Sean Carlson: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. A new analysis shows gas heating costs are rising in New York State. Con Edison customers pay on average $50 more for gas heating than in 2022, and another rate hike is coming this month. National Grid customers pay $40 more per month compared to 2023. Jessica Azulay is the Executive Director of Alliance for a Green Economy, the organization that crunched the numbers on utility bills.

Jessica Azulay: All across New York, how much more people are paying for gas heating was the biggest shock for us. We cannot afford to keep seeing these bills go up. We cannot continue to stay on this trajectory.

Sean Carlson: Advocates and lawmakers are pushing legislation in Albany called the New York Heat act, which would cap utility bills. All utility rate hikes are approved by the state' Public Service Commission. PSC did not immediately comment.

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Sean Carlson: New York State lawmakers are looking at a new bill that could get fire damaged apartment buildings repaired faster. The plan to move displaced tenants into other apartments and make landlords foot the bill until their buildings are safe to return to. State Senator Michael Gianaris says he introduced the bill because tenants sometimes wait years to move back after a fire.

State Senator Michael Gianaris: Clearly, what we need to do is kick these building owners in the behind and get them to repair these buildings faster and get these residents back into the buildings.

Sean Carlson: The bill would only apply to New York City landlords found responsible for causing a fire or other disasters. The New York Apartment Association, a landlord group, questioned how the city would determine whether a landlord is to blame. It also warned of higher insurance rates if the bill becomes law.

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Sean Carlson: The Blue Man Group is saying goodbye to New York City. Their last show will be Sunday. They've been a staple in the Off Broadway theater scene for 33 years and have had more than 17,000 performances at the Astor Place Theater. It's a stage show known for its nonverbal stunts and paint. The group got its start at the theater back in 1991 and was bought by Cirque du Soleil in 2017.

The Blue Man Group shows in Las Vegas and Boston will continue, and a new one will open in Orlando in April. It's been two weeks since President Trump returned to office, and from immigration rates to a federal spending freeze, local leaders are already feeling the impact. How are they reacting, and what comes next? That's after the break.

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NYC Now.

Sean Carlson: Two weeks into President Trump's return to office, a wave of new policies is keeping local leaders on their toes as they try to help their Cities and states adjust. While all of this is happening, Mayor Adams has been noticeably absent this week citing an unspecified illness after spending much of the last month building ties with President Trump. I sat down with WNYC senior politics reporter Brigid Bergin and Capitol reporter John Campbell to break it all down. Brigid, first question's for you. Amid all this, where is the mayor?

Brigid Bergin: Sean, that is an excellent question. It's one that a lot of people are asking. What we found out on Sunday night through a statement from his deputy mayor for communication was that the mayor apparently is not feeling particularly well, was going to have some routine tests and would have a very limited public schedule this week. So limited he did not do his once a week briefing with reporters.

However, we do know he has been talking to some people. City hall source told me that he met with some NYCHA tenant leaders and some NYCHA staff over Zoom on Monday for about 20 minutes. He also called a couple of union leaders to Gracie Mansion where he's been spending most of his time and met with them. That's thanks to some reporting in Politico. He's having conversations, but not exactly the conversations a lot of New Yorkers and certainly some of his challengers would like him to be having in terms of some of the other things that you just laid out.

Sean Carlson: Jon, is there a difference between how Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul are approaching the new Trump administration? If so, why do you think that is?

Jon Campbell: Sean, yes and no. Neither of them have been overly critical of Donald Trump since he was elected in November. That includes those ICE raids in the Bronx when both the mayor and the governor actually were supportive of the raids. The governor says they were targeted and meant to get specific people who were the target of this investigation, they weren't these broad based raids.

Mayor Adams has really taken this a pretty huge step further. He went to the inauguration in person, and he traveled to Mar A Lago for a personal meeting with Trump. Governor Hochul certainly isn't doing that. There's plenty of people who think Adams is doing this to angle for a pardon, though he denies it. He's facing federal bribery charges after all.

Sean Carlson: Yes. Let's talk more about that because I know we just had an election, but believe it or not, it's another election year this time for Mayor Adams. Challengers did line up from with his own party probably because they see that his job is in jeopardy while he fights corruption charges. What are they saying about all this, Brigid?

