Highlights From This Week’s Indypendent News Hour
The Indypendent News Hour airs Tuesdays 5-6 pm on WBAI-99.5 FM. The show features news and interviews with progressive social movement organizers, thought leaders and elected officials from across the New York City area.
In this week’s show, the Indy’s John Tarleton and Julia Thomas interviewed State Senator Jessica Ramos, Jake Jacobs of the Movement of Rank and File Educators and Lower East Side poet and community activist Eileen Myles. You can listen to the full show (including headlines) here, or to individual segments.
Segment 1
We spoke with State Senator Jessica Ramos of Queens about the newly enacted state budget which includes higher taxes on the rich for the first time in a decade, a $2.1 billion excluded workers fund, aid for distressed tenants and much more. Ramos is a part of a cohort of young progressive lawmakers that have moved state government to the left since 2018. And she was nothing if not animated in talking about the impact they are having and what needs to happen to scandal-scarred Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She also shared her thoughts on Andrew Yang’s call to target sidewalk vendors with more law enforcement and her endorsement of Scott Stringer for mayor. To listen to the segment, click here.
Segment 2
What’s really happening in the classroom as NYC public schools struggle to continue teaching 1.1 million students? And how could it be handled better? We heard from Jake Jacobs, a middle school art teacher in the Bronx and a member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, the leftwing social justice caucus in the United Federation of Teachers, the union that represents NYC’s public school teachers. To listen to the segment, click here.
Segment 3
Residents of the Lower East Side are fighting to save the 58-acre East River Park from being demolished by the de Blasio administration. We spoke with poet and community activist Eileen Myles about the latest revelations to come out about the city’s flawed planning process, what else the de Blasio administration might be hiding and a rally and march park defenders are planning for this Sunday. To listen to the segment, click here.
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