Happy Tuesday in New York City, where Mayor Mamdani is advancing another of his signature campaign promises: city-run grocery stores.

The Mamdani administration plans to open five stores by 2029, one in each borough, beginning with a Hunts Point location in the Bronx at the end of 2027. The city will cover rent and property taxes, while private grocers manage day-to-day operations and sell essential foods at discounted prices.

The new $70 million program arrives amid a cost-of-living crisis, in which grocery prices have risen sharply and food pantries are inundated with growing numbers of residents in need. New work requirements imposed by the Trump administration separated an additional 22,000 New Yorkers from essential Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in June alone.

Yesterday, at a press conference outside the Campaign Against Hunger’s distribution hub in East New York, Mamdani promised that the municipal stores would offer all shoppers a 30% discount on core essentials like produce, meat, seafood, bread, milk and eggs. City officials estimate the program will reduce shoppers’ total grocery bills by about 15%, saving the average household roughly $90 per month, or about $1000 a year.

“There are no exceptions, no gimmicks,” Mamdani said. “The savings will last for the entire month, that means no weekly fluctuations nor sticker shock at the checkout line, not for our seniors living on fixed incomes nor for our parents who rely on a regular supply of apple slices to keep toddler tantrums at bay.”

The plan, however, does not come without pushback. Local grocers and bodega owners argue that the subsidized competition could eat into their already razor-slim profit margins. Some have suggested that Mamdani instead direct the subsidies to existing small businesses, allowing them to lower their own prices.

“We could deliver his promise,” Francisco Marte, founder of the Bodega and Small Business Group, told Gothamist.

Mamdani has countered that existing subsidized markets in the city have not damaged nearby businesses. “There is more than enough market for both existing grocers as well as one city-run grocery store,” he said. The mayor is also seeking experienced grocery operators to manage the new stores. 

“In the wealthiest city, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, no New Yorker should have to worry about being able to afford to feed their family,” Mamdani said. “Today, we are one step closer to fulfilling that fundamental responsibility.”

Every morning brings another artificial intelligence revelation spreading across social media like a juicy rumor.

Andrew Wilkinson claims to be running 40 businesses with a swarm of agents, according to Greg Isenberg, who shared the claims in a now-deleted post on X.

A solo entrepreneur, Wilkinson says he replaced an entire marketing department. When he forgot his laptop on a trip to Arizona, he allegedly kept his company running from the back seat of Ubers while AI handled customer service, software development and ad buying.

Isenberg was promoting his interview with Wilkinson.

You read posts like these with alternating flashes of awe and disbelief. One sentence sounds impossible. The next sounds completely plausible. The oscillation is the point.

Read on to learn more.

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