NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Nassau Republicans Say Anti-Mamdani Message Drove Election Wins, City May Rehire Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandate, and Book Sale at Surrogate’s Courthouse

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Nassau County Republicans are celebrating after County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s 10 point reelection. Party Chair Joe Cairo says Cairo says Mamdani’s success gave his suburban candidates something to run against. Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 former city workers fired over the COVID vaccine mandate could soon return to work. Mayor Adams says the city will open a reinstatement window for those employees. Plus, the city’s Department of Records is holding a book sale Friday and Saturday from 10 to 4 at the Surrogate’s Courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, November 6th. Here's your morning headlines from Michael Hill. Long Island Republicans did well in the election. WNYC's Jimmy Veilkine reports they won in part by running against Zeran Mamdani. Ladies and gentlemen, Republicans in Nassau County are happy. What happened in Virginia and New Jersey, Long Island bucked the trend. That's GOP chairman Joe Cairo.

He's celebrating County Executive Bruce Blakeman's 10-point re-election over Democrat Seth Coslow. It's a rare, bright red spot in an election where Democrats won governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, and Mamdani breeze to victory in New York City. Cairo says Mondani's success gave his suburban candidates something to run against. People stood up. They want a red line between Queens. and Nassau County. And tonight, they proved it. Republicans say they'll keep using Mom Dani as a boogeyman next year.

Nearly 3,000 former New York City workers who lost their jobs over a COVID vaccine mandate soon could return to work. Mayor Adam says the city will open a window for affected workers to apply to be reinstated. He said he supported the 2021 public health mandate, but times have changed. Michael Kane is a former special education teacher fired for refusing to get a COVID- He says he hopes the city accommodates former staffers as much as possible as they seek to return. There should be your right to return to your building, to your district, to your position, wherever possible. They should be kind to us. They've been so horrible to us. The city's proposed rules around reinstatements still need to be finalized and approved by the state.

The York City's Department of Records is holding a book sale tomorrow and Saturday. See's. Amanda Roseone has more. It's every bookworm in history buff's dream. The city's municipal archives and library says the sale includes hundreds of books on topics from history and politics to art and theater. Some books on offer include titles like 1890's Nooks and Corners of Old New York, and yesterday's on Brooklyn Heights, published in 1927. The library says most of the books on sale are either duplicates or not relevant to the

department's mission anymore. The sale runs from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon at the surrogate's courthouse atrium on Chamber Street in Lower Manhattan. A car exploded and hurt six firefighters last night in the Bronx. The FDNY says it happened to Westchester and Intervale Avenue, and it took firefighters about an hour to control. All six firefighters were taken to Jacoby Hospital, videos from the Citizen Ave show flames and smoke rising above the street with fire engines on the scene. The cause of the explosion is under investigation this morning. 46 and partly cloudy, sunny and 53. Watch out for those strong winds.

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.