NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Early Voting Begins in NJ Governor’s Race, Transportation Officials Push for Speed-Limiter Bill, and Retail Worker Safety Law Set to Take Effect

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Early voting starts Tuesday in New Jersey’s primary for governor, with six Democrats and five Republicans on the ballot. In New York, transportation officials are calling on Albany to pass a bill requiring speed-limiting tech for drivers with repeated speeding violations. And a new state law goes into effect this week requiring large retailers to adopt workplace violence prevention plans and conduct safety training for employees.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, June 3rd. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. Early voting starts today in New Jersey's primary for governor. WNIC's Sean Carlson has more. Early voting is now underway in New Jersey's primary race for governor. Voters can cast ballots in person from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Saturday and until 6 p.m. on Sunday. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is today.

Unaffiliated voters can declare a party at the polls to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary. There are six Democrats and five Republicans on the ballot. It's also the first primary without the so-called county line design, a major shift in how ballots are laid out. Officials have already started sending sample ballots so voters can get familiar with the new look. The general election is November 4th. Again, early voting in New Jersey starts at 10 this morning. City transportation officials are pushing for a new legislation that targets drivers with chronic speeding violations. Commissioner Edanas Rodriguez says Albany needs to pass a bill that would require the most dangerous drivers to install technology that limits their speed.

Speeding drivers are the leading cause of traffic deaths on our street, accounting for a quarter of fatalities. The so-called super-speader legislation has a lot of. has stalled a nominee for years despite support from advocates and a recent string of deadly crashes involving reckless drivers. The bill passed in the Senate Committee and is in front of the Assembly Committee. The DOT also wants state lawmakers to renew the city's speed camera program, which is set to expire in July. A new law aimed at protecting retail employees in New York State goes into effect this week. The Retail Workers' Safety Act requires employers with 10 or more workers to develop violence prevention plans and hold safety training at stores.

Deppie Wright is the political director at the retail, wholesale, and department store union. She says the law will empower workers. They were never really told or instructed by management of that store, what to do in emergencies. They will finally be receiving training on how to deal with situations. The law also mandates that employers with 500 or more employees statewide install silent. response buttons at their workplaces by 2027 so workers can discreetly alert security and supervisors in emergencies. The bill sponsors say they author the law to address an uptick and harassment against retail workers after the pandemic. 59 and sunny right now on our way to a sunny and

high of 81. 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 podcast.