New York City in brief

A new Urban Institute report finds that 62% of New York City families—rising to 78% among Hispanics—lack the resources to meet the “true cost of living,” a metric more taxing than federal poverty lines. Children and single-parent households fare worst, with boroughs like the Bronx particularly pinched. The average gap: a wallet-shriveling $40,200. We always suspected Manhattanites weren’t just clutching their pearls for show.

Commuters in New York endured the first Long Island Rail Road strike in over three decades, as three years of fruitless contract talks and pair of federal interventions failed to stave off walkouts. The LIRR, America’s busiest passenger line, normally shuttles 300,000 riders daily—now many will sample the city’s creative alternatives to timely travel, presumably not by choice.

A strike by Long Island Rail Road workers stopped North America’s busiest commuter line on Saturday, upending the routines of some 250,000 New Yorkers. With contract talks stuck, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s shuttle-bus plan will barely blunt the blow, aiming to move just 13,000 commuters each peak. Remote work is encouraged—presumably for those whose jobs survive the extra time spent getting there.

With 88 lives lost, the World Health Organisation has now declared the Sudan strain of Ebola a global public health emergency; unlike its infamous cousin from Zaire, this variety enjoys no vaccine and boasts a fatality rate of around 30%, leaving medical teams scrambling for more than rubber gloves and steady nerves as they juggle containment and appeals for international aid.

At 12:01 a.m. Saturday, 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers staged the system’s first strike in over three decades, halting a critical artery for New York commuters. Harper Freeman, helming The Chief, weighed in on “Weekends On 1” as negotiations sputtered. We can only hope the trains run on time again before New Yorkers perfect the art of walking to work.