It’s not your imagination—your morning commute IS getting longer. Subway delays increased 45 percent in 2014. On average 43,339 trains were late per month on weekdays, with 9,468 tardy trains per month on weekends—these numbers went up from 29,774 and 6,917 in 2013. The delays were caused by increased safety inspections and ridership—6 million people rode the rails last year. If this weren’t bad enough, only 74 percent of trains arrived on time in 2014, compared with 82 percent the year before. The 6 train was the worst offender, with only 54 percent punctuality. (New York Post)
Some younger members in the city chapter of the Women’s National Republican Club are demanding an investigation after board member Irene Marmott allegedly said lesbians were not welcome in the club. The group’s Young Professionals committee said the lack of reaction by the rest of the board was cause for concern. A WNRC lawyer denies Ms. Marmott made any anti-lesbian statements. Barbara Bush, Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan are among the WNRC’s notable members. (Page Six)
New York City’s elite high schools are less diverse than ever. More than 5,000 students were offered admission to these institutions, but only 5 percent were black and 7 percent were Hispanic, compared to 52 percent of Asians and 28 percent of whites. In city public schools as a whole, 30 percent of students are black and 40 percent are Hispanic. Overall 48 percent of students got into their first choice high school, a slight improvement over last year. (New York Times)
The winter storms constantly hitting the city are causing manhole explosions. Six hundred grates exploded in the first week of February alone, causing countless injuries. It’s a symptom of the cold weather—salt applied to roads to melt ice frays cables that lie beneath the city streets, sparking fires. To stop these incidents completely, the city would have to replace its entire underground wire infrastructure every few years, but Con Edison is implementing a $1.3 billion electrical modernization project that should decrease their frequency. (Daily Intelligencer)
The American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service, a city mortuary school, is suing the Health Department because it no longer provides them with cadavers–a policy change which violates state law. Students at the school must participate in 10 embalmings to earn their degree, but without the bodies provided by the medical examiner, wannabe undertakers must race to funeral homes looking for corpses on which they can practice their art. (Daily News)
