NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Luigi Mangione Indicted, Control of Paterson Police Department, NYC Council Considers Cooling Season Bill, and a Family Recipe

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

A grand jury has indicted Luigi Mangione on terrorism and murder charges in the shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Plus, a New Jersey court returns control of Paterson's police force to the city. Also, WNYC’s David Furst talks with Councilman Lincoln Restler about a bill that would require landlords to provide cooling in the summer. And finally, a cooking instruction shares a family recipe that means a lot to her this holiday season.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news and and around New York City. From WMYC, I'm Gene Ape Thier. This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says a grand jury has indicted 26-year-old Luigi Mangione on terrorism and murder charges in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this. month. The DA alleges Mangione used a 3D-printed ghost gun. These weapons are increasingly proliferating throughout New York City and the entire country. Involving technology will only make this problem worse.

Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania and faces additional charges there. Bragg says efforts are underway to extradite the suspect to New York. Mangione's attorney declined to comment. In New Jersey, a court has returned control of Patterson's police force to the city. The appellate court ruling reversed a move from last year that gave the State Attorney General's office authority over the scandal-plagued department. That takeover came in the wake of the police killing of 31-year-old Najee Seabrooks during an apparent mental health crisis. The decision also restores police chief Engelbert Ribeiro, who took over the department on March 3rd,

the same day Seabrooks was shot. Attorney General Matt Placken says his office is disappointed with the ruling and plans to file an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The New York City Council is considering a bill that would require landlords to provide cooling in the summer. More from the bill's sponsor after the break. New York City landlords are required to provide tenants with heat in the winter. Now a bill before the city council would require them to provide cooling in the summer as well. The council held a hearing Tuesday on the plan, which would establish a cooling season. in the hottest part of the summer.

The legislation would require that tenant-occupied housing be provided with cooled and dehumidified air, either via central cooling systems or with window units from mid-June to mid-September. WMYC's David First talked with Councilmember Lincoln Wrestler, who is the bill's sponsor. City data show that around 90% of units in the five boroughs already have AC units. Given that, who is this legislation for? You're exactly right that most New Yorkers do have access to cooling, but in some neighborhoods, predominantly low-income, black communities, as low as 75% of neighbors have access to cooling in their homes. We know the climate crisis is here, but many New Yorkers don't realize that the number one climate killer is extreme heat. We lose 350 New Yorkers every single year to extreme heat. And the most common factor among the people who are who are, who are

dying is that they lack access to cooling in their homes. So if we can replicate heating in the winter, access to cooling in the summer, we can save New Yorkers lives. I want to focus on the cost for a second here. How would you protect tenants from landlords that perhaps just pass on all of the additional costs of this onto them? Many tenants in New York City are protected by rent regulations, and we believe we can structure this bill so that there's a negligible additional cost for tenants to have AC units or cooling devices installed in their homes. At the end of the day, we need to both make sure that we protect the costs of rent, but also protect utility bills for tenants.

And we're committed to ensuring that tenants have access to utility subsidies to keep access to cooling affordable in their homes. And let's look at some of the other potential consequences. Currently, buildings in New York City are required to reduce emissions under local law 97. wouldn't more AC units running more of the time increase greenhouse gas emissions? There are more and more environmentally efficient AC units coming on to the market each year, but in fact, Local Law 97 represents an opportunity. You know, Local Law 97 is a landmark city council bill that reduces energy emissions,

carbon emissions from our largest source, our buildings, which represent about 70% of emissions in New York City. And as buildings retrofit to reduce their emissions, emissions, many will install centralized cooling systems, heat pumps, and other approaches that are much more environmentally efficient to provide access to cooling for tenants across New York City. And maybe you're touching on some of this, but what about the strain that more AC could mean for the electrical grid? Are you concerned that this may contribute to brownouts or blackouts on those very, very hot summer days?

It's certainly something that we've looked at carefully. And in the conversations that we've with Con Ed, they do not believe that this legislation represents a risk for brownouts or blackouts. That being said, the way we've structured the bill is that every landlord in New York City would evaluate their building and propose a plan to our housing agency two years after we passed the bill to evaluate whether this might have an impact on the electrical grid and give them ample time to make adjustments to be able to provide cooling to every tenant. Well, there are already programs in place that help people by AC window units such as New York State's Home Energy Assistance Program or Heap,

why not expand on those programs instead? Those programs haven't worked very well. And we haven't made a lot of progress in actually reducing access to cooling in New York City. And this is a matter of life and death. When 350 New Yorkers are dying every year as a result of extreme heat and many more are suffering very serious injuries, we need to create a regulatory framework. to ensure that New Yorkers are safe and healthy during extreme weather events. And we think that ensuring access to cooling is the way to do it.

Do you have the support for this bill of council leadership? And what about the mayor? The mayor's team has expressed support for some components of the bill. They certainly, they have stated that they believe all new construction should have access to cooling. And we've been having positive conversations with their team. We have a great hearing on this bill in the council. We're building a strong coalition of support among tenant advocates. environmental advocates for older New Yorkers.

And I'm really optimistic that we're going to move it forward, hopefully, before extreme heat season next summer. That's Councilmember Lincoln Wrestler talking with WMYC's David First. Food has a way of connecting us to our past and making us reflect. This holiday season, we set out to hear from New Yorkers across the city about the memories that come to mind from certain family recipes. My name is Aiko Kashio. I'm living in the Manhattan, originally Florian. I was born the place called the Kagawa Prefecture. It's the middle part of the Japan, across the Osaka.

People nice over there. Small community. The Kagawa Prefecture is very famous of the Udon Nudu. We have a more Udon Nudu restaurant than the convenience stores. Ramen noodle is in the popular in the United States now. But I like a Udon Nourd Nourte better than ramen noodle, noodle because the udon noodle doesn't have so much oil like ramen noodles. The broth, wooden noodle broth, is made with dried sardine.

People think about the sardine broth, it's oof. My husband don't like it because of fish, but I like it. Growing up, my father loved the udon noodle, and if he find out some places good, he takes us to the day and the weekend. My grandmother used to make homemade noodles. We didn't have a machine. She just make a dough and put in a plastic bag and then she put the clothes on the top

and then step on theirs and make a flat. I think twice a week or three times a week we have an adorn noodles. Even that, you know, I'm living in the United States a long time, I still have kind of like a nostalgia. Now, when I'm eating a noodle noodle, I'm making it by myself. The noodle is not easy. So I buy the noodle and then make a broth, but still not popular in my family. So I'm only the one eating.

Aiko Kachio lives in Manhattan. She's a cooking instructor with the League of Kitchens. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.