Evening Roundup: New Orleans Attack Echoes 2017 Attack in NYC, Optimum Drops MSG Networks, New Jersey’s Approach to Rising Sea Levels and Weekend Stargazing

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC NOW, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. A truck rampage in New Orleans echoes a similar attack in New York City in 2017. That's when a self-professed ISIS supporter drove a truck into a group of pedestrians and cyclists on a West Side highway's greenway. Eight people were killed and many more injured. Public safety experts say New York City has taken various steps to prevent future attacks since the incident, like installing barricades and monitoring social media, but Navy Intelligence Officer David Viola says it's impossible to wade through every single threat.

David Viola: It's a needle and a stack of needles hidden inside a bundle of needles in the dark. It's really hard to get through all of it and find out what is the signal and what is the noise.

Janae Pierre: Viola says New Yorkers shouldn't let fear stop their lives, but he says everyone should remain vigilant. Police officials say there are no credible threats to New York City at this time. New York sports fans are currently caught in the middle of a standoff between a major local cable provider and the TV home of the Knicks and Rangers. WNYC's Phil Corso has more.

Phil Corso: If you're an Optimum subscriber, you won't find Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, or Devils games on your TV right now. That's because MSG networks have been dropped from the cable providers' lineup due to a dispute over carriage fees. Optimum, which is owned by Altus USA, says MSG is demanding high fees that force non-sports viewers to pay for content they don't watch. MSG says it offered Optimum fair terms, but Altus rejected them even though they raised their subscription fees. That means local hoops and hockey fans may need to look for streaming alternatives to watch their teams while the dispute continues.

Janae Pierre: The dispute comes as the New York Knicks continue its winning streak. The Orange and Blue have been on fire since mid-December. They've won nine straight games and are now within one game of the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Celtics, but New York has a tough challenge on the docket Friday night as they tip off against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have been on a tier of their own. They've won 13 in a row and sit atop the Western Conference. Let's go, Knicks.

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Still ahead, New Jersey is developing new rules that would require homes to be built 5 feet off the ground in flood zones. More on the Garden State's approach to rising sea levels after the break.

Announcer: NYC NOW.

Janae Pierre: New homes in New Jersey could have to be built at least 5 feet off the ground in flood zones. That's if Governor Phil Murphy signs off on a new set of state environmental regulations. The change marks a major shift in how the state uses future climate modeling to create policy around rising sea levels, but the plan has raised concerns among some developers and business leaders. WNYC's Mike Hayes has the details.

Mike Hayes: Dan, you suggested a quick tour of the house. I think that's kind of a fun way to start.

Dan Bachalis: Sure. Why don't we go back down to the first floor?

Mike Hayes: Okay. Dan Bachalis is showing me around he and his wife Barbara's white 1950s split-level house in Margate on the Jersey Shore. How far are we from the ocean? I don't think I made it all the way over there.

Dan Bachalis: Five blocks that away and two blocks to the bay.

Mike Hayes: When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, the water in that bay inundated the neighborhood, flooding the bottom floor of the house. Shortly after that, Barbara says their flood insurance payments skyrocketed from about $70 to close to $1,000 a month.

Barbara Bachalis: That was shocking, and we thought that we probably would have to sell the house because we thought we're just not going to be able to swing it.

Mike Hayes: What saved them, they say, is a federal program that helped raise the house more than 5 feet off the ground. Workers jacked their home up with hydraulic lifts, built concrete walls underneath, and lowered it back down. Dan and Barbara take me down to check it out.

Dan Bachalis: It's really very sturdy. Really very sturdy.

Mike Hayes: Now, New Jersey officials are developing new rules for flood zones that will require all new houses and houses that undergo major renovations to be raised just as much as the Bachalis's home, 5 feet.

Jennifer Coffey: I'm excited about these regulations because I know that they will protect first lives and then property and our economy and our communities.

Mike Hayes: Jennifer Coffey is with the association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions. She says it's a fundamental shift in how the state assesses the risk of natural disasters. Until now, that risk has largely relied on what happened in the past.

Jennifer Coffey: We have looked at historical data ranging from 1899, so 20 years before women got the right to vote, to 1999, to determine what 100-year storm looks like, what 100-year flood looks like.

Mike Hayes: The past is no longer an accurate predictor on a rapidly warming planet. Instead, the state is basing its projection on a 2019 Rutgers study showing a 17% chance that rising sea levels in the state will exceed 5 feet by the end of the century. Professor Robert Kopp was the lead author.

Robert Kopp: Sea level is rising in New Jersey. It's rising faster than the global average in large part because the land here is sinking.

Mike Hayes: Environmental groups are praising the approach, but Jersey home builders like Anthony Zarrilli are opposed because of the added cost.

Anthony Zarrilli: I just think it's preposterous. From a scenic standpoint, it's going to make the landscape look crazy.

Mike Hayes: Builders and business groups say a 17% chance of sea level rising more than 5 feet isn't enough to base public policy on. They're urging Governor Phil Murphy not to sign off on the new rules. Ray Cantor of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association says a 2-foot increase would be more appropriate.

Ray Cantor: If that number turns out to be too low, we have 75 years to adjust.

Mike Hayes: The governor's office declined to comment on the rule change. Environmental groups say that going with a lower height increase would be a mistake. Dan Bachalis, who raised his own house in Margate, agrees.

Dan Bachalis: You don't want to be building something that you know, according to the latest science, you know next time you get a Hurricane Sandy or a Superstorm Sandy, they're going to be literally, literally swamped.

Mike Hayes: After work was completed on his home, his sky-high flood insurance rate went from $1,000 a month to just $560 for the entire year. Because you raised the house.

Dan Bachalis: Because we raised it up and it was safe from most floods and storms.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Mike Hayes. January may be dark and cold, but the night sky will shine bright this weekend. Stargazers are in for quite the treat with a few visible planets. WNYC's Rosemary Misdary has more.

Rosemary Misdary: On the 3rd of January, Venus is going to appear on the bottom right side of the moon. Venus is in the southwestern portion of the night sky just after sunset. That's the brightest, one of the brightest objects in the night sky still right now. Then Saturn, which is also visible this month, it will appear to the lower right side of the moon. The next night on the 4th, it's going to be to the left of Venus. It's in the southern portion of the sky, and that is also visible just after sunset. Then you have Jupiter, which is going to rise also after sunset, and that is in the eastern portion of the sky.

Janae Pierre: On top of all of that, Rosemary says there are also some stars to look out for this month too, star clusters specifically.

Rosemary Misdary: One of my favorites is the bright blue Pleiades star cluster, also the yellowish Hyades star cluster. They're right near each other, and you can find them in the Taurus constellation.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Rosemary Misdary. Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. Can't leave without shouting out our production team. It includes Sean Bowditch, Amber Bruce, Audrey Cooper, Owen Kaplan, Liora Noam-Kravitz, Jared Marcel, and Wayne Schollmeister, with help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WNYC newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. I'm Janae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.

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