New York City in brief

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s fresh $1.5 billion climate plan—replete with flood pumps and higher subway entrances—arrived in New York just as Brooklyn endured a rainstorm fierce enough to turn day care pick-ups into lifeboat drills. While officials tout data-driven resilience, water still flows downhill, sometimes quite literally through one’s front door, suggesting that gravity, and city planners’ optimism, remain undiminished.

A new Advocates for Children report found over 154,000 New York City public school students—about one in seven—experienced homelessness last year, leading to chronic absenteeism, frequent school transfers, and just 27% scoring proficient in English and math exams (compared to 60% of their stably housed peers). The Adams administration’s affordable housing slow-roll leaves city hall with a puzzle far larger than even San Francisco’s student body.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s revival of the Sunnyside Yard mega-project—a $21 billion scheme for 12,000 homes atop a still-busy Queens railyard—has raised neighborhood hackles, especially as talks with President Trump seek billions in federal funds but offer little clarity. Locals, it seems, are united chiefly in confusion, as the world’s largest deck may well rest on airier foundations than advertised.

As oil prices leapt 32% nationwide to $4.02 per gallon, New York Governor Kathy Hochul championed a slower energy transition, citing the immediate costs and hiccups of renewables. Critics, led by analysts and environmentalists, warn that betting on fossil fuels leaves the Empire State exposed to global price tantrums and say official cost estimates ignore the long-term perks of free wind and sun. For now, the law remains more ambitious than reality.

Donald Trump threatened retaliatory strikes on Iran’s power stations and bridges next Tuesday should Tehran continue its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy artery. The blustering comes after U.S. forces rescued two downed pilots in Iranian mountains, an episode the president called “audacious.” We await Monday’s White House press briefing, expecting more fireworks—or possibly just more smoke than flame.