WNYC News

Five days after New York City was buried in nearly a foot of snow, a frigid sense of despair has fallen over the five boroughs.

Mounds of snowpack — once a lovely white but now a dingy gray and yellow — continue to block crosswalks and bike lanes across town. Many of the sidewalks that are shoveled have narrow paths that force pedestrians to squeeze into single-file lines. Piles of trash and recycling amassed on some streets as the sanitation department reported delays in collections.

There is no end in sight to the misery. The National Weather Service forecasts at least another week of below-freezing temperatures. Help by way of a thaw is not on the way.

While some veggie farmers take the winter off, meat producers are steadfast year round. Amelia Tarpey is a Program and Publicity Manger for GrowNYC Greenmarkets. She said prices vary depending on the cut and vender, but some cuts of meat like pork shoulder, beef shank and top round steaks can be better value for your money than what you can find at a supermarket because of it's freshness. Try Osso buco with beef shank, steak sandwiches with top round, or impress with the Puerto Rican classic pernil with pork shoulder.

During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump claimed undocumented immigrants were taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. But just over a year into his second term, the president himself is on course to take away thousands of construction jobs in New York and New Jersey, many of which are held by people who voted for his return to the White House.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is promising to partner with family child care providers in the rollout of universal care for 2-year-olds. But integrating those small business owners — mostly women of color who receive just $6 an hour — could force the mayor to make some difficult tradeoffs, possibly pitting worker pay against the total number of free seats for parents.

Providers who care for kids in their homes make up the majority of the 10,000 licensed child care programs across New York City, making them essential to any effort to expand care for young families. Advocates said these local businesses are also pillars of the community, often caring for generations of children within the same family, and employing alumni as adults.

Raising their wages while fulfilling Mamdani’s pledge for free universal child care will not be easy.

“It means that the money that is allocated for this year won't stretch as far,” Lauren Melodia, director of economic and fiscal policies at The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, said of the effort to raise providers wages. “But if we push to serve 2,000 children, paying people $6 an hour, there's also a danger there.”

New York City is investigating the deaths of 10 people who were found outside during dangerously cold temperatures and the biggest winter storm the city has seen in years. City officials said it’s too soon to tell how many of the deaths were directly caused by the cold. But Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference Wednesday that officials suspected hypothermia played a role in about seven of them, and about six of the 10 people were known to the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

David Giffen, Executive Director for the Coalition for the Homeless, joined WNYC host Michael Hill to discuss what it's like to be homeless during a cold snap.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani called out his political rivals for gross fiscal mismanagement on Wednesday, saying their decisions have left the city with a $12 billion budget gap that should be addressed by raising taxes on the wealthy. That and more in this week's Politics Brief roundup. 

As Tabitha Abed and her husband cleared customs at JFK Airport after 14 hours of travel from Kenya, the excitement of visiting New York City for the first time cut through their exhaustion.

New Yorkers can expect below freezing temperatures for at least another week and maybe even more snow over the weekend. 

So how can you stay warm and what can you do if the heat in your apartment isn’t turning on?

Josh Cucchiaro, the associate commissioner of code enforcement for the city’s housing preservation and development department, talks with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about tenant heating rights. 

Dr. Catrina Cropano is the medical director of the Mount Sinai West Emergency Department. She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson to discuss the dangers of extreme winter storms, and how to stay safe during the next one.

Despite yesterday’s snowstorm, New York City public school students didn’t exactly get a snow day. 

Classes were still on, but just remotely. 

We wanted to check in on how remote school went today. Bethany Trench, a first grade teacher at PS 199 in Manhattan, joins WNYC's Sean Carlson to talk more about how her day went.