The City Council votes today on whether to confirm Nadia Shihata as the next commissioner of the Department of Investigation, a decision that will either put the mayor's watchdog in place or keep questions about her independence from City Hall alive through every case she touches. NJ Transit is floating fares as high as $100 for train rides between Penn Station and MetLife Stadium on World Cup match days, with New Jersey officials pressing FIFA to help cover the cost before riders get handed the bill. And more than 34,000 building workers have authorized a strike that could begin as early as Tuesday, putting lobby coverage, package handling, and maintenance calls on a deadline that is now days away.

Mostly cloudy and warm, with morning temperatures in the upper 60s climbing to around 80 this afternoon. Humidity will make it feel a bit heavier than the number suggests, especially on platforms and in stations. The daytime commute should stay dry, any rain holds off until late tonight, with a chance of a brief shower or thunderstorm after midnight before clearing. If you are out late, streets can turn slick quickly at curb cuts and crosswalks. A light southwest breeze keeps things from feeling stagnant but will not do much for the heat underground.

The City Council is approaching a pivotal confirmation vote on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s nominee to lead the Department of Investigation, the city’s internal watchdog. Speaker Julie Menin is backing nominee Nadia Shihata, a former federal prosecutor, after a contentious hearing focused on whether she can act independently given reported donations to the mayor’s campaign and ties to his general counsel. A yes vote gives the mayor a key piece of his governance structure; a shaky or close vote keeps questions alive about how hard DOI will push when investigations touch City Hall.

More than 34,000 building workers with 32BJ have voted to authorize a strike, clearing the procedural hurdle for a walkout as soon as next Tuesday morning. Authorization is not a strike, but it is a loud signal that negotiations with building owners are strained and that the union is willing to withhold labor that residents experience as safety and stability. The closer the deadline gets, the more pressure shifts to buildings to plan for coverage, and to residents to prepare for slower responses and altered access routines.

New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District holds a special election Thursday to fill the House seat vacated by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. The result is across the Hudson, but federal representation in nearby districts can still shape the region’s priorities, including transit funding and emergency preparedness. For New Yorkers, the practical read is that cross-border coordination often depends on who is empowered in Washington when money and mandates move.

The city’s Department of Transportation has unveiled a plan to redesign West 72nd Street with a protected bike lane connection from Riverside Boulevard to Central Park West, aiming to create a safer east-west route that links the park to both rivers. The proposal drew strong reaction at a public meeting, reflecting the recurring tradeoff residents argue over in real time: safety upgrades versus traffic flow, loading, and curb access on a busy crosstown corridor. If the plan advances, the impacts will land in daily habits, from school drop-offs and deliveries to how quickly cars, buses, and bikes can move through one of the neighborhood’s most used connectors.

World Cup planning is turning into a transit fare fight as New Jersey officials press FIFA to help pay for crowd movement around MetLife Stadium while NJ Transit considers charging as much as $100 for train travel between New York Penn Station and the Meadowlands for games. Gov. Sherrill has said she wants FIFA to contribute and has indicated she is prepared to approve fare hikes. For New Yorkers, it is a preview of what special event pricing could mean in practice: higher costs for riders, greater strain on Penn Station funnels, and a sharper question of who pays to move big crowds without disrupting everyday service.

Cleanup continues after a freight train derailment in North Bergen, New Jersey, with reporting that it does not impact passenger rail service or traffic. Even with that reassurance, freight incidents draw attention here because the region’s networks sit close together, and disruptions can cascade quickly when they do hit passenger corridors. The immediate effect for most riders is vigilance rather than delay, but it is another reminder of how narrow the margin is in shared rail infrastructure.

A 32BJ strike, if it starts Tuesday, would hit the service economy at its most intimate level: building operations. Doormen and women, concierges, porters, supers, and cleaners are the people who keep lobbies staffed, packages tracked, trash and recycling moving, and small failures from becoming big ones. Thousands rallied on the Upper East Side ahead of the possible strike, shutting down Park Avenue as workers demanded that building owners respond to their demands. Residents should expect contingency plans that change access and response times, and in many buildings that means longer waits for repairs, less consistent lobby coverage, and a different feel of day-to-day security.

An Upper East Side bar and restaurant, The Spotted Dog, was shut down after a health inspection cited a long list of violations including evidence of rats, with the reported score far beyond the threshold for a C. The closure is the enforcement system doing its most basic job, but it also signals what diners should take seriously: conditions can deteriorate quickly in high-traffic places, and the city’s inspection regime is often the last backstop before a problem becomes widespread. The immediate impact is disruption for staff and customers, plus a clear warning to nearby businesses that standards will be tested.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing a new tax on second homes worth more than $5 million in New York City, a pied-à-terre tax aimed at raising roughly $500 million annually. The political shift is part of the story: an idea once framed as radical is increasingly treated as budget strategy, with luxury property again positioned as a revenue source.

The state budget process is drawing renewed attention for being both massive and opaque, even as it reaches into nearly every city system from housing rules to pensions. The mechanics matter because timelines and tradeoffs often get decided in last-minute negotiations the public sees only after the fact. The practical effect is that policies with real downstream costs can appear quickly, leaving city agencies, landlords, and advocates scrambling to adjust.

On the Upper West Side, plans to convert the Saint Agnes Residence on West 74th Street into 50 affordable and supportive units have been pulled by the developer, with reporting pointing to existing rent-stabilized units as a complicating factor. The takeaway is not theoretical: the housing shortage collides with the legal and financial reality of what already exists in a building, and even projects pitched as straightforward can become unworkable when tenancy, financing, and redevelopment goals clash.

The NYPD placed officers on modified duty after a chaotic arrest tied to what was described as a botched drug bust, with video showing a violent arrest at a liquor store; the man who was punched and wrestled to the ground was released. Modified duty is a procedural signal that the department is responding, but it also highlights how fast scrutiny intensifies when video captures tactics that look out of proportion. The next developments to watch are internal findings and whether discipline or policy changes follow.

Police are asking for help identifying suspects in multiple Upper East Side attacks within the 19th Precinct in which elderly New Yorkers were pushed to the ground, and in a separate case where a woman was assaulted and robbed inside a subway station. These incidents do not require citywide trend lines to be felt; they change how people move through errands and stations, especially older residents and anyone navigating entrances and stairwells alone. For readers, the immediate utility is situational awareness and attention to location details as police release updates.

Two teenagers pleaded not guilty in a case involving an alleged Islamic State-inspired plot near Gracie Mansion. The allegations involve extremist inspiration and a high-profile location, but the case now turns on what evidence is tested in court and what safeguards get debated in public as it proceeds. The concrete point today is posture: the legal process is moving, and the next information will come through filings and hearings rather than rumor.

The Bronx Documentary Center is running a retrospective celebrating photographer Martha Cooper, whose work documented the origins of graffiti and shaped how the culture was seen and understood. The show points back to the city as an engine of global aesthetics built from local documentation, and it lands as a reminder that cultural memory here is often made by people paying close attention to what others dismissed. For readers looking for something concrete amid governance and labor tension, it is a place to spend time with the city’s visual history rather than its current fights.

In Bed-Stuy, a new exhibit at The Bishop Gallery focuses on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s earliest works, pulling attention to the pre-fame period when his practice was still rooted in the city’s daily churn. The value is specificity: early work framed up close, in a neighborhood setting, without the noise of auction mythology. It is one of the few items today that asks nothing from you except attention, which can be its own kind of civic relief.

That’s Today in New York.