Happy Tuesday! Today is Jan. 6, a day that certain New York lawmakers are determined not to let fade into revisionist history.
Five years ago today, insurrectionists supporting Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., breaking windows and assaulting law enforcement officers in an attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election. A new bill introduced to the State Senate by Queens Democrat John Liu would make the siege a required element of the New York school history curriculum.
“In state education law, we try not to prescribe what the curriculum or syllabus has to be, but there are a small number of events of such historical importance that we feel it necessary to ensure that all public school kids in New York are taught about these events,” State Sen. Liu told Gothamist.
Supporters of the bill argue it is only necessary due to President Trump’s continued efforts to obfuscate the facts of the event, which included pardoning all 1,500 people who were criminally charged in connection with it.
If the bill passes, the Jan. 6 attack would join the Holocaust, American slavery and the Irish Potato Famine as required study in New York public and private schools.
A fire broke out in a six-story rental building at 75 Pierrepont St. between Henry and Hicks streets in Brooklyn Heights on Monday at 3:34 p.m., injuring seven.
The NYC Ferry stop at Atlantic Ave/Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park now offers routes to the Bay Ridge and Staten Island stops as part of a major system redesign that went into effect in December.
Mulchfest begins this weekend. NYC Parks’ annual Christmas tree recycling event begins at several locations around the city, including Prospect Park. You can leave with your own bag of mulch!
A person was fatally struck by a subway train Sunday evening at the Bushwick Avenue-Aberdeen Street station.
A Clinton Hill Wegmans is generating privacy concerns after the store last week posted notices warning that biometric data – including facial images – may be collected as part of theft-prevention measures.
Former Fort Hamilton High School Principal Dr. Alice Farkouh died on Thursday. She was 86 and is survived by her three children and grandchildren.
Nurses and veterans from across the city plan to rally in the Bronx on Thursday to denounce the Trump administration’s plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs from Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, including hundreds in New York City.
The Brooklyn Nets’ best all-around player and undisputed team leader is bringing that winning feeling to Downtown Brooklyn… Even if the franchise is still in rebuild mode.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP
MOROCCO — Relax, it looks like war, but it’s only soccer: A supporter of Congo cheers for his national team before the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between Algeria and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
AI agents arrived in 2025: Here’s what happened and the challenges ahead in 2026
Photo by Growtika via Unsplash
In artificial intelligence, 2025 marked a decisive shift. Systems once confined to research labs and prototypes began to appear as everyday tools. At the center of this transition was the rise of AI agents — AI systems that can use other software tools and act on their own. Read on to learn about the milestones, new power and new risks with AI.
🔎 Yesterday’s Birthday
New York City’s congestion pricing program has proven successful, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on its first birthday. The city’s congestion pricing, implemented on Jan. 5, 2025, and the first of its kind in the nation, is being called a “transformational success” in terms of revenue, safety and quality of life, generating $550 million in net revenue in its first year and allowing the MTA to proceed with $15 billion in transit improvement projects.
During its first year, congestion pricing resulted in 27 million fewer vehicles entering the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ), south of 60th Street in Manhattan, representing an 11% reduction in traffic. Reduced gridlock has improved commute times across the region, especially at crossings into the CRZ. Specifically, traffic across the Brooklyn Bridge is 15% faster. Sections of Flatbush Avenue approaching the Manhattan Bridge saw speed increases of 6%, and the Gowanus Expressway saw a 7% improvement between the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel near Hamilton Avenue.
Unintended benefits of the program include better air quality and fewer noise complaints. A study released in December by Cornell University and NPJ Clean Air revealed that in the first six months of implementation of congestion pricing, toxic air pollution dropped a significant 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “Traffic crashes and noise complaints are dropping, while funding for the MTA and air quality are rising. Working New Yorkers deserve less congestion, a well-funded transit system, and a safer and quieter place to call home, and I’m proud to see congestion pricing deliver on that promise.”
New York State and the MTA have fought off repeated legal challenges to congestion pricing and have blocked attempts by the federal Department of Transportation and the Trump administration to terminate the program. “New Yorkers are benefitting from congestion pricing every day, and that’s why we have fought to stop any unlawful federal attempt to end this program,” Hochul said. “And there are even more benefits to come: $15 billion in transit upgrades with major projects already underway, improving the commutes of millions of New Yorkers.”
The Mini
Our solver finished in 1 minute 32 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
By Dick Wright
For the Road
Back to School: Nonprofit arts organization Coney Island USA announced the launch of its first film school, with classes beginning Jan. 25. Enrollment is open now, and students will have the opportunity to be taught by cult movie and music video director Dylan Mars Greenberg. The classes are available for students as young as 12 years old. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to the longest-running syndicated game show in TV history, “Wheel of Fortune,” which premiered on this day in 1975.
On This Day in 1895, the Eagle reported, “One way of avoiding the income tax is to hire a lawyer to contest the constitutionality of the law. After you have paid his fees your income will probably be within the exempted figures.”
The next edition of Daily Brief will go out on Monday, January 5.
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