A carjacker successfully spotted and stole an idling car this morning in the Bronx—but his plans were momentarily inconvenienced when he discovered a two-year-old strapped into the backseat. The tyke was waiting in the double-parked car outside a grocery store on Unionport Road near Starling Avenue in Parkchester around 10 a.m.; while the mother was loading groceries, the father went to get some coffee, leaving the keys in the ignition. The thief jumped behind the wheel, but thankfully human kidnapping wasn't in the books for today—he left the kid on the side of the road a few blocks later unharmed, where his parents soon found him. more ›

In April, Mayor Bloomberg signed a bill giving New York the toughest laws against vehicular idling; leaving your engine running for more than three minutes is punishable by fines ranging from $220 to $2,000 for repeat offenders. And the limit in a school zone is just one minute. At the bill signing, Bloomberg declared, "Those of us that want to leave a good life for our children, and want to have clean air for us to breathe, and clean water to drink... it's incumbent on us to really carry the fight." more ›