Clifton Park, New York — In the spring of 2004, a truck driver named Joe Macken descended his basement stairs in Clifton Park, New York, with a simple idea: to see if he could build something cool out of balsa wood.
He decided on a miniature replica of the RCA Building in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. He enjoyed the process so much that the next day, he built another building. And then he just kept going.
He says there was never a point that he felt he had gone too far. Not even when he built all of Rockefeller Center, all of Midtown, all of Manhattan, then all of New York City.
Macken urban sprawled his way to a storage facility because his basement was too small to hold it all.
Each one of the squares in his miniature creation represents about 1 square mile of New York City. And for more than two decades, they have just been piling up.
“I was just going to look at it,” Macken said of his plan for the miniature city. “I don’t know what I was going to do with it. I had no plans. I mean, I never imagined it being in a museum.”
For the first time, Macken’s “Little Apple” is going on display in the Big Apple, at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan.
Joe Macken with his scale model of New York City at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan. February 2026.
CBS News
The exhibit, which opens Feb. 12, includes all five boroughs, every site and stadium, and every bridge and building. It consists of almost 1 million structures carved by Macken.
Macken noted that through it all, he has been supported by his wife, Trish. He described it as “a miracle” that she has been so understanding of his obsession.
When informed by CBS News that her husband plans on doing this for several more decades, Trish joked, “Alright, he might not have shared those details with me.”
Macken never set out to create a masterpiece. Yet here a masterpiece lies before him, because greatness is really nothing more than a million tiny steps, and occasionally, a spouse to at least tolerate the journey.
“I’ll just keep going,” Macken said. “I’ll build all of New York state if I have to. It’ll never be finished, ever.”
Another weekend will bring snow and bitter cold to parts of the country—this time across the Ohio River Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Wind chills could plunge to 35 degrees below zero.
What You Need To Know
Cold Weather Warnings are in place Saturday night through Sunday afternoon
Wind chills could dip as low as 30 degrees below zero
Snowfall totals will be around 1 to 3 inches with the potential for higher amounts in southern Maine and eastern Massachusetts
Snow chances
A cold front will bring snow to New York and New England from tonight through tomorrow. Totals will generally be light—around 1 to 3 inches—but a unique phenomenon known as ocean-effect snow could enhance accumulations in eastern Massachusetts and southern Maine (including York County).
A heavy band may develop there, with localized totals exceeding 6 inches. If this occurs, the most likely timing is early Saturday afternoon.
Here’s one model’s timing on the snow.
Cold Weather Alerts
Arctic air will move in behind the snow starting Saturday night. Area-wide temperatures will dip near zero, and gusty winds could drive wind chills down to 30 below.
Cold Weather Advisories are in place for the Lakes and Mountains region of Maine, Ohio and eastern Michigan, with Extreme Cold Warnings set to go into effect for New York State and western Massachusetts.
Cold weather alerts will remain in effect through Sunday afternoon.
A Cold Weather Advisory is issued when dangerously cold wind chills can cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 15 minutes. An Extreme Cold Warning is issued when frostbite and hypothermia are likely if skin is left unprotected.
Frigid wind chills
The cold will settle in Saturday night and remain locked in the Northeast and New England through Sunday. A gradual warmup will begin on Monday.
Several of these areas were hit with heavy snow two weeks ago, and much of it remains. Additional snow this weekend will only build bigger piles.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – A January 6, 2021, rioter, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to a harassment charge after being accused of threatening to kill U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Christopher Moynihan, 35, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge in a hearing in Clinton, New York, and will be sentenced in April. His representative could not immediately be reached.
“Threats against elected officials are not political speech, they are criminal acts that strike at the heart of public safety and our democratic system,” Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi said in a statement.
Moynihan, 34, was charged in October after he sent threatening text messages about an appearance Jeffries was scheduled to make in New York City, according to a complaint filed in New York state court in Clinton.
“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live. … I will kill him for the future,” the text messages read, according to the complaint.
“These text messages placed the recipient in reasonable fear of the imminent murder and assassination of Hakeem Jeffries by the defendant,” the complaint had said.
In February 2023, Moynihan was sentenced to 21 months in prison on charges including obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony.
He was among nearly 1,590 people charged in the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump.
On his first day back in office last year, Trump pardoned nearly everyone criminally charged with participating in the Capitol attack in a show of solidarity with supporters who backed his false claim of victory in the 2020 election.
Some other January 6 rioters have also been re-arrested, charged or sentenced for other crimes, according to a watchdog.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry)
A first-of-its-kind exhibit in New York City is drawing crowds of book enthusiasts. Ironically, none of the books featured are real. People who judge these so-called “Blooks” by their covers will have a surprise in store when they discover what’s inside these rare, novelty items. Lee Cowan reports.
Mamdani and Hochul had delivered a political victory. The people delivering the actual service would be New York’s child-care workers, who number some forty thousand, seventy-five per cent of whom identify as nonwhite women. They earn less than workers in ninety-six per cent of other occupations in the city, often placing them just above the federal poverty line. The patchwork system in which they operate, a mix of public funding and private payment, can be confusing and frustrating to parents, and to the providers themselves. Many caregivers are hoping that the newfound attention to their field will be channelled into making it more stable and equitable.
