NYC NOW - October 5, 2023: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day. A new report from the MTA shows the climate crisis could paralyze mass transit. Also, people traveling to and from JFK Airport via the Airtran will now be able to use OMNY readers starting next Tuesday. Plus, as of yesterday, the general application window to start a legal cannabis business in New York State is now open for the next two months.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, October 5th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. A new report from the MTA shows the climate crisis could paralyze mass transit. WNYC Stephen Nesson has more on the agencies deep dive into what it needs to survive. Pretty much everything will need an overhaul. Nearly every single train station elevator and escalator, all the buses, and nearly every train car.

Most of the Metro North's Hudson line could be underwater, but that won't even matter, since all Metro North service could be halted if a crumbling train shed at Grand Central isn't fixed soon. MTA Chair Jan O'Nebara says other train yards, like the Livonia Yard in Brooklyn, are also in dire condition. Looks like something out of a Netflix documentary on the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. This report will help the MTA pitch its next five-year spending plan to lawmakers and the public. That's due next year. If you take the Airtrain to or from JFK Airport soon, you will no longer need to wait in long lines at vending machines to buy a metro card.

The MTA is installing Omni readers to start using next Tuesday. Jamaica Station is getting four readers and Howard Beach Station is getting two. It will still cost $8.25 to take the air train, a fee that goes to the Port Authority. Omni is operated by the MTA, which says there will be Omni readers at all the JFK air train gates next year. As of yesterday, anyone can apply it to start a legal cannabis business in New York State. WNIC's Caroline Lewis reports. The general application window is now open to get a license for a dispensary,

growth site, wholesale operation, or other type of marijuana business. Anyone interested has two months to file their application. Before now, licensing in the new legal industry was limited. Dispensory licenses were reserved for people with past marijuana convictions and their family members. And only New Yorkers who previously grew hemp could get a cultivator license. Many New Yorkers who received dispensary licenses under the state's social equity program have been unable to open their shops because of an ongoing lawsuit. They will now have to reapply along with everyone else.

For more information, visit Cannabis. go. Your forecast, 64 and mostly clear now. Cloudy turning sunny will hit 75 today and then tomorrow morning shower chances, patchy fog, cloudy and 71. Saturday, temperatures in the 60s and Sunday even cooler with temperatures in the 50 under sunshine. 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 where you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.