WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2025
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Dear New Yorkers,
Mike Knerr was excited to move into his Washington Heights apartment in September 2023, but coming off a hot summer, he faced a looming problem: his building didn’t have central air conditioning, and he didn’t have an AC unit — or the money to buy one.
However, through the Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP, he was eligible to receive a free air conditioner. And last year, he became one of more than 10,000 households in NYC who are authorized to receive the benefits.
Applications for this season’s HEAP’s cooling assistance opened Tuesday. But the future of the program is uncertain: the Trump istration in early April fired all the federal staff that ran the program as part of wider layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services and across the government.
New York has also yet to receive about $36 million of a promised $360.2 million in federal funds for HEAP, which helps over 1.5 million households across the state each year.
With the heat of summer approaching and utility bills mounting, consumer advocates and government officials are sounding the alarm.
Read more here about threats to the program that helps New Yorkers pay their heating bills in winter and provides ACs in the summer.
Weather ☁️
Cloudy and breezy, with highs in the low 50s.
MTA 🚇
The Manhattan-bound N train runs on the D line from Coney Island to 36 Street in Brooklyn through Friday at 5 a.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
Alternate side parking 🚙
It’s in effect today, April 16.
By the way…
The Frick Museum officially reopens tomorrow after a nearly five-year closure for renovations. Tickets are sold out for the next week, but you can reserve them here (and Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. are pay-what-you-wish!).
Our Other Top Stories
- Mayoral aspirant and former governor Andrew Cuomo was denied more than $2 million in public matching campaign funds on Tuesday, which could hurt his primary chances. While Cuomo’s spokesperson downplayed the outcome, the campaign’s own communications suggest otherwise. It sent an email to everyone on its list, not just donors, asking donors to immediately send additional information, proclaiming: “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.”
- The City Council is suing Mayor Eric Adams over an executive order signed last week that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate out of an office on Rikers Island. But they’re not suing over a violation of sanctuary city policy — they’re arguing he violated city conflict of Interest law through what they describe as his “corrupt bargain” with President Trump.
- Unions representing teachers, federal workers and healthcare workers are seeking to reverse the Trump istration’s gutting of a little-known federal agency that provides crucial mediation services to help resolve labor disputes. The agency says its service saves the nation $500 million annually that would otherwise be lost due to strikes and other disruptions — or at least it did, before it was targeted by DOGE.
- Lawmakers say they have a “framework” for a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul on changes to the state’s discovery law — a sticking point in the age of this year’s weeks-late state budget. If the governor does sign a budget with changes to the law, it would be a turning point in a long battle over how prosecutors share information with criminal defendants.
Reporter’s Notebook
New York AG Sues ‘Abusive’ Payday Lending Companies
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing MoneyLion and DailyPay, two prominent cash advance lenders, on Monday, alleging that they trap workers into debt using illegal high interest loans, hidden fees and “tips.” Last month, THE CITY reported that the thriving fintech loan platforms charged New Yorkers $500 million in hidden fees since 2019 despite New York’s strict rules on consumer interest rates, according to a report by the New Economy Project.
“Promising New Yorkers financial freedom while pushing them into outrageously expensive loans is downright shameful. These are payday loans by another name,” James said in a statement on Monday. “While many New Yorkers are worried about making ends meet, DailyPay and MoneyLion are making tremendous profits by extracting workers’ hard-earned wages.”
— Claudia Irizarry Aponte
Things To Do
Here are some free and low-cost things to do around the city this week.
- Wednesday, April 16: See the Museum of the City of New York’s new exhibit on the city’s dance culture, “ Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor .” The museum is free on Wednesdays! Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 16: Why are many English words spelled so differently than they sound? Gabe Henry’s new book “Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell” tries to figure it out. The book release party includes reading, g and spelling bee! Littlefield in Brooklyn, doors at 7 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 16: Attend a mayoral candidate forum — either in-person or over Zoom — about immigration, with co-sponsors including THE CITY and the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, 6 p.m.
THE KICKER: Why did the turkey cross the East River?
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Wednesday.
Love,
THE CITY
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