To some degree, this will be a matter of revising previous efforts to expand access to early-childhood education. The widely lauded universal pre-K program that was Bill de Blasio’s signature achievement as mayor began rolling out in 2014; 3K (free preschool for three-year-olds) started in 2017. Both programs used a centralized enrollment system to allocate children among a wide variety of providers, ranging from small home-based facilities and large nonprofit networks to campuses run by the city’s public-school system. The locations that weren’t city-run received contracts with the Department of Education. But this created a pointed disparity: teachers directly employed by public schools received better pay and benefits than their peers elsewhere, even when they had the same duties and qualifications. This was bad for the caregivers, but also bad for the programs where they worked, which have faced destabilizing turnover as employees left in pursuit of better pay.
“We are directly competing with the D.O.E., and they fund us—which is a very odd place to be,” Tiffany Roberson, who oversees early-childhood education at Hudson Guild, a settlement house that runs several centers in Manhattan, told me. Community-based organizations like Roberson’s account for sixty per cent of the city’s pre-K seats, according to the Day Care Council of New York.
After de Blasio left office, Eric Adams pulled back on support for 3K, cutting outreach and funding. City payments were extremely slow to arrive; a number of day-care centers struggled to cover rent and payroll. “We had some providers who went an entire fiscal year without getting paid at all,” Nora Moran, of United Neighborhood Houses, which represents many settlement houses, told me. Some took out loans to meet operating expenses. “The city doesn’t pay interest,” Tara Gardner, the executive director of the Day Care Council, noted dryly. (Adams eventually reversed course, in the lead-up to last year’s mayoral election.) Understandably, providers remain wary. “They don’t have a very good taste in their mouths for how the city runs these programs,” Gutiérrez, the city councillor, said.
That’s not to say that caregivers aren’t wishing for the best. “Parents are going to be happy—because I would have been happy,” Stacy Byrd, a pre-K teacher at the University Settlement Children’s Corner in East New York, told me. On a recent Wednesday morning, her students were learning about wheels and transportation. Outside, trains rattled by on the elevated tracks above Livonia Avenue; inside, Byrd was reading “Bear on a Bike.” The kids were in the “Fox” classroom, and, when the titular bear came across foxes in the forest, the students practiced little fox howls. The natural world had made an unwelcome incursion on their habitat the previous fall: a storm in October had flooded the building, and downstairs, months later, repairs were ongoing. Upstairs, though, the Foxes were snug.
Seventeen years ago, before Byrd got her start in early-childhood education, she was a mom flummoxed by child care. “I even wrote to the City Council to try to find out, Why is it that I can’t find affordable child care?” she said. At a loss, she sent her children out of state to live with their grandparents for a year. With help from her church, she was eventually able to piece together care back in the city. Her daughter, who is now twenty-four, has followed her into the field—she teaches two-year-olds at the Children’s Corner. Byrd said that she is “hopeful” about the new mayor’s plans. “I’m happy and proud that child care is one of the considerations he’s fighting for,” she told me. “Because I do feel like that is overlooked.”
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge will hold a hearing on Friday on the emergency request of New York and New Jersey to force the restoration of funding for the massive $16 billion Hudson River tunnel before construction is set to halt on Friday.
The states, which filed suit late on Tuesday, have asked for a temporary restraining order that would bar the U.S. Transportation Department from withholding funding.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese)
A man falsely claiming to be an FBI agent showed up to a federal jail in New York City on Wednesday night and told officers he had a court order to release Luigi Mangione, authorities said.
Mark Anderson, 36, of Mankato, Minnesota, was arrested and charged with impersonating an FBI agent in a foiled bid to free Mangione from the Metropolitan Detention Center, the notorious Brooklyn lockup where he is held while awaiting state and federal murder trials in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
A criminal complaint filed against Anderson did not identify the person he attempted to free. A law enforcement official familiar with the matter confirmed it was Mangione. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
Anderson is expected to make an initial appearance Thursday in Brooklyn federal court. Online court records did not contain information on a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. A message seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Mangione’s legal team.
According to the criminal complaint, Anderson approached the jail intake area around 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and told uniformed jail officers that he was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork “signed by a judge” authorizing the release of a specific person in custody at the jail.
When the officers asked for his federal credentials, Anderson showed the officers a Minnesota driver’s license, threw numerous documents at them and claimed to have weapons, the criminal complaint said. Officers searched Anderson’s bag and found a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade which was said to resemble a small pizza cutter wheel, the complaint said.
Mark Anderson’s bag contained a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade that appeared to resemble a small pizza cutter, a criminal complaint stated.
Anderson had traveled to New York from Mankato, about 67 miles southwest of Minneapolis, and was working at a pizzeria after another job opportunity fell through, the law enforcement official said.
The attempt to free Mangione happened during a critical stretch in his legal cases.
Hours before Anderson’s arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office sent a letter urging the judge in Mangione’s state case, Gregory Carro, to set a July 1 trial date.
On Friday, Mangione will be in court for a conference in his federal case. The judge in that case, Margaret Garnett, is expected to rule soon whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty and whether they can use certain evidence against him.
Last week, Garnett scheduled jury selection in the federal case for Sept. 8, with the rest of the trial happening in October or January, depending on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
The defense wants the death penalty off the table Mangione is also battling state charges. Erica Byfield reports.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison.
A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangione has attracted legions of supporters, some of whom have regularly turned up at his court appearances. Some have donned green clothing, the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi, as a symbol of solidarity, and some have brought signs and shirts with slogans such as “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan.
After several days of court proceedings in Pennsylvania, Mangione was whisked to New York and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center.
