New York City in brief

Some 1,000 workers downed tools as the Trump administration appealed a federal order to release over $200 million owed to the Gateway tunnel project—a $16 billion, decade-long feat linking New York and New Jersey—leaving funding as frozen as February’s Hudson winds. Construction halts, tempers rise, and the promise to rename Penn Station or Dulles Airport after Mr. Trump appears as likely as an on-time Amtrak.

A chorus of New York City advocates and experts urges schools to swap metal detectors and NYPD patrols for more preventative mental health care, arguing that funneling anxious children—even six-year-olds—into handcuffs is both ineffective and inequitable. Data suggest school-based health centers not only tamp down behavioral incidents but also boost academic outcomes; we suspect fostering resilience may prove a better investment than frisking backpacks.

Faced with frigid weeks, New Yorkers set a new record for natural gas usage, with National Grid and Con Edison both reporting all-time highs—eight of National Grid's top ten output days hit Long Island between January 23rd and February 7th. Edison customers also endured a freshly-approved rate hike, making the season's only reliable warmth the glow from contemplating next winter’s proposed gas phase-out, now kicked down the road by Governor Hochul.

Newly minted Mayor Zohran Mamdani hauls New York’s perennial “tin cup” to Albany, seeking aid to plug a looming $12 billion budget hole he says is courtesy of his predecessor’s math and an uncharitable state. He’ll pitch higher taxes on the rich, universal childcare, and a rent freeze—just as Governor Kathy Hochul repeats her own “no new taxes” refrain. Fiscal alchemy, it seems, is still out of stock.

Reacting to President Trump’s blunt threats of stepped-up immigration enforcement, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has assembled an Interagency Response Committee, gathering such city worthies as Dean Fuleihan and Bitta Mostofi to coordinate defences against federal crackdowns. The Department of Homeland Security grumbled that Mamdani’s stance aids criminals, but for now, local government prefers trust-building over impromptu ICE visits in the five boroughs.