Midday News: Brooklyn R Train Suspended South of 36th Street This Weekend, FDNY Reports Fewer Lithium-Ion Fire Deaths, and Albany Legislative Session Begins

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC. It's Thursday, January 9th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle.

Veronica Del Valle: A heads up for subway commuters, the R train won't be running at its southernmost end this weekend for a second weekend in a row. The MTA service will be suspended in Brooklyn between 36th street and Sunset Park and the 95th Street stop in Bay Ridge from 11:30 tomorrow night through 5:00 in the morning Monday. The Transit Authority says that's to allow for structural maintenance. Free shuttle buses will run along the affected part of the line all weekend. Riders can also take Coney Island bound local N trains as an alternative for the 45th and 53rd Street R stations. The FDNY says the number of New Yorkers killed in fires caused by lithium ion batteries dropped significantly last year. WNYC's Julia Hayward reports.

Julia Hayward: The fire department says six people died in 2024 from incidents involving lithium ion batteries. That's a 67% drop from the year prior when 18 people died. Officials credited an increase in inspections. The number of fires caused by the batteries did tick up by 3% to 277, but more of the fires are happening outdoors. Electrical fires were the leading cause of fire related deaths in the city.

Veronica Del Valle: Now let's check in on the weather. Right now it's 30 and mostly sunny, but very, very cold outside because of a wind advisory till 10:00 at night. Today is sunny with a high of 32, wind chills as low as 5 degrees and winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour. Tonight clear and 26 but feeling like 15 on WNYC.

Janae Pierre: Stay close. There's more after the break.

Sean Carlson: On WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. State lawmakers in New York are back at the Capitol in Albany for this year's legislative session. Over the next six months, the members of the state Senate and Assembly will pass hundreds of bills for Governor Hochul to sign or veto. Legislative leaders laid out their agendas today while the governor will get her chance when she delivers her State of the State next week. Joining us from the Capitol to give us more is WNYC state government reporter John Campbell. John, is it first day of school vibes up there? What did lawmakers have to say about the issues they want to tackle this year?

John Campbell: Oh, absolutely. The Capitol's bustling with lawmakers and lobbyists and staffers for the first time since June and the word of the day was affordability. Andrea Stewart-Cousins is the Senate majority leader. She's a Democrat from Yonkers.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: We know families are still feeling the pinch. We know the challenges ahead require maintaining and strengthening our resolve to make New York more affordable.

John Campbell: We've already seen Governor Hochul try to push that theme in Albany. She's been trickling out these proposals to send New Yorkers inflation rebates, as she calls them, and to increase the child tax credit. The Democrats who lead the Senate and the assembly made clear to that they're on board with that message.

Sean Carlson: Okay, so you mentioned some of the things the governor wants to do on affordability, but what about lawmakers? What do they want to see?

John Campbell: Well, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is a Democrat from the Bronx. He laid out some of the broad strokes of what he wants to see during his opening speech. He said one of the things he wants to tackle is taxes.

Carl Heastie: This starts by providing more tax relief to our middle class families so they can decide how best to use their money. We should also eliminate state income taxes for low income families.

John Campbell: What exactly does that look like? I mean, he didn't really lay out specifics. He says he'll hammer that out with the members of his conference in the coming weeks. But he did say he also wants to increase unemployment benefits and he wants the state to pay off a $6 billion unemployment insurance debt that dates back-- Way back to the pandemic, and it's been looming over the head of businesses ever since.

Sean Carlson: Now, John, Democrats control the state Senate, they control the assembly, they control the governor's office, but what about Republicans and all this? What are they saying about this affordability push?

John Campbell: Well, Republicans are certainly skeptical. They're riding this high nationally after the November election and even made some inroads in parts of New York City, but they still don't have much pure power in Albany, but what they do have is a voice and a bully pulpit. Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay is a Republican from central New York. In his opening speech, he basically said cutting taxes and expanding tax credits, that sounds great, but those are Republican ideas.

Senate Republicans, on the other hand, they held a news conference at the Capitol today to speak out against the management of the MTA. They've been outspoken critics of congestion pricing, and they say that congestion toll flies in the face of all this affordability talk.

Sean Carlson: John, what do we know about what Mayor Adams wants to see from Albany this year? We should say, what are his chances of success?

John Campbell: Yes, Sean, that's always a complicated question for any mayor seeking anything from Albany. It's especially complicated for Mayor Adams, who's facing federal corruption charges as we know. One of the big things he wants this year is to see a change in the state's mental health law. Basically, he wants to make it easier to hospitalize somebody against their will if they're showing signs of mental illness. He says it'll help combat homelessness and crime on the streets. He got a big boost last week when the governor said she'd be introducing a proposal to do just that.

Lawmakers, on the other hand, they've been resistant in the past, but they seem to be a little more open to it this year. Speaker Heastie said there's an acknowledgment that lawmakers have to do something. As far as what that looks like, it's something that'll be negotiated in the coming weeks and months.

Sean Carlson: We mentioned the governor's State of State address that's coming up next week. What can we expect to hear from her?

John Campbell: Affordability, affordability, affordability. That word of the day. The governor's already made clear that's the message she's going to push, and she'll walk through her agenda during the State of the State address. When we'll really get the details about what she wants to do is the following week. That's when she lays out her state budget proposal. It'll show how she plans on paying for those rebate checks and tax breaks and everything else, but it'll also include dozens of policy proposals that she and lawmakers will have to hash out. A final state budget is due by the end of March, though they often blow past that deadline.

Sean Carlson: Yes, it's WNYC's John Campbell. Thanks as always for joining us.

John Campbell: My pleasure, Sean.

Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.

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