NYC NOW - Midday News: Queens Democratic Chair Backs Cuomo for Mayor, Senator Supports Citi Field Casino, Students React to Proposed Phone Ban, and a Celebration of Women Who Make Radio

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Queens Democratic Party Chair and Congressman Gregory Meeks is endorsing Andrew Cuomo for New York City mayor. Meanwhile, State Senator John Liu is backing Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plan for a casino near Citi Field and pushing a bill to reclassify land to make it happen. Also, students are weighing in on a proposed state ban on smartphone use during the school day. Plus, to close out Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the women engineers who make our radio happen.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, March 31st. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Queen's Democratic Chair and Representative Gregory Meeks says he's endorsing Andrew Cuomo for New York City mayor. At an event yesterday in Forest Hills, Meeks said Cuomo has the experience to go toe-to-to-to with the Trump administration. New York City is a target of Washington. Washington, D.C.

And so we've got to make sure that we have the best person with the best ability that knows how to get things done. The former governor is running as a moderate Democrat, focusing on crime and disorder. He's been leading the field in multiple polls by a wide margin. Progressive groups like the Working Families Party have shut out the former governor. They recently endorsed four left-leaning Democratic candidates, Adrian Adams, Bradlander, Zerunmane, and Zellner-Mirey. A Queen's lawmaker is backing Mets owner Steve Cohen's plan for a casino and entertainment complex near city fields. State Senator John Liu represents nearby Flushing. He also pushed legislation to reclassify the stadium's parking lot from parkland to commercial property.

In return, Cohen and Hard Rock International would help build a pedestrian and bike bridge called the Flushing Sky Park, inspired by the High Line. Lou says it's a win for the community. I've underscored that flushing must be integral. not ancillary to their planes. Lou's district borders cityfield, but state senator Jessica Ramos, who does represent it, opposes the project. 66 and cloudy right now.

Today, there's a chance of showers, plus the potential for a little thunderstorm later, a high of 72 and gusty. Tomorrow, a slim chance of morning showers. Stay tuned for more after the book. break. On WNYC, on WNYC of Michael Hill. New York State is poised to prohibit students from using their smartphones during the school day, but what do the students think about that? WNIC's John Campbell found out. Come on in, find a seat. Sit somewhere new. Find a new bestie. It's a Saturday morning

at the state capital in Albany. A few dozen high schoolers in businessware are slowly making their way into the Assembly Chamber. Okay, guys, hi. The next bill up is bill number 106. They're here for a youth government conference put on by the YMCA. They'll spend the next few hours holding a mock session where they

debate all sorts of proposals. This bill is not only about saving our bees, it's about much more. It's about the future of New York State. But these days, the actual lawmakers at the Capitol are debating a proposal that would directly affect these teens and hundreds of

thousands more across the state. Governor Kathy Hochel first put it on the table in January. By the start of the next school year, every student will be required to disconnect from their devices during the school hours, bell to bell. She's talking about smartphones and tablets and smartwatches. The governor says they're a distraction, and she wants them out of the classroom. Even some of the students at the conference say they get where the governor's coming from. I am so addicted to my phone.

I don't even realize how often I'm looking at it. That's Josie Rothman. She's a senior at Nyack High School who is super into politics. I started door knocking in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. Hold on. How old were you in 2016? Seven, eight. Josie says she agrees that phones are distracting. She'd love to see some restrictions during the school day.

But she still has some concerns. We have lockdowns all the time, bomb threats. someone pulled out a gun to county over a couple weeks ago. Like I personally, and I've heard from a lot of my friends, that we would want to have our phones in the case of an emergency. Isabella Petuto is one of those friends. She's a junior at NIAC. Safety is a really pressing issue in our schools,

and I think that that should be addressed first before limiting our phones. Hokel's proposal would require schools to come up with ways parents can contact their kids during the day, and schools would be permitted to allow phones in the case of an emergency. But state police superintendent Stephen James says phones can pose an issue in emergency situations. Students may instinctively reach for their phones first. Instead of focusing on those instructions that are being conveyed, instructions that are intended to help them get to a safe place. Back at the Capitol, legislative leaders say lawmakers, the actual lawmakers, generally think the governor's bell to bell ban is the way to go. Assembly Speaker Carl Hastie is a Democrat from the Bronx.

