New York City in brief

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has floated a rule extending wait times for asylum seekers’ work permits from six months to a year, while ballooning processing times up to 180 days—changes that New York advocates warn could leave thousands languishing in shelters. Officials argue this will deter fraud and speed up “deserving” claims; critics suspect that at this pace, permits might arrive closer to retirement age.

Faced with a $5.4 billion budget hole, New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani is considering a decidedly old-school solution: delay or reduce current pension payments, hoping tomorrow’s taxpayers will pick up the tab. City and state leaders—including Citizens Budget Commission president Andrew Rein—warn this could cost more later, but Council Speaker Menin seems open. If fiscal can-kicking is an art form, the city is painting a mural.

A new poll from Groundwork Action and Data for Progress finds most New York City voters would rather tax the well-heeled and big corporations than see public services cut to plug a projected $5.4bn deficit. Backing for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan rises sharply as people learn the details, though whether Albany will share more fiscal love remains as uncertain as Manhattan’s rent control.

With over a million football fans expected to descend on New York City and New Jersey for June’s FIFA World Cup, transit chiefs are politely pleading with locals to embrace remote work: Penn Station’s New Jersey Transit section will close to most travelers during matches, and train tickets for the privileged few could cost up to $150—a premium price for dodging gridlock and ill-advised taxi adventures.

CISA’s April warning that Iranian-linked hackers have wormed into U.S. programmable logic controllers—those unsung computers behind water and energy systems—arrived as Washington proclaimed victory and paused its latest Iran spat. The hackers’ penchant for probing places like Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, owes less to grand strategy than to weak municipal cyberdefenses—a sobering proof that, in cyberwarfare, remoteness is no refuge, merely a slight inconvenience.