The jail is also home to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are facing drug trafficking charges. Its former inmates include hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
Accused killer Luigi Mangione, facing charges in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was back in court Tuesday. At one point, people in the courtroom had a noticeable reaction when a police officer revealed what he says Mangione told him as he was on his way to prison. NBC New York’s Erica Byfield reports.
By most accounts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to the first major winter storm of his tenure at City Hall was a good one. Aside from annoying snow pileups at bus stops, City Hall was prepared and ensured the basics were met: the roads were plowed and salted, and the temporary shift to remote learning for public schools on Monday went with few hiccups.
But amid the cold snap that gripped the city before and after Sunday’s winter storm, 10 New Yorkers died amid the elements. That happened even as the mayor enacted the city’s “Code Blue,” sending outreach experts across the city to counsel those living on the streets and connect them to shelter.
In an emergency like this cold spell, the city cannot allow anyone to perish on the streets from hypothermia and related exposure conditions. It shows the necessity of policies such as involuntary hospitalization to commit those who are no longer able to realize they are a danger to themselves and others — namely those struggling with mental illness.
The deaths occurred even as the city had connected 500 homeless New Yorkers into transitional housing since Jan. 19, according to Mamdani. Of those, 70 people were brought indoors during outreach efforts immediately before and during the winter storm.
On Tuesday, Mamdani acknowledged that the city needed to do more to prevent further unnecessary deaths from exposure and enhanced the Code Blue response. More social workers and homeless outreach experts are hitting the streets, and the city has opened up more warming shelters and warming buses at key locations — all in an effort to get everyone out of the cold and save lives.
No New Yorker should have to live on the street, or feel compelled to do so. The biggest challenge for the Mamdani administration amid this brutal cold spell — which is expected to go on through at least early next week — is not so much the resources being provided, but rather convincing street homeless to accept the help offered to them.
For years, many street homeless people we have spoken to in our reporting on other matters have expressed great mistrust about the city’s shelter system; they believe it is unsafe and does more harm than good. That stigma has been ingrained for years and it won’t be broken overnight.
Mamdani has been a critic of involuntary hospitalization in the past, but during this winter crisis, he has not ruled out its use as a “last resort” to save the lives of New Yorkers.
That is the right approach, but Mamdani should also apply that standard to everyday life in New York, not just during extreme weather. This must be the approach also for tackling those who suffer from severe mental illness and can no longer recognize their need for treatment.
Involuntary hospitalization should not be seen as punishment, but rather as a last-ditch effort to protect New Yorkers and give those afflicted the opportunity to heal and recover. In short, it can help save numerous lives and restore hope that no one in New York will ever be left out in the cold — both literally and figuratively.
Mississippi teacher among thousands facing freezing temperatures without power – CBS News
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Officials are still working to restore power for thousands of people amid a dangerous cold plunge. Meanwhile, ice is creating problems for waterways in New York City. Kati Weiss and Tom Hanson have more.
It was a relatively quiet start to 2026, with winter storms bringing heavy snow to the typical snow belts. The hardest-hit states included Michigan and New York, where lake-effect snows have added up, with some areas seeing well over 100 inches.
What You Need To Know
Snow was reported from New Mexico and Texas to Maine
Freezing rain and sleet brought icy conditions to Mid-South and South
Five tornadoes touched down in Alabama and Florida on Sunday
However, the Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, and even the Northeast hadn’t seen as active a start. In fact, these regions began the year with temperatures above average, some even having top ten warmest starts to January. But all of that changed on Jan. 23.
At one point, a large storm stretched over two-thousand miles, with millions of people under a weather alert.
Southern snow and ice totals
Two storm systems merged as arctic air surged south across much of the U.S. By Jan. 23, snow began falling in New Mexico. The highest snowfall accumulated near Bonita Lake, NM., where 31 inches of snow fell.
As the storm emerged east of New Mexico into Texas, it picked up moisture from the Gulf. Snow, sleet and freezing rain fell across the South. Dallas and Fort Worth, TX., picked up 1 to 2 inches with bitter cold that followed.
Northern Arkansas and Oklahoma saw higher totals, ranging from 6 to 8 inches, with a mix of sleet and freezing rain in parts of Arkansas.
Mid-South snow and ice
By Saturday, Jan. 24, snow and ice moved through the Mid-South, with the heaviest snow occurring Saturday night into Sunday across Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois.
With cold air in place in Missouri, snowfall totals range from 5 inches around Kansas City to over a foot of snow south of St. Louis. Kentucky saw snow at the onset before switching to a mix of snow and sleet, which limited the totals.
As the storm moved through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio Saturday into Sunday, it was mainly a snow event. Totals ranged from 6 to 9 inches across the region.
The Northeast and New England snow
With cold air in place in the north, it was an all-snow event in this region. The storm dumped over a foot of snow onto New York City, with the Boston area picking up nearly two feet of snow Sunday through Monday evening.
York, Maine, in the southern part of the state, accumulated 20 inches of snow.
Mid-Atlantic snow and ice
Snow fell in parts of the Mid-Atlantic before changing to sleet. Washington D.C. saw nearly 7 inches of snow before it mixed with and changed to sleet.
Central North Carolina picked up a few flakes before it mixed with and changed over to sleet. While not as icy as freezing, sleet still caused treacherous road conditions.
Southeast snow and ice totals
The colder air was in place in the northern parts of Alabama, Georgia and Upstate South Carolina. Some snow fell at the onset of the storm before mixing with and changing to sleet and freezing rain. Ice Storm Warnings were posted on Sundy and Monday across the region.
