The New York City Council on Wednesday unanimously elected Manhattan Council Member Julie Menin as speaker the first Jewish person to hold the post, a role in which she pledged to be a speaker for every single member of this council. Menin was elected during the Council's 2026 Charter Meeting on Jan. 7, opening a new legislative session and continuing a women-majority Council.
Kat Lloyd stands in the dim light on the first-floor staircase of a dilapidated, New York City tenement building. Before her: a tour of wide-eyed teens on a field trip from their high school in Queens. Their guide, Lloyd, encourages the students to imagine the building's 22 apartments when they were new, back in 1863, and brimming with mostly German immigrants.