Happy Friday in New York City, where the Ride-Share Wars have a new and highly controversial player.
Empower, the unlicensed ride-share service that offers considerably lower rates than Uber or Lyft, exploded in popularity in the five boroughs over the last few months. Drivers pay a flat subscription fee to the company and may set their own prices, a model that proponents say leads to cheaper rides and greater driver autonomy.
“Working for themselves using our software, TLC-licensed drivers are making thousands of dollars more per month than they were working for Uber or Lyft,” said Empower CEO Joshua Sear in a testimony before the City Council yesterday.
City regulators, however, say Empower skirts the rules that govern for-hire vehicles in the city. Unlike Uber or Lyft, Empower is not registered with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), meaning it is not bound by the same safety, insurance or vetting requirements.
The controversy intensified this week when David Do, the former head of the TLC under Mayor Adams, joined Empower as a senior vice president of government and regulatory affairs. The move was an awkward blow to City Hall, where officials say the company is operating illegally and luring drivers and passengers away from regulated services.
“Empower is an unlicensed, illegal base that puts both drivers and passengers at risk, and we are committed to holding it accountable,” said Jason Kersten, a TLC spokesperson, in a statement.
Midori Valdivia, the woman nominated by Mayor Mamdani to take over for Do, vowed to stop the app’s expansion in New York, saying, “I will use every power in the TLC’s authority, and as much power as I can in the city’s authority, to stop Empower and stop this illegal operation.”
Meanwhile, every morning in my bedroom, another battle wages between getting Empowered and accepting a little T.L.C. — deciding whether to hit the snooze button on my alarm for the third time.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to lower the cost of auto insurance would deliver $48 million in annual recurring savings for the MTA.
It’s been 6 weeks, and more than 400 nurses at The Brooklyn Hospital Center still have no health insurance.
An appellate court overturned the 1999 murder conviction of Anthony Sims, 50, who had been found guilty of fatally shooting a Chinese restaurant worker at Mr. Hing’s Kitchen on Bushwick’s strip following a dispute over an uncooked chicken order.
The remains of Thomas Medlin, 15, who went missing from Stony Brook School in Long Island on Jan.9, were recovered from the water near Red Hook on March 7 and identified on Thursday, March 12.
A man from Cypress Hills received an indeterminate prison term of three to six years for running a red light at roughly twice the posted speed limit, striking and killing a bicyclist, then abandoning the scene without reporting the crash.
The Brooklyn Museum awarded the 2026 UOVO Prize to photographer and collagist Keisha Scarville, a Brooklyn native whose work draws on Caribbean diaspora memory and her family’s migration from Guyana.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/AP
PENNSYLVANIA — Amish welcome the annual avian arrival: Amish birders focus their binoculars on waterfowl at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
How Susan Feldman turned Brooklyn landmarks into stages and founded St. Ann’s Warehouse
Susan Feldman. Photo: Teddy Wolff
In its nearly 50-year history, the performing arts institution St. Ann’s Warehouse, helmed by Artistic Director Susan Feldman, has been responsible for some of the most exciting music and theater in Brooklyn. In the process, it has also preserved several historic landmarks.
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The Mini
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Patrick Chappatte
For the Road
To the movies! The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) and Art House New York announced the inaugural Art House Cinema Week New York, a seven-day celebration of independent film running March 20-26 at nearly 30 theaters across the five boroughs. Better still, MOME is funding 5,000 free tickets for eligible New Yorkers. Find out where movies are playing in Brooklyn and who is eligible for free tickets.
Happy Birthday to tennis player Coco Gauff!
On This Day in 1876, the Eagle reported: “The rain of flesh in and about Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, has not yet been explained, though the professors and others who have examined it say that it can be accounted for on scientific grounds. A bucketful of the flesh which was gathered and examined was proven not to have been the spawn of any reptiles, as one learned savant would have it believed. But the blood was that of human flesh, as far as the facts proven so far can be relied upon.”
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