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Happy Friday! We New Yorkers love to hate our MTA. Where outsiders see an iconic fixture of their favorite films, books and songs, we find a dilapidated jumble of interminable delays, disruptions, suspensions and breakdowns.
But for once, it may be time to throw a little appreciation ol’ MTA’s way. While mass transit systems like BART in San Francisco and SEPTA in Philadelphia face grim futures, the MTA is financially stable and looking to boost service. While other systems have had to lay off workers and raise fares above projected limits, the MTA managed to maintain its workforce of 70,000, keep fare hikes on schedule and improve service, all at the same time.
Is this the same MTA I’m used to — the one with the rats and the sardine cars? “This is a remarkable turnaround just from a few years ago, when we were staring down the COVID fiscal cliff,” said the MTA’s Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel at a November board meeting
Now, let’s make sure the subway’s reputation doesn’t improve too much. The stability of New York’s social network relies on the tacit agreement that blaming the subway is a legitimate excuse for tardiness. Without it, we’re going to have to start taking accountability for our time management. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in that world.
The NYPD agreed to enact stricter practices on immigration enforcement following a Department of Investigation report that found multiple instances in which the police did not fully comply with New York City’s sanctuary laws.
New York City launched a marine-freight pilot between Manhattan’s Pier 79 and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook as an initial foray into its planned Blue Highways program.
“America’s economic crisis is about to get substantially worse,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said Thursday after Senate Republicans blocked the Democratic plan to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies for three years.
A second grand jury handed a stunning blow to the U.S. Justice Department by refusing to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges of mortgage fraud.
A group of over 220 organizations launched a new coalition this week to defend against potential attempts to roll back the state’s Raise the Age law, which prevents the state from prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to withhold $73 million in highway funds unless New York stops the routine practice of issuing licenses to immigrants that may be valid long after they are legally authorized to be in the country.
Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens teamed up with the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to host a free “toy shop” for families struggling financially this Christmas season.
NYU Tandon School of Engineering announced the launch of its Center for Robotics and Embodied Intelligence, establishing a major East Coast hub for robotics research and education.
Police are investigating after a human skull and additional skeletal remains were discovered in dense bushes near the Riegelmann Boardwalk between West 32nd and West 33rd streets in Coney Island.
The Wythe Diner, a 57-year-old railcar landmark, was hoisted from its longtime Williamsburg corner and transported two miles to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Saturday, where it will live on as a permanent set for Steiner Studios.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool
UTAH — Possible embodiment of hate speech, political disillusionment and nihilism converge: Tyler Robinson, who is accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
Federal immigration enforcement agents engage in a standoff with protesters near West 27th Street and South Sacramento Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Photo: Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
In federal courtrooms across America, immigrants are being rounded up and jailed without a hearing — a departure from fundamental constitutional protections. In response, federal judges are stepping in, challenging the Trump administration’s detention policies in at least 362 cases in federal district courts, with challengers prevailing in 350 of those cases. Read more about the judicial system’s role in checking executive overreach here.
🔎 Today’s Neighborhood
Gowanus, Illustrated
Take a walk through Gowanus, a neighborhood on the cutting edge of change.
The Mini
Our solver finished in 1 minute 33 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
All For Affordability by John Darkow
For the Road
A Memorable Life: Helen Nash, a child Holocaust survivor who later moved to Brooklyn and became an acclaimed kosher cookbook author, died on Monday, Dec. 8, at 89. Born as Helen Englander in Krakow, Nash and her family immigrated to the U.S. after the war, where they reunited with her maternal grandparents in Williamsburg and then settled in Crown Heights. Read more about Nash’s memorable life here.
Happy Birthday to former Mayor of New York Ed Koch! Koch served three terms as mayor (1978-89) and died in 2013.
On This Day in 1915, the Eagle said, “If you stand any day on either side of Fifth avenue, Manhattan, at any cross street, as far north as Central Park, you will realize how the highway is congested with automobiles. Street congestion is one of the greatest physical problems of the City of New York.”
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