A 339-mile underground cable soon will ferry Quebec’s hydropower to New York City, with the Champlain Hudson Power Express on track to deliver enough juice for a million homes this spring. The $6 billion wager aims to wean the city from fossil fuels…
Alarm is rising in New York as city leaders and anxious parents grapple with a ballooning income gap, fearing it could tighten the already selective gates to quality education. While efforts by the Department of Education to “level the playing field” are perennial, wallets still often outpace school reforms—reminding us that, for now, meritocracy remains more slogan than daily reality.
With the cost of living in New York City scaling heights more familiar to mountaineers than minimum-wage earners, labor leaders and officials have launched the “$30 for Our City” campaign, pressing for a $30 hourly floor through legislation. The coalition claims that current wages don’t stretch as far as they once did—even if our city’s famous slices and subway rides certainly do.
A federal judge in Massachusetts has put the brakes on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent overhaul of childhood vaccine guidance, ruling his changes flouted required legal protocols. The move suspends new advisor appointments and votes—including efforts to drop hepatitis B shots for newborns—leaving the advisory panel at a standstill. Some 200 medical groups have opted to stick with the previous vaccine schedule, rather than join the experimental revolution.
After weeks of disrupted commutes, NJ Transit restored its normal weekday schedules as trains began rolling smoothly over the $2.3 billion Portal North Bridge above the Hackensack—finally retiring the creaky, century-old movable span that so often halted both rail and river traffic. Passengers can now breeze across at up to 90mph, though the ghosts of signal failures and stalled progress may not relinquish their hold so easily.
We hear New York City is lowering speed limits to 15 miles per hour near 800 school zones, aiming for 2,300 by the end of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s term, with officials citing both Vision Zero data and parental nerves. The “Sammy’s Law” expansion hopes slower traffic means safer children—though, as everyone navigating rush hour knows, the real race is convincing drivers not everyone needs to be in such a hurry.
After a month of delays and commuter grumbling, NJ Transit has resumed normal rail service across the new Portal North Bridge near the Hackensack River—a $2.3 billion feat cheered by officials and, perhaps, by weary riders. The bridge, centerpiece of the Gateway project’s opening gambit, promises faster, less cranky crossings, though Monday still brought 20-minute delays. Evidently, old habits die harder than 1910 swing bridges in New Jersey.
Spooked by rising youth mental illness, lawmakers from Australia to California are airing out social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s arguments that social media is rewiring childhood for the worse—leading to fresh legislation and a landmark trial against platforms like Meta. The companies, shielded for decades by Section 230, now find immunity wearing thin; apparently, what goes online doesn’t always stay consequence-free.
We note that although New York state disburses millions in domestic violence funding, only a tiny fraction reaches culturally specific groups serving Black, Hispanic, and immigrant women—who, data suggest, suffer the highest rates of intimate partner homicides. Unsurprisingly, generic support often fails to reach those who need it most, leaving a yawning gap that even Albany’s best intentions struggle to bridge.
