New York City in brief

Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House saw over 500 immigration measures—more than during his entire previous term—mostly via executive fiat, notes the Migration Policy Institute. While border crossings at the US-Mexico line sank to 50-year lows, ICE quadrupled arrests, though 93% of those detained had no record of violent crimes. It’s efficiency, perhaps, if not exactly winning friends or influencing new voters.

New Yorkers, thawing after the coldest winter start in over a decade, now brace for another jolt: soaring utility bills. As Con Edison and National Grid warn of hikes—up to 10% for some—demand for natural gas has neared record highs, with fossil-fuel plants straining and the 2021 closure of Indian Point nuclear leaving supply gaps. At least hot tea, not kilowatts, remains blissfully inflation-proof.

Nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospitals in New York City have struck tentative contract deals—pending union votes—that could return 10,500 staffers to work after the city’s largest nurses’ strike. The agreements, including a 12% pay rise over three years and staffing promises, will be put to a vote, while talks at NewYork-Presbyterian drag on like an IV drip on a slow day.

A report from Common Sense Media this week finds that over a third of American youths aged 11 to 17 have gambled online in the past year, often through stealthy betting mechanisms embedded in video games rather than flashy neon casinos. New York, so quick to ban smartphones in schools, has yet to confront this virtual roulette. We await the moment regulators stop betting our children won’t notice.

President Donald Trump escalated his campaign to kill New York City’s $9 congestion pricing scheme by dispatching Eric Hamilton, a trusted deputy assistant attorney general, to federal court, underscoring his personal interest in the matter. The fee raised $562 million for the MTA last year despite White House efforts; the legal wrangling persists, though so do the toll cameras—blinking, perhaps, in wry disbelief at Washington’s best-laid plans.