Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, October 31st. Happy Halloween. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill.
Michael Hill: Food pantries are bracing for an increase in demand this weekend as the Trump administration ends SNAP payments due to the ongoing government shutdown. Jilly Stephens is the CEO of food rescue group City Harvest. She says pantries are also already seeing lines of people, which will only worsen the longer the benefits are paused.
Jilly Stephens: Families dispatch older children to different neighborhoods, and so really it becomes then another job for the family to really piece together everything they need to get the food on the table for their family.
Michael Hill: Nearly 2 million New Yorkers rely on SNAP. Another 800,000 New Jerseyans also use the benefit to buy groceries. Governor Kathy Hochul has directed more than $100 million for food assistance, but it won't be enough to fill the gap left by SNAP. The three major New York City candidates for mayor find common ground on at least one issue, keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her job. Policing experts say Commissioner Tisch's record could help account for her broad appeal. Former detective Kirk Burkhalter says she successfully rooted out corruption and cronyism that he believes took hold in the department during the Adams administration.
Kirk Burkhalter: By far her biggest accomplishment is, and forgive me for being blunt, but putting out the dumpster fire. Jennvine Wong of the Legal Aid Society says Tisch deserves criticism for the department's focus on quality-of-life crimes.
Jennvine Wong: It is something to be concerned about because of the unduly harsh consequences that can befall so many New Yorkers.
Michael Hill: Tisch has not said if she would accept any of the candidates' offers to stay on as commissioner. New York City has struck a last-minute deal to avoid a yellow bus shutdown. The temporary agreement means buses will keep running for about 150,000 students, including many who have disabilities or live in shelters. Some of the city's biggest bus companies had threatened to halt service if they did not get a long-term contract. Officials say they'll revisit the issue next month and push for longer deal with stronger accountability measures.
A City Hall spokesperson says the mayor remains committed to ensuring safe transportation for students and that contracted school buses will run as scheduled following a resolution. The roads and rails are looking all clear at this hour. If there is a school bus or two or three or four out there right now. 51 and partly cloudy today with strong, strong winds, mostly sunny and 55 breezy wind gusts up to miles an hour.
Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news, headlines and occasional deep dives. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.
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