In wake of Legionnaires' outbreaks, a debate over NYC's water and industry influence

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ☀️ Mostly sunny, highs in the lower 70s.

It's Monday in New York City, where most of our famed tap water flows into town unfiltered from reservoirs and lakes in the Hudson Valley and farther upstate.

But following recent spikes in Legionnaires' disease outbreaks — cases more than doubled in 2025, hitting a 10-year record — some water management experts say regulating cooling towers isn't enough to combat the bacteria and the city needs a multi-billion dollar filtration plant for treating our water.

"The water in the tower is the same water that runs through the entire system," said Bob Bowcock, a board member of the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease.

One catch: Tax filings show that the Alliance is funded by a who’s who of cooling tower manufacturers. Does that make their argument invalid? 

Here's what else is happening:

• Representatives of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta, alongside tech industry whistleblowers, will testify before the City Council today about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
• Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the state's health department to stockpile 150,000 abortion pills in 2023 after a federal judge’s ruling in Texas threatened the availability of a similar drug. But New York never had to tap into its reserve, and now every dose has expired.
• Police said a 54-year-old Brooklyn man died yesterday following a medical emergency on Saturday, becoming at least the sixth person to die after falling ill in NYPD custody this year.
• New Jersey authorities yesterday reported the state's first death from West Nile Virus this year.
• New York’s prison system is mired in a cycle of rising violence and understaffing, with a current 56% vacancy rate among prison workers.
• A federal judge in New Jersey has rejected a Trump administration bid to sue pro-Palestinian activists who participated in a raucous protest outside a synagogue two years ago.
• Chip City, the cookie chain born in Astoria, Queens in 2017, announced it has closed all its locations nationwide amid a legal dispute with its former CEO and co-founder.

• An independent software engineer crunched the numbers and determined that the L train doesn't really need to stop at 3rd Avenue.
• ABC reports that George Santos is under federal investigation for possible insider trading on Kalshi.
• The intersection of Knickerbocker and Myrtle avenues in Bushwick has been co-named after Knicks guard and local legend Jose Alvarado.
• Call the other tour boats alternative experiences or "scams," but there's only one operator that's allowed to dock at the Statue of Liberty. 
• This TikTok star is cleaning up the city's tree beds.
• Ethan Slater is now starring in the Off-Broadway revival of "Little Shop of Horrors."
• Protect your neck.