New York City in brief

Governor Kathy Hochul’s $260 billion budget aims to plug the hole left by federal healthcare cuts—thanks to Donald Trump’s H.R. 1—by upping Medicaid spending in New York, but notably at the cost of removing some 500,000 low-income residents from the Essential Plan. Assembly Health Chair Amy Paulin, perhaps clutching both a balance sheet and some antacid, will lead scrutiny of what comes next for hospitals and the newly uninsured.

New York and New Jersey duelled with the Trump administration in court, seeking to revive frozen federal funds for the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel Project before construction grinds to a halt. The states say they’ve been left footing bills and risking disruptions for over 200,000 daily rail passengers, all to repair aging infrastructure—a saga proving even multimillion-dollar tunnels can end up in political limbo quite as easily as lost luggage.

Leila Bozorg, New York’s deputy mayor for housing, outlined Zohran Mamdani’s early blueprint: a blend of new private-sector incentives, friendlier zoning in recalcitrant neighborhoods, and a four-year freeze on stabilized rents to tackle Gotham’s record 1.4% vacancy rate. Landlords eye lawsuits; tenants eye relief. The city promises property tax reform—eventually. We await the full plan, though New Yorkers’ patience, like affordable apartments, remains in short supply.

Seventeen New Yorkers have died from extreme cold since January 24th, raising prickly questions for Mayor Zohran Mamdani about how the city shields its most vulnerable when winter’s bite becomes lethal. While officials trot out standard “warming centers,” the chill lingers over whether the city is combating the elements with enough urgency—or merely hoping spring arrives before its critics do.

Despite 87,000 New Yorkers spending frigid nights in shelters or on the street, city data show about 3,200 supportive apartments—mostly overseen by Albany—sit empty, with no urgent plans to fill them. Mayor Zohran Mamdani promises renewed efforts, while advocates urge streamlining the byzantine application process; meanwhile, the only thing moving swiftly in this deep freeze seems to be the city’s paperwork.