Severe side of the storm
The National Weather Service confirmed that five tornadoes touched down on Sunday. Four of them in Alabama and one in Florida. The highest rated tornado was an EF2 with winds estimated of 115 mph in Geneva County, Ala.
Airport delays
With all of the intense weather of the pass few days, airport delays and cancelations are prevalent. Here’s the latest below.
Cold air remains locked in place for the eastern two-thirds of the country.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ran on a message of making the Big Apple more affordable for everyday Americans, but some of his actions in the first few weeks of his tenure have served to undercut that reality.
In the early days of his time as mayor, Mamdani has already shown a penchant for vehemently defending low-wage, unskilled delivery-app workers in a manner that industry executives and business experts think will hit consumers’ pocketbooks. He sued a delivery app startup earlier this month for allegedly violating the city’s worker-rights laws, and warned the broader range of delivery app companies operating in the city to abide by ramped up worker rights being imposed at the end of the month, or else.
At a press conference announcing the lawsuit and accompanying demand letters issued to delivery app companies warning them to follow the updated worker protections, Mamdani also accused the delivery-app startup, MotoClick, of stealing workers’ tips. Among the reforms Mamdani has signaled he plans to vigorously enforce is a mandated tipping framework that estimates show could push more than half-a-billion in additional costs on consumers annually.
The updated protections will also add more delivery-app companies, such as those that deliver groceries, to the list that must follow the delivery-app worker rights laws, including a mandated minimum wage higher than what some emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the city make.
Zesty is now in beta in San Francisco and New York as DoorDash tests and refines its personalized matching experience.(iStock)
“We know affordability is not just about the cost of goods — it’s about the dignity of work,” Mamdani’s Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Sam Levine told companies including DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber. “Today’s lawsuit against Motoclick is not just an action against one company, it’s a warning to every app-based company from this Administration. You cannot treat workers like they are expendable and get away with it. We will seek full back pay and damages. We will seek full accountability.”
Mamdani pointed to a recent report put out by Levine, which showed disobeying city mandates going into effect later this month, requiring apps to give the opportunity for customers to tip before or at the same time that an order has been placed, significantly impacts the amount of incoming tip revenue. Levine’s report that Mamdani touted estimates alternative tipping frameworks, such as only allowing tips upon completion of a delivery, have altered tipping revenue by an estimated $550 million per year.
Mamdani also stood by in tacit agreement during the press conference as delivery-app worker advocates called for an increase to their already mandated minimum wage they have that is approximately $4.50 higher for delivery-app drivers than the city’s base minimum wage of $17 per hour. The workers said they wanted a mandate that they get paid $35 per hour, to which Mamdani replied: “closed mouths don’t get fed.”
Mamdani campaigned on raising the base minimum wage to $30 per hour for all New Yorkers by 2030.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a press conference defending worker rights for delivery-app drivers on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, his eager enforcement to protect delivery-app drivers will include making sure a wider breadth of delivery-app companies, such as those who deliver groceries like InstaCart and Shipt, abide by New York City’s extended minimum wage laws for their workers – plus the other mandates related to the tipping structure and more.
DCWP has indicated plans to set a minimum pay rate for all delivery apps by early 2027.
“The challenges facing delivery workers, small businesses, and consumers are real, and deeply interconnected. That’s why this issue cannot be reduced to a single policy lever or viewed in isolation,” a spokesperson for the Bronx Chamber of Commerce told Fox News Digital. “Small businesses across the Bronx and throughout New York City are already under extraordinary pressure. When additional costs are layered on without a full economic analysis, those costs are predictably passed down to consumers or absorbed through reduced hours, reduced staffing, or closures. When businesses close, communities lose jobs, services, and economic anchors, and the ripple effects are significant.”
The Chamber of Commerce spokesperson added that Mamdani has an opportunity “to lead by tackling affordability in a holistic way,” which they said would require “comprehensive cost analysis and coordinated solutions that support workers while ensuring the small business ecosystem and consumer affordability are not unintentionally harmed.”
Signage reading ‘Days of a New Era’ is juxtaposed behind New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a press conference he attended about reining in ‘junk fees.’(Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When reached for comment about the discrepancy between Mamdani’s message of making New York City more affordable for everyone, versus his push to protect delivery-app worker rights that could impact consumer pricing, a New York City Hall spokesperson argued that “the insinuation that putting more money in the pockets of delivery workers undercuts affordability is absurd.”
“Delivery Workers are important members of our city’s economy, and deserve to be paid fairly – anything less is unacceptable,” the spokesperson added. “As Mayor Mamdani continues to stand up for everyday New Yorkers and actualize his ambitious agenda to make New York City truly livable for families. Affordability has been, and will continue to be, a guiding light.”
But DoorDash’s head of public policy for North America, John Horton, said that ensuring delivery-app workers “earn double what many first responders in the city make” is not a policy solution they believe will make New York City more affordable. Currently, a local fire technician and emergency medical services union in the city is in the midst of a public awareness campaign to raise their wages because they make less than delivery-app drivers at $18.94 per hour.
Delivery-app workers in New York City must be paid $21.44 per hour according to local worker protection mandates. (iStock)
“A thriving New York will take a partnership between elected officials, the business community and workers to ensure we are all working in the best interests of New Yorkers in the midst of the city’s affordability crisis,” Horton added.
Fox News Digital followed up with Mamdani’s campaign to inquire about the complaint that EMS and some firemen in the city are making less than delivery-app workers, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
A massive winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic.
The ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” for days, the National Weather Service said.
