Happy Wednesday in New York City, where it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas. Smog-stained slush carpets the sidewalks, Maria Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” blasts through holiday market speakers, the Christmas Tree Mafia is back at it and New Yorkers come down with the flu in droves.
A total of 64,000 people have contracted the flu across New York state this season, with cases on the rise week over week. Between the last week of November and the first week of December, cases rose by 29%. Approximately 1,400 New Yorkers were hospitalized with the flu during the first week of December alone.
“We expect a more severe flu season due to circulating strains of the virus compared to last year,” said state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald in a statement.
Remember to get vaccinated! The only thing worse than getting the flu is missing your holiday festivities because of it.
Four Republican Congressmembers, including Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, have forced a vote to extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax subsidies, which are set to expire on Dec. 31.
Community members, elected officials, advocates and family gathered in Crown Heights to honor the one-year anniversary of the death of Robert Brooks and call for prison reform.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams said he is moving to ensure a “smooth transition” with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, while also warning New Yorkers about the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform.
Residents in North Brooklyn and Queens reported a sharp improvement in air quality after the Green Asphalt recycling plant temporarily shut down on Thursday for failing to meet a state-mandated deadline to raise its smokestacks
On Dec. 16, the City Council marked the opening of a new trauma recovery center in Downtown Brooklyn, the fourth such facility statewide to provide free, trauma-informed care to survivors of violence.
Defense lawyers, judges and advocates warn that New York City’s jury pools are increasingly wealthier and less diverse, leading to calls for reform.
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration for blocking billions of dollars in Congressionally approved funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
AG James also secured $9 million in a settlement with vehicle manufacturers Hyundai and Kia for failing to install proper anti-theft technology on new cars, and for consequences leading to injuries and deaths.
The City Council invested $5 million in Brooklyn Tech, the nation’s largest specialized public high school for STEM education, to go toward new modern labs, collaboration spaces and cutting-edge technology.
The Ryder Library in Mapleton, a branch of the Brooklyn Library system, commemorated its first major renovation yesterday with a ribbon-cutting opening after a three-year closure.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru
BUCHAREST — A big part of retail Christmas seems to be traumatizing some children from a young age: People pose with a man wearing a Santa Claus outfit at a Christmas fair in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
A recent study suggests that plastic water bottles contain tens of thousands of microplastics and nanoplastics. Photo: Stew Milne/AP
Chemicals are all around us, but none more pervasive than “forever chemicals,” or PFAs, which combine the dangerous trifecta of being nondegrading, highly consumable and toxic in low doses. According to a new study, pregnant women who drink water that comes from wells downstream of sites contaminated with PFAs substantially increase risks to their babies’ health. Click here to learn more about PFAs and their risk to pregnant women.
🔎 Today’s Guest List
White supremacists at the Young Republicans gala
Just a month after the New York Young Republican Club was dissolved following a leaked group chat with members praising Hitler and slavery, the political organization is once again marred in scandal, this time after members of the city-based chapter hosted a gala with some controversial guests.
The black-tie event, held at Cipriani Wall Street, celebrated the 113th anniversary of the New York Young Republican Club, a subsidiary of the national youth wing of the Republican Party. Among the invitees were Jared Taylor, who has been called “the face of white supremacy”; about 20 members of a far-right extremist group in Germany; Vish Burra, a former George Santos staffer who lost his job with the Matt Gaetz Show for posting a video depicting Jews as cockroaches; and EmpathChan, an influencer who made headlines for wearing blackface on Halloween.
News of the event’s guest list sparked immediate outrage online, with prominent members of the Republican Party torn over whether to distance themselves from its rapidly radicalizing ideology. A number of Republican elected officials did not attend the event, despite being promoted as “honored guests.”
A group of Democratic politicians gathered outside Cipriani to condemn the gala, with one protester interrupting the proceedings inside the venue by jumping from his seat and yelling, “I guess we’re all Nazis!” while waving a swastika banner. “The people that are in that room, they were calling folks like me watermelon people,” New York Assemblymember Jordan Wright, who is Black, told Politico. “They were being racist, they were being homophobic, they were idolizing Hitler.”
Caught in the middle of the firestorm is Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), who is currently engaged in a campaign to unseat Kathy Hochul as governor of New York. Despite numerous statements from the Stefanik campaign to the contrary, a trove of online evidence suggests that she was a former member of the New York Young Republican Club, with years of social media posts from the group celebrating her as a member and donor.
“This is not the first time Stefanik has been caught palling around with hateful antisemites, and it won’t be the last,” Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki told The New Republic. “As a card-carrying member of this group, it’s past time for Stefanik to renounce her membership, condemn what they stand for, and give New Yorkers the answers they deserve.”
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Cartoon Sketchbook
Trump and 25th Amendment by Dave Granlund
For the Road
Circle the Date: Kwanzaa Crawl returns Dec. 26 for its ninth year, bringing more than 4,000 participants to over 15 Black-owned bars and restaurants across Brooklyn. Organizers say the one-day event, which generated more than $500,000 in 2024, has contributed over $3 million to local businesses since launching in 2016. Read more here.
Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” which debuted on this day in 1843.
On This Day in 1945, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — The back-to-nature urge of war-torn and gasoline-rich people is giving the National Park Service reconversion headaches. The service’s manpower, upkeep on facilities and construction programs are still handicapped by the war. So it has been hard put to cope with the wave of travelers which has flooded the parks since VJ-Day came and gas rationing went.”
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