NYC NOW - Midday News: Some Voters Say They Were Misled Into Signing Ballot Petitions for Mayor Adams, NJ Cigarette Tax Hike, and Coyotes in Central Park

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

A WNYC investigation has found dozens of people who say their signatures were forged or that they were misled into signing ballot petitions for Mayor Eric Adams. Meanwhile, the state of New Jersey is set to raise taxes on cigarettes. Plus, the story of two photographers who track coyotes in Central Park.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, August 1st. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Hey, WNYC investigation has found dozens of people who say their signatures were forged or that they were misledent to signing ballot petitions for Mayor Eric Adams' campaign. The Adams campaign submitted nearly 50,000 petitions in total for him to run as an independent candidate. from mayor in November's election. Crystal Green lives in Permanic Houses in Queen. She says she was angry to find her supposed signature on a form she had never seen before. And she says it only undermines people's faith in democracy. Because people don't even believe in politics or don't

believe that their vote matters anyway now, but to like to deal with this, this is just an appropriation between things like this. In response to WNIC's reporting an attorney for Adam says the campaign is hiring a special counsel to review all of the signatures for fraud. New Jersey smokers will have to pay more state taxes every time they buy a pack. WN.C's Neve McCallough tells us how this will hit some residence wallets. For a pack of 20 cigarettes, smokers will now pay $3 in taxes. That fee is up 30 cents from the old rate. The tax increase will hit vapors too.

Liquid nicotine is subject to a 30 cent tax per fluid milliliter. The increased fees are part of the new Garden State tax hike that Governor Phil Murphy and fellow Democrats say will boost revenue. They say altogether the taxes will help produce an extra $600 million. Taxes are also going up on online gambling and online sports betting. We're at 69 and cloudy right now in the city. Mostly cloudy today is 74 for a high with the winds gusting to 21 miles and. hour. Stick around. There's more to come. NYC. The sound of sirens is nothing new in New York City, but recently something else may have

caught the ear of New Yorkers out near Central Park. Coyotes have been spotted in the city for decades now, but a pair in the park may be about to reach a new milestone. Photographer David Lay and Jacqueline Emery have been tracking the pair and they join us now. Thank you both for joining us this morning. Thank you for having us. Last time we spoke with you, it was about another Manhattan animal. You two are the authors of the book Finding Flacco, our year with New York City's beloved owl.

How did you both get involved with watching these coyotes, Romeo and Juliet, you call it? It was early spring, 2019, and I was walking through the ramble. When I looked up and saw this really large animal, which I thought at the time was a German shepherd, running through. And the longer I looked at it, the more I realized it was not a German Shepherd,

it was a coyote. And it was exhilarating. But it happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to take my cell phone out and record. So that was my first experience of observing the coyote we called Juliet. And I saw for the first time in February 2021, while out at observing the Central Park Snowy Owl. It was the first Snowy Owl reported in Central Park in over 130 years.

And she really loved to perch on the backstops of the baseball fields. And that's exactly what she was doing one night when she suddenly started looking at the ground, at home base right below her. And my friend Andrew, who was out with me at the time, he shouted coyote so I pan down with my binoculars and I saw I saw Juliet looking up at her from home base. So they were staring at each other. It was a very interesting and unexpected moment and from that on I was hooked. How did these two coyotes, as you called them?

How did they get to Central Park? Do we know where they came from? So coyotes have been established in the Bronx since the 1990. 90s, and we're guessing that they travel down the railroad tracks that run parallel to the Henry Hudson Parkway, so they made their way from the Bronx to Manhattan, and then likely used green spaces and medians to make their way across the city and into Central Park. Jacqueline, coyotes haven't always been welcomed in the park, isn't that right? That's correct.

So the first coyote reported in the park was captured in 1999. A second coyote in 2006 was also captured, but the Parks Department changed its approach in 2016 and decided to allow coyotes to stay in Central Park. So the first coyote of this mated pair arrived in 2019 and has been allowed to stay as well as the second coyote. Have they produced any pups that you know of? So we were really hopeful this year. We watched them mating several times, including on Valentine's Day. They were engaging in what's called a copulatory tie.

And we were waiting and waiting and hoping, and it just didn't happen this year. And there are several reasons why there could be fertility issues. they also might have had trouble finding a suitable den. Central Park is visited by thousands of people, and it's very hard for the coyotes to find places in the park where they'll be undisturbed by people, dogs, and also raccoons. Now, you've been following coyotes for about six years now. What else have you learned from them that surprised you?

Well, coyotes are monogamous and they mate for life. It's been extraordinary following these two. They are extremely affectionate. They have a really deep bond with one another. They're very playful. We've watched them hop over fences that we thought were way too high. They are amazing creatures and they're very secretive and mysterious. And so even though we're out often, we don't. We don't always see them. And that keeps us, keeps us going out to see them. David, what about you? Somebody will just be on their phone, you know, completely absorbed with social media or whatever it is, and the coyote will trot right in front of them, just, you know, within 10 feet. And they'll have no idea, which I think just goes to show that when you're in a place like Central Park in night, which is really underrated, I think. Central Park is incredibly beautiful at night, and there's other wildlife around at night in Central Park.

Besides the coyotes, we've, of course, seen owls. Very recently, our friend discovered flying squirrel in Central Park, which is not a species that was known to live in Central Park, also nocturnal. So there's a lot of beauty in the park at night that, you know, we would encourage people to enjoy if they happen to be around at night. If I can just add my advice to park goers, should they see a coyote or two, would be to not panic, not call the cops, but to enjoy the special moment and leash their dogs.

Our guests have been photographers, David Lay, and Jacqueline. Emory. Thank you so much for this. Thank you, Michael. 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 and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.