New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles has halted commercial licenses for thousands of noncitizen immigrants—some with years behind the wheel—after the Trump administration threatened to yank $73 million in highway funding. With unions warning of school bus and MTA headaches, the state is in court challenging the federal curbs, but for erstwhile drivers like Rosario Argueta, a sixteen-year veteran now demoted, the wheels have come off more than just the buses.
New York City in brief
Top five stories in the five boroughs today
After a brief Trump-induced freeze, work on the $16 billion Gateway tunnel under the Hudson River will resume next week, as $205 million in federal funds have finally thawed—thanks more to a court ruling than to any enthusiasm in Washington. Roughly 1,000 union jobs, the battered Amtrak corridor, and maybe even the project’s 2035 completion date have all been pulled back from the brink, though probably not for the last time.
The Trump administration has scrapped the E.P.A.’s “endangerment finding,” a 2009 ruling that labelled greenhouse gases a hazard under the Clean Air Act, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum breezily likening carbon dioxide to plant food. Every major scientific body and even Big Oil now agrees on CO2's dangers, but we’re told “victory” is at hand—at least, for those still pining for Coalie’s heyday.
Wielding its new voter-bestowed powers, New York has debuted the Expedited Land Use Review Procedure by fast-tracking an 84-unit affordable housing project in the South Bronx, shaving its approval timeline from 212 to 90 days—a rare municipal feat. While Mayor Mamdani only belatedly warmed to these reforms, we suspect even he appreciates the chance to pour concrete faster than skepticism can harden.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threat to spike property taxes by 9.5%—should Albany resist raising income taxes on the wealthy—has met a cold shoulder from lawmakers and budget hawks, who deem the “fiscal crisis” rhetoric more pressure tactic than prudence. As the city’s budget gap shrinks mysteriously by the week, we’re left to admire the enduring power of a well-timed panic.