New York City in brief

After a five-year analysis ranking New York’s tap water a bleak 18th dirtiest in America, Erin Brockovich is calling for stiffer penalties on utilities letting lead, arsenic, and “forever chemicals” seep unchecked into pipes. Authorities, she wryly notes, ought to tip off the public themselves—a bit more hurriedly—rather than let showerhead companies break the bad news. At least, for now, asbestos is off the menu.

After the joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hopes for a quick regime collapse gave way to a more classic headache: Iran, battered but unbowed, has paralyzed the Strait of Hormuz—through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows—by threatening tankers and mining waters, bringing the global economy to heel and leaving President Trump pondering how to reopen trade without stepping on any more mines, literal or political.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, after vowing to expand New York’s rental assistance, is now channeling his inner Eric Adams by appealing a court order to do just that, citing eye-watering price tags that could reach $4.7 billion by 2030. With a $5 billion budget deficit forcing cuts and tax hikes, Mamdani’s about-face presumably leaves housing advocates—and campaign promises—out in the cold, but at least the lawyers are staying busy.

Americans’ credit-card debt has reached a record, with 111 million adults now carrying a balance—up 17% in five years—according to The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers. Rising gas prices, nudging $4 a gallon in the wake of Iran’s flare-up, haven’t helped, nor has the 23.7% average interest rate. One in four has skipped meals to cope; some even tap retirement funds—a feast for lenders, if not for borrowers.

A hefty chorus of New York’s unions now cheers a bill in Albany to reroute health insurance taxes away from local government coffers and onto private employers, as City Hall frets over a $1.5 billion budget hole. Backers pitch this as a painless fix for municipal balance sheets, though we suspect employers may require more convincing before picking up the tab—voluntarily or otherwise.