NYC NOW - April 14, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

The energy company north of the city Holtec International has decided to pause its plan to dump waste into the Hudson river, and with the hot weather today, the Health department warns of increased risk of asthma due to heavy pollen count. Also, The Port Authority announced a plan to roll out 72 new PATH trains to World Trade Center. WNYC’s Bahar Ostadon reports on the April 1st death of Haleem Johnson in police custody. Johnson’s girlfriend was also detained, and she describes what she remembers from that incident. And finally, in celebration of poetry month, WNYC listener Paul from the Upper West Side shares a poem focused on the theme of consequences.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, April 14th. Here's your midday news from Michael Hill. Holtec International, the company decommissioning Indian Point Nuclear Plant north of the city is pausing its plan to dump a million gallons of wastewater into the Hudson River in early May. Public officials and residents of Northern Westchester have been concerned about the environmental impact of such. a move. The birds are singing, the cherry blossoms are blooming, and so are allergy symptoms. WNYC's Jacqueline Jeffrey Walensky has this sneezing, sniffling, itchy story. The New York City Health

Department is warning doctors that ERs may see a bump in asthma patients over the coming weeks. That's because tree pollen typically peaks in May, and that can trigger serious asthma symptoms in people with allergies. Experts say that our spring and fall allergy seasons are getting longer and more intense due to climate change. For example, this year's pollen punch started a few weeks early. They say the city can ease the burden by picking different trees to plant, preferably species that bear fruit rather than pollen. In the meantime, you can use masks, air purifiers,

and allergy medicine to manage the misery. The Port Authority will roll out new path trains, modern cars for longer trains from Newark to the World Trade Center and back, and shorter times between rush hour's service from five minutes to three minutes. The Port Authority expects the whole delivery of 72 new train cars by the end of this year. It's another hot one today, 83 right now and partly sunny, mostly sunny today in 86 for a high, cool tonight down to 61, and then tomorrow afternoon shower and thunderstorm chances, mostly cloudy in 63. More shower and storm chances on Sunday, highs in the 60s this weekend.

A 38-year-old man has died after he was found in common. in an NYPD holding cell in Manhattan this month. WNYC's Baha Osterodon talked to his girlfriend about what she remembers from that day. Halim Johnson was sitting in a cell at the Midtown South precinct when he started calling for help. Officer! Officer, police!

That's Halim's girlfriend, Ago Bior. They got into a fight on March 31st, someone called the police, and they were both arrested. She sat in her cell with an earshot of Halim. She says he'd been detained for more than 20 hours when he started yelling to police officers that he was having trouble breathing. But officers ignored him. I was like, Halene, can you please help him? They was like, oh, we're a little busy right now.

But we got McDonald's. Three hours later, Agu watched from her cell as Helene was wheeled out on a stretcher. And I kept asking, excuse me, is Halim K. Johnson alive, please. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital. Bior says Halim suffered from alcoholism and high blood pressure, which he was on medication for, but she says he couldn't access his meds at the precinct. The NYPD has released little information since Halim died, raising questions about what

happened inside his cell that day. The incident is under review by the department's force investigation division, which is a squad that looks into the use of force by police officers. They're also required to investigate any deaths in police custody. They let him die. That's Halim's aunt, to Wanda Daniels. She says the NYPD contacted a family friend around 9 p.m. 5 to 6 hours after Helim died. His family waited until 2 in the morning when detectives arrived to deliver the news in person. The NYPD declined to release Halim's name to WNYC for nine days, quote, pending family notice. The police withheld his name from the press and public more than a week after his family said they were notified.

Halim's friends and neighbors shared memories while sitting outside his apartment building earlier this week. This fun dude, though, you know what I mean? He laughed and talk to you, you know what I mean? He's a good person, man. It was all right. You know, my heart is killing me. I don't understand. I come here every day.

Just to remember, just to see, just maybe. Maybe it ain't real. Halim's aunt says she believes he might have died of a heart attack. His exact cause of death is being investigated by the city's medical examiner. Bajar Osteron, WNYC News. It's Poetry Month, and we're asking for your poems on the idea of consequences. Listener Paul from the Upper West Side sent in this poem. Consequences come.

from, lining up in squalls, storming past the fences, sleeping through a fire, and spending beyond expenses, ignoring the creepy sounds coming from down the cellar, standing in the rain, forgetting your umbrella, leaving a garden rake forked side up somewhere out on the lawn, getting locked out of your coffin at the break of dawn, running out of bullets at the strike of high noon, aiming for the stars but only hit the moon. A loose gas cap on your fancy rocket and plugging in a microwave, iron and space heater in the same electric socket, tight rope high wire and trapeze without a safety net, and falling asleep with a burning cigarette, jumping in a river in the Arctic cold and sinking to the bottom with greedy sacks of gold.

Flying too close to the sun with melting wings of wax, instead of reading the manual and using rivets and tacks, dancing on a minefield and walking on the tracks. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.