Today, more people will be arguing about whether congestion relief works than there were after the FDA revealed Sudafed’s active ingredient doesn’t actually do anything. That’s because New York implemented its controversial Manhattan congestion pricing plan at midnight on Sunday. It’s the first such program in the US.

The Big Apple’s Central Business District is now also the Congestion Relief Zone, which covers the entire Manhattan street grid at and below 60th St. This includes Times Square, the Theater District, the Financial District, and other popular destinations for work and leisure.

Janno Lieber, the CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which is implementing the plan, called it “a toll system that has never been tried before in terms of complexity,” but here are the basics:

• Passenger and small commercial vehicles pay up to $9 per day at peak times to drive in Manhattan at or below 60th St. The rates are higher for trucks and buses—up to $21.60.
• Authorized emergency vehicles and vehicles carrying people with disabilities are not charged.
• Low-income drivers can apply for a 50% discount that kicks in after their first 10 rides per month.

Results may vary

Proponents of the plan hope it will reduce the out-of-control traffic that has made it faster to walk than drive to many places in Manhattan while raising billions of dollars in the long term to revive the MTA’s beleaguered public transit system.

The plan is based on London’s, which decreased traffic in its specified zone by 30% in the first year and ultimately improved mass transportation. However, London reduced car lanes as traffic subsided, repurposing them into pedestrian zones or bus lanes. Over time, the remaining lanes for cars got…congested.

New York’s workers, including those driving into Manhattan to work emergency medical personnel jobs, are not exempt from the new fees when commuting for work. Time will tell how the higher prices affect Manhattan business and tourism. Take a look at how things are going with this traffic tracker.—HVL

Biden awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 recipients. The award, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States, was bestowed upon a hodgepodge of a group, including politicians, musicians, athletes, advocates, and—for the first time—a fashion designer (Ralph Lauren). George Soros, the Democratic megadonor, and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic candidate for president, were feted, as were Chef José Andrés, Jane Goodall, Magic Johnson, and Bono. Three posthumous awards were also given to George Romney (Mitt’s father), Robert F. Kennedy (RFK Jr.’s father), and Fannie Lou Hamer, who helped get the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed into law.

First major storm of the year barrels toward 60 million Americans. Children from Kansas City to Washington, DC, may be enjoying a snow day today as severe winter weather conditions are forecast for 30 states. A polar vortex is threatening to dump heavy snow and ice from the Plains to the mid-Atlantic. Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri declared a state of emergency. Over 3,000 flights have been canceled, and United, Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines are waiving change fees. The National Weather Service warned the Central US to expect “dangerous or impossible driving conditions and widespread closures.”

Washington Post cartoonist quits after paper quashes cartoon. Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for editorial cartooning, announced on Substack that she left the Post due to the outlet killing a proposed cartoon that depicted tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg, along with Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Mickey Mouse worshiping at a statue of President-elect Trump. In Telnaes’s sketch proposal, WaPo owner Bezos, Altman, and Zuckerberg were shown offering the statue full moneybags. “I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now,” she said in her announcement. David Shipley, the Washington Post editor who made the decision, said in a statement that he chose not to run the cartoon because one past and one upcoming column covered the same subject, adding, “The only bias was against repetition.”—HVL

Ski patrol workers at Park City Resort in Utah are entering the second week of a strike that has brought the mountain to a near standstill during its busiest time of the year.

After months of negotiations, the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association and its 204 members went on strike against Vail Resorts, which owns Park City, on Dec. 27. The union is asking for an increase in base hourly wages from $21 to $23, which it says would cost Vail Resorts $900,000 per year.

Vail Resorts has an estimated value of $10 billion.

Vail’s position: The company says it has raised wages 50% over four years from $13 to an average of $25 per hour, but the union said that doesn’t cover the cost of living in the expensive area. The current offer from management is a 4% pay increase, which is about an extra $1 per hour.

Patrons are feeling squeezed: Fewer ski patrol workers means fewer open trails and longer lines, drawing the ire of disappointed skiers and one CNBC host. On Sunday, only 25 of 41 lifts and 104 of 350 trails were open. Vail Resorts has hired an estimated 30 to 35 patrollers from other resorts to work the open trails during the strike, which isn’t nearly enough to have the resort operate at capacity.

Bottom line: Shares of Vail Resorts have dropped 6% since the start of the strike, wiping out nearly $400 million in market value.—DL

CES 2025 kicks off on Tuesday. Las Vegas will be the center of the tech world for four days with the start of the world’s largest consumer tech trade show. AI will be the star of the show, of course: Expect to see AI integrated into everything from TVs to phones to toothbrushes. But be wary of the hype, as one of the darlings of last year’s CES was Humane’s AI Pin, which flopped nearly as hard as Juicero. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the face of the AI revolution, is scheduled to give a keynote address to open the conference.

NFL playoffs are set. The opening weekend of the NFL playoffs will feature six games across three days and won’t involve the Cowboys or Aaron Rodgers. Saturday’s slate has Chargers vs. Texans at 4:30pm on CBS and Steelers vs Ravens at 8pm on Prime Video. Sunday’s tripleheader schedule features the Broncos playing the Bills at 1pm on CBS, the Packers visiting the Eagles at 4:30pm on Fox, and the Commanders taking on the Bucs at 8pm on NBC. Wild card weekend concludes with the Vikings battling it out with the Rams at 8pm on ESPN.

Jobs report will be closely watched by Jerome Powell: At the final Fed meeting of 2024, the Federal Reserve spooked markets by signaling plans to cut interest rates twice instead of the four times it had previously projected. The prospect of rate cuts this year could dwindle even further if the December jobs report out Friday shows strong hiring from US companies. It’s also the final jobs report covering 2024, so we’ll get a Spotify Wrapped-esque review of the labor market’s performance last year. So far, experts say it was a good-but-not-great year for job growth.

Everything else…

• Donald Trump will be sentenced in his hush-money case on Friday, 10 days before the incoming president’s inauguration.
• Thursday is a national day of mourning in the US for former President Jimmy Carter. The NYSE and Nasdaq will be closed.
• The College Football Playoff semifinals are Thursday and Friday. Notre Dame will face Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, and Texas will take on Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl the following night.
• The first tennis major of the year, the Australian Open, starts on Sunday.

A 608-pound bluefin tuna—equivalent to the size of a grizzly bear, motorbike, or cow, depending on who’s writing the headline—sold for $1.3 million at auction at Tokyo’s fish market on Sunday morning. Only one fish has sold for more since records began in 1999, with a 613-pound Oma tuna fish equal to the size of a mountain zebra or a grand piano (we have Google, too) selling for $3.1 million in 2019.

The winning bid was placed by the Onodera Group, a Michelin-starred restaurant chain that has paid the highest price at auction five years in a row.—DL