New York City in brief

In an uncharacteristic bout of harmony, Mayor Mamdani and President Trump have put Sunnyside Yards atop their agendas, thrusting Queens’ most ambitious housing plan—12,000 new homes atop an active rail yard—into rare bipartisan daylight. As New York rents scale Everest, this “once-in-a-generation” scheme promises jobs, denser commutes, and perhaps even a fresh middle class—if the city manages not to miss its own train.

Oil prices have barrelled past $100 for the first time since 2021, after Israeli strikes on Iranian fuel depots near Tehran and missile threats in the Strait of Hormuz sent jitters through energy markets. With both Brent and West Texas Intermediate rising over 16% in a day and Persian Gulf producers cutting exports, even American drivers are feeling the squeeze—though perhaps not quite as acutely as Tehran’s embattled fuel depots.

If a revived federal rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, stipulating that only U.S. citizens may occupy public or subsidized housing, takes effect, New York would bear the brunt: at least 3,000 households—mostly “mixed-status” families with American-citizen children—could lose homes, a figure even HUD admits is likely conservative. As New Yorkers know, housing math rarely ends with tidy outcomes.

Operation Epic Fury has left Iran’s leadership scattered and its military in tatters, putting the United States and Israel in the starring roles of yet another costly, open-ended showdown—this time against a nation bigger and badder than their last regional conquests. President Trump’s $900-million-a-day gambit may have dented missiles but not Iranian resolve, inflaming nationalism and offering ample work for future historians and, presumably, Pentagon accountants.

Mount Sinai’s physicians in New York fell out of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield’s network in January over contract friction, briefly returning before talks stalled again—each side now blames the other. With hospital groups charging up to six times Medicare’s rates, patients can only watch these titans clash and hope their own financial health recovers before the next open enrollment season limps into view.