Matthew Haag
Reporter at The New York Times
- It’s one thing to threaten to leave. It’s another to follow through.
- Private companies in New York City added just 956 jobs during the first half of the year, a dramatic slowdown in hiring that is just now showing up nationally. Outside the pandemic and the Great Recession, the last time hiring was this sluggish in New York? 2003.
- New York City is expected to welcome 400,000 fewer tourists this year than it did in 2024, a decline primarily driven by negative sentiment toward the United States among foreign travelers who have reconsidered their vacations.
- The new forecast sees 12.1 million international travelers, a 17 percent drop from earlier 2025 projections. Last year, tourists spent $51 billion in New York City — with about half by foreign travelers. Spending this year is now forecast to decline by $4 billion.
- Donald Trump was demanding $400 million from Columbia University. When he did not get his way, he stormed out of a meeting with university trustees and later publicly castigated the university president as “a dummy” and “a total moron.” That drama dates back 25 years.
- Some former university officials are quietly wondering whether the ultimately unsuccessful property transaction sowed the seeds of Mr. Trump’s current focus on Columbia.
