WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025
Today’s SCOOP is brought to you by our .
Dear New Yorkers,
Subway and bus riders are fuming over OMNY glitches that billed them late, kept them from tapping through turnstiles and has them enduring lengthy waits for customer service.
Vanessa Campos, 28, told THE CITY that she was charged 18 times between Monday and Tuesday after she only took a pair of round trips between her home station in The Bronx and her job in Manhattan.
The tip off? Her phone repeatedly vibrating as she tapped in at the Kingsbridge Road station. “I tapped it once and got charged for six trips,” she said.
The MTA claimed that they haven’t seen anyone overcharged, and that situations like Campos’ are the result of delayed charges all coming in a cluster.
But the agency only has so long to figure out the glitches: by the end of the year, when the MTA sunsets the MetroCard, the system needs to be “bulletproof.”
Read more here about the bugs in OMNY’s system keeping New Yorkers from reaching their destinations.
Donations aren’t the only way to THE CITY. If you like our reporting, forward this newsletter to a friend!
Weather ☔
It’s raining men! Hallelujah! Wait, sorry — it’s just raining rain. Probably in the afternoon.
MTA 🚇
In Upper Manhattan and The Bronx, the uptown D train skips 155 Street, 161 Street-Yankee Stadium, 167 Street, 170 Street and 174-175 Streets overnight this week. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
Alternate side parking 🚙
It’s in effect today, May 21.
By the way…
If you’re looking for a teaching job, NYC public schools is hosting a job fair in Brooklyn next Wednesday.
Our Other Top Stories
- Are you traveling over troubled bridges? Records show that some 118 sections of local bridges were found to be in poor condition in 2024 — see how the bridges you use fared here. (Our link to this story yesterday was broken!)
- In the Feds’ files on Eric Adams, the FBI surfaced texts exchanges between the mayor and a proxy of the Uzbekistan government — with Adams demanding campaign contributions while setting up public events that sanitized the regime’s image.
- As governor, Andrew Cuomo was the mastermind behind an unpopular reform that slashed pensions for future public employees and raised their retirement age. Now, in pursuit of the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers, he’s calling to reverse parts of it.
- What do you think the next mayor should do about bike lanes? See who agrees with you with our Meet Your Mayor quiz — with the candidates who most closely align with your beliefs ranked to help you fill out our ballot.
- Our summer newsletter is back! Starting tomorrow through Labor Day, THE CITY gives you the summer tips, events, weekend beach forecasts and interviews with the New Yorkers that make summer happen. Sign up here.
Reporter’s Notebook
Trump DOJ to Investigate Cuomo
The Justice Department has reportedly opened an investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo after he was accused of lying to Congress during a hearing on his time in office during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New York Times reported late Tuesday that the inquiry began a month ago and came from a referral first made last year by Kentucky Congressman James Comer, a Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The investigation into Cuomo comes even as Trump’s DOJ recently dropped a corruption investigation into Mayor Eric Adams, in part claiming that the charges that they were too close to the Democratic primary. Adams is now running as an independent for reelection.
Rep. Comer reportedly alleged that Cuomo — who is now a frontrunner in the city’s Democratic primary election for mayor — made false statements during a House investigation into New York’s pandemic response.
A spokesman for Cuomo said they hadn’t been ed or informed of an investigation, but the former governor “testified truthful to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political.”
— Katie Honan
Price Tag for Adams House Hearing Prep
Taxpayers coughed up more than $712,000 for a law firm, Norton Rose, to advise Mayor Eric Adams during his contentious appearance before a House committee targeting policies of so-called sanctuary cities, records obtained via the Freedom of Information Law show.
During the March hearing, in which Adams appeared alongside the mayors of Chicago, Boston and Denver, Democrats attacked his agreement to assist the Trump istration in its immigration deportation effort, allegedly in exchange for the Justice Department’s dismissal of his criminal case. Republicans, meanwhile, praised the mayor for his criticism of existing sanctuary city rules restricting the city’s cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
Two other mayors who made appearances, Michelle Wu of Boston and Mike Johnston of Denver, also hired outside counsel. A spokesperson for Mayor Adams did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
— Greg Smith
Things To Do
Here are some free and low-cost things to do around the city this week.
- Wednesday, May 21: Learn about the math behind how we measure the cosmos, featuring a screening of The Cosmic Distance Ladder. The National Museum of Mathematics, 7 p.m.
- Thursday, May 22: Hear Grammy award-winning bassist John Benitez at the Williamsbridge Oval. 6 p.m.
- Thursday, May 22: See new horror movie Dangerous Animals for free, followed by a Q&A with the director afterwards. Culture Lab in LIC, 7 p.m.
THE KICKER: To celebrate what would have been Malcom X’s 100th birthday earlier this week, take a tour through sites important to the activist and his wife: not in Harlem, but in Queens.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Wednesday.
Love,
THE CITY
PS. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom is powered by readers like you. Donate here.
Want to view Scoop in your web browser? Click here.
THE CITY’s work is made possible, in part, through the of our sponsors. Interested in becoming a sponsor of THE CITY? us here.
Copyright © 2024 THE CITY, All rights reserved.