The storm totals were quite impressive, but performed exceptionally close to forecasts. Some light freezing rain will create a light glaze overnight in some areas, making driving even more difficult Monday morning. Roads and sidewalks will continue to be very slick, as well.
New York City saw just over 10 inches, while higher totals could be found in the Hudson Valley, Connecticut and the northernmost areas of New Jersey. South of the city, totals were lower, as the snow changed over to sleet and freezing rain earlier in the day.
On the Upper East Side, January Cotrel enjoyed the fresh snow on a block that always closes during snowstorms for residents to sled, throw snowballs and make snowmen.
“I pray for two feet every time we get a snowstorm. I want as much as we can get,” she said. “Let the city just shut down for a day and it’s beautiful, and then we can get back to life.”
Further upstate, New York communities near the Canadian border saw record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown registering minus 34 degrees Fahrenheit and Copenhagen minus 49, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
The dangerously cold weather was just as big of a concern as the snow.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said earlier on Sunday that at least five people who died were found outside as temperatures plunged the day before, though the cause of their deaths remained under investigation. He urged people to stay inside and off the roads: “We want every single New Yorker to make it through this storm.”
Travel was, at best, heavily impacted, and at worst was brought to a standstill. More than 11,400 flights were canceled Sunday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that as of Sunday morning, the storm is the highest experienced cancellation event since the pandemic.
At LaGuardia Airport, 91% of flights (436 flights) were canceled. John F. Kennedy International Airport had 466 flights canceled, about 80% of flights, according to FlightAware.
Roads were treacherous, as vehicles all over the tri-state got stuck trying to navigate the slick conditions while plows could only do so much to keep up with all the snow. New York State Police said they responded to 250 crashes, but no deaths were reported.
New Jersey Transit suspended all service on Sunday, and only light rail service looked to be up and running by Monday morning. The transit agency said it would work to gradually ramp up bus service Monday, but not until later in the morning. The same goes for Access Link service.
When NJ Transit rail service would be back up and running, that start time was not clear, but it did not appear likely to be in the morning.
On Monday, the focus will turn to cleanup for many. Scores of school districts will remain closed for the day, but NYC students will have a virtual learning day, much to their (and some parents’) chagrin.
On Monday, we’ll see the “warmest” temperatures over the next several days: in the upper 20s. After Monday, another bitterly cold blast takes over for the remainder of the week.
The cold will be the predominant headline going forward, with high temperatures not projected to rise above freezing in NYC until the middle of next week, meaning most of the snow and ice from Sunday will stick around for quite a while.
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Tom Shea, Storm Team 4 and Kate Brumback and Julie Walker | The Associated Press
A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the 17-story building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.Chief John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors.Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said.Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations, and work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The building was formerly run by the New York City Housing Authority, but it has been under private management since 2024, city officials said.”It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said at a morning news conference.Mayor Zohran Mamdani said all utilities in the building were shut down, and all 148 apartments vacated. Officials set up a reception center for the displaced residents at a nearby school, and the American Red Cross was there to help provide housing and other needs.”As you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them,” Mamdani said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “They are not alone. Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet.”The Red Cross said it had registered more than 100 households and 305 people, including 89 children, for emergency aid by early Saturday afternoon.More than 200 fire and emergency crews worked the scene, according to the fire department. When the explosion occurred, some firefighters were trapped briefly in an elevator, officials said.”There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.Around half a million New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, which is the largest in the nation.Many of the properties date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to address chronic problems like lead paint, mold and lack of heat. When he wrapped his five-year term in 2024, the monitor, Bart Schwartz, noted that the overarching issue for residents remained the “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”In October, a massive brick chimney running 20 stories up the side of a housing authority apartment building in the Bronx collapsed after an explosion, sending tons of debris plummeting to the ground but amazingly not injuring anyone. Officials linked it to a natural gas boiler.
A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.
Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the 17-story building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.
Chief John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors.
Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said.
Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations, and work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The building was formerly run by the New York City Housing Authority, but it has been under private management since 2024, city officials said.
FDNY via AP
This image provided by FDNY shows FDNY members operating at a fire on the top two floors of a high-rise apartment in the Bronx, New York City, early Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
“It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said at a morning news conference.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said all utilities in the building were shut down, and all 148 apartments vacated. Officials set up a reception center for the displaced residents at a nearby school, and the American Red Cross was there to help provide housing and other needs.
“As you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them,” Mamdani said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “They are not alone. Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet.”
The Red Cross said it had registered more than 100 households and 305 people, including 89 children, for emergency aid by early Saturday afternoon.
More than 200 fire and emergency crews worked the scene, according to the fire department. When the explosion occurred, some firefighters were trapped briefly in an elevator, officials said.
“There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
Around half a million New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, which is the largest in the nation.
Many of the properties date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to address chronic problems like lead paint, mold and lack of heat. When he wrapped his five-year term in 2024, the monitor, Bart Schwartz, noted that the overarching issue for residents remained the “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”
In October, a massive brick chimney running 20 stories up the side of a housing authority apartment building in the Bronx collapsed after an explosion, sending tons of debris plummeting to the ground but amazingly not injuring anyone. Officials linked it to a natural gas boiler.
It’s been a long time since a major snowstorm set its sights on New York City, and residents are assuming once-familiar roles. Nervous weather watchers are overbuying at the grocery store, the mayor is projecting competence while crushing snow-day dreams, and John Homenuk — the enthusiastic but sober-minded meteorologist behind New York Metro Weather, whose “hype free” forecasts are a trusted resource for thousands of New Yorkers — is delivering cautious forecasts. On Friday, I spoke with Homenuk about what New York and the rest of the country can expect from an unusually expansive storm system and its frigid aftermath.
