New York City is scrambling to shield over 7,500 low-income families from eviction as federal Emergency Housing Vouchers, jeopardized by a 2025 Trump-era cash crunch, dry up. The city’s housing department has patched together a two-year lifeline for…
Promising to reverse years of bus-lane neglect, New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has revived Fordham Road’s bus redesign and several street projects previously killed by Eric Adams at the behest of local power brokers. With bus speeds now slower than a brisk walker for 130,000 daily riders, Mamdani insists the Department of Transportation will show transit users “the love they deserve”—not just the usual platitudes and potholes.
New York City’s latest bid for universal child care, championed by Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, talks up affordability for families but faces the perennial headache: chronic underpayment and uncertainty for providers, who keep the wheels turning for tots under two. Improving pay, streamlining bureaucracy and dangling tuition-free training are the order of the day—since babies, inconveniently, won’t wait for policy to catch up.
New York City officials are inching toward Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ambitious promise of universal free child care, starting with 2,000 two-year-olds this autumn—no small feat when families routinely face $20,000 annual bills and providers teeter under low pay and enrollment. The city, still weighing which neighborhoods and models to prioritize, says everyone’s being consulted but for now, full details remain as elusive as nap time in a nursery.
Sam Levine, freshly installed as commissioner of New York’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, is making himself unpopular in all the right boardrooms by enforcing new rules for delivery apps like Instacart. Companies must now pay $21.44 an hour, offer discounted e-bike programs, and let customers tip up front, while stricter worker protections loom for 2027—provided City Hall writes the necessary cheques, of course.
Donald Trump, newly inaugurated alongside Vice-President J.D. Vance, vowed to restore free speech by executive order, castigating “left-wing censorship” and pledging impartial justice. Yet, his Justice Department’s failed bid to indict six lawmakers—for urging troops not to follow illegal orders—combined with a judge blocking the censure of Senator Mark Kelly, suggests his “free speech” agenda may involve more squelching than liberating; the First Amendment remains busier than ever.
Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new mayor, has promptly shelved his campaign vow to widen access to the CityFHEPS housing voucher scheme, citing a daunting $7 billion deficit and the prospect of still-larger holes if eligibility expands as the City Council wants. Over 65,000 households currently benefit, but advocates grouse that fiscal “prudence” looks suspiciously like déjà vu—with fresh faces but the same old budget blues.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will disrupt several subway and rail lines this weekend to complete switch and escalator replacements, with 4, 5, and R trains splitting service and shuttle buses knitting together the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Metro-North will honor subway tickets between select stops, sparing some headaches—at least for those who find silver linings in unexpected sightseeing above ground.
As winter’s grip tightened, New York City officials reported that nearly two dozen people froze to death during a record-breaking cold spell—some in the open, others, more ambiguously, in their homes. With 80,000 heat complaints logged in January, scrutiny of landlord compliance grows apace, but as investigations plod on, we’re left to ponder if “heat season” meant anything more than a chilly figure of speech this year.
