New York City in brief

Donald Trump’s hasty military campaign against Iran has generated more conflicting explanations than a season of reality television, with rationale ranging from preventing missile programmes to installing a friendlier regime. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth insists this isn’t a regime-change war—despite, somehow, a regime now changed. We savour the clarity: America’s battle plan appears simpler to launch than to justify—or to define victory.

Governor Kathy Hochul’s office warns that New Yorkers may see petrol prices jump by $2.23 within five years if the state presses ahead with ambitious climate mandates, including a cap-and-invest scheme. A leaked memo projects annual natural gas bills of up to $4,300 for Upstate households, while electricity costs creep ever closer to California’s, leaving even hybrid drivers pondering whether “green” now mainly describes US currency.

Facing a yawning $5.4bn budget shortfall, New York City's Mayor Zohran Mamdani floated a 9.5% property tax hike as his fallback should Albany block higher taxes on millionaires and corporations; the suggestion quickly united retirees, small business owners, and diverse chambers of commerce in indignant protest on City Hall’s steps. Once again, the Big Apple debates whether fiscal gravity lands hardest on those with the least bounce.

Having clocked 61 days in office, New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani is fast-tracking his universal child care pledge, buoyed by $1.2 billion in state funds—though, as a City Council grilling revealed, the city’s machinery is still oiling its gears. Ambitions abound: new programs for two-year-olds and longer pre-K hours. Delivering on all this by 2026 may require more than just nap-time optimism.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s surprise resurrection of the Sunnyside Yard housing plan in Queens took a twist last week, as he courted President Donald Trump at the White House in hopes of securing a slice of $21 billion in federal funds. With support warming locally but Washington’s purse strings still tightly knotted, we suspect ground will break somewhere between now and the city’s next large asteroid impact.