After the Trump administration axed over $800 million in Department of Justice antiviolence grants this year—nearly $60 million lost by close to 20 New York City nonprofits—groups like Exodus Transitional Community laid off staff and shrank services…
A clutch of New York medical schools has urged Governor Kathy Hochul to conjure up billions for a state-backed biomedical research fund, arguing federal cuts are hitting over 1,000 local grants and threatening more than 30,000 high-value jobs. The proposal’s $6 billion ambition faces stiff budget rivals, but apparently scientific competitiveness, like Manhattan real estate, is not for the faint-hearted.
State Senator Kristen Gonzalez unveiled her “Manhattan Community Safety Plan,” urging city and state leaders to treat dangerous drivers—not errant cyclists—as the real public menace, citing 614 crashes and four deaths in Community Board 6 alone this year. Her proposal spotlights “daylighting” intersections and protecting bike lanes, with the rare suggestion that common sense and New York traffic might, one day, even cross paths safely.
A New York state commission is probing why jury panels in Manhattan criminal courts routinely lack Black and Latino members, despite the borough’s famed “mosaic” of cultures. Pricy childcare, paltry compensation, and blanket exclusions for people with felony convictions thin the ranks, leaving juries more homogenous than the city itself—reformers count decades of official shrugs, but still nurture the faint hope of more representative justice, one allowance at a time.
A recent stabbing at Manhattan’s Macy’s, allegedly by Kerri Aherne—fresh from a year in the state-run psychiatric center—has rekindled debate over New York’s penny-pinching push to discharge troubled patients. As critics and Mayor Adams cite flawed supervision and a shortage of psychiatric beds, we suspect state thrift and bureaucratic improvisation are producing more drama off-Broadway than most tourists bargained for.
New data from Hell’s Kitchen suggests New York’s once-booming outdoor dining experiment has hit a regulatory wall: of 59 restaurants granted curbside permits, only 13 braved this year’s maze of fees and rules after the City Council’s “permanent” overhaul. As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani pushes for a year-round scheme and legislators weigh reforms, city life, it seems, still runs on red tape—with street eats as collateral.
The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to sell land beneath the Palace Hotel for $490 million, using much of the windfall to fund compensation for more than 1,000 survivors of clergy sex abuse—just days after promising a $300 million survivor fund. Proceeds will also patch up earlier loans and may be boosted by further property sales; evidently, redemption comes by the square foot in Manhattan.
Thirteen suspects tied to a Harlem gang were indicted for nine shootings, a teenage killing, and a scalpel attack inside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told us. Their 66 charges stem from a turf feud spanning NYCHA projects, with even teenagers allegedly rapping about the violence online. We note that creative youth engagement rarely features scalpel selfies or homicide verses—yet here we are.
A Manhattan jury is deliberating whether ex-NYPD officer Josue Torres’s forceful handling of two detainees—including a punch, a knee, and a twisted, broken thumb—amounts to mere policing or actual assault. Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over video evidence from Central Booking, shining a light on the active fault line between police training and legal boundaries. The thin blue line, it seems, is not as clearly drawn as we like to think.
