Sean Carlson: New York State AGs urge Instagram to protect user data, MTA increases train service for US Open. Zohran Mamdani Canvassers return. Lawmakers warn of budget shortfall. Eggplants are in season. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Sean Carlson. New York State Attorney General Letitia James is among the dozens of state AGs who are urging Instagram to protect users' safety and data after the platform rolled out a map feature that allows you to share their real-time location. The AGs say the feature could put minors and domestic violence survivors at risk of dangerous situations like stalking and harassment. They also say users' location data could get into the hands of malicious actors and be misused. Meta says the map is set to off by default and must be turned on by users. Users also receive a notification explaining the feature, and parents can block teens access to location sharing through Instagram's parental supervision tools.

Monday marks the start of the US Open Tennis tournament, and the MTA has a message to fans, "Take the train." The transit agency is adding more service on subways and the Long Island Railroad to and from Mets-Willets Point, which is right by the tennis center. New York City Transit President Demetrius Critchlow says the MTA is adding more service on the 7 train, so when a match finishes, there won't be overcrowding.

Demetrius Critchlow: All of these mass transit options are faster, cheaper, more efficient than driving, so leave your car at home.

Sean Carlson: During the tournament, every Port Washington train on the LIRR will stop at Mets-Willets Point. The MTA says there will also be extra trains each morning. A centerpiece of Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's winning primary strategy was his ground game, rallying thousands of volunteers and knocking on more than a million doors. WNYC's Brigid Bergin reports. After a seven week respite, Mamdani is sending his volunteers back out this weekend.

Brigid Bergin: Zohran Mamdani's campaign has come a long way since Bekah Curtis-Heald began volunteering with them.

Bekah Curtis-Heald: When I started canvassing earlier in the spring, there were tons of people who still hadn't heard of him.

Brigid Bergin: The campaign is calling volunteers back for a kickoff event this weekend in Greenpoint, Brooklyn as they resume field operations. Those die hard supporters have been a kind of campaign superpower for Mamdani. Curtis-Heald said things will be different this time as they try to reach people who didn't vote for Mamdani in the primary.

Bekah Curtis-Heald: We will actually have the D next to his line on the ballot versus being an outsider underdog.

Brigid Bergin: So far, his challengers haven't come close to matching that grassroots support. Andrew Cuomo relaunched his campaign with a new logo and feistier social media presence. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams picked up support from former Governor David Paterson, who who backed Cuomo in the primary. Guardian Angel's founder Curtis Sliwa has notched increase media attention as he backs his party's leader, President Trump, but none of that has translated into the same kind of boots on the ground yet.

Still, Mamdani's frontrunner status comes with its own baggage. Rivals around the attack and supporters like volunteer Noah Popp are seeing concerns among some in the far left that Mamdani is moderating his positions. Popp says he's not personally bothered.

Popp: He's trying to build a winning coalition, and that sometimes involves not taking maximalist positions on certain things like policing.

Brigid Bergin: The campaign says they're focused on listening, not lecturing.

Sean Carlson: That's WNYC's Brigid Bergin. Up next, New York state lawmakers are sounding the alarm on a potential fiscal shortfall. That's after the break. State lawmakers fear that New York is heading toward a fiscal cliff because of President Trump's new tax and spending laws. WNYC's Jimmy Vielkind reports some say Governor Hochul should cancel plans for rebate checks to avoid future cuts.

Jimmy Vielkind: New York faces a $10 billion budget deficit next year. That deficit threatens social programs like Medicaid and food assistance that were recently cut by the federal government. Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado says it's no time to spend $2 billion on rebate checks for middle-class taxpayers. He's challenging Governor Kathy Hochul in a Democratic primary and says she should cancel the checks.

Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado: $2 billion, that could be very useful right now. Everybody knew this was going to come, and yet the governor thought it was somehow going to be important to hand out a sugar high.

Jimmy Vielkind: Hochul pushed Democrats in the state legislature to approve the checks in the spring. They're set to hit mailboxes in the fall. Most families will see up to $400. The governor says that's real money. She touted the checks during a speech yesterday.

Governor Kathy Hochul: Tell those people who are shopping for back to school at the groceries for their dinner tonight that they don't need an extra $400 in their pockets, that you're willing to take it out, because I'm not, I worked hard to put that in their pockets.

Jimmy Vielkind: The governor says critics like Delgado are tone deaf. Other officials say the time to debate the checks has come and gone. They include State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. He says the state's fiscal health right now is good, but the budget talks coming up will be hard during an election year.

Tom DiNapoli: For the current year budget, not a reason to hit a panic button. Going into next year, sharpen your pencils, going to have to make some very hard decisions on spending and revenue.

Jimmy Vielkind: Hochul will release a budget proposal in January.

Sean Carlson: That's WNYC's Jimmy Vielkind. With summer comes a seasonal variety of fruits and vegetables that are at peak freshness and priced at a better value than what you can find at your local supermarket. Amelia Tarpey is a program and publicity manager for GrowNYC Greenmarkets. Here she is with some tips for something you can find in abundance at your local market right now. Eggplant.

Amelia Tarpey: People can struggle a little bit with eggplant, but I feel like it's one of my favorite summer produce items at the market. Obviously, you can find the classic black beauty Italian eggplants. Those are deep purple, they tend to be larger. If you are cooking with one of those eggplants that can be a little bitter, you can always salt it a little bit first, let it sit in the salt. That will draw out some of the water and also deeply season the eggplant and then you just rinse it off, cut it off.

There's also a lot of different Japanese varieties of eggplants, Turkish varieties of eggplants. I feel like every sort of geographic area around the world has their specific varieties of eggplant. One of my favorites always is a fairytale eggplant, teardrop shape, and they have this really gorgeous purple-white striation on them, and they tend to be sweeter, less bitter.

The other thing is eggplant's something you want to eat right now. It's fresh at market. It doesn't preserve that well, but if you do want to preserve it, recommend doing an eggplant lasagna, and really good to just, you just slice it up, you can pre-roast it or fry it if you want, or you can just stick it straight in, layer it up with a tomato sauce, either store-bought or homemade, lots of basil, ricotta, mozzarella.

I know people don't want to turn on their ovens right now, but potentially when we have a cooler day coming, and the eggplant will be at markets through September usually, so you'll have some time once the weather cools off to do some of those baking projects and preserve it for the winter. Get a lasagna in the freezer for the cold days ahead.

Sean Carlson: Helpful tips from Amelia Tarpey, program and publicity manager for GrowNYC Greenmarkets. Before we go, just a heads-up that tomorrow we're dropping a special episode about a squirrel named Peanut, and the wild story of a raid, viral backlash, and a culture war that followed. Stay tuned. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. Have a great weekend.

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