NYC NOW - November 22, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

Wintery weather moved into the region Friday and it’s expected to stick around throughout the weekend. Plus, cheating on your spouse is no longer a crime in New York. Also, some students in New York City public schools are embracing their new low-tech lifestyle as Mayor Adams weighs a smartphone ban. And finally, with Thanksgiving a week away, we hear from a New Yorker who shares a personal story about a recipe that means something special to them.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. Rain, cold temperatures, and even a little snow moved into the region Friday, just days after officials declared drought warnings in parts of New York and New Jersey. The wintry weather is expected to last throughout the weekend as cooler temperatures combined with strong winds. Here's meteorologist James Tomasini. That's going to make the feels like temperature. be down in the 40s for each day, maybe a little bit warmer on Sunday, maybe more than the lower 50s.

Saturday night could even feel like it's in the 30s. Monday should warm up to the mid-50s and be a lot less windy with a chance of rain early next week. Cheating on your spouse is no longer a crime in New York. Governor Kathy Hokel signed a bill Friday repealing the state's adultery law, which had been on the books for 117 years. In a statement, the governor called the prior law silly. She says adultery shouldn't be handled by the criminal justice system. New York had been one of 17 states with an adultery law on the books. It was a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

Some students in New York City public schools are embracing their new low-tech lifestyle as Mayor Adams weighs a smartphone ban. More on that after the break. As Mayor Eric Adams, slow walks a ban on smartphones in New York City public schools, some students are taking matters into their own hands. WMYC's Jessica Gould explains. Are you addicted to your phone? Join the Luddite Club. Brooklyn Tech Senior Jameson Butler is at the high school activity fair. She's hoping to recruit

new members to the Luddite Club. Are you addicted to your phone, Evo? A little bit. Join the Luddite Club. Butler co-founded the Luddite Club a couple years ago. The Luddites were were 19th century textile workers who smashed machines that threatened their jobs. This is the Gen Z version. The Luddite Club is dedicated to helping people forge healthier connections with technology in their lives. It's mostly just having fun off our phones.

At weekly meetings, the Luddites talk about books. They play music, make art. Oh, wait, this one's my favorite. Butler shows me drawings they made playing this old surrealist parlor game, called Exquisite Corpse. That is so safe. Yeah, that's good. Oh, my God.

Some members just want to carve out a couple hours away from social media. Others have renounced smartphones altogether. Butler carries a flip phone. I would say it's just dramatically increase the quality of my life. I have a lot more time to think. I am much more aware of the world around me, and I've been able to put time towards things that I really care about and that are meeting. Still, the Luddai Club has an uphill battle to convince classmates to put down their phones.

And even grown-ups are reluctant to enforce sweeping limits. Last summer, Mayor Eric Adams started speaking out against social media. Officials even said a smartphone ban for the whole school system was imminent. But then the mayor reversed course. He said he needed more time to work out the logistics, like how parents can reach their kids in an emergency. There will be some action in the upcoming school year, but the extent of a full ban, we're not there yet. The Education Department says many more schools have now put restrictions in place, and officials are looking at what works and what doesn't. In the meantime, more teens are trying to lead by example.

A style effect is just like when you're like in the echo chamber, it's feeding you all the information that you want to hear. Last week, three high school ambassadors made a presentation to elementary school parents at PS11 in Chelsea. Gemmogram is a senior at West End Secondary School. Okay, so these are just like a bunch of different things to help with like healthier habits. The students discussed phone addiction and how most kids spend two or three hours on their phones every day. And they fielded questions from petrified parents who want to know which apps, if any, or something. safe. Parent Tara Murphy talked about what happened when her daughter, who likes chess, tried watching a game online. And there's commentary on the side. Adults putting political messaging,

you know, the F word, all kinds of stuff. And I'm like, nope, we're out, we're out. Like, I cannot just leave her on even a site that seems, you know, a knock is like chess. The ambassador teens recommend limiting screen time, disabling chats, and delaying access to smartphones for as long as possible. Graham says she wants to prevent little kids from getting cyber bullied, the way she and her classmates have. So that future generations aren't stuck in this black hole of being trapped in social media. Meanwhile, the Luddite Club has spread to multiple schools. Who wants to join the Luddite Club, guys? And more kids are coming to the group's Sunday meetings at the Brooklyn Public Library.

There's even a documentary being made about them. But convincing kids to give up their phones. even for just a few hours a week is tough. It's a lot of fun. You can't? I have Acapellia Club. I wish I could jump. You have Acapella Club.

We do Aucapella Club at Lottite Club sometimes. Really? I called Jamison Butler to find out how many new members they got at the Club Fair, but her phone was off. That's WMYC's Jessica Gould. Food has a way of bringing back memories. As we inch closer to the Thanksgiving holiday, we're asking New Yorkers to share stories about recipes that mean something

special to them. My name is Yipin Benon. I live in the Bronx. I'm from Burkina Faso, West Africa. The recipe that touch my heart most is fufu pound yam. So we bowl the yam and we pound the yum, and then we cook a different stew to eat with that. So it can be peanut butter stew, it can be light pepper soup. The difference of making foo here and making home is like you don't sweat when you are in America. You eat your foo. You are not tired, you really enjoy it. Fufu is easier to make in America because here we have yam powder to make it

so it's just boil water and do the texture what you want. But back home in my village, Leo, we have to bite the yam, peel it, boil it, and then pound it. The pounding part I don't like. I will tell me true. Because you're going to be pounding it for 30 minutes, at least.

And then sometimes you can have like kind of pimple in your hand. not easy, but then when you start eating, it's rewarding. I love it, and my mom also love it. Whenever I cook it in America here, I sent her a picture of my food, the plate, and she said, oh, wow, I will cook it tomorrow because it's already late in Burkina Faso, and then she goes to the market, she bought the yam, she cooked it, and she said, I cook it today, I'm eating it right now. I first started to cook very young around 7 to 8.

year old, I was initiated how to cook by being around when my mom was cooking, they will send you to go to get this salt, get this, and so you observe and you learn. Food is everything. Whatever you eat, determine your health. We believe in cooking ourselves, the food we're eating. We know what we put inside. It's more safe for me. When you cook and you cook with love, you cook with patient, that's all that matter for me. Like, I like it. And when I cook and I see people eat, enjoying it. It just makes me happy there. Yipinbei Noun lives in the Bronx. She's a cooking instructor with the League of Kitchens. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC.

Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Boutage, Amber Bruce, Owen Kaplan, Audrey Cooper, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, Jen Munson, and Wayne Schoemeister, with help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WMYC Newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrato. I'm Junae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.