It’s fair to say that this storm is not going to be a miss at this point, right? There’s very little chance that we’ll get some paltry amount of snow? Correct. The range I put out is six-to-ten inches for New York, followed by some sleet, and that’s very much on the conservative side. Which is definitely intentional, because I feel that the potential mixture mixing with sleet at some point during the storm creates a lot of uncertainty. It’s unclear to me when that sleet changeover is going to occur. So I’m at six to ten right now, but getting higher amounts than that is totally not out of the question.
That does seem to be the big question — at what point the sleet starts. But you think it will happen at some point, regardless? I do. A little bit about the dynamics of this event: It’s definitely not a classic or one of the historic-looking snowstorms. Typically, our biggest storms come from systems that reform off the coast and form into a strong coastal low. If you remember January 2016 or even what’s called the Boxing Day Blizzard on December 26, 2010, those storms all had a coastal low that really strengthened rapidly off the coast of New Jersey and South Long Island. That’s how New York City tends to do the best with big snowstorms, because you have the dynamics from the strong coastal nor’easter, but when we are to the left of the low, the wind orientation brings in cold air from the north throughout the storm. So you are just funneling cold air in and you have the strong dynamics to keep the snow coming.
But this event is driven by a process called warm-air invection. Basically, it’s the movement of warm air from southwest to northeast. This storm is starting in Texas, and all that moisture and warm air is lifting up toward our area. It’s vectoring toward us, and that’s great for bringing a lot of moisture into the area, but it also brings warm air with it at multiple levels — not just at the surface but also a couple thousand feet above our heads. So we have a lot of moisture coming in from the south, a lot of lift to produce precipitation, but we also have this big Arctic high to the north. Typically, this would be a storm where it snows for a little and it flips over pretty quick. It wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s the massive Arctic high we have coming in just before the storm that’s making this so interesting and potentially significant. The combination of that big cold to the north and that moisture surging up from the south puts us right on this gradient where we could have quite a bit of snow before there’s any sort of changeover.
And that makes a changeover into sleet likely even if the actual air temperature is well below freezing? Yeah, though I think that’ll happen after significant snowfalls. Sleet forms when you have a warm layer that is a couple thousand feet above our head, so the snowflake falls out of the cloud and it falls through that warm layer. The snowflake melts into a raindrop, essentially, and refreezes when it leaves that warm layer as it’s tumbling down toward us, since that warm layer is pretty thin. It remelts into an ice pellet, and that’s what hits the ground. So you can very much have sleet with temperatures in the single digits or teens at the surface. If it’s above 32 degrees at 3,000 feet, that snowflake is melting on its way down. So what’s going to be really close is — how far north can that warm layer get before the high pressure to our north pushes back on it? And New York City is right on the line.
On Friday, those trends show that the sleet line is near New York City or maybe just south of it, which is the nightmare scenario for my sanity. The takeaway for New Yorkers is this: There will be significant, and anything over six inches is considered significant by the National Weather Service. I think the floor on this is at least six inches. The ceiling will depend on whether we can hold off the sleet. If we can’t, I think it ends in this six-to-ten-inch range and then we flip over to sleet if we can. We probably have a decent chance of getting a foot of snow or maybe even a little more of that.
It’s also going to be freezing cold before and after the storm, and there’s no end in sight to that trend. So the effects might really stick around. First of all, there’s a cold-weather advisory tonight in New York. That Arctic high is coming in, and I think it has slipped under the radar — that’s a weather joke.
Good one. People have not really been talking about it. Wind chills will be down to as low as minus-10 degrees. So that should be kept in mind, because if I know New Yorkers, we’re going out tonight because we can’t go out tomorrow night and Sunday. And it is going to be really cold then behind the storm, with the snow pack and ice pack and Arctic air mass coming down — this is the real deal. This is really cold. And so we’re talking real-feel attempts below zero during the evening multiple days in a row.
And then, not to be the bearer of bad news, but there is probably another storm threat coming up. That one is a little more boom or bust; it could be huge or it could be nothing. It’s much more coastal-storm oriented, a little more like the classic ones of the past, but right now you’ve got some models showing nothing and some models showing a huge storm. The other thing I know about New Yorkers is we’re always trying to be prepared. So big cold, don’t forget about that — and then just keep an eye on next weekend. I’m going to leave that alone until this storm passes to avoid confusion.
This is affecting an enormous swath of the country, including places like Texas and Tennessee that don’t usually get a lot of snow and ice. What is causing such an unusual setup? The Arctic cold — the press of cold I talk a lot about, these features called high-latitude blocks, and they are exactly what they sound like: a blocking high in the higher latitude, so Canada, Greenland, Alaska, We have a lot of them right now. There is a very strong high-latitude block over Alaska, and it stretches all the way across the Arctic and Greenland. That’s important because that blocking high takes all that air that typically is all the way up there and it dislodges it somewhere else. So in this case, it’s dislodging it straight down through Canada and into the United States. So you have this anomalously strong high pressure taking cold air and funneling it straight down into Texas, into the southeastern U.S., and you have a disturbance coming up out of Baja California at the same time. So it really is a timing thing where you have the incredible cold and the strong disturbance trying to drag moisture up. And the combination of that is leading to this really huge elongated area of winter weather across the country.
