NJ Transit rail service shuts down as workers go on historic strike

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ⛅ Mostly cloudy, highs in the upper 70s.

It's Friday in New York City, where commuters who live across the Hudson River have been advised to work from home.

That's because NJ Transit train engineers walked off the job at 12:01 this morning.

Amtrak, PATH and NJ Transit bus service are still running normally, but the railroad strike is still poised to be a massive disruption for commuters — and the transit network that Gov. Phil Murphy has so far failed to fix.

Here's what we know about the contract stalemate that has prompted NJ Transit's first major strike since 1983.

And here's what else is happening:

• The park by Brooklyn Borough Hall could get some serious upgrades — including a skate park and a new dog run — if judges agree to give up their beloved parking spaces.
• A highly anticipated new Marist poll found Andrew Cuomo leading New York City's Democratic mayoral primary race, with Zohran Mamdani a distant runner-up. Here's what this means with less than six weeks to go until Primary Day.
• As part of the sanitation department's latest anti-littering campaign, a public art installation featuring oversized sculptures of litter is currently on display in Cooper Square.
• What's behind the recent chaos at Newark Airport? Decades of deferred maintenance on the archaic air traffic control systems, according federal records and aviation experts.
• New York City cultural organizations say they're facing "existential" threats after the Trump administration began to abruptly withdraw funding granted by the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Republicans in Congress are looking to stop states, including New York, from enforcing laws that set guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence.
• Tickets for tonight's Knicks game are going for as low as $700, but if that's not for you, there are other ways to watch.

• If you didn't know, NASA scientists have been working in the space directly above the "Seinfeld" diner for the past several decades. The Trump administration is now attempting to shut them down.
• Documented and The City have the story of a 19-year-old who was arrested by the NYPD yet never prosecuted, but was still handed over to ICE and deported to a megaprison in El Salvador.
• NBC has the story of two Long Island brothers who've also never been accused of any crime but were still deported to El Salvador.
• Shout out to this Staten Island bodega that gives kids cash and snacks if their report cards show improvement.
• The feds are reportedly investigating UnitedHealth Group "for possible criminal Medicare fraud," marking another ominous turn for the company whose executive was fatally shot in Manhattan last year. 
• Even though the new pope is an American citizen, he doesn't have to pay U.S. taxes due to his particular vow of poverty.
• Good-looking sandwich in Ridgewood.
• Today's the day to party in the 516.