A federal overhaul of America’s SNAP food assistance started on February 1st 2026, tightening work requirements and potentially trimming over a million recipients in coming years—a far cry from its current 42 million monthly users. Adults without de…
A record 80,000 New Yorkers called 311 in January to report homes without heat or hot water, as the city endured its coldest spell in years; tenants like Nicole Gallan in Flatbush found themselves shivering indoors while boiler repairs sputtered. Officials say they’ve closed 12,000 cases swiftly and urge patience, though layering up may now be as much a city tradition as complaining about the weather.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority pocketed $62m more than forecast from its much-despised congestion pricing scheme, banking $562m in net revenue and claims of “the best year” ever from Janno Lieber, its chair. Skeptics scoffed that the windfall reveals little about gridlock mitigation, though state data tout a 22% fall in pollution—leaving us wondering whether this expensive experiment traffics more hope than hot air.
Hundreds of New York nurses, clad in union-red, marched from Grand Central to Governor Kathy Hochul’s office as their strike entered week four, demanding deeper state intervention in talks with hospitals such as Mount Sinai and Montefiore. Hochul’s executive order to hire traveling nurses has cost hospitals $100m, seldom smoothed tempers, and—judging by the nurses’ chants—has yet to fill the prescription for lasting peace.
Some 15,000 nurses in New York City, led by the New York State Nurses Association, have spent 24 days on strike outside NewYork-Presbyterian and two other hospitals, pressing for enforceable staffing ratios and safety. City council progressives, including Tiffany Cabán and Sandy Nurse, lent vocal support as negotiations stalled—though hospital management insists it did make proposals. If solidarity were a cure, we'd have run out of ailments by now.
Video footage showing violence by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has pushed the agency into the international spotlight, after separate incidents left Renee Good dead in her car and Alex Pretti fatally shot while restrained, and saw ChongLy Scott Thao paraded, underdressed, through winter streets in Minnesota. ICE’s self-asserted mandate stands at odds with the court of public opinion—no small irony for an outfit named for discretion.
After a police shooting left Jabez Chakraborty, 22, hospitalised in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to accelerate his proposed Department of Community Safety—a campaign promise to dispatch social workers, not police, to mental-health emergencies. Legislative details and practical answers remain scant, but, as ever, a new city department is the politician’s prescription to an old urban ailment, at least until the next white paper lands.
The US Supreme Court, having already gutted federal oversight with its 2013 verdict, now seems inclined to further chip away at the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais—this time jeopardizing gains made by Black voters in that state and beyond. We await the ruling, knowing that when it comes to American election law, pendulums swing but rarely pause for breath.
Another arctic front is barreling into the New York area, with the National Weather Service forecasting wind chills as low as minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit through the weekend; Mayor Zohran Mamdani warns the cold has already contributed to 17 outdoor deaths. City officials recommend that residents clear snow, check pipes, and brace for hypothermia while suspended parking rules offer one small ray of sunshine—if only metaphorically.
