Monday, October 26, 2026
Hochul's Answer to Doubled Utility Bills Is a $100 Check
Eight days before the election, Gothamist put real numbers on what it costs New Yorkers just to keep the lights and heat on: the average Con Edison apartment’s monthly heating bill climbed from $137 in 2019 to $238 last year, and a typical upstate NYSEG homeowner’s electric bill rose from about $70 to $147. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s answer is a “Ratepayer Protection Plan” and rebate checks of $100 to $200 — which even a Manhattan Institute analyst called cosmetic. At an Oct. 13 debate, Hochul blamed supply; her Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman put it more bluntly: “It’s out of control, and it’s because of you, Kathy.”
The takeaway — A governor who can’t bring the bills down can still mail you a check for part of one of them. That’s not an energy policy — it’s a coupon. Even the analyst grading her plan calls it cosmetic, and a hundred-dollar check doesn’t go very far against bills that have climbed this far this fast.
New York Ends 170 Years of Horse Carriages and Hands Drivers a Job-Board Link
On Thursday the City Council voted 40-7, with two abstentions, to phase out horse-drawn carriages in Central Park by June 2028. Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs the bill and plans to sign it. The push follows the June death of 18-year-old tourist Romanch Mahajan after a runaway carriage — a real tragedy, and one the Central Park Conservancy, previously neutral, cited as the ninth carriage-related incident in just over a year when it came out against the rides. But more than 150 drivers remain in the trade, and the transition plan the city promises them is job training, counseling and referrals — not guaranteed money. The transit union says it will sue as soon as Mamdani signs.
The takeaway — When City Hall wants an industry gone, it can end it in a single vote. The safety case here is real. The 150-plus New Yorkers who made a living at it get a referral sheet and a “we’ll consider it” on compensation — about what you’d expect from a government that’s much better at banning things than at paying for what the ban costs.
Mamdani's City Hall Found Time to Regulate Your Customer-Service Chatbot
New York City is writing the nation’s first rule against AI customer-service “doom loops.” The proposed Department of Consumer and Worker Protection rule would require any business operating in the city to disclose when it uses a chatbot, offer a human on request, and stop repeatedly sending consumers to menus that don’t address their questions. Fines start at $525 and climb to $3,500 for repeat violations, and the rule would reach companies far outside the five boroughs, as long as they do business here. A hearing is set for Nov. 19 and nothing is final. DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine says companies have “hid behind technology to ignore customer complaints, stymie refunds, and avoid fixing billing errors” — and that “every jurisdiction should do this.”
The takeaway — A city that can’t keep its own services running smoothly has found the bandwidth to write rules for how your internet provider’s chatbot talks to you. Every new disclosure requirement is a new compliance line, and the businesses paying it aren’t the ones who get a rebate check from Albany.