NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: City to Require Air Conditioning in New Shelters, Bee Swarms Spotted, and Dense Fog Advisory Issued

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

The Department of Homeless Services is now requiring all new homeless shelters to provide air conditioning, as nearly 40% of existing sites still lack it. Meanwhile, bee swarms are being spotted across the five boroughs. Experts say the insects are mostly harmless and on the move to form new colonies. Plus, the National Weather Service is warning of patchy dense fog this morning across parts of Southern Connecticut, the Lower Hudson Valley, and interior Northeast New Jersey

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, June 17th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. Hot New York City summers are brutal for those sleeping inside homeless shelters without any air conditioning. WNMAC's Karen Ye reports on the city's plan to make things better. Nearly four and ten homeless shelters don't provide air conditioning where people sleep. That's why the city's Department of Homeless Services, says it's now requiring any new shelter to provide AC.

The city amended its request for proposals in May, requiring any future shelter operators to provide air conditioning. It's part of the city's larger push to improve living conditions and encourage more nonprofits to own and operate shelters. While almost every shelter has some sort of cooling that can often mean a fan inside every room or one common area that's air conditioned. The city says it can be costly for older buildings

to do the capital improvements necessary to outfit shelters with air conditioning. It is bee season in New York City, and swarms of bees have been spotted across the five barrels, but experts say there's no need to panning. Urban beekeeper Siri Chi Lari says the insects are usually on the move to form a new comedy, not looking to sting anybody. And they're not necessarily violent or aggressive because they don't have a hive to protect. So they're generally well-behaved and are able to be well-managed at that point. Chair Lara and health officials say if you do get stung, leave the area, move the stinger, and use a cold compress.

And also they say you should go to the hospital if you have trouble breathing or swelling in your face. In other words, an allergic reaction. The National Weather Service is warning Apache dense fog this morning across this region that could limit visibility down to just a quarter of a mile. The fog is expected to continue into early this morning across parts of southern Connecticut, lower Hudson Valley, and interior parts of northeast New Jersey. It says drivers should use extra caution. They say if you are caught in the fog, switch to low beam headlights, slow down, and leave extra distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you and crosswalks as well, too.

Look for folks out there walking to where they need to go. 63 with showers now. Chance of showers today, mainly by 11. Patchy fog this morning, as we said, cloudy and a high of 71 today. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday,

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