Happy Tuesday in New York City, where, by the end of next month, nearly every subway station will be outfitted with jagged teeth and plastic paddles designed to discourage fare beaters from jumping the turnstile.
You know what I’m talking about. The new equipment, which make the turnstiles look like chrome piranhas, has already been installed in 327 of the city’s 472 subway stations. It’s all part of the MTA’s campaign to recoup the $400 million in estimated losses incurred by fare-evaders this year alone.
“ Some members of the public might think these interventions just look funny, but the truth, the truth of the matter is these modifications work,” said NYC Transit President Demetrius Chrichlow.
According to transit officials, the barriers have reduced fare evasion by 60%, saving millions of dollars. Of course, it remains to be seen whether, by some Darwinian process, they just end up accelerating the natural selection of the city’s most powerful quadriceps, rendering the whole exercise rather fruitfully moot.
Hundreds of Brooklyn families gathered in Greenpoint this weekend for a holiday toy giveaway and the unveiling of a new community computer lab, thanks to the Season of Giving campaign from National Grid.
NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, the “Greek Freak,” has purchased a two-building, 50-unit multifamily rental complex in Prospect Lefferts Gardens for $25.18 million.
Starbucks baristas and City University of New York workers staged a joint solidarity picket on Friday outside the Starbucks at 2 Broadway in Manhattan’s Financial District, linking two high-profile labor fights.
The City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is urging New Yorkers to claim nearly $380,000 in unclaimed restitution from recent consumer protection settlements, warning that thousands may be owed money without realizing it.
The Brooklyn Children’s Museum will mark 18 years of celebrating its five-day Kwanzaa festival.
NineDot Energy, a leading developer of community-scale battery energy storage systems in the New York City metro area, has announced its intention to generate over $60 million in energy credits for low-income New Yorkers within one decade.
A lawsuit against Uber for allegedly deceptive subscription marketing has expanded, with New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition of 20 other attorneys general joining the litigation on Dec. 15.
The Department of City Planning released the 2025 edition of the New York City Zoning Handbook, updating the guide to reflect sweeping changes adopted under Mayor Adams’ signature “City of Yes” zoning overhaul.
Bhavitha Mandava, a New York University Tandon School of Engineering graduate student, made fashion history this month as the first Indian model to open a Chanel runway.
Sunday’s snowfall brought a holiday mood to Brooklyn Heights, with parks full of kids building snowmen and sledding, and visitors taking photos of the neighborhood’s postcard-pretty streets.
Our World In Photos
Photo: AP Photo/Adam Gray
BROOKLYN — New York’s most popular snapshot venue in any weather: People gather on Washington Street in front of the Manhattan Bridge during a snowfall, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brooklyn Borough of New York.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
People walk past a Christmas tree outside the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in New York. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP.
Yes, it’s freezing cold in New York City — which is why all of our live event recommendations this week take place inside! From competitive improv to drag dinners to a full stage performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas Live”, there are plenty of ways to enrich the soul while beating the cold in Brooklyn. Click here for our full list of arts events in the borough this week.
🔎 Today’s Violation
ICE in City Shelters
According to official reports written by staff at several shelters across the city and obtained by Gothamist, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entered city shelters and obtained private resident information without a judicial warrant on numerous occasions. Now, City Council members are calling to improve training for shelter employees to ensure compliance with New York City’s sanctuary laws, which restrict cooperation with federal immigration officers.
The city’s Department of Social Services (DSS) is the latest in a string of municipal agencies to violate New York’s sanctuary protections — a list which includes workers in the Department of Corrections and NYPD officers —as federal officers stretch their constitutional authority to target immigrant residents in New York City. A spokesperson for the DSS clarified to Gothamist that they are doing what they can to ensure employees abide by the law, and are working to address “any rare, minor, and inadvertent lapses in protocol.”
Approximately 31,600 immigrants reside in New York City shelters. During five incidents outlined in the Gothamist report, federal immigration officers were allowed to enter shelters without presenting a verified judicial warrant or without obtaining permission from shelter staff. One incident on February 20, during which federal agents presented an administrative warrant rather than the legally required judicial warrant, resulted in the arrest of a 30-year-old Venezuelan man. “The extreme show of force here — seven armed agents in facemasks — was to intimidate staff so they could arrest our client in contravention of city law,” said lawyer Molly Lauterback, who represents the arrested man, in a statement.
Following the report, a number of City Council members and immigration advocates condemned the lack of adequate training for shelter employees. “They definitely have to revisit how they’re training, what they’re training, how often they’re training and get ahead of ICE,” City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala told Gothamist.
“When the [Mayor-elect Zohran] Mamdami administration begins next month, there must be a commitment to enforcing our sanctuary laws and rigorously training all City staff on how to implement them,” said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.
The Mini
Our solver finished in 1 minute and 40 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
Rob Reiner by Dave Whammond
For the Road
Holiday Festivities: A record 4,400 worshippers — many of them young people — attended two Masses marking the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights last Friday, Dec. 12, celebrating the faith of Mexican-Americans. Read more about it here.
Happy Birthday to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when the Sons of Liberty protested a new tax by boarding three British ships and dumping 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
On This Day in 1928, the Eagle reported, “Brooklyn, which divides honors with Brazil in having the greatest number of unique communities within its boundaries, independent of the city as a whole in manners, customs and business, has recently developed a city within a city. It is Bush Terminal in South Brooklyn, where ships from every corner of the globe bring sandalwood, necklaces, mahogany logs, chicle for gum, rubber, chrome ore — every product, in fact, that enters into commerce.”
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