After half a year of New York’s congestion pricing—disdained as an “unfair tax” by critics like Nicole Malliotakis—state data suggests 11% fewer cars enter Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, traffic lags have plummeted by a quarter, and transit ridership is at a post-pandemic high. Pollution and noise complaints also fell sharply, though we’re monitoring for side effects beyond the island’s boundary. Even cynics appreciate quieter honking.
Columbia University’s IT systems were breached on June 24th in a pointedly “hacktivist” effort, with officials confirming data on over 2 million applicants—including ID numbers and citizenship status—was stolen, possibly to probe for banned affirmative action practices after last year’s Supreme Court ruling. Most systems in Harlem’s Morningside campus are back online, though the precise scale—and the school’s data hygiene—may not be fully clarified for months.
The NYPD, unable to down rogue drones under current federal law, is lobbying the White House for power to zap flying nuisances independently, especially as New York contends with strict airspace rules near airports and this week’s fireworks. President Trump’s recent executive order merely spins up a task force and some grants, but no green light yet for local takedowns—leaving police and lobbyists circling, like drones without a landing pad.
A New York judge has temporarily blocked Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration from suspending the HALT Act, which curbs solitary confinement in state prisons—a measure corrections officials paused during a staff strike, then left in limbo well past their own June deadline. Judge Daniel Lynch scolded the Department of Corrections for skipping basic legal steps and evidence, insisting on legislative oversight, not executive mood swings, come July 11. We await warden ingenuity.
Macy’s set New York’s skies ablaze once again as its Fourth of July fireworks returned to the East River, where four barges and the Brooklyn Bridge hurled 80,000 shells aloft in a 25-minute spectacle. Throngs packed Seaport and waterfront parks, some arriving from far afield, and everyone jostled for a view—proving, perhaps, that American patience endures at least as long as the pyrotechnics.
Despite a 3.2% dip in subway crime trumpeted by the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams this week, a 36-year-old was stabbed on Harlem’s 125th Street A train platform after a spat turned violent; police swiftly arrested 58-year-old Victor Solis and recovered the knife. With 1,058 major incidents logged so far this year—New York’s lowest since 2010—statistics do cold comfort make for fretful riders.
Jonathan Wohl, 37, pleaded not guilty after allegedly stabbing two court officers at Manhattan Criminal Court—a violent turn after years spent railing against the NYPD, once even unwittingly recording officers gossiping about overtime rackets. Wohl, jailed without bail, had no pending cases that day but left behind anti-police screeds—making a grim mockery of courthouse “security” and proving some visitors raise more than just procedural objections.
We hear GEODIS will shutter its Monroe Township, New Jersey facility by July 31, making 426 workers redundant as the French logistics giant relocates to Eastern Pennsylvania, trailing a departing “key customer.” The company’s promise of “comprehensive support” scents of cold comfort for those already pink-slipped since April. Monroe’s gratitude might be more fulsome if jobs, unlike pallets, could be shipped a few miles down the road.
In New York’s Washington Heights, two pit bulls killed Freddy, a much-loved bodega cat, while their owners reportedly looked on with grotesque enthusiasm, according to Cat Collective NY and local press. Volunteers, now offering a $200 reward for tips, hope the culprits are found before more trouble brews. Meanwhile, city politicos debate giving shop cats official status—a step toward nine lives’ worth of legal protection.
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