Which leads me to a point I definitely wanted to make sure people get about travel. I’ve gotten so many questions about this, and I think the travel impacts are going to be massive with this one. Someone said, “Why worry about travel on Saturday night if the storm’s not here until Sunday?” And I said, “Think about where your airplane comes from.” If your plane is connecting through Dallas or Atlanta on the way here, and there is a winter storm going on there, it’s not getting here. That’s how the cascade starts. So to me, if you’re flying from the second half of Saturday through all of Sunday and the first half of Monday, be prepared to have some problems. Maybe you get lucky and don’t have any, but this system is affecting seven major hubs for carriers, and it starts in Dallas and Atlanta late on Saturday into Sunday morning.
What does the pattern look like after that? Just more cold for a while? For now, it looks cold and potentially stormy for the near future. I think at some point in February we’ll get a break, but even that month looks colder than normal. If I take a 30-degree forecast and drag it out for the next 30, 32 days, we’re at least ten degrees below normal for that timeframe.
But how reliable are these kinds of forecasts more than about ten days out? Isn’t making long-term projections like that a tricky business? I would say specifics are not as accurate, but generalities are, and there’s multiple models showing temperatures below normal. So I think it’s more believable than not. With a long-range forecast, I wouldn’t look at a forecast that’s calling for 31.3 degrees on February 21, because there’s just no way to be that accurate. But predictability in the long-range forecast has increased enough so that if there are strong signals for below-normal temperatures on multiple pieces of guidance, it’s correct more often than not.
Are you excited after all these years of not much happening on the snow front around here? I’m so excited. I love this stuff, man. First of all, it’s so cool to see how excited people are about it. New Yorkers want to learn, and they want to talk about stuff. So the last couple of days have been really fun, and I think there’s a real opportunity to communicate this storm effectively to people. So I’m having a great time. I grew up on the South Shore of Brooklyn, and I remember the ’96 blizzard, the President’s Day 2003 storm — those are some of my best memories as a kid. So yeah, I love snow. I get excited for this stuff.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A plow clears snow in Michigan on Monday. Photo: Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette/AP Photo
Some 180 million Americans are bracing for impact as the threat of a severe winter storm looms across large swaths of the country from Texas to Massachusetts. As the weekend draws near, the final path of the storm remains uncertain: Models are predicting anywhere from minimal precipitation to close to a foot of snow in New York City.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service warned the storm system will bring heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain from the Rockies and the Great Plains beginning on Friday, moving toward the East Coast and potentially up through New England on Monday. The agency advised that the impacts of ice and snow will be prolonged due to plummeting temperatures from yet another arctic cold front. Currently, winter-storm watches stretch from parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Carolinas up through Ohio, Indiana, and Virginia, with more states likely to follow. By Thursday, that list expanded to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York.
As of Thursday, the NWS’s office in New York is warning that a “significant winter storm” is probable beginning on Saturday night with the heaviest snow expected to fall on Sunday into the evening, noting that the current probability of a snowfall of at least six inches is more than 85 percent. A social-media post from the agency urged residents to prepare for “considerable disruption to transportation and daily life.”
While plenty of uncertainty remains about the extent of the storm, New York City Emergency Management is urging New Yorkers to remain vigilant and “prepare for extreme cold weather this week,” as snow is expected with “at least a few inches possible” and the chance of higher totals based on the storm’s path.
“Think through how you will get to work if roads or transit are slowed. Make contingency arrangements for adult caregiving, healthcare, and childcare visits, especially if you or someone you love has disability, access, or functional needs. Plan for pets, including warmth, limited outdoor time, and enough food. Ensure you have enough food, water, and medicine at home for you and your family in case stores or deliveries are difficult to access Sunday or Monday,” the agency advised on Thursday.
The always indispensable New York Metro Weather X account writes that conditions are ripe for the city to potentially see its most significant snowfall in a decade, but it also makes it clear that the storm just missing the city remains a possibility and that at this point no forecaster knows for certain.
In January 2016, a massive blizzard struck much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic; Central Park recorded 27.5 inches of snow, the largest snowfall in modern New York City history. It just edged out the previous record holder of 26.9 inches during the 2006 blizzard, and between those were the two 20-inch blizzards of 2010.
The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Sean McDermott after nine seasons.
It’s a move that caught many by surprise: McDermott is out as the head coach, while Brandon Beane has been promoted to president of football operations and general manager.
Brandon Beane has been promoted to President of Football Operations/General Manager. #BillsMafia
McDermott had great success in turning around an organization that had a 17-year playoff drought, which he broke in his first season in 2017.
McDermott had a record of 98-52 in the regular season and was tied for the longest tenure of any coach before he was let go. His run included eight playoff appearances in nine years and five consecutive AFC East division titles, which came to an end with the New England Patriots taking the crown this season.
As good as the Bills had been, winning the Super Bowl is the ultimate goal, especially when you have an MVP quarterback like Josh Allen as the face of the franchise. McDermott was 8-8 in the postseason, making the conference title game twice, but never able to get over the hump with a number of heartbreaking playoff losses.
Bills owner Terry Pegula said in a statement, “Sean has done an admirable job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons. But I feel we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level. We owe that to our players and to Bills Mafia.”
Pegula also thanked McDermott and wish the best for Sean, his wife Jamie and their family.
The new leadership structure has Beane in charge of all football operations and leading the search for a new head coach. It’s an interesting development since Beane arrived shortly after McDermott and the two worked together with the Carolina Panthers. They were often seen as a package deal. There was even growing sentiment among observers that Beane might be in trouble; instead, he assumes even greater control in the front office.
