New York
As Trump Returns, Murphy Plans to Protect Abortion Access in New Jersey
As he prepares for his final year as governor of New Jersey, Philip D. Murphy on Tuesday proposed banning cellphones in schools and disclosed plans to blunt any additional limits on abortion access by the Trump administration.
Mr. Murphy also said he would work to address last year’s alarming 14 percent increase in roadway fatalities by overhauling the state’s 10 most dangerous intersections.
Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, began his seventh State of the State address in Trenton by acknowledging what he called “the elephant that is not in the room”: President-elect Donald J. Trump.
“I know there is some uncertainty and even concern about what this administration will bring,” the governor said, drawing the first round of applause from the standing-room-only crowd.
Mr. Murphy, who plans to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration next week, said he “would never back away from partnering with the Trump administration” when doing so aligned with New Jersey’s priorities. But he vowed to fight Mr. Trump “if and when” those values are tested.
To that end, he said that New Jersey would stockpile a supply of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions, in the event that Mr. Trump moved to limit its availability.
Aides to Mr. Murphy said New Jersey’s Department of Health had already begun gathering a six-month “strategic reserve” of medications, including mifepristone, which will be stored with abortion providers.
New Jersey law permits abortion throughout a pregnancy. But the governor also said that he would pursue legislation to end out-of-pocket costs for the procedure, reiterating a proposal he made last year.
As he outlined his priorities for his final year in office, Mr. Murphy said he would push for legislation to provide full pay to state workers on parental leave, make full-day kindergarten mandatory in the small number of towns that do not already offer it and permit 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections.
But perhaps the loudest and most sustained applause came when Mr. Murphy said he would direct school districts to adopt policies that ban cellphones in the state’s elementary, middle and high schools.
“Our children are inundated with screens,” Mr. Murphy said, adding that cellphone use had fueled a rise in cyberbullying and contributed to a mental health crisis among children.
“We will help establish phone-free schools,” he vowed.
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said Monday that she planned to limit cellphone use in schools.
New York and New Jersey join a growing number of states, including Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota, that have moved to limit the use of the devices in schools. Los Angeles Unified became the largest school district in the United States to ban cellphones last year.
Mr. Murphy is prohibited by law from running for more than two consecutive terms, and November’s race to replace him is already in full swing.
Six prominent Democrats and four Republicans are competing for their party’s nomination to run for governor in the June primaries. The list of contenders includes the mayors of the state’s two largest cities, two members of Congress and a former Republican Assembly member who came within three percentage points of beating Mr. Murphy in 2021.
Indeed, the governor’s speech had a perfunctory air, and members of the audience at times appeared distracted; some repeatedly exited and re-entered the State Assembly chamber throughout the address.
The Republican leader of the State Senate, Anthony M. Bucco, called Mr. Murphy’s address a retread of costly, feel-good policy proposals.
“This state has become more and more and more unaffordable,” Mr. Bucco said.
“The days of spending outside of our means are coming to an end,” he added.
Still, the hourlong speech offered a window into major challenges facing New Jersey, including last year’s 14 percent increase in roadway fatalities.
Traffic fatalities nationwide have been declining. But last year in New Jersey, there were 691 traffic deaths, up from 606 the year before. Pedestrian fatalities soared by 32 percent.
The increase coincided with a drastic eight-month reduction in traffic enforcement by State Police troopers, who in July 2023 began writing far fewer tickets for speeding, drunken driving, cellphone use and other violations.
The reduced enforcement began a week after the state’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, released a report critical of the performance of the State Police, New Jersey’s largest policing agency.
In August 2023, the first full month of the slowdown, troopers wrote 81 percent fewer tickets statewide, and crashes on the state’s two main highways immediately began to increase, according to records obtained by The New York Times through public records requests.
Mr. Platkin has appointed Preet Bharara, a prominent former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, to lead a criminal investigation of the slowdown.
Mr. Murphy is the only official in New Jersey with the power to replace the State Police superintendent, Col. Patrick Callahan, who led the department during the slowdown.
On Monday, when asked about the relationship between traffic fatalities and the reduced levels of enforcement, Mr. Murphy said, “If we’re not enforcing the laws on the books, that’s unacceptable.”
