New York has hauled the Trump administration back to federal court, seeking recovery of $73 million in withheld highway funds after officials halted immigrants’ access to commercial driver’s licenses. The Department of Transportation alleges widespread violations, while state leaders insist their paperwork is in shipshape order. With courts habitually favoring Albany in such skirmishes, we suspect local drivers may soon be back on the road, potholes and all.
New York City in brief
Top five stories in the five boroughs today
Donald Trump extended for another 90 days a waiver on the Jones Act, the protectionist shipping law that typically forbids foreign ships from carrying goods between American ports, aiming to ease the sting of higher fuel prices since the war in Iran began. The White House declared the move brings “certainty and stability”—no small promises, as Brent crude topped $105 and the Strait of Hormuz remains a geopolitical bottleneck par excellence.
New York’s January deluge of snow and mercury-plummeting cold cost at least 29 lives, including several among the city’s thousands of homeless—striking proof, paramedics say, that climate change sharpens pre-existing divides rather than curing winter’s bite. Shunting social problems to an overburdened 911 system hasn’t solved much, beyond providing extra work for EMTs and a pointed lesson in what happens when policy creativity freezes up.
The Trump administration has begun proceedings to strip citizenship from over 350 naturalized Americans, aiming for the highest tally of revocations in U.S. history, officials told The New York Times. The Department of Justice cites fraud—such as fake marriages or concealed criminal records—as reason, though criteria like “good moral character” remain deliciously vague. The race to desanctify passports could make lawyers, if not statues, weep.
Nike will shed 1,400 global jobs, mainly in tech and operations across North America, Asia, and Europe, as part of its 'Win Now' reshuffle, after seeing its shares lose over half their value and rivals such as On and Anta sprint ahead. Microsoft, not to be left behind, offers its first voluntary retirement programme, while Meta lines up 8,000 more layoffs—a brisk warm-up lap for the age of the algorithm.