Wednesday brought New Yorkers a perfect storm of transit woes, with subway delays on five lines after a train’s brakes locked at Penn Station, while a disabled bus jammed up the Lincoln Tunnel and NJ Transit trains stalled for up to 45 minutes after…
A spectacular geyser at Manhattan’s 28th Street subway station once again soaked commuters, as over two inches of rain hit the city in an hour. MTA chief Janno Lieber faulted the aging sewers, but natural history is the real culprit: the station lies atop an old wetland, where water predictably wins. The ghost of Manhattan’s precolonial mud, it seems, never got the memo about 21st-century infrastructure.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg swapped indictments for watercolours this week, leading a taxpayer-funded “art of healing” workshop in Washington Square Park—now better known for free needles and listless addicts than plein air painting. While the Drug Policy Alliance quietly distributed its harm-reduction kits nearby, a skeptical local pointed out Bragg’s knack for appearing artistic amid chaos, a tableau no brushstroke can quite fix.
Several U.S. firms filing for bankruptcy, such as At Home Group and Sinobec Group, now blame Donald Trump’s recent tariffs for their woes, urging courts to forgive billions in debts. Economists, notably Stephanie Roth of Wolfe Research, dryly counter that real tariff pain is yet to come, given the broader U.S. economy remains sturdy—suggesting that if every sinking company blames trade policy, we may run short of scapegoats before long.
Donald Trump claims Coca-Cola will swap high-fructose corn syrup in its US formula for cane sugar, a move he credits to backroom chats and his own legendary thirst, though the company demurs, promising only vague “innovations.” Corn industry figures warn the switch could cull thousands of jobs and raise prices, all for negligible nutritional gain—yet PepsiCo’s Ramon Laguarta spies opportunity, if not necessarily global refreshment.
New York City aims to outshine rivals as America's “cannabis capital,” Mayor Eric Adams declared at Harlem’s Cannabis Festival, pointing to the closure of 1,400 illegal shops and a budding 175 legal dispensaries. Hurdles remain—court delays and bureaucracy vex hopeful shopkeepers like Renaissañt NYC’s Jessica Naissant, whose journey took years—but with city agencies in high gear, we may see green shoots, if not a full-blown gold rush, soon enough.
Several New York police unions—ladling out support like so much precinct coffee—endorsed Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election bid, even as his first term has been dogged by corruption probes and lawsuits from former officials. While lieutenants, detectives, and jailers back him for “lower crime,” the rank-and-file union is still mulling. Adams, ever bullish on falling homicide stats, shrugs off critics and reminds us incumbency survives on action, not just plans.
After nearly four decades at the helm of SCAN-Harbor, Lew Zuchman lays claim to serving some 7,600 young people and 1,000 families annually across Harlem and the South Bronx, with efforts spanning college prep, violence prevention, and support for LGBTQ+ youth in NYCHA housing. Coordinating a patchwork of nonprofits sounds like herding cats, but Zuchman seems content if his flock occasionally gets into college—or simply stays out of trouble.
The U.S. Justice Department has petitioned a federal court to unseal grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein, following a chorus of scrutiny after Attorney General Pam Bondi withheld segments of the files—much to the chagrin of political loyalists. While transparency now beckons in Washington, we expect any “bombshells” to detonate more in headlines than in hard evidence, as ever.
