NYC NOW - September 22, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Two adults are dead, and at least five students are critically injured, after a bus carrying Long Island high school students crashed yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, with summer coming to a close, the MTA is looking for new, low-emission solutions to keep subway platforms cool during sweltering weather. Plus, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife with accepting bribes in exchange for political favors to New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government. WNYC’s Brian Leher and David Furst caught up with New Jersey reporter Nancy Solomon to explain the charges. Two adults are dead, and at least five students are critically injured, after a bus carrying Long Island high school students crashed yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, with summer coming to a close, the MTA is looking for new, low-emission solutions to keep subway platforms cool during sweltering weather. Plus, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife with accepting bribes in exchange for political favors to New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government. WNYC’s Brian Leher and David Furst caught up with New Jersey reporter Nancy Solomon to explain the charges.

NYC, Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, September 22nd. Here's the midday news from David First. Two adults are dead. At least five students are critically injured after a bus carrying Long Island high school students crashed yesterday afternoon.

Orange County Executive Steve Newhouse says, the state police will investigate what caused the crash. Our number one priority was to get everybody out of that bus and getting them the medical care they need, which they are getting. So I am asking that the public keep the prayers to direct it at those individuals right now that are undergoing some serious injuries. The bus was carrying members of a Long Island High School band to a camp in Pennsylvania. Governor Hockel says it's likely that a faulty front tire contributed to the bus. to the crash. It happened about 70 miles north of New York City. With summer coming to a close,

the MTA is looking for new, low-emission solutions to keep subway platforms cool during squeltering weather. The agency says the system is vulnerable to extreme weather, like high heat that has been made worse by climate change, but platforms can't accommodate conventional forms of cooling the way buildings can. There are already cooling systems installed at some major subway platforms like Union Square and Wall Street stations, but the MTA says they need creative ideas for platforms with specific physical constraints. Sixty-five degrees right now, partly sunny today, a high of 71, rain expected overnight tonight and through the day tomorrow. This is WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife with accepting bribes in exchange for political favors to New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government. WMYC's Brian Lair and David First caught up with New Jersey reporter Nancy Solomon. Well, what exactly is Menendez accused of here? Corruption and bribery, essentially. He's accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts in exchange for political favors. Specifically, $480,000 in cash was found in a safe deposit box in envelopes that had fingerprints of both his wife and a real estate developer in New Jersey. There were wads of cash in a bomber jacket with Menendez's name on it. There was a luxury vehicle parked in the garage that was purchased by another one of the

defendants, another businessman, and there were bars of gold bullion also found. Nancy, is it really that blatant? I mean, I can imagine our listeners thinking, what if corruption happens in the political sector, it's not usually with wads of cash and gold bullion being physically passed? I mean, it's there in the indictment. They have photos. They have photos of the cash. They have photos of the jacket, the gold bullion. So, yeah, I mean, this is certainly not the first time a New Jersey politician has been, you know, found to be accepting wads of cash in envelopes or, you know, one of my favorites was stuffed into a Starbucks cup, you know, the cash. So yes, it is that blatant, apparently, according to the indictment. And the senator's wife, Nadine, was charged,

as you said, also three other people. Who are they? And do we know how they're allegedly connected? Yeah. You know, I'm trying to fully put my, wrap my head around all this, this morning. So one defendant is Fred Dabes, who is a real estate developer in New Jersey. Another is Wael Hanna, apparently a longtime friend of the senator's wife, Nadine, and a founder of a halal meat certificate business, and that's really at the center of all of this. and another businessman, Jose Uribe, a New Jersey businessman, who is the one who purchased the luxury vehicle. And I see Egypt is being mentioned in the indictment.

What's that about? Right. So apparently Menendez met with Egyptian officials. And now remember, he's chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So he wields a lot of power and specifically with respect to, military arms and sales of military arms to countries. And apparently there was a meeting with Egyptian officials. They wanted military arms. And in exchange, what he wanted was special favors allegedly for this halal meat business in New Jersey. Nancy, do you know how similar this is

or different from the last time Menendez faced corruption charges. That one went to trial, ended with a hung jury. Do you think the U.S. attorney is feeling pretty confident to bring these new charges? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we've seen over the years that corruption, political corruption charges and bribery charges have become harder and harder, especially given the Supreme Court ruling a couple years ago, become harder to prosecute. And because Menendez's first trial did result in a hung jury. You know, it raises the problems that prosecutors face in these kinds of cases. What's interesting in the comparison, though, is that that first case, which involved alleged political favors for a Florida eye doctor, most of the gifts were

vacations and travel. And whereas in this case, you know, I thought it was interesting that they put very high up in the indictment, the fingerprints found on the cash. Like, they're, you know, they've got cash, they've got gold bullion. You know, I think it's harder to make a defense that, hey, he's my friend, and that's why he gives me stuff, you know, like that, that is typically the defense. And I think it's this one, you know, this looks to be a much better case. Let's put it that way than the, the first one. I'm still thinking about that Egypt connection. From what you've seen so far, Nancy, is there any indication that with Menendez holding the position that he does as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that U.S. foreign policy was corrupted in any way,

allegedly? You know, I think that that's an implication in this. I mean, if you're talking about trading support for arms deals, which is, and this is not the first time these kinds of things have happened or been alleged. So, um, You know, I think, but when you've got trading an arms deal to benefit a business, you know, if those facts hold up, you know, yeah, I think you, I think it will somewhat center on the idea of foreign policy being corrupted. And meanwhile, his son was just elected to Congress and not named in the indictment. And Senator Menendez is up for re-election next year.

Care to speculate how this will affect his re-executive? election prospects or his sons as a member of the House? Right. I mean, everybody thought the first time around for Bob Menendez, Senator Bob Menendez, that he would have to step down because of the trial for corruption. You know, he is innocent until proven guilty. He refused to step down and was really defiant the first time around about the, you know, that he would go after people who had, you know, written his political obituary. So he survived that one. I would be surprised to see him step down. I think he is going to maintain his innocence and fight because he's always been a fighter. So I think that's a logical prediction to make. As far as his son,

you know, politics in New Jersey would have to change a lot for this to affect his son, is now a member of Congress. I mean, you know, the Hudson political machine is very powerful, particularly in Hudson County and is able to get people elected. And there is a reticence to go after Bob Menendez, you know, I think until we have a result from the trial, I don't, I would not predict that the Hudson County machine is going to back away from him. I'd love to be surprised because, you know, machine politics are kind of a nasty thing and they're not good for democracy. But so far I've never seen any evidence that would allow some, you know, make an argument that we're going to see big change suddenly. I think what we're going to see is a trial and see how that

plays out first. Nancy, thanks a lot. Thanks, guys. 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.