New York City in brief

After New York City funneled some 750,000 municipal workers and retirees into a new UnitedHealthcare scheme, those affected have run into a thicket of denied prescriptions, doctor snubs, and insurance black holes—sometimes leaving families uninsured for weeks. City hall trumpeted savings and efficiency; the rank-and-file can now boast firsthand experience of America’s byzantine healthcare labyrinth, and perhaps a newfound nostalgia for bureaucracy that merely made them wait.

Consumer prices in the United States have surged 25% since 2020, but wages, especially for low-income and Hispanic workers, remain largely stuck in neutral; the federal minimum wage is still $7.25—unchanged since 2009 and worth about 30% less today. As families juggle mounting bills and extra jobs, paychecks now seem expertly designed to disappear before the month’s end, with “living the American dream” sounding increasingly nostalgic.

The US government is reportedly expanding its mass surveillance toolkit by marrying artificial intelligence with data harvested from brokers and everyday apps, hoovering up details from private chats to pulse rates and pin locations. Authorities say it’s all in the service of safety; sceptics mutter “Big Brother.” Never has standing in line for coffee seemed so participatory in the national security project.

Seven years after New York’s vaunted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, Governor Kathy Hochul proposes rolling back key targets as the state lags on its own ambitions—currently, only 23% of electricity comes from renewables, far from the 70% by 2030 required by law. Blame is cheerfully traded between lobbyists, activists, and supply chain woes, but at this rate, even the city’s grid may soon feel left in the dark.

Amnesty International’s latest report claims the second Trump administration wasted no time testing the tensile strength of America’s rule of law in 2025, with unprecedented executive measures targeting judicial and media independence, academics, migrants, LGBTI and reproductive rights, and even funding for dissenting universities. If unchecked, the Minnesota immigration raids and new detention centers may leave Lady Liberty with serious trust issues—though at least her torch still works.