NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYPD Shoots Bronx Man, Criminal Summonses for E-Bikers Running Red Lights, the Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc and How to Live a Sustainable City Life

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

The NYPD says an officer shot a man holding his own mother at knife point Thursday night in a Pelham Bay, Bronx apartment. Plus, police will start issuing criminal summons for e-bike and e-scooter riders who run red lights and stop signs. Also, a spicy wine with jalapeños is trending just in time for Cinco de Mayo. And finally, some New York City residents are taking an extreme approach to eliminating their carbon footprints.

An NYPD officer shoots a man in the Bronx, criminal summonses for e-bikers running red lights, the jalapeno Savignon Blanc, and how to live a sustainable city life. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. We begin in the Bronx, where the NYPD says an officer shot a man holding his own mother at knife point Thursday night in a Pelham Bay apartment. Chief of patrol Philip Rivera says the officers tried to get the man to drop. the knife. As our officers were attempting this, the male made numerous threats to kill his mother, all while he was still holding her with his arm around her neck and holding the knife. Rivera says one officer shot the man, which led him to let go of his mother. They say the 61-year-old

woman was not physically hurt. The man, however, is in the hospital in critical condition. His father is identifying him as 34-year-old Daniel Ripistello. A warning for riders of electric bikes and scooters, you better stop riding dirty. The New York City Police Department will start issuing criminal summons rather than traffic tickets for e-bike and e-scooter riders who run red lights and stop signs. The new plan was made public at a city council hearing this week. Until recently, the NYPD would issue a fine to riders.

Now, officers will issue a criminal summons that may result in the rider having to appear in criminal court. The NYPD says there will be increased enforcement at locations where they receive the most complaints about reckless riders. If you're like me, then there's a glass of wine calling your name this weekend, maybe even the entire bottle. No judgment.

But have you ever looked at a glass of white wine and thought, hmm, this would pair well with a frozen jalapeno pepper? Yeah, me neither. But WMYC's Julia Hayward has more on the latest trend. Some are calling it the drink of the summer, at least on TikTok. They're adding frozen jalapeno slices to a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. and they're calling it a jalapino savin non-blanc. The idea of adding frozen jalapinos to a glass of white wine

left several local wine cellars scratching their heads. And here in the WNYC newsroom, the reviews were mixed, but the majority felt the drink wasn't too bad. It got spicier after about 10 minutes. Now, I won't be making this drink at home, but if it was offered to meet a rooftop party, I wouldn't say no. Like any fine wine, it will still take some time to see if this trend takes off big time in New York City.

Some New York City environmentalists are going off the grid and eating discarded food. We'll explain why after the break. As President Donald Trump pursues a deregulation agenda, New York's ambitious clean energy goals appear further out of reach. So what the climate-conscious New Yorker to do? Some New York City residents are taking an extreme approach to eliminating their carbon footprints. WMYC's Rosemary Misdairy has more. Joshua Spodick lives on a busy block of the West Village.

All the homes in his 15-story building get electricity from plants burning fossil fuels, except for one. Spodick's studio apartment is an off-the-grid oasis. Over here is my circuit breaker for the whole apartment, and I don't know which one is the main circuit breaker, but anyway, it's off. The wires in this apartment are not physically connected with the electric grid for Con Ed. The power is coming from solar panels the size of the size of the car. of an unfurled yoga mat. He charges them weekly in nearby Washington Square Park to power his cell phone, laptop, pressure cooker, and a single lamp he only turns on at night to read. He has unplugged his fridge and has no TV. I adjust my behavior based on how much sunshine there is.

There's a certain amount of sun light that I get, and that gives me a certain amount of power, and then I choose what I do based on what I get. And that's how humans live for a long, long time. Spodick estimates he's reducing his overall carbon footprint by 95%. He teaches a sustainability workshop online, but he doesn't push his students to pursue such a rustic lifestyle. My lived experience of actually doing these things is joyful. If it stops being joyful, I'll stop. And when I share with others, they thank me.

Because I don't tell them, here's what you have to do. I ask them what the environment means to them and what matters to them, and I invite them to act on their intrinsic motivations. Bronx resident Yvette Vargas is one of Spodec students. She hasn't gone as far as cutting off her power and gas, but she's made big changes. I stopped buying food that came from animals. That decision makes a big difference in minimizing a person's carbon footprint. According to the EPA, more than one third of methane pollution comes directly from the meat industry.

I used to buy bottled water, so I purchased a water filter to reduce all that plastic. they're going into the landfill. She didn't stop there. I'm never going to buy maple soup in a container no more because now I have the food co-op. I'm never going to buy honey in a container anymore. Nor would I buy Dr. Bronner's in a container anymore. That's another decision that also benefits the environment. The mayor's office says about 36 million pounds of single-use plastic is dumped in landfills each year. That's about a quarter of the city's trash. Sandra Goldmark is an associate dean at the Columbia a climate school. She says individuals have an important role to play in fighting climate change.

There's a little bit of a false choice between individual action and systemic action. It is absolutely not an either-or. It has to be a both-and because we're talking about large-scale, culture shifts and large-till system changes, and those have to happen at multiple scales simultaneously. Some New Yorkers are fighting food waste by reclaiming food thrown in trash. On a Friday night, I joined dozens of Freakins on the Upper East Side. Oh my gosh, thank you. Good, wow, turmeric. This whole bag is avocanas.

All right, the avocados, people should just dig in. They're like, eat tonight or tomorrow. Avocado toast, avocados. The evening outing attracts people of all ages for a trip that is part workshop, part shopping crawl. Food waste makes up 20% of the food waste makes up 20% of the food. of the city's trash. Susan Hirsch says she gets at least

half her groceries free off the streets. Practically every bagel store is going to have at least two bags full of bagels that they throw out at the end of the day. So that's the easiest. And bakeries as well, small bread-oriented type places will be throwing this stuff out

daily. Big chain supermarkets throw out a lot. But if going through the trash to reclaim food isn't wetting your appetite, Joshua Spodick says there's easier ways to minimize your carbon footprint by reclaiming food. Just go to a local farmer's market at closing and ask for unsold produce. That's WMYC's Rosemary Mystery. Some news for hockey fans in the region. There's a new bench boss for the Broadway blue shirts. The New York Rangers say Mike Sullivan

will be their next head coach. Sullivan most recently coached the Pittsburgh Penguins. He led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. Sullivan replaces Peter Laviolette, who was let go after the Rangers had a disappointing season. Two seasons ago, the Rangers had the best regular season record in pro hockey, but this past season, they didn't even qualify for the playoffs. A quick note before we go. Our series on New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrapped up last weekend, but we'll still be

dropping episodes on Saturdays. This weekend, we're talking sports. basketball to be specific. The New York Knicks are headed to the second round of the NBA playoffs. But that first series, it wasn't pretty at all. On Saturday, tune in as we discuss what's at stake for the Knicks and their chances of beating the defending champions, the Boston Celtics. Look out for that episode in your feet first thing Saturday morning.

Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Have a nice weekend. Try to stay dry.