Migrants are sleeping in cars outside a Midtown hotel

Plus: An award-winning bench at Newark airport [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [Migrants sleep in cars parked outside Roosevelt Hotel: ‘I’m stuck here, my car is broken’]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ⛅ Partly cloudy, with [wind gusts up to 50 mph]( and highs in the lower 50s. It's Wednesday in New York City, where migrants are [sleeping in cars parked outside the city's main intake center]( in Midtown as it becomes more difficult to secure a bed. Here's what else is happening: - Tens of thousands of New Jersey residents were without power this morning after last night's storm, and officials are warning of [serious flooding risks for Wednesday and Thursday]( along several rivers. - Check our interactive maps for New York City and New Jersey for [updated rainfall and flooding data]( in your area. - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul laid out a wish list for 2024 in her State of the State address on Tuesday, focusing on combating retail theft and bolstering mental health care. [Here's a full rundown of what she did — and didn't — highlight](. - One key aspect of her mental health agenda: limiting [social media's negative effect on teens](. - Over in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy used his State of the State address yesterday to call on the Legislature to [make the state more affordable]( by passing measures to defray the costs of an abortion and help people pay off medical debt. - We'll ask Murphy more about his speech — and the U.S. Senate campaign of First Lady Tammy Murphy, who's facing challenges from progressive insurgents — [tonight at 7 p.m. on "Ask Governor Murphy" on WNYC](. - You can also submit your questions for the governor by [using this Google form]( posting on X during the show using #AskGovMurphy, or calling (844) 745-TALK during the show to join us live on air. - Police on Monday arrested 12 men at a prominent Chabad center in Crown Heights for [attempting to stop construction crews from filling in a secret tunnel]( which the men had allegedly dug to access a subterranean mikvah, or ritual bath, they deemed significant. - New York state election officials are poised to decide on Feb. 6 whether Donald Trump is [qualified to appear on the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot](. - A Black girls basketball player in New Jersey was [barred from entering a game because she had beads in her hair]( prompting her superintendent to file a racial bias complaint. - Comptroller Brad Lander said he's [investigating the cost of Mayor Adams’ policy]( requiring migrant families to reapply for shelter every 60 days. - "'Pay-what-you-wish' could be confusing to people. Everyone knows what 'free' means": The Whitney Museum is now simply [free to enter]( on Fridays between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. - Two men detained at a New York state prison filed a lawsuit saying they were [brutally beaten and waterboarded]( by guards last fall. - New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who stands indicted on bribery charges, said on the Senate floor yesterday that [he's the victim]( of prosecutorial overreach. - FDNY firehouses have [a lot of pets](. - Mayor Adams has [a lot of clothes](. - "Yellow Face" is [coming to Broadway]( in September. - Joseph Esposito, the longtime NYPD Chief of Department who played a key law enforcement role following September 11th, has [died at the age of 73](. - Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who's running for the Democratic president nomination largely on the message that Joe Biden is too old, [had zero people show up]( to his campaign event in New Hampshire yesterday. (It was below freezing, and also a Tuesday.) - Page Six reports that fellow presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decided [not to attend his own birthday party-slash-fundraiser]( after a bunch of celebrities declined to attend. - Oscar Mayer [is hiring]( 12 new drivers for their Wienermobiles. - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. “[They're just helping the people who have families, little kids. If you’re a single man, they kick you out, send you to the street]( - Yovani Nieves, a venezuelan migrants who's been [SLEEPING OUTSIDE THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL IN A CAR]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [This bench at Newark International Airport just won an architectural design award]( The "recomposure benches" designed by Missouri-based firm HNTB were honored for solving a major problem: They give travelers a place just beyond the security checkpoint to put their shoes back on, repack their bag and generally get their stuff together. [Gov. Hochul wants to extend 2nd Ave. subway to West Harlem]( The governor is backing plan to extend the Q train to West Harlem by adding three stops along 125th Street. [We Rely On Your Support]( [NYC juked homeless stats and masked illegal overnight stays at intake office, report finds]( New York City’s former social services commissioner actively covered up unlawful overnight stays at the city’s lone intake facility for homeless families as a rising number of migrants began seeking emergency shelter in summer 2022, according to the city's Department of Investigation. [At start of crucial election year, Biden officials talk up his agenda in deep blue New York]( In separate interviews, WNYC spoke with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Blas Nuñez-Neto, who discussed the Biden administration’s efforts to address the migrant crisis, and Stephen Benjamin, a senior advisor to the president, on what exactly "Bidenomics" means. 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