What are you going to be listening for from Cheryl and Chittarelli when it comes to urban voters? Yeah, Michael. So I'm going to be looking to see how aggressive Cheryl goes after Chittarelli on how Trump's policies are impacting cities. She's focused her campaign on tying Chittarelli to Trump.

She calls him Maga Jack. Another Cheryl surrogate I spoke to, Senator Benji Wimberley, he's a state senator from Patterson. He told me he's hearing from urban voters that they don't like turning on their TVs and seeing the National Guard in cities that might look like their own, masked ice agents dragging away people from communities like theirs. He thinks hitting this message will help Dems drive urban turnout. Now, I'll also be looking to hear specifics from Chirrelli

on how his agenda is tailored to help urban environments and how Cheryl responds if he says, I can revitalize cities like Camden and Atlantic City. A lot to look out for there. Dublin, my C's Mike Hay is covering the tight race to become the next governor of New Jersey. for us. Mike, thank you. Sure, thanks for having me. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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