The wind beneath your commute’s wings is on the picket line: The nation’s third-largest rail service, New Jersey Transit, ground to a halt yesterday as the train engineers’ union commenced a historic strike that’s leaving an estimated 350,000 New Jerseyans without their daily route into New York City.

TG it was F: The stoppage didn’t appear to cause morning traffic jams, likely because Friday is already the lightest day of the week for NJ→NYC commuters. Big firms, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, also let some of their affected workers type-type-type from home. Those who still had to come in did so by bus, car, non-NJ-Transit train, and ferry.

This is the first transit strike in New Jersey since 1983.

…and the second strike at a major US employer this week

More than 2,000 Starbucks workers at 120 US stores have walked off the job in the wake of a dress code policy change for baristas that enforces a simple uniform of black shirts with either khaki, black, or blue denim pants, per AP.

The scale of this week’s strikes is drastically different—NJ Transit workers lifted the main drawbridge, while Starbucks says 99% of its US stores are running normally—but their demands aren’t that different:

• The union for NJ Transit engineers wants equal wages with train workers employed by the LIRR and Metro-North, who often make $10 more per hour than them. About 50 NJ Transit workers have left for those higher-paying jobs this year, the union said.
• Starbucks Workers United has been on-and-off striking for higher raises and better staffing for more than two years. But this was the dress code that broke the camel’s back, especially since baristas are expected to provide most of the uniform themselves, potentially costing them money.

Zoom out: Auto workers and Starbucks employees were center stage in a 2023 labor movement beginning in the summer that saw several unions strike for better working conditions. But the National Labor Relations Board, which issued pro-union rulings under President Biden, will probably be friendlier to employers under the Trump administration.—ML

The GOP’s big tax bill got blocked by the right. The “big, beautiful bill” the president wants for tax cuts and other priorities suffered a setback yesterday when hardline conservatives on the House Budget Committee broke from their party’s leaders and joined with Democrats to vote it down. The GOP holdouts believe it doesn’t cut enough spending, and they’re seeking deeper cuts to Medicaid and a speedier removal of of Biden-era clean energy tax credits. The committee could ultimately still move the bill forward to the House floor after negotiations and changes, but it’s unusual for a bill to get blocked at this stage. The Republican majority in Congress remains small enough that the party would need to band together to pass the legislation.

Your cable company is probably getting bigger in the Charter–Cox megamerger. Cable giant Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, has agreed to buy privately held Cox Communications through a deal that values Cox at ~$34.5 billion. The tie-up comes as the companies are feeling squeezed on all sides, as cellphone carriers lure away their broadband internet customers and streaming services attract the eyeballs that would otherwise be on cable TV. If the deal, which may face antitrust challenges, completed, it will likely be one of the year’s biggest.

Fortnite says it’s blocked on Apple devices. There’ll be no bananas dancing on your iPhone just yet: In the latest spat in a yearslong legal battle between Fortnite-maker Epic Games and Apple, the gaming company said Apple had blocked its submission to be included in the US App Store and in third-party EU stores. “Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it,” the company posted on X. Epic had recently submitted to be in the US App Store for the first time in three years after winning a judge’s ruling that Apple must allow apps to steer users to websites for purchases without charging a fee. An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg the company hadn’t removed Fortnite from European marketplaces.—AR

It’s time for the Kentucky Derby posers to drop off and the real pony-heads to keep day drinking. Today’s Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in the coveted Triple Crown, is set to be historic no matter what happens: It’s the race’s 150th anniversary, Saffie Osborne could become the first woman jockey to win, and it’s the final Preakness that will take place at Pimlico Race Course before it’s demolished and reconstructed.

Pimlico opened in Baltimore, Maryland, 155 years ago and…it shows. Course officials condemned a huge swath of the grandstands (nearly 7,000 seats) in 2019 over safety concerns. And, starting in June, the remaining grandstands and clubhouse will be completely torn down and replaced by a new $400 million facility, which will open before the 2027 Preakness:

• The state of Maryland is investing $110 million to construct a new training facility in Woodbine.
• The 2026 Preakness will be hosted at Laurel Park, a nearby track that will be shuttered after Pimlico is rebuilt.

All this, but no Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is sitting out today’s Preakness, reigniting a debate about the potentially dangerous physical toll that three races in just five weeks can take on horses in pursuit of the rare feat of winning all three.—MM

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark: Novo Nordisk, the country’s corporate crown jewel behind the pioneering diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, announced yesterday that its longtime CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen is stepping down.

Novo said the decision was made “in light of the recent market challenges” and its stock price looking like it’s been on Ozempic after more than halving in the past year.

Lost MVP title

No longer the most valuable company in Europe, Novo has been losing momentum as the competition breathes down its neck:

• Eli Lilly’s weight loss and diabetes drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro outpaced Ozempic and Wegovy in sales growth last year. And clinical trials showed Zepbound to be more effective than Novo’s weight loss product.
• In addition, Lilly is developing a daily obesity pill, while trials for Novo’s next-gen weight loss treatment, CagriSema, delivered underwhelming results.

Novo also ceded market share to cheaper copycat versions of its popular drugs that US regulators allowed compounding pharmacies to formulate during a shortage of Ozempic and Wegovy. Though the authorized sale of these alternatives is essentially ending this month, Novo’s outlook still isn’t too cheery. The company recently downgraded its sales growth projections for the year, as it reported Q1 Wegovy and Ozempic sales declined by 13% and 3%, respectively, from the previous quarter.

For now…Jorgensen will keep working until a replacement is found.—SK

US consumers continue to do their best imitation of Charlie Brown’s sad head-down walk, with fears about inflation making them feel like someone just yanked the football away. New preliminary data from the closely watched University of Michigan survey released yesterday showed consumer sentiment in May declining 3% from April to 50.8—the second-lowest rating ever on record.

Economists had expected sentiment to rise during the survey’s most recent period—from April 22 to May 13—since announcements of trade deals with the UK and China were made during that time, per the WSJ. Instead, sentiment declined for the fifth straight month, putting it down ~30% from December. Nearly three-quarters of consumers mentioned tariffs when explaining their concerns (up from 60% in April).

But the vibes may not actually match the moment. Hard economic data shows that even as consumers have grown gloomy, the labor market has largely held up, and inflation has not soared so far this year. However, things could change as tariff pauses end, and the data is beginning to show fearful consumers pulling back on spending.—AR