But he also worked to shift accountability for the slowdown away from himself and instead place full responsibility on Mr. Platkin and Colonel Callahan.
“It’s on their backs to get this into the right place,” Mr. Murphy said, adding that he had confidence in both men.
A spokesman for Colonel Callahan did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, Mr. Murphy signed a bill that created a commission dedicated to reducing the number of traffic fatalities in New Jersey to zero by 2040.
On Tuesday, he told lawmakers that he would “work with all of you to make New Jersey’s roads safer.”
He also announced plans to “overhaul” 10 of the state’s most dangerous intersections “to keep our families safe and to help prevent avoidable tragedies.”
New York
Read the Indictment Against Nicolás Maduro
intentionally and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to violate Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c).
35. It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that NICOLÁS MADURO MOROS, DIOSDADO CABELLO RONDÓN, RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ CHACÍN, CILIA ADELA FLORES DE MADURO, NICOLÁS ERNESTO MADURO GUERRA, a/k/a “Nicolasito,” a/k/a “The Prince,” and HECTOR RUSTHENFORD GUERRERO FLORES, a/k/a “Niño Guerrero,” the defendants, and others known and unknown, during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime for which they may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, to wit, for MADURO MOROS, CABELLO RONDÓN, and RODRÍGUEZ CHACÍN, the controlled substance offenses charged in Counts One and Two of this Superseding Indictment, and for FLORES DE MADURO, MADURO GUERRA, and GUERRERO FLORES, the controlled substance offense charged in Count Two of this Superseding Indictment, knowingly used and carried firearms, and, in furtherance of such crimes, knowingly possessed firearms, and aided and abetted the use, carrying, and possession of firearms, to wit, machineguns that were capable of automatically shooting more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger, as well as destructive devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(c)(1)(A) and 924(c)(1)(B)(ii). (Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(o) and 3238.)
36.
FORFEITURE ALLEGATIONS
As a result of committing the controlled substance offense charged in Count One of this Superseding Indictment, NICOLÁS MADURO MOROS, DIOSDADO CABELLO RONDÓN, RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ CHACÍN, the defendants, shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Sections 853 and 970, any and all property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds the defendants obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offenses, and any and all property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit,
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New York
Video: New York City Hit With Heaviest Snowfall in Years
new video loaded: New York City Hit With Heaviest Snowfall in Years
transcript
transcript
New York City Hit With Heaviest Snowfall in Years
A winter storm blanketed the Greater New York area, leading to more than 400 flight cancellations across the region’s major airports. Parts of Long Island saw up to nine inches of snow.
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I think it was absolutely beautiful. We’re from North Carolina, so it was great to come up to New York and see the snow.
By Jorge Mitssunaga
December 27, 2025
New York
Vote For the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry of 2025
Every week since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has published stories by, and for, New Yorkers of all ages and eras (no matter where they live now): anecdotes and memories, quirky encounters and overheard snippets that reveal the city’s spirit and heart.
For the past four years, we’ve asked for your help picking the best Diary entry of the year. Now we’re asking again.
We’ve narrowed the field to the five finalists here. Read them and vote for your favorite. The author of the item that gets the most votes will receive a print of the illustration that accompanied it, signed by the artist, Agnes Lee.
The voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21. You can change your vote as many times as you’d like until then, but you may only pick one. Choose wisely.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Two Stops
Dear Diary:
It was a drizzly June night in 2001. I was a young magazine editor and had just enjoyed what I thought was a very blissful second date — dinner, drinks, fabulous conversation — with our technology consultant at a restaurant in Manhattan.
I lived in Williamsburg at the time, and my date lived near Murray Hill, so we grabbed a cab and headed south on Second Avenue.
“Just let me out here,” my date said to the cabby at the corner of 25th Street.
We said our goodbyes, quick and shy, knowing that we would see each other at work the next day. I was giddy and probably grinning with happiness and hope.
“Oh boy,” the cabby said, shaking his head as we drove toward Brooklyn. “Very bad.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in horror.
