WNYC News

The latest on the New York City race for mayor leads this week's Politics Brief roundup.

Photographers David Lei and Jacqueline Emery are photographers and the authors of Finding Flaco: Our Year with New York City's Beloved Owl. They joined WNYC host Michael Hill to share what they've learned from observing another wild animal commonly found in the city: the coyote. Coyotes reached New York in the early 1930s and 1940s. By the 1990s, the canines had made it predominately to the Bronx. Now, a pair of coyotes that Lei and Emery have named Romeo and Juliet has settled into Central Park. 

President Trump is backing the Texas legislature’s push to redraw the state’s congressional maps in order to give Republicans an advantage in next year’s midterm elections. And now, some Democrats in our area are arguing their states should do the same. But is the whole process legal? And would it survive a court challenge?

Jeffrey Wice is a senior fellow at New York Law School’s Census and Redistricting Institute. He talks with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about redistricting. 

New York City public school students could soon learn more about Asian American and Pacific Islander communities as a part of their curriculum. 

That’s because the city council included $2.5 million dollars in this year’s budget to advance AAPI studies in city schools.

CUNY’s Localized History Project and the Asian American Education Project will work on exactly what that curriculum will look like. 

Shreya Sunderram is the director of CUNY’s Localized History Project and Clarissa Kunizaki is a rising senior at Brooklyn Technical High School and a founding member of the localized history project. Stewart Kwoh is the co-executive director of the Asian American Education Project. They sat down with WNYC's Sean Carlson to talk more about what AAPI studies could look like in New York City public schools. 

A new bill in New York state aims to put an end to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers wearing masks.

The bill is called the MELT Act — short for Mandating End of Lawless Tactics. It was proposed by state Assemblymember Tony Simone, a Democrat from Manhattan.

WNYC's Arya Sundaram covers race and immigration. She joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to talk about the effort.

This week, a major rainstorm left several New York City subway stations flooded with water. The 28th Street stop on the 1 line in Manhattan got it especially rough. Videos on social media show water shooting up out of a manhole on the station's platform like a geyser. It's not the first time this has happened, and the city's precolonial topography is at least part of the reason why. WNYC's Ramsey Khalifeh joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to talk about why this station is so prone to severe flooding.

A crowded race for New York City mayor is, officially, now even more crowded. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will campaign as an independent.

After losing the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani, he will now once again face Mamdani, along with Republican Curtis Sliwa and fellow independent - and current mayor - Eric Adams in the general election this fall.

Nick Reisman covers New York state government and politics for Politico. Speaking with Weekend Edition host David Furst, he has the latest on an eventful summer in the mayor's race.

The 28th Street station floods in spectacular fashion during heavy rain. Why is it so hard to fix? That and more in this week's On The Way roundup of transit news. 

The congestion-pricing program that charges drivers who enter Manhattan below 60th street had sparked concerns among some communities who worried that it could incentivize drivers to go through other, already congested parts of the city, exacerbating air quality conditions there.  A new report from the New York City Department of Health's Air Quality Program examines the effects of congestion pricing on fine particle air pollution in and around the tolling zone in the first few months of the program.

Sarah Johnson, Executive Director of the city Air Quality Program, joined WNYC host Michael Hill to unpack this initial data.

Spotted lanternflies are back in New York City this summer... and for the foreseeable future.

When they started showing up in the region about a half-decade ago, the advice to New Yorkers was direct: Stomp the little bugs. But researchers and state officials say that's essentially futile at this point.

Kristin Winchell is an assistant professor of biology at NYU. She joined WNYC's Michael Hill to explain why the invasive species is something we’re all going to get used to.