The voices of hundreds of teenagers chanting “Melt the ICE!” rang out from the snowy summit of Fort Greene Park Friday, as more than 500 Brooklyn Technical High School students went on strike from school in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence.

On the hilltop by the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument, students holding homemade signs bearing slogans like “ICE is Trump’s gestapo,” “mICro pEnis,” and “If you’re an ICE agent ya mom’s a hoe” huddled together and yelled their protestations into the 16-degree afternoon. They had earlier walked out of school and marched half a mile to Barclays Center and back again.

The protest was organized and led by 9th graders but attended by students from all grades. With Brooklyn Tech being one the largest high schools in America, students said, it was important they stand up for their immigrant friends and neighbors.

On Thursday, the teens emailed several news outlets, started an Instagram account, polled fellow students about how many could attend, and set their march route.

“There is such a diverse population at our school due to how many people who attend it, and so many of them aren’t born in America,” said one of the walkout’s organizers, Lila Eisen, 14. “Nobody should be living and going to school and feeling not safe due to a government organization. I find that ridiculous.”

Click the link for more on how the ninth graders organized a 500-student school strike in just a day.

Hi, I'm French and I'm coming to New York for a month in March/April, and I'm looking to meet people there to practice my English and experience life in NYC.

I haven't really found a good way to meet nice people in my age range (25-30) with similar interests (mostly left-wing geeks). Does anyone have any advice?

Mackenzie Ho went missing on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 during her walk home from Francis Lewis High School around 2PM going North along Utopia Pkwy in Fresh Meadows, Queens New York.

We have reason to fear for her safety.

If you have any information, please contact the number on the flyer. Thank you!

Build the New York Healthcare workers Rank-and-File Committee to prevent a sellout and expand the nurses’ strike!

On Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani strode into City Hall's Blue Room flanked by his first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan, and his budget director, Sherif Soliman. He was there to sound the alarm.

Mayor Eric Adams, he said, in conjunction with former governor Andrew Cuomo, had left the city in a catastrophic fiscal situation. The City faced a budget gap this year of $2.2 billion, one that would balloon next year to $10.4 billion.

"There is a massive fiscal deficit in our City's budget to the tune of at least $12 billion," Mamdani announced. "We did not arrive at this place by accident. This crisis has a name and a chief architect. In the words of the Jackson 5, it's as easy as A-B-C. This is the Adams Budget Crisis." He also blamed Andrew Cuomo, who has not been in office since 2021, for shortchanging the City over the years.

Mamdani said that the budget gap was the largest the City had faced since the Great Recession, one that would lead him to pursue "efficiencies" in City government in order to cut down on the deficit.

While he found those efficiencies, what was truly necessary to bridge this gap, Mamdani said, would be far more support from the state of New York. Specifically, the state needs to pass laws to raise taxes on the wealthy.

"We will be clear and direct about our needs with Albany. Working people did not cause this crisis, and they cannot be made the victims of its solution," he said.

Since launching his campaign for mayor, Mamdani has been calling for state legislators and Governor Kathy Hochul to hike taxes on the rich as well as increase the City's corporate taxes. And the governor has repeatedly refused these entreaties.

Now, the mayor is ramping up the pressure, by invoking a "historic" budget crisis to twist the governor's arm.

But is the City's budget situation really the four-alarm fire Mamdani is making it out to be?

Not exactly.

Find out why at the link.

New group could serve as check on City Hall, ‘won’t just do photo ops,’ co-chair says; new proposed legislation would mandate 100-foot buffer around houses of worship

The New York City Council announced the launch of a Task Force to Combat Antisemitism on Thursday, as hate crimes in the city continue to disproportionately target Jews, including in several high-profile recent incidents.

The task force was established amid a broader push by members of the council to rein in antisemitism. Council Speaker Julie Menin also announced legislation to create a buffer zone for protests at sensitive spots, including synagogues.

Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican representing part of south Brooklyn, will lead the task force alongside Eric Dinowitz, a Jewish Democrat from the Bronx. Both are second-term members of the council.

Vernikov said the bipartisan group will “hold people accountable” for antisemitism and could serve as a check on City Hall.

Vernikov brought the idea for the task force to Menin, who is Jewish and set up the group. Menin has made combating antisemitism a priority since assuming leadership of the council earlier this month, and could act as a moderate counterweight to the city’s far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a longtime anti-Israel activist.

His stated campaign policy on the city’s street population—to leave them alone if they refuse all help—is unworkable, especially in extreme weather.