NYC NOW - Midday News: Trump Administration Freezes $18 Billion for NYC Transit Projects, NJ Teen Charged in Fatal SUV Attack, and Naval Academy Records Scandal Shakes NJ Governor’s Race

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

The Trump administration has frozen $18 billion in federal funds for the Hudson River Gateway tunnel and the Second Avenue subway extension, citing New York’s diversity, equity and inclusion requirements. Meanwhile, a New Jersey teenager has been charged with murder after allegedly ramming his SUV into two girls on bicycles, killing them both. At LaGuardia, two Delta jets clipped wings in a low-speed collision that injured one flight attendant. And in New Jersey, leaked Naval Academy records of Rep. Mikie Sherrill are roiling the governor’s race as she blames her opponent Jack Ciattarelli and the Trump administration. WNYC's Mike Hayes has the latest.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, October 2nd. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. The Trump administration is clawing back millions of dollars in money meant for some of the New York City region's signature transportation projects. The federal government is putting a hold on about $18 billion worth of funding set to help make the Hudson River Gateway Tunnel and Second Avenue subway extension of reality. WNYC's transportation reporter Stephen Nesson says the White House is citing the state's diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements as the reason. New York State does require that many public works projects set aside funding for minority and women-owned businesses,

and the Trump administration argues that that is unconstitutional. Work is already underway on both the Second Avenue subway and Gateway Tunnel. A teenager from New Jersey faces murder charges after police say he intentionally drove an SUV into two teenage girls on bikes this week, killing them both. The Union County Prosecutor's Office says he hit the duo as they rode e-bikes in Cranford. Authorities say the alleged attacker is a minor from nearby Garwood. Local officials are identifying the two victims as Isabella Sinus and Maria Nayotis, both 17 years old. Delta Airlines officials say one person was hurt after. after two regional jets clipped each other's wings at LaGuardia Airport last night.

The airline says a plane leaving New York for Roanoke, Virginia, hit a plane arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina in a low-speed collision. One flight attendant was taken to a local hospital, but Delta says no passengers are reporting injuries. 65 and partly sunny right now. Today, sunny, a perfect fall day, 66 degrees outside with the light wind. Tonight, mostly clear lows in the mid-50s. Stick around. There's more to come.

For WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. A scandal is stirring up the race to be the next governor of New Jersey. Last week, records on Congress member Mikey Sheryl's time at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were improperly released by the National Archives. Cheryl is blaming her opponent, Jack Chittarelli, and the Trump administration. WNYC's Mike Hayes covers the race for a governor in New Jersey, and Mike joins us now. Mike, welcome. Give us an overview of what's taking place here.

Hey, Michael, thanks for having me. So, yeah, we're going on a week, Michael, from when this news broke, and this story doesn't appear to be going away. So let's bring everybody up to speed here. So last week, CBS News reported that unredacted records of Mikey Sherrill's time in the Naval Academy were released to an ally of the Chittarelli campaign. Now, stunningly, those records contained her social. security number, home address, even her parents' address. Now, the records were released, as you said, Michael, by the National Archives. That's the federal body that maintains records for all service members. The archives were quick to admit that it messed up releasing this info

and apologized to Cheryl. But Mikey Cheryl told me at a campaign event this week, she wants a criminal investigation into the release of her records. Now, there is going to be some further investigation here, the Inspector General for the National Archives said an investigation is underway into how this mistake occurred. You said an ally of the Chittarelli campaign got these records. Who is this person? And what's their connection to the candidate, Chitterelli? Yeah, so the person connected to Chittorelli who got the records is Nick D. Grigoryo.

He's a former Marine who once unsuccessfully ran for Congress in New Jersey as a Republican. Now, Gigi Giorio says he made the records request on his own after a Chittarelli campaign consultant asked him to dig into Cheryl's history. Chuderelli's campaign says they had nothing to do with obtaining these records. In fact, their attorneys, Michael, are threatening a defamation lawsuit against Cheryl and her campaign over the suggestion that they were part of any conspiracy to smear her with the unredacted documents. And instead, Chitorelli wants to talk about something else having to do with Mikey Sharkey. in the Navy, the fact that she didn't walk in her 1994 graduation. Okay, so explain to us what's going on with Mikey Sherrill's absence from her graduation.

Yeah, it just keeps getting more and more complicated, right? So a day before the scandal broke with the CBS report on Cheryl's personal information gang release, the New Jersey Globe reported that it obtained a copy of the program from the 1994 Naval Academy grad ceremony that showed Cheryl's name was missing from the program. Now, Cheryl put out a statement saying that she wasn't allowed to walk at the graduation because she failed to turn in fellow students who were caught cheating on an exam. Now, we should stress that Cheryl has said she was not implicated in the cheating scandal herself. She just said she didn't tell on anybody.

But the Chittarelli campaign is calling her involvement in this scandal stunning and deeply disturbing. I was at a Chittarelli event yesterday in Camden, Michael. There he doubled down on a call for Cheryl to release her disciplinary records. She's telling us that she was punished because she wouldn't turn in fellow classmates. I'm not so sure that's true. But the way to prove it's true by releasing her disciplinary records. Yeah, Cheryl's not saying that she's going to do that. And instead, she's calling on Chittorelli's campaign to return the files with her personal information.

What's the public response been to all this, Mike? Yeah, one group, Michael, that's particularly unhappy about Cheryl's personal information coming out are some veterans like her. At a Cheryl campaign event earlier this week, I saw two veterans go up to her and tell her how sorry they felt for her. And as for what's happened with this cheating scandal, here's what one of those vets, his name's Robert Mullick, an army veteran from Kate May, told me at the event. She did nothing wrong. The only thing she didn't do is turn her fellow soldiers in. And that's something that veterans hold very dear, that you support your fellow soldiers. Yeah, and Cheryl's Navy Academy classmates have also been defending her in the press. But the question here, Michael, is whose campaign comes out most damaged from all this?

Chidorelli is trying to draw voters' attention to Cheryl's record at the Navy Academy. But given that these records contain personal info, they weren't supposed to be released. and Mikey Sheryl seems like she's going to keep talking about and blaming the Trump administration and Republicans for this, there's a chance this could end up backfiring on the Chitterelli campaign. WNYC is Mike Hayes. Mike, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Yes.