NYC NOW - October 27, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

NYPD tow truck driver Stephanie Sharp is under arrest after police say her city vehicle hit and killed a child on a scooter yesterday in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Democratic Congress member Dan Goldman says he will vote to expel Republican George Santos next week. Corporal punishment is now against the law in all types of schools in New York State after Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law Wednesday banning the practice in private schools. Also, as congestion pricing costs are still being decided for the MTA's congestion pricing program, WNYC's Stephen Nessen says there’s a key issue still up for debate. Finally, New Jersey Democrats are searching for the best candidate to run for the seat Senator Bob Menendez occupies. The biggest name that’s come up is Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife. WNYC’s Nancy Solomon reports on how that suggestion raises a question in New Jersey politics; Why aren’t there more women in contention for higher office?

NYC, Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, October 27th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. And NYPD tow truck drivers now under arrest after police say her city vehicle hit and killed a child on a scooter yesterday in Fort Green Brooklyn. 54-year-old Stephanie Sharp as a traffic enforcement agent.

She has been charged with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care. Police say Sharp's truck hit the 7-year-old as he was crossing Myrtle Avenue and North Poland Avenue just after 8 in the morning yesterday. Attorney information for Sharp was not immediately available. Democratic Congress member Dan Goldman says he will vote to expelled Republican George Santos next week. But the Brooklyn and Manhattan representative also blasted his other report. Republican colleagues who introduced the expulsion motion on the House floor last night. Goldman says those same members opposed a Democratic motion to boot Santos early this year when he first faced criminal charges.

This is clearly just a political ploy to save their hide because they realize that George Santos is bad for them politically. Goldman spoke on the Brian Lair's show today. The vote to expel Santos from the House is expected next week. this morning, Santos pleaded not guilty to 10 more of federal fraud charges. Corporal punishment is now against the law in all schools in New York State. The New York Times reports, Governor Hockel, signed a ban into law after a Times investigation, found widespread use of corporal punishment at private Hasidic Jewish schools for boys. 68 with light rain now, mostly cloudy today, becoming sunny and 76 for a high, warm again tomorrow, sunny and 78, and then Friday, a

big temperature drop off down near 60 degrees. It's WNYC. A panel is expected to make a recommendation next month on the cost of tolls for the MTA's congestion pricing program. WNIC Stephen Nesson takes us behind the scenes on a key issue still up for debate. That is, how much to charge trucks. But it all comes down to a rubric about how to keep the tolling down as much as possible while still, you know, raising the revenue that New York State law requires. That's John Samuelson, one of the six members of the Traffic Mobility Review Board that will recommend the cost of the tolls.

The revenue goal is $1 billion a year. Like other board members, Samuelson worries if they set the toll too high, trucks will avoid Manhattan. They're going to divert to residential neighborhoods, and those diversions are going to bring about problems that everybody's been trying to avoid. Problems like increased pollution in parts of the Bronx, Staten Island, and near the George Washington Bridge. But not everyone thinks that will happen.

It's like the stupidest statement of all. That's Charles Komenoff, who created a tool used by the state to analyze the impacts of congestion pricing. He thinks truck companies will gladly pay the toll. While it may cost more, there will be massive time savings with fewer vehicles in Manhattan. Diversions has been a red herring from day one. Because if we thin traffic and gridlock in the core, instead of diverting, They will pay any additional tolls. Don't we want the kaching? I want the kiching. You want the kiching.

The board doesn't have a deadline, but the MTA is hoping to hear the kaching of congestion pricing next spring. New Jersey Democrats are looking for the best candidate to run for the seat Senator Bob Menendez now occupies. The senior senator says he will not resign, despite an indictment accusing him of bribery, corruption, working as an agent for a foreign government. And it's unclear if he'll run again in the 2024 primary. The biggest name that's come up so far is Tammy Murphy, the governor's wife. WNIC's Nancy Solomon reports on how that suggestion raises a question in New Jersey politics. Why aren't there more women in contention for higher office? A woman has never represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate, and there are only two women in the 14-member congressional delegation.

But when Tammy Murphy, who has never run for political office, was named as a potential candidate, feminists in political circles greeted the news with mixed emotions. We have a pipeline problem in the state. Debbie Walsh is the director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. You see when you really break it down by gender and then also by gender and race, how underrepresented women are and how overrepresented white men are. in all elective office. A recent study by the center

found women make up only 29.5% of all political offices in New Jersey. But advocates for more representation don't necessarily see the Tammy Murphy candidacy for the U.S. Senate as a good thing. Sure, she can self-fund a race has statewide name recognition

and, most importantly, raises money for other Democrats. But Walsh says what will work for the governor's wife doesn't extend to most female candidates in the state. Women in New Jersey face unique challenges, and frankly, people of color or anybody who's seen as an outsider face a unique challenge here in the state. We are a state with a strong party machines, particularly on the Democratic side, but it's not easy for Republican women either.

That's because the party organizations endorse candidates and place their picks on what's called the county line. That gives the candidates an advantage, usually worth 25 to 50 points, according to research. And women and people of color traditionally had a tougher time getting those endorsements. In this year's primaries for the state Senate, for instance, 28% of candidates who got the county line were women. In 2017, Governor Murphy used the county line to catapult himself from unknown outsider to primary victor. It's a system that has largely worked very well. If the government, owner's wife were to be endorsed by the political machines, she could be unstoppable,

according to Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers professor who researches the effects of the county line. Because of our very unique and very broken system of endorsements, which essentially guarantee the win to those candidates that are selected by the county party chairs. So far, Democratic Congressman Andy Kim is the only candidate with a statewide profile and a track record of raising money who's declared a run for the Senate. He's liked by many progressives in New Jersey, but he would be unlikely to get the number of party endorsements that Tammy Murphy would rack up. It's not surprising. The only viable candidate who is a woman would be, you know, Tommy Murphy. Patricia Campos-Medina is the president of Latina Civic Action, which works to get more

Latinas to run for elected office. There's so many women who are elected office. who could, you know, who could step up. Democratic Party leaders met on the day Menendez was indicted for bribery and corruption and decided to call for his resignation. Of the dozen or so people in the room, I've been told all were men. Activists like Antoinette Miles of the New Jersey working families are trying to change that. This is now a challenge of not having enough women to run. It's really a challenge of the male gatekeepers that keep,

women out of the ranks. Tammy Murphy says she wants to see more women in political office at all levels. She's expected to decide whether she'll run for the Menendez seat after state legislative elections in November. Nancy Solomon, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.