NYC NOW - September 16, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

A federal indictment unsealed Monday charges former FDNY chiefs Anthony Saccavino and Brian Cordasco with accepting $190,000 in bribes in exchange for fast-track building inspections. Meanwhile, a trio of progressive groups are endorsing a casino plan for Hudson Yards put forward by the gaming company Wynn. Plus, the 25th annual New York Latino Film Festival opens Tuesday night, showcasing over 100 films from around the world in Manhattan through Sunday. For a preview, WNYC's Janae Pierre speaks with festival founder Calixto Chinchilla.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, September 16th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. A federal indictment unsealed today charges two former FDNY chiefs with accepting $190,000 in bribes in exchange for fast-tracking building inspections. Prosecutors say that Anthony Sackavino and Brian Kovina, Cadascow ran the Fire Department's Bureau of Fire Prevention and ran a conspiracy to fast-track building inspections for fire safety compliance. Mayor Adams has also faced scrutiny for

prioritizing fire safety reviews for real estate developers and campaign donors, but the indictment indicates the men act without coordination from City Hall. FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker says the department will fully cooperate with any ongoing investigations. A trio of progressive heavyweights has come out in favor of a casino for Hudson Yards by the gaming company win that spelled WynNN. Christine Quinn, the former city council speaker and current head of the housing provider, WIN, that's WIN, is one of them. She says the casino company offered to build a training institute for homeless women. And that to me is incredibly compelling and an example of a corporation going above and beyond. Clint acknowledged the gaming company and made a $100,000 donation to her nonprofit.

Other backers of the casino project include NAACP, New York State President Hazel Dukes, and Mark Morial, the head of the National Urban League. The three are featured in video testimonials for the company. 73 and partly sunny, mostly sunny today in a high of 77. Stay close. There's more after the break. The 25th annual New York Latino Film Festival opens tomorrow night. More than 100 films from all over the world will screen in Manhattan through Sunday.

My colleague, Jena Pierre, spoke to the founder of the Latino Film Festival, Calisto Chinchilla, to give us a preview of the event. So what should people expect from opening night? I mean, history. I think it's to really, we're opening with the film, Clemente, which was directed by David Altraje and produced by LeBron James and Richard Linklater. And it's, for me, I think it's the most authoritative documentary on Roberto Clemente and his history and legacy to his childhood, you know, in Puerto Rico coming to the States, becoming the icon that he is.

And we're going to have people from the family here. You know, I think it's going to be a lot of emotion. name a couple of the Can't Miss documentaries? I'll give you a couple of Camp Misses period. Los Amazonia is the Yankua, which is a film about Amazonian women who

become baseball players, and they play on their bare feet and Mexican, just the traditional wardrobe. And it's an amazing dock of these women who just do what they want to do. They'll put their men aside, put criticisms

aside, perceptions aside, perceptions aside. and they're playing ball. And we're going to have the entire team here that they're flying in from this year's festival. And it's just, it's really heartfelt. Then we have Unstoppable with Jarrell Jerome, Jennifer Lopez. And it's a film about Anthony Robles, a true life story,

who's born with one leg, overcomes, getting into school, trying to get into a Division I school, trying to win an NCAA championship while his mother is going through sexual and physical abuse. And so it's a tough film, very tender. And I tell you right now, you can expect some awards notice, you know, for Jarrell. And Jennifer's been getting some solid reviews as well. So that film comes out later in the year. What are the highlights in the fiction category? We have a bunch. We have clocked, which is about this boxer. He's a closeted, gay man who wants to do drag.

But he's growing up being groomed to be a boxer. And so it's him finding his, just his true self and coming out in his own terms. So, you know, that's a sweet film. There's even a horror film. We have Scream Queen, Melissa Barrera from Scream. And in the Heights, she has a thriller here called Your Monster. And so we're doing at advance screening of that. But yeah, I think it's a pretty well-rounded and inclusive festival.

And the festival wraps up with, I guess, one of New York City's last summer block parties. Want to give us the details on that? So, yeah, this year's block party is going to happen at Kiskaya Plaza, which is, you know, just take the A train to Dykeman Street, which is in the Heights. We're turning Dykeman into Gotham City. So we're launching the Penguin, which is a new series, a special event series that's going to be on Max. We're going to have the car there, the Maserati, that's the character in the show. We're going to have a whole Gotham City look. There's going to be concerts, music, free food, games.

It's really, we've been doing Black Party for a couple of years now, and it's always a sweet, you know, celebration, a cap off to the end of the festival. Our guest has been Calyxo Chinchilla, the founder of the New York Latino Film Festival. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for having me. You can see a schedule and buy tickets at NYLatinofilmfestival.com. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC.

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