NYC NOW - October 31, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

A Republican-led House subcommittee is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute former Governor Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying about his response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the administration of Mayor Eric Adams plans to close all ten upstate hotel shelters for migrants by year’s end. Plus, expect increased security and street closures for the 2024 New York City Marathon this weekend. Finally, a jury is now in place for the trial of Daniel Penny, the former Marine accused of killing Jordan Neely on the subway last year. WNYC’s Samantha Max has the latest.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, October 31st. Here's the midday news from David Furze. A Republican-led House subcommittee wants the Department of Justice to prosecute former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying about his response to the pandemic. Cuomo had said he hadn't seen a Republican. report by the State Health Department, which put blame on the federal government to explain the

thousands of nursing home deaths in 2020. The House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic says Cuomo not only knew about the report, but participated in a, quote, conscious and calculated effort to deflect blame away from the state. Cuomo's counsel has filed their own letter to the DOJ, demanding to open an investigation into an alleged abuse of power by the Select Committee. Mayor Adams administration says it will close all 10 of its upstate hotel shelters for migrants by years' end. Over 1,000 adults and children in the shelters have been notified they have to leave by December 31st. Migrants who can't make any other arrangements may seek temporary shelter in the city. The downsizing comes as the city ends its controversial $400 million contract with Doc Go.

That's the company hired to operate nearly all of the upstate shelters. Officials now say more migrants are leaving the shelter system each week than are coming in. New Yorkers will see increased security and street closures this weekend for the 2024 New York City Marathon. Officials say runners and spectators can expect to see anti-drone units, sand trucks to block unauthorized cars, and plain-clothed officers mixed in the crowd. NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence, Rebecca Weiner, says the tight security is a result. of a tense political climate. A tax oversees, a widening and deepening war in the Middle East, polarization, political violence. Officials expect street closures to start Saturday night and last through Sunday.

The NYPD says bikes will not be allowed on the pre-marathon course, breaking a years-long tradition of letting cyclists make use of the open roads. And a quick look at the weather, 66 degrees right now, mostly sunny, quite warm for Halloween. We're expecting a high of 78 this afternoon. It'll still be in the upper 70s around sunset for a trick-or-treating time, and then tonight, overnight, mostly cloudy and breezy, with a low around 65. Stay close. There's more after the break. A jury is now selected for the trial of Daniel Penny. He's the former Marine accused of killing Jordan Neely on the subway.

WNYC's Samantha Max has been in the courtroom and joins us now as we look at how the lawyers plan to make their case. Samantha, first, can you tell us a bit about how jury selection works? Yeah, so a bunch of prospective jurors were summoned to court for jury service. Many people listening have probably been through this themselves. And at first, there is kind of baseline screening. So for a major case like this, which is going to take. potentially up to six weeks, they're asking, you know, are you available for that long?

Then from there, they winnow down the crowd to those who are available, and 16 people at a time start sitting in the jury box for questioning. First, the judge asked them the same set of questions like, where in Manhattan do you live, where do you work, where to get your news, but also some questions that are more specific to the case, like whether people ride the subway. Then prosecutors and the defense each get to ask even more specific questions. Both sides then confer. They're flipping through their notes on their legal pads, looking at all these sticky notes, deciding who should we get rid of. And then everyone gets to, you know, get rid of a few people who they feel like shouldn't serve on the jury for some reason.

These decisions are not supposed to be based on race or gender. Well, this process went on for several days. the mood been like in the courtroom? It's definitely been a bit frenetic with so many jurors, attorneys, reporters, members of the public all coming in and out and it's all a very kind of controlled environment with the court officers really managing security, especially for Penny. The elevators are actually blocked off when he comes and goes every day, no cell phones allowed in the hallway when he's walking past. And each day, Penny's been coming in in a crisp suit. He's been just kind of looking straight ahead, avoiding eye contact. But during questioning, he's often been looking

over and kind of taking in the scene and listening to people's answers. And then, meanwhile, you've got all these prospective jurors in the gallery. Some are reading books, but a lot of them are actually listening in with everyone else. Well, this case centers on an encounter on the subway. And you spoke with legal experts who told you they expect the transit system itself to play a central role in the trial. Has it come up in the questioning of prospective jurors? You already mentioned if people were asked if they ride the subways. Yes. So everyone has been asked whether they ride the subway and if so, how often?

Have you ever witnessed an outburst or felt personally threatened? There were a few people who said they rarely or never take the subway, including one guy who actually said he hasn't rid of. the subway since the 1980s, but almost everyone said they ride the subway frequently and many shared experiences of watching someone yelling, being shoved, things like that, but no one was really, in most cases, saying that it had risen to the level where they needed to call the police or something like that. What are some of the other major themes that have come up? So many people with loved ones in the military, whether it's, you know, a close family member who served recently or a lot of, for instance, grandparents who served in World War II. Some said, you know, they felt a loyalty and would have extra sympathy for Penny because he served in the Marines.

Others said it wouldn't really be an issue. Another big thing that's come up is the prevalence of connections to mental illness, drug addiction, even some personal connections to homelessness. race has come up because Penny is white and Neely was black. Prosecutors have actually accused the defense of trying to remove potential jurors because of race, but a judge kind of denied that request yesterday. Well, in the moments we have left, prosecutors and defense attorneys both get to ask questions during the jury selection process. What have you learned about the attorneys on either side of this case?

Yeah, so they have each kind of given their own mini version of an opening statement and it seems like the prosecution is really going to argue that, you know, Penny had good intentions, but he went too far, whereas the defense is really, you know, standing by this idea that he was acting as a hero. He was stepping in to protect people. So I think those are kind of going to be the two narratives that these different sides of attorneys are going to lean on. Samantha Max covers public safety and the courts for WNYC. You can read her reporting on, Daniel Penny's trial on our news site, Gothamist. Samantha, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday,

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