New data confirm that Americans—especially Hispanic families—find their paychecks have become rather thin gruel since 2020: costs have risen 25% while real wages barely budged, and federal minimum wage remains unchanged at $7.25 an hour since 2009. …
Amnesty International’s annual report accuses the United States, under Donald Trump’s second go at the presidency, of chipping away at the rule of law throughout 2025—listing judicial browbeating, aggressive immigration crackdowns in Minnesota, clampdowns on Gaza-related campus protests, and cuts to refugee and trans rights as evidence. Alligator Alcatraz, a new detention center, gets special mention—a name that does, perhaps, lack the sunny optimism some detainees might prefer.
Following last year’s passage of Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 package, American federal funding for New York’s SNAP-Ed nutrition courses—attended by more than 2.2 million residents—will vanish after September. Local groups, such as Children’s Aid, are shuttering their produce hand-outs and workshops, leaving freshly converted lettuce enthusiasts to fend for themselves. So far, Albany’s appetite for plugging the $29 million annual gap appears muted.
The US government is intensifying mass surveillance on home soil, leaning ever more heavily on AI tools, data brokers, and the clutch of mobile apps that track our every move from San Jose to Savannah; officials claim it’s all in the name of safety, but the scheme hoovers up everything from text habits to heartbeats—inevitably sparking the time-honoured contest between digital oversight and old-fashioned privacy.
Penn Station has elbowed its way to the front of the line for a $4.7 billion federal injection, with Secretary Sean Duffy promising Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor—including Washington’s Union Station—a shiny veneer of “Golden Age” ambitions. Whether such largesse will produce sleek platforms or more political tug-of-war with New York over other transit funds, we expect at least a measurable reduction in grumbling for commuters—at least until the next delay.
Seven years after New York passed its grandly titled Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, we find ourselves with only 23% of electricity from renewables, far from the 70% mandated by 2030. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent retreat on climate aims comes amid grid warnings and regional squabbling, but even pipeline projects can’t plug the gap—proving that aspirations don’t power subways, at least not yet.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s push to exempt modest housing builds from New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act may finally loosen the city’s Gordian knot of red tape; by one estimate, SEQRA adds $82,000 per apartment and years of delay, with scant evidence of environmental benefit. Easing the process could prod more housing into existence—without sending the planet to an early retirement.
The FDNY has proposed a 29% hike in standard ambulance ride fees, bumping them to $1,793, with “treatment in place” charges also climbing sharply; advanced life support rates would rise over 30%. Officials cite higher operating costs but unions representing paramedics, who are still without a contract or a raise in years, note pay trails even Uber drivers. For now, the city's response remains as elusive as its ambulances.
New York is throttling back its green ambitions, as Governor Kathy Hochul bows to inflation, White House headwinds, and pricey petrol from the latest Middle East drama; nevertheless, wind and solar keep creeping in, and nuclear is (somewhat awkwardly) back on the table. As power demand rises—with AI data centers guzzling electrons—city officials and legislators tussle over who pays, how much, and whether electrons or politics run faster.
