The MTA sent a letter to the federal government threatening to sue if it doesn't get a multi-million dollar reimbursement for the Second Avenue Subway extension project.

The agency claimed the US Department of Transportation owes it $58.7 million for work on the subway expansion to East Harlem.

The money was supposed to be repaid under a 2023 federal grant agreement, but DOT has not paid more than 30 invoices submitted since October, MTA officials said Wednesday.

The MTA’s letter, sent Tuesday by civil rights attorney Roberta Kaplan, warned that if overdue funds are not all released by March 6, the agency “will have no choice” but to go to court and seek relief.

It argued that continued delays could stall key contracts and drive up costs on the Q line extension.

He's a sleeping Tom.

Republicans vying for the GOP nomination to take on Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi poked fun at the incumbent for dozing off during President Trump's speech Tuesday night.

“What can I say? Tired Tom isn’t up for the job,” said Mike LiPetri, who narrowly lost to Suozzi in the 2024 general election.

“Sleepy Suozzi has made it clear he only wakes up when it’s time to trade stocks, raise taxes, and turn his back on Law Enforcement. Thankfully, I have the energy needed to fight for the people – and stay up past 10 p.m." LiPetri, a former state Assemblyman, said.

House District 3 includes part of Nassau County and Queens.

GOP candidate Greg Hach, also vying for his party's nomination, asked residents of the 3rd Congressional District to submit their guesses of just what exactly was going through "Taxman Tom’s exhausted mind" when he snuck in the public nap.

“Nothing” is an acceptable answer," the Hach campaign quipped.

The best answer will win 10-free trips in or out of Manhattan, a benefit that previously cost nothing but now costs $90 with congestion pricing during daylight hours, the campaign said.

“How much more of this guy do we have to take?” Hach said.

“Tom Suozzi made millions off his insider job in Congress, but he falls asleep during the State of the Union?! This isn’t representation, it’s a slap in the face to the people who pay his salary. It’s disgraceful."

Suozzi made light of his dozing off in a terse statement on X Tuesday night.

"I have always had a hard time staying awake watching reruns," he deadpanned, referring to Trump's speech.

Suozzi's opponents have hammered him for proposing a federal income tax hike on the rich and for his lucrative stock portfolio.

Suozzi laughed off the GOP criticism.

"Well, one thing is certain, Congressman Suozzi will be well-rested as he continues to fight for New York families by working across party lines to lower rising costs, secure our border, reform immigration, reinstate the complete SALT [State and Local Tax] deduction, protect our air and water and stand up to extremism," said Suozzi senior campaign adviser Kim Devlin.

Snow way!

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella is slamming New York State officials over redirected snow cleanup resources sent to Massachusetts as the Forgotten Borough continues to dig out of Monday's historic blizzard -- which dumped 29 inches of snow in some sections.

"The Borough continues to deal with the aftermath - hazardous streets and sidewalks inundated with snow that are gradually being cleared by a combination of DSNY, private and State resources," Fossella's office said in a statement Wednesday.

"BP Fossella has called for additional resources to be sent to Staten Island, which faced the worst snow accumulation in the entire city," the statement reads, adding the pol will "condemn and question this unacceptable relocation of resources elsewhere" at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

The resource relocation -- deployed as part of a federal mutual aid system -- was announced Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul as a blizzard dumped more than two feet of snow on The Bay State.

New York's resources include 10 large dump trucks and 16 personnel from the New York State Thruway Authority; 58 personnel from the New York State Department of Transportation and nearly 70 pieces of equipment.

The Empire State's most powerful unions — including the United Federation of Teachers — are backing a "tax the rich" campaign that includes a proposal taking a bigger bite out of New Yorkers who are not millionaires.

The unions representing government workers -- listed as supporting the Democratic Socialists of America's "Tax the Rich" rally in Albany Wednesday -- stand to benefit from the billions of dollars in revenues raised by the potential massive tax hikes.

The DSA is pushing one piece of legislation, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani championed as a state assemblyman, that would not just hit millionaires as claimed -- but would also raise state income taxes by 10% on couples making $500,000.

Backers of the pro-tax campaign include the "Strong Economy for All Coalition," with members such as the powerful UFT and affiliated New York State United Teachers unions, 1199 SEIU representing health care workers, the Communication Workers of America and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Other groups backing the movement include: New Yorkers United for Child Care; the United Auto Workers Local 9A; the Professional Staff Congress representing CUNY professors; the NYS Nurses' Association; the left-wing Working Families Party; the Federal Unionists Network; the Alliance for Quality Education; New Yorkers United for Child Care and housing activists including the NYS Tenant Bloc and Met Council, among others.

But state Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar claimed union leaders may be out of step with their membership, noting nearly half of city voters in labor-heavy districts voted against tax-happy Mamdani in last fall's general election.

"Couples making $500,000 in New York are not considered rich people. Affordability comes from not raising taxes, but lowering costs," Kassar said.

He said many unionized government workers believe bloated government spending could be trimmed.

