Title: Midday News: City Council to Vote on Transgender Patient Protections, Bad Bunny Ticket Scams, Public School Student in Immigration Detention, and NYC Mayoral Race Heats Up

Stephen Nessen: Welcome to NYC NOW, your source for local news in and around New York City, from WNYC. It's Thursday, August 14th. Here's the Midday News. I'm Stephen Nessen. The New York City Council is expected to vote today on two bills to increase protections for transgender patients at hospitals across the city. One measure would require public signs about patients' rights, including that they'd be addressed by the name and pronoun they prefer. The other requires staff training for treating trans and gender nonconforming patients be documented. Public advocate Jumaane Williams introduced both bills.

Jumaane Williams: It was enough so people can feel seen and protected in a scary time, but also loose enough so people can make it work for that particular hospital.

Stephen Nessen: Mayor Adams' office says it appreciates the bill's intent. His office didn't say whether he'd sign them into law. New York State's Attorney General is warning that there are some bad Bad Bunny tickets being sold online. WNYC's Verónica Del Valle has the story.

Verónica Del Valle: Bad Bunny's concert residency in Puerto Rico is attracting crowds from all over the world, but AG Letitia James says her office is seeing an increase in complaints from New Yorkers who traveled to the island just to discover their concert tickets were fake. She's suggesting that people exhibit extreme caution when trying to buy tickets. That means try to buy from an official reseller, avoid paying with cash or a wire transfer, and be wary of ticket prices that are too good to be true. James's office says people who are sold fake or invalid tickets can file a complaint with her staff online.

Stephen Nessen: New York City officials say another public school student is in immigration detention after federal agents took him into custody at an immigration hearing. School's chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos says a team assists migrants in public schools is working to connect his family with legal support. Mayor Adams's office says it's gathering more information about the case and is considering potential legal action. City Council Member Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn is identifying the student as Mamadou Mouctar Diallo. He's at least the third local public school student detained by immigration agents this year. US Immigration officials haven't responded to a request for comment.

Up next, our weekly politics segment. That's after the break.

Speaker: NYC NOW.

Stephen Nessen: Now it's time for Politics Brief, our weekly segment where we break down the news out of City Hall and across New York State. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is running for mayor and is trying to flip the script in his campaign for City Hall. Meanwhile, the current governor, Kathy Hochul, is under renewed pressure to raise taxes on the rich. To explain it all, WNYC's Sean Carlson spoke with reporters Jimmy Vielkind and Elizabeth Kim.

Sean Carlson: All right, Liz, we're going to start with you. We saw Andrew Cuomo taking more shots at Zohran Mamdani over the weekend. We'll remind listeners that Mamdani decisively beat Cuomo in June's Democratic primary. Now, Cuomo is challenging him as an independent candidate in a crowded field that also includes the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, Guardian Angels founder, Curtis Sliwa, and Attorney Jim Walden. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, but now Cuomo is targeting him for living in a rent-stabilized apartment in Western Queens. What's going on here?

Elizabeth Kim: Cuomo is pointing out that as an assembly member, Mamdani makes $145,000 a year. He is arguing that someone who makes that much money shouldn't be living in a rent-stabilized apartment. Now, Mamdani has said that he lives in a rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria where he pays $2,300 for a one-bedroom. Now, he found that apartment on StreetEasy when he was making less money when he was working as a foreclosure expert. Regardless, it's fine. There's no income restriction for this particular type of apartment that Mamdani lives in, but Cuomo's making an issue out of it. He's saying that Mamdani, because he makes that much money, shouldn't be living in rent-stabilized housing.

He made this proposal, he called it Zohran's Law, in which he says would prohibit landlords from leasing their vacant units to the "wealthy."

Jimmy Vielkind: Liz, I'm curious, how was that received? Cuomo, when he was governor, he presided over several rounds of renewing the rent laws, these rent stabilization laws, including in 2019 when Democrats had power in the state legislature, and they wrote the renewal and cut him out of the process until he signed the law. I think that bill actually ended this provision, which would have allowed people to lose their rent-stabilized apartment if they'd made too much money.

Elizabeth Kim: Right. I think what we've seen in this mayoral race is what former Governor Cuomo did as governor is completely a separate issue from how he's running as a mayoral candidate, although his record as governor, I think, is fair game for critics and his rivals to talk about. On this issue, it struck a nerve. Cuomo was considered an ally to big real estate. It struck a nerve because New Yorkers have very strong feelings about their rent. It's incredibly challenging to find an affordable apartment in this city. It's raising questions like, "Who deserves an affordable apartment?"

It's also reviving a policy issue around means testing or whether or not there should be some kind of income restrictions. They call them income recertifications for these types of apartments.