You know, every school district has their own issues, ideas, but I would say the conference is probably much close to the bell to bell. But they're still negotiating with the governor about the actual bill language. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins says one of the things they're discussing is what happens when an emergency pops up. We just want to make sure again that there are appropriate there are appropriate things in place for those exceptional circumstances that every school will need to address. The phone ban is expected to be included in a final state budget agreement.

John Campbell, WNYC News. The state budget is due tomorrow, but lawmakers are expected to pass a short-term extension. On WNYC, I'm David First. All through March, WNYC's All of it has been running a series of called Equalizers, Women in Music Production. The segments honor those who work as audio engineers and record producers, fields in which women are seriously underrepresented. To wrap up the month, we turn the spotlight on the women who produce the radio here at WNYC. They're always here, making sure everything works and gets on the air, but since they're behind the board, you rarely

get to hear from them. So we asked them to step up. up to the mic and talk a little bit about their experiences. My name is Julianna Fonda. I am a senior broadcast engineer for New York Public Radio. I am the broadcast engineer mostly for the two talk shows, which are the Brian Lairn Show and all of it with Allison Stewart. I worked for WQXR Radio when we were owned by the New York Times, one of the few women engineers there. I worked in the podcasting business at the times. I was the only woman there.

I love being able to make something work. I love being able to be like, oh, I know. I have that music bed, and they're talking about it right in the second. Let's see if we can pull it in and fill it. It's just, it's that click, that something. I wish there was a word for sound like umami, just that perfect moment of audio that it just, wow, worked. I can genuinely say I love coming to work every day. Irene Trudell, I'm technical director

for soundcheck. I just love the immediacy of live music. Some of my most memorable early experiences with live music, I recorded Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas, their first ever radio appearance, jumping ahead to WNYC. I was part of the concert crew, so we'd go out and do live remotes a lot. You know, Lori Anderson, Margaret Langton. She used to play on toy pianos, Chick Korea, Randy Newman, Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. When I was starting out, there were no women engineers that I knew of. I mean, I didn't have a lot of women role models. Like early days working here, the band would come in and they'd say, you know, well, tell the engineer that, and I'd say, hi, I'm the engineer.

It took a while for them to recognize that women could do this too. My name is Jennifer Munson. I am the technical director for On the Media. I'm taking a long conversation that's been edited down to the best parts, and I'm fixing sometimes thousands of edits to make that sound like an actual conversation. I got my degree in vocal performance and audio technology, and the first time I walked into the studio, it was magical. Oh, I have just received the most incredible support from other women in the industry, looking out for each other and promoting each other and mentoring each other. I'm Leora Noam Kravitz, and I'm a senior broadcast.

engineer and I work in the newsroom. I mix features and podcasts. I grew up in a place where there's a mandatory military service. At the end of basic training, you get like what's your job in the army? And I got engineer because that was like the best, right? Like it was like army, but not really army because really you were like in a radio station with all the stars and whatever. It was fun. When I used to train new engineers here, I always preferred the women. I don't know. I I feel like women's brains are good. They can do a lot of things at the same time. My name is Amber D. Bruce.

I am broadcast engineer, mixing all the different elements of the show together, so it goes on air smoothly. My whole life, we would listen to the radio. We listened to WNIC growing up. I would listen to Z-100 every morning before getting ready for school. One thing I love about working here is that we tell so many stories about people in the community or things going on in the community, it just really highlights life.

As a woman, I feel like you have to hustle a little harder. You have to know a lot more. You always have to be learning new things. And I feel like as a woman, we are afraid of not knowing something. So it's been extra important to just always be on top of things, always be learning. I am Shana Sondstock, and I am a broadcast engineer here at New York Public Radio. I run the soundboard.

I also work in maintenance engineering. I take apart things. I fix things. I make sure that things are pretty. I think engineering has kind of always, again, quote-unquote, been a man's club a little bit. It's one of those things where you want to be taken seriously and you want to be recognized for your work,

not because, like, oh, wow, you're a good female engineer. No, I'm just a good engineer. You'll need to put female and tack that on to my work and what I do. I'm just good at what I do. 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.