WNYC News

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani sees fare-free buses as a winning pitch in his upstart mayoral campaign. But transit planners say the idea, if implemented, could amount to a cut to New York City’s transit service.

That and more in this week's On The Way roundup of New York City transit news. 

You voted on NYC's most iconic bagel, and now we have a winner: Egg bagel is New York City's most iconic bagel (at least of the candidates who ran). Congratulations, egg bagel!

Timothy Hunter and data scientist Kathryn Agnas of NYC Votes came on WNYC's Morning Edition to walk us through how they tabulated the results, why some ballots may have been invalidated, and how they got to the winner.

A special thank you to NYC Votes and to our bagel actors:

EGG: Jared MarcelleSALT: Juliana FondaCINNAMON RAISIN: Zach Gottehrer-CohenSCOOPED: David GebelDONUT: Jason Saul

The Democratic candidates for New York City mayor made their last pitches to voters during the final debate ahead of the primary election.

The back and forth between former governor Andrew Cuomo and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani hinted at a two-man contest. Cuomo is the frontrunner in the race, according to most polls, while Mamdani is in second place.

The two-hour debate at John Jay College was co-hosted by WNYC's Brian Lehrer, NY1's Errol Louis and The City’s Katie Honan.

Early voting begins June 14. Primary election Day is June 24.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Brooklyn City Council Member and Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan faced off in one final Democratic primary debate for New York City Comptroller.The two leading candidates vying for the Democratic nomination gave voters their best closing arguments in an hour-long debate on Tuesday. Their differences were more about style than substance, as both share similar visions about the role of the city’s chief fiscal officer. But the moderators still elicited some spirited exchanges, underscoring how they differed.WNYC's Brian Lehrer co-hosted the debate with Errol Louis of NY1 and Alyssa Katz, executive editor of the news organization THE CITY.Early voting begins on June 14. Election Day is June 24.

The New York State Assembly said the "Stop Super Speeders" bill, which would require devices known as speed limiters to be put in the cars of some of the region’s most reckless drivers, will not pass in the assembly in this session.

The bill had picked up momentum following the death of Miriam Yarimi and two of her children, who were hit by a recidivist speeder on Brooklyn's Ocean Parkway in March. Now, the state senate - which introduced the bill - has significantly changed it in hopes that a watered down version will get passed.

The bill is sponsored by State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assembly member Emily Gallagher. They both joined WNYC host Michael Hill to talk about it.

New York City’s mayoral candidates are facing a question that could help define them in the home stretch of the Democratic primary: How would they confront President Donald Trump on immigration protests and deportation when the president seems to be spoiling for a fight?

That and more in this week's Politics Brief roundup of new out of City Hall and Albany.

WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk is highlighting voices from neighborhoods across New York City, in collaboration with the nonprofit Street Lab. We recently set up in Washington Heights. Here are a few of the stories we heard.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Perla Esquivel: " I'm 34 years old and I'm a nurse working in Washington Heights, and I was born and raised in Passaic County, New Jersey. I live in a community where there's not a lot of people of my ethnicity, and to come to a place where there are is kind of nice. 

Washington Heights is predominantly Dominican, but I'm Mexican and I do see like Mexican restaurants, cafes, and Mexican people around too. And to work in a place where there's people of my ethnicity, it makes me feel like I'm helping out family members. 

Any patient that I have, regardless of their background, I see them as my family, but when they're someone who speaks Spanish, I've seen the struggle of them communicating with like healthcare providers. There's a language barrier and it makes me feel good that I can kind of be a bridge and you know, help them out when they're like in a vulnerable state."

Ana-Ofelia Rodriguez: 

 I'm the cultural director for Alianza Dominicana, an agency that was established 44 years ago in northern Manhattan and is still alive.

So that's a beautiful spring day and I'm a little tired, but we have been locked up for so long that this is great. The parents are happy and the kids are free. But protected after the pandemic, there has been like a dramatic shift where kids are not engaged that much. I think it's all the stuff that they're hearing right now.

These young children already know who ICE is because children have come back from school and the parents are not there. So we trying to teach our little ones that they belong here. Um, keep them sane. This is healthy for the kids. They're doing artwork. They're running around in a beautiful block in their neighborhood, and these are the memories we want them to go with.

Dr. Sharon E. Smith: " I'm from Brooklyn, New York, and I'm in Washington Heights today to participate in a mental health month event on trauma and the way the body and mind react to it. We talked about intergenerational trauma. Trauma that is perceived and how we carry it in our bodies, but also how to do self care, how to get therapy, what is therapy, what is trauma, and you know, the definitions of it.

So I'm really excited today and my heart is full at the amount of people who came to the program. It's important for us to do this, especially now, and it's important to me personally because I know the effects of trauma, intergenerational trauma, and I think that there aren't enough spaces for us as people of color to experience this and hear from people who look like us and sound like us.

So this was a labor of love and something that's really important for our community.

Tuesday, June 10 is primary election day in the New Jersey governor's race. As voters are making last-minute decisions, we bring you a voting guide to the Democratic candidates and the Republicans. This time, we focus on the Republicans.

Charles Stile, political columnist at The Record and northjersey.com, joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to run through the candidates: State Senator Jon Bramnick, former New Jersey Assembly Member Jack Ciattarelli and former conservative radio radio host Bill Spadea.

We are down to the final days of primary voting in New Jersey governor's race. Tuesday, June 10 is Primary Day in the Garden State. So this weekend, we bring you a last-minute voting guide - both for the Democratic candidates and the Republicans.

Charles Stile, political columnist at The Record and northjersey.com joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to go over the candidates. He starts with the Democrats.

The democratic primary for New York City mayor is June 24th. This will be the city's second citywide ranked-choice-voting election. If you’re still having trouble understanding exactly how it works, Morning Edition is here to help you practice with our very important (mock) election: BAGELECTION 2025! 

Now, the vote is in. Click here to see how the ballots were counted. And if you want to hear from our bagel candidates, click "LISTEN" above

Still have questions? Check out this great explainer on how ranked choice voting works.