As 2026 elections loom in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul tiptoes between progressives itching for corporate tax hikes and moderates wary of change, all while federal Medicaid cuts push the state toward a $3 billion hole. Meanwhile, city and state l…
A bicameral throng—127 members strong—from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and allies urged Kristi Noem, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, to scrap her proposed “public charge” rule, warning it would sow mass confusion, dissuade migrant families (including American-born children) from seeking basic services, and shuffle costs onto local governments. Clarity, they insist, beats bureaucratic whack-a-mole, especially when childhood nutrition is on the table.
The Port Authority expects a record 14.8 million people to descend upon New York airports and crossings between December 22nd and January 4th, squeezing just 1% past last year’s post-pandemic surge. With 5.7 million predicted at JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, and Stewart alone, transit headaches loom—though officials promise a holiday reprieve from non-emergency roadwork. We assume crowds will exercise patience, or at least a characteristic New York grimace.
Kristi Noem, leading the Department of Homeland Security, announced that undocumented migrants can now claim $3,000 plus a free flight home if they self-deport via the CBP Home app by year’s end, forfeiting any pending fines for good measure. With nearly two million reported to have left voluntarily since January, we marvel at Washington’s festive largesse—and suspect that offers of cash and kindness have unusually tight expiration dates.
A federal jury in Brooklyn has convicted four MS-13 members—including national kingpins Edenilson Velasquez Larin and Hugo Diaz Amaya—for racketeering and four grisly murders in Flushing, College Point, and Long Island, highlighting the gang’s unusually brutal code. All face mandatory life sentences; given their penchant for dismemberment, we suspect prison will prove the less exciting chapter of these men’s careers.
Only a day after Governor Kathy Hochul crowed about New York City’s subways being safer than ever, a quartet of knife attacks—most recently on the R train in Astoria—left riders and statisticians with matching furrowed brows. Police touted a 15% crime drop since 2019 and a $77 million officer boost, but recent events suggest that the city’s subways remain a moving target, in more ways than one.
A report from the Anti-Defamation League claims that about 20% of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s 400 transition committee members have links to hardline anti-Zionist groups, including a handful with ties to Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam. Mamdani, who has tried to reassure New York’s Jewish community, insists he opposes antisemitism—a sentiment which, we suspect, his vetting panel will wish it had scrutinized more closely next time.
The Trump administration has halted the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, pending a review of national security risks flagged by the Navy—whose objections were previously brushed aside by both the Obama and Biden administrations. The pause, applauded by groups like CFACT and the Heartland Institute (still embroiled in a related lawsuit), puts several Atlantic wind farms and some bluster over military readiness on ice, at least until the next political gust.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has tightened its scrutiny of applications under VAWA and its T and U visa programmes, after a boom in petitions—think a 1,044% rise for trafficking victims since 2020—sparked fears of fraud. Tweaks to policy, such as clarifying “confidentiality” rules and welcoming more questions from lawyers, aim to keep generosity safe from those with, shall we say, a creative approach to eligibility.
