Happy Wednesday in New York City, where Penn Station is getting Trumpified.
After months of deliberation, the U.S. Department of Transportation and Amtrak officially selected a final design for the Penn Station rebuild. Renderings obtained by Gothamist depict a spacious new entrance hall complete with gold-plated columns and escalators, American flags on the facade and a presidential seal with Donald Trump’s name etched into the marble wall by the entrance doors.
Penn Transformation Partners, a conglomerate made up of Vornado real estate and construction companies Halmar and Skanska, will oversee the project. Vornado is run by longtime Trump ally Steve Roth, while Halmar Executive Vice President of Corporate Development Peter Cipriano worked as an advisor at the Department of Transportation during Trump’s first term.
The accepted redesign proposal will also raise the ceiling by as much as 50 feet, add two new glass-walled entrances and open space for new retailers. It also includes complete renovations to the station’s track area, among a suite of other alterations and improvements. The overhauled station complex will feature the classical architectural style preferred by the president and adopted for the White House’s new ballroom.
Federal officials took control of the Penn Station rebuild away from the MTA late last year, handing oversight of the project to the MTA’s longtime competitor, Amtrak. President Trump has called on Amtrak to begin construction by the end of 2027.
“The days of Penn Station’s cramped hallways, broken infrastructure, and snarled rail lines are numbered,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a statement. “2027 can’t come soon enough.”
Despite some discussion about renaming the station after the president, it appears it will continue to go by its original name. Still, visitors can look forward to the full Oval Office experience on their commutes.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to lower the rent for some of the poorest New Yorkers living in city-subsidized apartments.
A 14-year-old boy was killed Friday while subway surfing on top of a Brooklyn-bound J train headed over the Williamsburg Bridge, and an 18-year-old was critically injured.
As a candidate, Mamdani promised to fund the city’s three library systems with half of 1% of the city’s budget, but as mayor, Mamdani’s executive budget proposal coughs up just .42% of the budget — less than his predecessor had budgeted.
NY Attorney General Letitia James and NJ Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on Wednesday subpoenaed FIFA as part of an investigation into ticket prices for the upcoming 2026 World Cup tournament.
The Liberty will try to snap out of their early-season malaise to end a three-game losing streak tonight at the Barclays Center against the Phoenix Mercury.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP
WASHINGTON — Pressure builds in each round: Josh Verma, 11, of Germantown, Tennessee, reacts after spelling his word during the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at DAR Constitution Hall, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
2025 had highest local voter turnout in 50 years, with Brooklyn leading in registration
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani votes at a voting site on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York. Photo: Olga Fedorova/AP
The Campaign Finance Board’s Voter Analysis Report, released earlier this spring, revealed an unusually engaged 2025 local election.
Last year, according to the CFB report, New York City voters registered and turned out to vote in unprecedented numbers for a local election year.
The report also showed that last year, Brooklyn led the city for voter registration, as 1,675,259 Brooklynites — 97.3% of eligible voters — registered to vote.
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For the Road
Carnival Block Party: On June 4, the Brooklyn Museum will bring its mobile Museum on Wheels to Flatbush for a celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month. The Carnival-themed block party, which will be held at the Cortelyou Library in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library, will be free to the public. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to former N.Y. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones!
On this day in 1881, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Vint, the ‘little shoemaker,’ Brooklyn’s representative in the walking match at Madison Square Garden, is the phenomenon of the occasion. He has been going over the tanbark at the rate of about 110 miles a day, and bids fair to make the greatest distance ever recorded in a six days’ trial of pedestrian speed and endurance.”
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