Wednesday’s Headlines: Juneteenth Edition

The staff of Streetsblog is off today in honor of Major General Gordon Granger’s June 19, 1865 order that enforced the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, which we celebrate today as Juneteenth.

We’ll be back with a full slate of stories on Thursday, but for now, enjoy a few headlines to get you through your news jones.

Congestion pricing was, again, the big story, thanks to Gov. Hochul saying some genuinely dumb stuff, including the contention that even though she killed congestion pricing and the $15 billion in funding it would provide the MTA, she still hoped to do big projects like the Second Avenue Subway.

Hours later, the MTA announced it had halted work on the Second Avenue Subway. So good luck with that, Congestion Kathy! (Lots of outlets covered the whiplash effect including Streetsblog, the Daily News, amNY and Gothamist.

And Hochul’s comments weren’t even the most absurd thing we heard yesterday: On the Brian Lehrer show, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand revealed that not all senators are towers of intellect by saying she supported Gov. Hochul’s congestion pricing shiv because the MTA can just build “hubs” for suburbanites to park their cars and then take a train to the city. Hell Gate took the piss out of the junior senator, but I also really liked Kevin Duggan’s take:

Also yesterday, we learned that Comptroller Brad Lander is filing Freedom of Information requests to find out more about Hochul’s decision. (NYDN)

In non-congestion pricing news:

• Dick in a box: Justin Timberlake was arrested for drunk driving in the Hamptons. (NYDN, NY Times)
• Speaking of things that should never happen in a car, a Westchester high school senior was killed in a crash. (NY Post)
• How about pols who name streets after their relatives? (amNY)
• And finally, the greatest of the greats is dead, and the city where he made his name is a smaller, less magical place today. (NY Post, with an egregious statistical mistake in the original online report, NY Times)