Sean Carlson: What does this say about the race in this moment?

Elizabeth Kim: Mamdani is the front-runner. He is also the Democratic mayoral nominee. That means he gets all the scrutiny. It also means that he is seeking to build a broader coalition right now, and that would include establishment Democrats, business leaders. These are people who might be considered uncomfortable bedfellows for Democratic socialists. What's interesting is as we watch him campaign in the general and try to build this bigger tent, the question becomes, can he retain the key parts of his campaign, his relatability to voters, his social media charm, his ability to pivot quickly and control the narrative, all these things that helped him win the primary? Can he keep that so-called magic?

Jimmy Vielkind: It's interesting, Liz, that we see this new posture coming from Andrew Cuomo. He was very much the front-runner, as you said. He's the overdog, and he has been in all of his elections. It's like watching the Yankees play a Little League team or like the Buffalo Bills play the Jets.

Sean Carlson: Okay. Wow.

Jimmy Vielkind: I don't know if I could say that on air. Anyway.

Sean Carlson: That's fine, yes.

Elizabeth Kim: I'm a Giants fan.

Sean Carlson: Yes, okay.

Jimmy Vielkind: To see Cuomo in this insurgent role is just really striking because it's not his usual posture. That said, he does seem to have landed a few blows here.

Elizabeth Kim: Absolutely.

Sean Carlson: Where is Mayor Adams in all of this?

Elizabeth Kim: He's trying to focus on his record. He is the incumbent, and so he does have the ability to point to certain accomplishments. This week, he pointed to data which showed that reading scores for public school students have improved. He's also touting that his administration got more than 3,500 street homeless people into the shelter since he took office. One thing that happened today, which was interesting and a little, I think, puzzling to some political observers, is he got an endorsement. He got the endorsement of former governor David Paterson.

Now, the reason why it's a little bit puzzling is because it's an about-face for Paterson. Paterson backed Cuomo in the primary, who, of course, lost in an embarrassing upset. Here's Paterson talking about how he felt Cuomo's campaign just didn't anticipate Mamdani well enough.

David Paterson: I don't think that when that challenge was coming in the last weeks that he was addressing it and was as present as I thought he should have been during the campaign. He is still a candidate in this race, but my choice is Eric Adams.

Elizabeth Kim: Adams is, of course, polling in the single digits. Paterson had previously called on Cuomo and Adams to agree to this consolidation pact, where one of them would drop out based on a poll that would be taken in the fall, but he now says that that was an idea just to generate conversation, and no one appears to be taking him up on it.

Sean Carlson: While we're on the topic of governors, Jimmy, let's talk about the current one. Kathy Hochul is going to face a big budget deficit coming up, and we're already starting to hear some rumblings about what that budget's going to look like.

Jimmy Vielkind: Yes, it's a very big deficit, Sean. It's $34 billion, billion with a B, over the next few years. That could get even worse when we see the results of the new federal legislation that's taken effect. There's already pressure on Governor Kathy Hochul to raise taxes. We're going to see how that goes. She's resisted that. Earlier today, she had a stark message while speaking at the New York City Financial Control Board meeting about tough times ahead.

Governor Kathy Hochul: We can't promise the same level of state aid if Washington pulls funding out from under us, but we can be clear-eyed about the risks, plan for the future, and work together.

Jimmy Vielkind: The governor has to come up with a budget by mid-January, and we're already seeing people talk and progressives talk about raising taxes on the wealthy. I was actually at a rally today in Foley Square where Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who Hochul picked as a running mate but is now challenging her in the Democratic primary, he joined that call and he took up the mantle.

Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado: We have a responsibility to actually tax the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. I'm tired, I'm so tired of my fellow Democrats talking about, "We're worried about the rich leaving our state."

Jimmy Vielkind: Yes. Hochul has said she doesn't want to raise taxes, but we'll see what's going to happen.

Elizabeth Kim: Jimmy, there's a lot of pressure on her. Do you think she's going to have to yield? Mamdani also wants to tax the wealthy.

Jimmy Vielkind: Yes, that's the thing. She'll be facing pressure from progressives in New York City, assuming if Mamdani does win the mayor's race, he'll have a very big bully pulpit. It's something we're going to be watching going on next year.

Sean Carlson: Only certain things in life are death, taxes, and debates about taxes, am I right? That was WNYC's Elizabeth Kim in Manhattan, Jimmy Vielkind, both in Manhattan, we should say. Thanks so much, my friends.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, Sean.

Jimmy Vielkind: Thanks, Sean.

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Stephen Nessen: 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. I'm Stephen Nessen. We'll be back this evening.

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