New York City in brief

After Lee Zeldin took the helm at the Environmental Protection Agency, over 150 staffers privately accused him of partisanship and ignoring scientific evidence, prompting a bruising response: 144 signatories were promptly benched. Zeldin, championed by Donald Trump as a “secret weapon,” has since purged the agency of both databases and dissent. America’s regulatory watchdog, it seems, now barks on command—and rarely at industry’s heels.

New York’s City University (CUNY) will receive a $7 billion investment—revealed in Brooklyn by the city’s Economic Development Corporation—to bolster workforce training for more than 5,900 students annually in “green” careers from clean energy to building decarbonization. Officials predict environmental jobs may soon make up 7% of city employment; we suspect a few skeptics will want proof before dusting off their résumés.

A Pew survey finds that 63% of Latinos in America now label their finances as poor or middling, despite a modest 5.5% bump in median income and a dip in poverty rates. Living costs, especially for housing, food, and healthcare, have surged by $1,300 a month since 2020—debt and job fears abound, as salaries fail to keep pace. It seems inflation always skips the siesta.

New York has sued the U.S. Department of Transportation after it withheld $73.5 million in highway funds over the state’s refusal to revoke some 33,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrants, arguing it followed federal rules at the time. California already lost $200 million in a similar row; other states are nervously checking their spreadsheets before the next audit rolls through.

Despite New York State’s fresh strategy on halting utilities’ summer shutoffs during heat waves, city dwellers find themselves with less robust protection than upstate neighbors, just as New York City breaks heat records. Regulators, eager for uniform policy, handed utilities such as Con Edison more leeway to suspend power over unpaid bills. Evidently, cooler heads did not prevail—except perhaps in boardrooms rather than Brooklyn apartments.