“He doesn’t want you to know exactly where he lives,” the cabby said. “Not a good sign.”
I spent the rest of the cab ride in shock, revisiting every moment of the date.
Happily, it turned out that my instinct about it being a great date was right, and the cabby was wrong. Twenty-four years later, my date that night is my husband, and I know that if your stop is first, it’s polite to get out so the cab can continue in a straight line to the next stop.
Ferry Farewell
Dear Diary:
On a February afternoon, I met my cousins at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Their spouses and several of our very-grown children were there too. I brought Prosecco, a candle, a small speaker to play music, photos and a poem.
We were there to recreate the wedding cruise of my mother, Monica, and my stepfather, Peter. They had gotten married at City Hall in August 1984. She was 61, and he, 71. It was her first marriage, and his fourth.
I was my mother’s witness that day. It was a late-in-life love story, and they were very happy. Peter died in 1996, at 82. My mother died last year. She was 100.
Peter’s ashes had waited a long time, but finally they were mingled with Monica’s. The two of them would ride the ferry a last time and then swirl together in the harbor forever. Cue the candles, bubbly, bagpipes and poems.
Two ferry workers approached us. We knew we were in trouble: Open containers and open flames were not allowed on the ferry.
My cousin’s husband, whispering, told the workers what we were doing and said we would be finished soon.
They walked off, and then returned. They said they had spoken to the captain, and they ushered us to the stern for some privacy. As the cup of ashes flew into the water, the ferry horn sounded two long blasts.
Unacceptable
Dear Diary:
I went to a new bagel store in Brooklyn Heights with my son.
When it was my turn to order, I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel with whitefish salad and a slice of red onion.
The man behind the counter looked up at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
Teresa
Dear Diary:
It was February 2013. With a foot of snow expected, I left work early and drove from New Jersey warily as my wipers squeaked and snow and ice stuck to my windows.
I drove east on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was tied up worse than usual. Trucks groaned on either side of my rattling Toyota. My fingers were cold. My toes were colder. Got to get home before it really comes down, I thought to myself.
By the time I got home to my little red bungalow a stone’s throw from the Throgs Neck Bridge, the snow was already up to my ankles.
Inside, I took off my gloves, hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and snow boots. The bed, still unmade, was inviting me. But first, I checked my messages.
There was one from Teresa, the 92-year-old widow on the corner.
“Call me,” she said, sounding desperate.
I looked toward the warm bed, but … Teresa. There was a storm outside, and she was alone.
On went the pants, the sweater, the coat, the scarf, the boots and the gloves, and then I went out the door.
The snow was six inches deep on the sidewalks, so I tottered on tire tracks in the middle of the street. The wind stung my face. When I got to the end of the block, I pounded on her door.
“Teresa!” I called. No answer. “Teresa!” I called again. I heard the TV blaring. Was she sprawled on the floor?
I went next door and called for Kathy.
“Teresa can’t answer the door,” I said. “Probably fell.”
Kathy had a key. In the corner of her neat living room, Teresa, in pink sweatpants and sweaters, was sitting curled in her armchair, head bent down and The Daily News in her lap.
I snapped off the TV.
Startled, she looked up.
“Kathy! Neal!” she said. “What’s a five-letter word for cabbage?”
Nice Place
Dear Diary:
When I lived in Park Slope over 20 years ago, I once had to call an ambulance because of a sudden, violent case of food poisoning.
Two paramedics, a man and a woman, entered our third-floor walk-up with a portable chair. Strapping me in, the male medic quickly inserted an IV line into my arm.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his partner circling around and admiring the apartment.
“Nice place you’ve got here.” she said. “Do you own it?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, all but unconscious.
Once I was in the ambulance, she returned to her line of inquiry.
“Do you mind me asking how much you paid for your apartment?”
“$155,000,” I croaked.
“Wow! You must have bought during the recession.”
“Yeah” I said.
They dropped me off at Methodist Hospital, where I was tended to by a nurse as I struggled to stay lucid.
At some point, the same medic poked her head into the room with one last question:
“You wouldn’t be wanting to sell any time soon, would you?”
Illustrations by Agnes Lee.
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