Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC NOW, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Happy Labor Day. Hope you're taking it easy if you have the day off. This is our one and only episode today. Here's your news headlines from Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: Police say they're looking for the pilot of a catamaran after he crashed the vessel into a party boat yesterday on the East River and then sped away. The NYPD says at least three people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, no serious injuries. A catamaran hit the party boat near the FDR Drive between 23rd and 25th Streets at around 2:00 in the afternoon. The catamaran headed south. It's the first major crash on the East River since a Mexican Navy ship accidentally hit the Brooklyn Bridge in May, killing two sailors. City officials are investigating the death of a Rikers Island detainee. WNYC's Giulia Heyward has more on the 11th person to die in custody this year.

Giulia Heyward: City correction officials say Jimmy Avila died just three days after he was arrested. The total number of people to die on Rikers Island or shortly after being released is now more than double the number of people who died in custody in all of 2024. City officials did not give details about the circumstances of Avila's death. In a statement, the Legal Aid Society, which represented Avila, said he had serious mental illness and should have been under close watch. Avila was arrested Wednesday after police said he shot three people at a Bronx apartment building. One man died from his injuries.

Michael Hill: Yankees captain Aaron Judge has tied Hall of Famer catcher Yogi Berra for the 5th in team history when he hit his 358th career home run yesterday. Judge said it stung to eventually lose the game to the White Sox 3-2.

Janae Pierre: Summer weekends may be dwindling, but you know what isn't? Summer produce. Amelia Tarpey is a program and publicity manager for GrowNYC Greenmarkets. This week, she says melons are particularly plentiful at local farm stands.

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Amelia Tarpey: Green markets have so many melons right now, and it's not just your typical cantaloupe and watermelon. We just pulled the numbers, and across all of the green markets, our farmers are growing around 139 different varieties of melons. The beauty of shopping for melons at the green market is, many of our farmers are growing personal watermelons or these mini melons. Let me tell you, getting it home, putting it in your fridge, slicing it open, and having half of a watermelon for breakfast is like the perfect August breakfast for me.

If you're trying to pick out the perfect watermelon, the thing you're looking for is a little bit of yellowing on the underbelly of the watermelon. That's where it was sitting on the ground when it was out in the field. Then you want to give it a little knock or slap. If it sounds hollow, then you know it's going to be ready to eat. For the thinner-skinned melons, such as cantaloupe, you're going to want to look for the place where it was harvested from the vine, the little pockmark on one side of the melon. Smell that. If it smells super fragrant, then you know it's ready. If you're not getting much of a scent, then probably, it needs a few more days. You can just keep it on your counter and let it ripen there.

Obviously, melons are perfect for fresh eating. However, if you do want to get into some fun recipes, love a watermelon salad. Watermelon with some fresh mint, a little bit of goat milk feta is really nice with watermelon. A lot of times, people will just throw the rinds or compost the rinds. However, you can do things with those rinds. You can pickle them or make them into kimchi for a really nice, sweet, crunchy snack to add to your pickle plate or throw into a Bloody Mary. All kinds of things you can do.

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Janae Pierre: Tarpey says most melons are priced at about $1 to $3 a pound. A big melon for your backyard barbecue may run you upwards of $15.

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Janae Pierre: An unofficial water park in a Washington Heights bike lane is making a splash this summer, drawing people from all over the neighborhood after going viral on social media. WNYC's Brittany Kriegstein visited the spot to learn more and took a dip in the process.

Alex Rolon: Rio Manhattan.

Brittany Kriegstein: That's 45-year-old Washington Heights resident Alex Rolon, who's beaming over his do-it-yourself water park at 188th Street and Laurel Hill Terrace. Kids are splashing around in bathing suits with floaties and water guns as the August sun shines overhead. Rolon says Rio Manhattan started in late June as a fun solution to the summer heat. After someone opened up the fire hydrant on the street, flooding the bike lane, he posted a video on Instagram in which he pretends to catch a dead horseshoe crab in the stream.

Alex Rolon: [foreign language]

Brittany Kriegstein: The video now has more than 19 million views, but that's just a fraction of the engagement Rolon has built online. Part of the reason, his on-camera energy, including the big gold chain around his neck he seemingly wears everywhere.

Alex Rolon: Then everybody was talking about this chain, the water, the weird combination of things, so I decided to do it again. We opened up the hydrant, and I said, "Hey, let's see if you can put floaties and make kids float down the street."

Brittany Kriegstein: The impromptu water park has become something of a neighborhood ritual. On warm days, Rolon arrives with a wagon full of pool floats and a pair of pliers. He muscles open the hydrant, throws an orange traffic barrel over the spray to push it into the air, and the street comes to life. Rolon says local officials have never shut down the setup, and police even gave him NYPD barricades so drivers would stay away from the curb. Opening street hydrants for recreation in the city's hottest months is a century-old pastime, but it's illegal to do so unless you have a special FDNY spray cap to control the water pressure, which Rolon says he does.

Alex Rolon: Oh, the fire department comes, they honk, they wave. The police are super cool about it because it's a community thing, and they see that everybody's together, we're just having fun. We're not hanging out late and stuff like that. We're just doing it for the kids. When we leave, we pack up everything.

Brittany Kriegstein: As the summer winds down, Rolon says he has some ideas for preserving the spirit of Rio Manhattan in colder temperatures.

Alex Rolon: I think we're going to turn into a skating rink, and I'm going to just skate down, ski my hat down.

Brittany Kriegstein: Rolon says everyone is welcome to join in the fun, no matter what season it is. I can confirm this myself. The water feels great.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Brittany Kriegstein.

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Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Enjoy the holiday. We'll be back on our regular schedule tomorrow.

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