McDermott’s final news conference after the playoff loss to Denver on Saturday included an impassioned and somewhat out-of-character criticism of the officials after a controversial interception call in overtime, saying “I’m standing up for Buffalo, I’m standing up for us.”
After a frigid and snowy weekend, the temperatures turn even more bitterly cold for the start of the week.
Drier air is moving in as the departing coastal low pulls away, so while a few flurries may linger, the accumulating snow is done for the day. But, be careful! The low temperatures that stick around will result in some black ice and general icy patches.
The big story now is the cold: several rounds of fronts will keep temperatures well below normal this week, with teens and single‑digit lows, highs only in the 20s, and wind chills dipping below zero at times.
There is a cold weather advisory up for parts of New Jersey for late Monday night into Tuesday morning with below zero wind chills expected.
The tri-state area will get a brief mid‑week bump into the 30s and lower 40s on Thursday before another push of arctic air arrives for the weekend, sending highs back into the teens and lows into the single digits.
And looking ahead, there is the potential for a snowfall event next weekend.
Late last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have required two-person operating crews on New York City subways, despite heavy pressure from transit unions. While the veto looked like a win for fiscal sanity, two-person train crews—and needlessly expensive transit systems—are likely here for the foreseeable future.
The bill, which would have mandated both a driver and a conductor on each train, cleared the state Legislature somewhat unexpectedly last year. It was pushed by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) to permanently codify more union jobs into state law.
Most NYC subway lines already operate with two-person crews under the current labor contract between the TWU and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Hochul’s veto stopped two-person crews from spreading systemwide, and it theoretically left the door open for the topic to be renegotiated in future labor talks, rather than being cemented into state law.
NYC’s two-person system is a global outlier. An analysis from New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management found that just 6 percentof the world’s commuter rail lines use two-person crews, with most operating safely with a single driver for decades.
Although unions insist two-person crews are essential for safety, evidence suggests otherwise. The Manhattan Institute’s Adam Lehodey has documented that London, which uses one-person crews, operates one of the safest rail networks in the world. Research from the Association of American Railroads, which compared one-person trains in Europe to America’s multiperson freight train system, similarly found no evidence of a safety impact.
But, as TWU President John Samuelsen told The New York Times, “It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” adding that a driver and a conductor make trips “visibly safer.”
The fight over crew size extends beyond New York. Under President Joe Biden, the Federal Railroad Administration enacted a rule mandating two-person crews for freight trains nationwide. While one might expect this rule to be repealed in a Republican administration, the GOP’s continued bear hug with organized labor has muddied the waters.
President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FRA Administrator David Fink both voiced support for the Biden-era two-person crew rule during their confirmation hearings. During his time in the Senate, Vice President J.D. Vance co-sponsored—along with numerous other Republicans, including Sen. John Hawley (R–Mo.) and then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.)—the Railway Safety Act, which would have legislatively mandated two-person freight crews.
The contradiction is especially stark in rail policy, as Trump recently fired numerous Surface Transportation Board members, presumably in an effort to greenlight railroad mergers—the type of pro-railroad stance that collides with the administration’s pro-union crew-size priors.
Beyond failing to improve safety, two-person crews are substantially more expensive. Switching to one-person crews would save the MTA $442 million a year. That money could fund real safety improvements, such as the installation of platform doors, which provide a physical barrier between passengers and the train until the train has come to a complete stop. After platform doors were installed in Seoul, South Korea, annual subway deaths dropped from 70 to two.
If anything, Hochul’s veto merely gives new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani more flexibility in future labor negotiations between the TWU and the MTA. Based on the mayor’s track record, it’s unlikely he’ll be a voice for one-person crews.
Given likely political support from both City Hall and the White House, two-person crews appear entrenched—and riders will keep paying for them.
NEW YORK CITY, New York: After years of expansion fueled by debt and rising pressure from cautious luxury shoppers, Saks Global has sought bankruptcy protection as it moves to overhaul its business and balance sheet.
The New York-based private company, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, said on January 14 that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas. The filing comes as the retailer prepares to reposition itself in an increasingly competitive upscale market, backed by about US$1.75 billion in financing commitments.
Leadership changes have accompanied the restructuring effort. Chief executive Marc Metrick stepped down earlier this month as the company grappled with debt linked to its $2.65 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in 2024. He was succeeded by executive chairman Richard Baker, who quit both roles earlier this week and was replaced as chief executive by Geoffroy van Raemdonck.
The company is also facing intensifying competition while working to reduce its heavy debt load, even as some customers push back against steep price increases in the luxury sector.
In a statement, the company said it was “evaluating its operational footprint to invest resources where it has the greatest long-term potential.”
Saks said it does not expect operations to be disrupted during the bankruptcy process and will continue to honor customer programs while paying suppliers and employees.
The retailer said it has secured financing commitments totaling $1.5 billion from some of its creditors, along with an additional $240 million in “incremental liquidity” from its lenders.
Hudson’s Bay Co., the Canadian owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, split off the luxury retailer’s e-commerce business, Saks.com, in 2021. Three years later, after acquiring Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue changed its name to Saks Global.
The restructuring unfolds against a weakening global luxury backdrop. Worldwide sales of luxury goods are expected to contract for a second consecutive year in 2026 as consumers worry that the global economy will curb spending, according to a study released in November by Bain & Co.
Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s oldest company, moved in March 2025 to begin liquidating all but six of its stores.
