A federal judge jabbed the Trump administration in Brooklyn, ordering it to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fully by November 7th after calling the ongoing delays “unacceptable.” The White House must evidently find the cash for SN…
Residents of the Isaacs Houses in Yorkville, Manhattan will decide next year whether to keep their 633-apartment complex under New York’s chronically underfunded Section 9 regime or opt for two Section 8 models, including the privately-managed PACT program or the state-run Public Housing Preservation Trust. With $248m in projected repairs and NYCHA’s eye-watering $80bn citywide backlog, we suspect the real winner remains deferred maintenance.
The US Supreme Court has put Donald Trump’s 2018 global steel tariffs under the microscope, grilling lawyers over whether presidential “national security” declarations mean a free pass to sidestep Congress. While the justices seemed wary of giving any president carte blanche, they stopped short of sharper rebukes—leaving it to us, perhaps, to wonder whether steel imports or legal loopholes now top Washington’s list of strategic threats.
Mount Sinai is rolling out “ambient listening” AI, using Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot to transcribe doctor-patient visits and pad out electronic charts—joining NYU Langone and Catholic Health in the New York health system’s quest for more billable hours and less paperwork. The technology promises tens of millions in savings and efficiencies, though whether doctors or accountants will ultimately benefit most remains, as ever, an open question.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is courting New York City police officers with ads promising “respect,” up to $50,000 signing bonuses, and a gentler supervisory touch than they might expect under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Despite such blandishments—plus student loan perks—NYPD’s famously lucrative overtime keeps most blue uniforms in place. One suspects that respect, like prestige, is harder to deposit than a paycheck.
Spousal Social Security benefits allow a lower-earning or non-working spouse to claim up to 50% of their partner’s benefit at full retirement age—though those collecting early, like a hypothetical 62-year-old in Queens, get less. There’s no bonus for waiting past full retirement. Ex-spouses, if married at least ten years, are eligible too, and survivors get something extra—offering just enough rules to keep retirement cocktail parties lively.
A federal judge will soon decide if Donald Trump’s recent Manhattan conviction over alleged hush-money payments should be whisked away from the state court and into the federal system, thanks to the former president’s claim of immunity for acts performed in office. Legal scholars may salivate at the constitutional menu, though we suspect the dish will prove more procedural than palatable.
A former private school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, recently sold by Bayrock Capital to Apex Investments for $26.4 million—almost doubling its 2023 purchase price—will instead serve as a 146-bed women’s shelter, run by Volunteers of America. The property’s tangled journey from classrooms to transitional housing may not ease the city’s housing strain, but it has nicely improved some investor spreadsheets.
The Studio Museum in Harlem flips the lights back on November 15th, unveiling its gleaming seven-floor, 82,000-square-foot new home on West 125th Street with a community day and exhibitions spanning centuries of Black art. Founded in 1968 to spotlight artists of African descent, the institution’s return—featuring Tom Lloyd’s luminous tributes to city life—proves reports of culture's demise in Manhattan may, thankfully, have been premature.
