New York City in brief

After a federal court temporarily restored funding for the $16bn Gateway Tunnel, union workers gathered in North Bergen, New Jersey, urging President Trump to let the money flow and save thousands of jobs. Much hangs in the balance: the ailing tunnel links New York and New Jersey, underpinning 20% of America’s GDP. For now, the only thing moving under the Hudson is lawyers—hardly the commuters' preferred rush hour.

As lethal cold descends on New York City—wind chills scraping minus 20—Mayor Zohran Mamdani has flung open public schools and hotel rooms to shelter the unsheltered, roped in school nurses and even violence interrupters for street outreach, and trimmed 311 wait times by half. Despite twenty-four-hour OD centers and twice as many shelter placements, seventeen have died: not quite the warming trend New Yorkers had in mind.

Federal funds for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel under the Hudson remain frozen, after the Trump administration appealed a court order to release over $200 million, halting five job sites and sidelining nearly 1,000 workers. Not to be outdone in showmanship, Trump’s camp reportedly dangled naming rights—imagine Penn Station: Trump Terminal—in exchange for unfreezing the money, though laid-off builders in North Bergen seem less keen on rebranding than resuming work.

Donald Trump’s second term has yielded over 500 immigration reforms—outpacing his first four years—mostly via executive fiat, the Migration Policy Institute reports. Birthright citizenship is in the crosshairs, and border crossings have plunged to a five-decade low, though ICE detentions have soared, snagging many with spotless records. We doubt these brisk crackdowns will warm many hearts, either side of the border.

President Trump dispatched Eric Hamilton, a top deputy assistant attorney general with a penchant for controversial cases, to join the federal legal challenge against New York’s $9 congestion pricing below 60th Street—a scheme the White House has loudly denounced yet failed to quash. Despite procedural fumbles and $562 million collected for transit upgrades, the toll’s demise proves as elusive as gridlock-free Manhattan rush hour.