Brigid Bergin: There have been a lot of comments from his challengers, those who are actively running, who have announced their campaigns, pretty much all of them calling him out. State Senator Jessica Ramos acknowledging his silence and calling him out for all the impact that New Yorkers are going to feel from those things, like those potential budget cuts that were then quickly reversed. City Comptroller Brad Lander calling in the city to sue, join the lawsuit that was filed by Attorney General Tish James.

State assembly member Zohran Mamdani saying, "We need a fighter, not a sycophant," and really calling him out because, as Jon mentioned, he's been spending a lot of time cozying up to President Trump. Because of this corruption case that's hanging over his head for some, what people would suggest, obvious reasons, potentially hoping for a pardon. State Senator Zellnor Myrie also calling him out.

Interestingly, the one person who didn't necessarily call out Adams directly, but has been criticizing the Trump administration more exclusively would be former Comptroller Scott Stringer, talking a lot about how these potential cuts are going to impact New Yorkers, how these ICE raids are threatening, in some cases, legal citizens. A distinction in this particular field about how he's critiquing what's going on versus his competitors.

Sean Carlson: Let's stick with the mayor a little bit here, Brigit. As Jon was saying, Adam spent last week flying to Mar a Lago and clearing his MLK Day schedule to attend that inauguration in the overflow room. Some pretty controversial moves for an indicted Democratic mayor looking to win re election. What can we glean from Adam's blossoming relationship with Donald Trump?

Brigid Bergin: I think that MLK Day was something that we've heard many people reflect on as a pretty shocking move. I don't think we need to overanalyze what we know is happening, which is he already is facing a series of corruption charges. There has been a lot of talk of a potential superseding indictment. There were additional filings in that court case just this week. His attorney was in court, Alex Spiro, confronted by failings of reporters asking, "Is the mayor going to resign?" No, he's not going to resign.

We know that the pressure is on and that this mayor is doing whatever he can to avoid what could potentially be a trial and then worse. I think that is likely the main explanation for what is going on there. You could be generous, and you could say, "Well, he understands that in his role as mayor, he has to work with an incoming administration. He wants to do whatever he can to benefit New Yorkers." That might be overly generous. Given the fact that he is going to be potentially, if he stays in office, running in a Democratic primary, there are some serious downsides to this strategy.

Sean Carlson: Jon, let's talk about the state level a little bit here. If Kathy Hochul's been a bit measured in her approach to the new administration, longtime Trump nemesis Letitia James pretty visible this past week. What has she been up to?

Jon Campbell: What she'd been up to, she's been suing him just like she did dozens of times during his first term. Last week, she was part of this group of state attorneys general who sued Trump over that attempt to end birthright citizenship as we know it. This week, she was part of another group of attorneys general filing a lawsuit or putting together a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's effort to basically freeze federal funding for states and local governments and nonprofits.

Trump's budget office rescinded that order earlier today, but there's still some question about whether they're going to try to pursue it through the executive orders that have already been out there. Letitia James earlier today said she's going to continue with that legal effort to challenge this freeze on federal funding for local governments. She's really signaling that she's ready to take on this adversarial approach to Donald Trump, and that's much like she's done since 2016. She's really an enemy of the current president.

Sean Carlson: While we're talking about the state, Jon, next week is known as Tin Cup Day. That's where local leaders head on up to Albany to rattle the tin cup and beg for state funds. What are you looking out for there, Jon?

Jon Campbell: I'd say it's not so affectionately known as Tin Cup Day in Albany, but the big question that we're grappling with is, is the mayor going to show up? Mayor Adams is usually the headliner of this annual state budget hearing. There's some questions, given what we know about this mysterious illness that he's been dealing with. There's always this superseding indictment that prosecutors have said is imminent, looming over his head. Will he be in Albany to advocate for the city? We don't know that at this point.

I did ask his press office whether he's intending to go on Tuesday, and they said, "Well, we'll let you know on the public schedules that he puts out every day, which we get the night before." We don't really know if he's going to be there. We do know that the city will be represented regardless. Justin Brannon, the finance chair for the City Council, is expected to testify. Adrian Adams, the council speaker, is also supposed to be in Albany talking to lawmakers. The city will have some representation, but whether the mayor himself is there is a question that we're going to keep an eye on.

Sean Carlson: That's WNYC reporters Jon Campbell and Brigid Bergin.

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Sean Carlson: Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Sean Carlson. We'll be back tomorrow.

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