This is last year’s news, no idea why the New York Times is reporting on it now. At least I’ve hardly read about this since last year.
No, it's not. This happened this year (Dutch source).
Still, the article is fearmongering as 500 explosions include a whole bunch of idiots with illegal fireworks closely after the start of the new year. They are annoying, but fuck off quickly enough.
They should, the point is to cause a nuisance and force people to listen. The point is not to endanger random people.