Emily Badger

The Trump Administration has rearranged funds to pay for the parts of government it values most during the shutdown. In court, it is now saying it won't do that for food assistance.

via @tonyromm.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...

The DEA said they arrested 171 ‘high ranking’ Sinaloa Cartel members. A Spotlight investigation found that’s not true. - The Boston Globe A Globe investigation found that the federal agency misrepresented the stature of its targets, claiming cartel ties at a time when the Trump administration is taking lethal military action against such groups.

A US Drug Enforcement Administration agent said the DEA made “high-level arrests” of 171 Sinaloa Cartel members across New England in August.

A Globe investigation found that many of the DEA’s targets were addicts, low-level dealers, shoplifters, and homeless people.

Judge Questions Border Patrol Leader Over Immigration Crackdown Tactics

“Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer. They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Good point, thanks for flagging.

Annie Weinstock, a BRT expert who helped us analyze some other strategies to speed buses, put it this way:

“He’s saying ‘free and fast buses.’ To us, as people whose main expertise is around making buses faster, what we’re mostly hearing is ‘fast buses.’ And we’re very excited for that.”

After talking to a lot of people about Mamdani’s idea, we came away with the impression that many New Yorkers like the spirit of it more than the literal plan. They’re taking it as a signal he’ll do *something* about the buses. NYT/Siena polling also suggests this.

There are also some real alternatives to free buses on the table in New York, like expanding the Fair Fares program that subsidizes half-cost rides for low-income riders. Scaling it up would cost a fraction of the full free-bus proposal.

Evidence in New York’s own pilot and other cities suggests free fares drive more ridership. BUT those added riders can wipe out the time savings of getting rid of the fare. To reap time benefits, you’d need to add service. Which costs yet more $$.

This picture is a free-bus Rorschach test: On one hand, it shows many bus riders stopped paying with the pandemic, so why not rip off the bandaid? On the other, the MTA thinks it can cut fare evasion, which would make the cost in lost revenue of free buses higher than Mamdani suggests.

Can Faster Buses Really Be Free? (Gift Article) An analysis of the possible promise and fundamental tension in one of Zohran Mamdani’s big plans for New York.

Can fast buses in New York actually be free?

@stefanoschen.bsky.social + Larry Buchanan and I take a close look at an idea that has helped propel Zohran Mamdani's campaign for mayor.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.

Yes, 10 Downing Street is in a similar spirit

White House East Wing: See Before Trump's Renovations, and Plans for His Ballroom Here's how the White House looked before demolition of the East Wing began, and what the president plans for it.

It's a decidedly different experience from walking up to the Capitol (or trying to approach the seat of power in many other countries).

Diagram of Trump's alternative proposal here: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Counterpoint: One of the more endearing things about the White House is that it's small. You walk up to it, and it's just... a startlingly modest building in scale... where a real-life family actually lives. You can get close to them, peer into their back yard, see them as human.

Musk doubles down in fight with Trump administration, risking his empire The tech executive has shown little sign of backing down from a battle over the future of NASA. It has spilled into the Transportation Department, which oversees regulation for Tesla.

One of the potential upsides of autonomous cars is that they could drive *better* and more safely than humans do. What's the point of programming them to have human-like sloppiness, making rolling stops and disobeying traffic laws?
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.

Remarkable photo via @washingtonpost.com of the White House undergoing demolition, after the president vowed that his new ballroom would leave the existing building untouched.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

To Fight ICE, Portland’s Leaders Turn to What They Know Best: Zoning

Portland leaders are trying to push back against ICE by targeting its... conditional use permit.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/u...

A video the White House circulated to portray Chicago as violent and chaotic used footage of drug busts, arrests and deportation raids in Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska, via the AFP.
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

If Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act falls, Democrats might need to win the national popular vote by 5 to 6 points to take control of the House, via Nate Cohn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Who Are the Louisiana Voters Behind a Major Supreme Court Challenge?

Landmark SCOTUS cases often have a public face, a plaintiff whose name and story become known to us all.

Smart @abbievansickle.bsky.social story on how that is not true of the 12 "non-African-American” voters nominally behind the VRA case before the court today: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/u...

Not Even Congress Knows How Much Money DOGE Cut

We thought about trying to quantify DOGE's effect at the end of the fiscal year — Musk’s own deadline for finding $1T — and realized it was impossible.

That’s the larger story: No one, even Congressional appropriators, can follow what’s happened to federal spending.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

For perspective in Portland: Former mayor Charlie Hales points out that the city is composed of about 25,000 blocks.

Fewer than 5 of them are touched by the ICE protests Trump has used to portray the city as "on fire" and in need of federal troops.

Thanks for citing it. Wish we'd thought of breaking out the bikeshare members!

Really helpful initial @jeffasher.bsky.social look at crime trends in D.C. during the federal law enforcement surge:
jasher.substack.com/p/re-evaluat...

Reading the City Book Club — Solid State Books A listing of selections for the book club

This is a breaking-news twist on our regular monthly book club: www.solidstatebooksdc.com/ssb-read-the...

DC folks! Come have a conversation with us about Home Rule at Solid State on H Street tomorrow night. Historian George Derek Musgrove will join us at 7 p.m. to talk about the epic DC history "Chocolate City."

Thanks for flagging. It looks like the issue is the promo image, not the numbers in the story itself. I'll pass along.

How Much Have Trump’s Cuts Shrunk the Federal Work Force? Shutdown Plans Offer a Clue. The number of federal employees has been trimmed by thousands since President Trump took office, according to contingency plans drawn up by federal agencies.

Shutdown contingency plans give us perhaps our clearest look yet at the workforce reductions across federal agencies: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

ICE’s Tough Tactics Were Forged on the Streets of Boston ICE’s Tough Tactics Were Forged on the Streets of Boston

WSJ on ICE activity in and around Boston finds, among other things, 95 instances of ICE activity within a mile of a school.

www.wsj.com/us-news/ice-...

Even New York City’s Wealthy Renters Can’t Avoid The Housing Crisis In a city where roughly two out of three residents lease their homes, record-high rents have long bogged down the working class. But these days, more higher earners are feeling the squeeze: At least 6...

Bloomberg: To understand why residents of New York City, the epicenter of American capitalism, are supporting a democratic socialist candidate for mayor, look no further than its warped rental market.

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...