Nearly two million New Yorkers risk losing their Essential Plan health coverage, as Washington’s looming $7.5 billion funding cut—over half the program’s annual pot—spurs Governor Kathy Hochul to request a federal reclassification and tighten eligib…
President Trump, channeling fiscal hawks everywhere, denounced the Gateway Tunnel between New York and New Jersey as a costly “boondoggle,” alleging—without offering figures—that it will bankrupt taxpayers. His administration, having grudgingly released $30 million after a federal judge’s nudge, still withholds most funds for the rail project meant to replace aging Hudson tunnels. Infrastructure, it seems, remains America’s favourite political football—tossed, spiked, and rarely carried across the goal line.
A late January snowstorm dusted New York City with nearly a foot of snow and left officials touting their response, yet the cold snap claimed at least five lives before flurries began and exposed gaping cracks in municipal support for the homeless. Enhanced Cold Blue shelter policies moved 170 people indoors, but for many, the city’s warmth seemed a slippery notion, melting away as soon as the sun returned.
With some 7,500 New Yorkers facing the expiry of federal Emergency Housing Vouchers—thanks to the Trump-era squeeze and a recent funding denial from HUD—officials are scrambling for stopgaps while rents rally and affordable options vanish. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development cobbled together a two-year fix for about 2,000 families, but the rest must hope for a miracle or, failing that, a slightly less underfunded bureaucracy.
Rolling out the first phase of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s flagship promise, New York City will offer free child care for about 2,000 two-year-olds this autumn, while officials puzzle over service models and funding gaps exceeding the below-average providers’ pay cheques. Universal free care remains the stated goal, but for now, most families will need to settle for hope—and perhaps a subsidised wait list.
Starting Sunday, Amtrak and NJ Transit will funnel commuters between Newark and Penn Station onto one track for a month, as they shift service from the creaking, 115-year-old Portal Bridge to its shiny replacement—an upgrade promising fewer sledgehammer interventions in future. Until then, many New Jersey riders will detour to Hoboken, squeeze onto PATH and ferries, or, in a triumph of modern progress, simply work from home.
New Jersey commuters have received cheery advice from NJ Transit: work from home, please, as Amtrak shifts train traffic to its shiny new Portal North Bridge, slicing Manhattan-bound service for the next month. While the agencies promise eventual improvements (“trust us”), for now, tens of thousands are left to study remote working’s fine print—or else perfect the art of patience on even more crowded platforms.
After just ten minutes inhaling London’s roadside air for a BBC experiment, journalist James Gallagher discovered black carbon fragments nestled in his own blood—direct evidence that particulate pollution quickly travels from curbside to circulatory system. With UK air quality linked to some 30,000 annual deaths, we now know the exhaust pipe’s reach extends rather further than our noses—an unwelcome showroom model, if ever there was one.
A new SmartAsset study projects that by 2026, a single New Yorker will need an annual income of $130,000–$140,000 to live comfortably—more than four times the state’s minimum wage—while a family of four may need over $200,000. Across the river in New Jersey, costs dip only slightly, especially near the city, though longer commutes offer cold comfort alongside lower rents. The Big Apple still demands big budgets.
