A new Urban Institute report finds that six in ten New Yorkers now fall $40,000 short of what’s needed to afford the city’s “true cost of living”—about $160,800 annually for families with children. While Mayor Zohran Mamdani touts moves on affordabl…
With contract talks between the MTA and five unions at the Long Island Rail Road inching past midnight, the clock ticks down to a potential system-wide strike that could strand up to 250,000 daily riders. Contingency plans offer shuttle buses from six stations, but officials freely admit these won’t match regular service—a subtle hint that working from home may soon be the real express route.
Nearly 450,000 New Yorkers are set to lose state health coverage as federal funding dries up and eligibility rules tighten, with groups such as Cabrini Immigrant Services and the New York Immigration Coalition sounding the alarm. Efforts in Albany, including a bill from Senator Gustavo Rivera, may cushion the blow, but for now, public hospitals and soup kitchens are bracing for a summer of record demand—and little legislative enthusiasm.
The Long Island Rail Road ground to a halt at midnight after contract talks between the MTA and unions—including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers—collapsed, idling trains for the first time since the 1990s. With no talks scheduled and 275,000 commuters left improvising, officials are rolling out expensive shuttle plans and urging remote work; in New York, the path of progress still sometimes runs on wheels.
After three years of fruitless haggling, a lack of agreement between unions and management has forced the Long Island Rail Road—America's busiest passenger line—into its first strike in over three decades, with federal mediators waving the white flag. Commuters from Nassau and Suffolk counties may discover just how creative they can be when left to their own transportation devices.
Some 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers walked off the job at midnight, stranding late-night commuters at Grand Central Madison and forcing about 300,000 daily riders to hunt for pricey Ubers or grumble through subway detours. Union leaders are threatening a prolonged strike in the wage dispute, while Metropolitan Transportation Authority brass must now contemplate commuting sans train—an experience unlikely to improve anyone’s temper, let alone efficiency.
Amid failed late-night talks, 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers walked off the job Saturday, idling America’s busiest commuter line and stranding some 250,000 weekday travellers between Manhattan and the suburbs. The MTA warns that meeting pay demands could raise fares, while bus shuttles offer thin comfort. No new talks are scheduled; the only trains moving now are the ones that left before midnight, and a sense of déjà vu.
Penn Station commuters enjoyed déjà vu when a fire in an East River tunnel triggered two days of disruptions, just as Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials had warned Amtrak last year. With only one of four tunnels open—two closed by damage or repair—trains were funneled through New York’s busiest bottleneck. Amtrak and the MTA, already locked in lawsuits and turf wars, seem determined to keep the city’s pulse rate elevated.
Long Island Rail Road ground to a halt after midnight as unions, representing engineers to electricians, failed to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over wages—particularly year four’s numbers. With no talks scheduled until just before the May 16 deadline, 300,000 daily commuters get a crash course in contingency planning, while the MTA and workers seem intent on perfecting the art of the last-minute standoff.