"Raising taxes will spur an exodus from New York and eventually you'll run out of people and destroy the tax base that funds the services," Kassar said.

Spearheading the coalition are Mamdani's pals at the New York City chapter of the DSA, which even has a website taxtherichny.com.

The bill pushed by the group would also increase the top rate by 220% to 24% on super-rich joint filers making more than $25 million.

While Mamdani didn't attend the rally, he told reporters he was supportive of the tax hike campaign. A group founded by supporters of the mayor, Our Time for An Affordable NYC, is listed as part of campaign.

The city's top cop issued a harsh warning in the wake of the snowball attack in Washington Square Park: "Don't mess with my cops."

Stopped leaving City Hall after meeting with Mamdani administration officials, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch exclusively told The Post that she has spoken with the mayor after he repeatedly downplayed the incident Monday.

"I did speak to the mayor and the investigation is ongoing," she said.

Tisch has called the incident, which led to two cops being treated at a hospital for cuts on their face, "disgrace" and "criminal" in the hours after the viral ordeal made the rounds online.

But Mayor Zohran Mamdani has repeatedly blown it off as merely a snowball fight with kids.

When pressed again on the comments by the mayor, Tisch instead offered up her stern warning.

"I’ll say, as to anyone looking to do harm to the police, my message is very clear: I am a protective Jewish mother. Don’t mess with my cops."

A pro-AI super PAC is out again with another big-money hit on Assembly Member and congressional candidate Alex Bores for his campaign's ties to crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried.

The seven-figure ad buy, put out by the Think Big PAC and shared exclusively with The Post, goes after Bores for accepting money from the convicted fraudster.

"Bores got over one hundred thousand dollars in support from Sam Bankman-Fried," the ad says. "Sam may be in prison for stealing billions, but his pals are still helping Alex. Their vision? Controlling all technology to make themselves billions."

"Bores and his buddies are wrong for Manhattan."

Bankman-Fried's super PAC, Protect Our Future, dropped $100,000 during Bores' primary back in 2022, election records show.

He also received another $35,000 from the following years from other PACs connected to Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year prison stint for his role in massive crypto scam.

Bores is running in the the crowded Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District in Manhattan to replace outgoing Representative Jerry Nadler.

The buy is just the latest for the PAC.

It previously dropped $326,000 for a TV spot last month, and another $126,000 the month prior on another attack ad.

The Democratic Socialist of America's rally in Albany to call for raising the taxes on the rich drew a paltry crowd after calling for more than 10,000 to flood the state capital.

Organizers said that about 1,500 to 1,700 people signed up online to attend the event on Wednesday.

But as of 11:30, the crowd appeared to have around 1,000 people show up for the event.

"The bus isn't even full," one politico pointed out to The Post.

The rally is pushing legislation that would not only add more income tax to people making $1 million or more — but also a 10% hike for households making $500,000 or more.

New York City's social services budget has exploded since the pandemic by more than half — while the rest of the state has had to repeatedly cut, the state's budget chief said Wednesday

Speaking at a Citizen's Budget Commission breakfast Wednesday morning, the state's budget director, Blake Washington, said that the city needs to "refine" its spending with the Mamdani administration claiming they need $5.4 billion from the state to balance its budget.

“We all have big hearts and want to provide the biggest public safety net,” Washington said.

But Washington continued that social services in NYC have ballooned by 50% since pandemic while rest of state has decreased by about a quarter.

“Your ability to help needs to have some guardrails," he added.

The budget line for housing vouchers has drastically increased under the City Council's expansion from a few hundred million to more than $1.8 billion, budget docs show.

The CBC has said that the cityFHEPs program could come in even higher at $3.2 billion annually.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters that his lack of attendance at his DSA comrades' "Tax the Rich" rally in Albany by no means signals any change in his belief in raising taxes.

“I’ve made it clear time and time again that I believe that the importance of taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers that little bit more, as well as the most profitable corporations, and doing so while also ending the drain that has long characterized our city’s fiscal relationship with the state," he said Wednesday.

"My not attending one event does not change in any way the strength with which I believe this, the urgency with which I believe we have to respond to it.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down Wednesday on downplaying viral videos of NYPD officers being pelted with snow -- repeatedly waving it off as a "snowball fight."

The mayor, asked again about the Monday incident in Washington Square Park, repeatedly stood by his controversial comments.

“I’ve shared my thoughts with New Yorkers," Mamdani said when at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday.

Pressed again, Hizzoner tripled down.

"I've said time and time again that I having seen these videos, to me it was a snowball fight that got out of hand and it should be treated accordingly," he insisted.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the incident "criminal" and said the department was investigating.

The NYPD has so far released images of four suspects wanted for intentionally striking two cops with ice and snow, in the face, head and neck.

One officer suffered a possible contusion behind his eye, while the other had a headache from getting hit in the back of the head, a law enforcement source said. 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Erin Dalton as his commissioner of social services — a former Pennsylvania official who faced backlash after implementing an AI algorithm that disproportionately targeted black families.

Dalton comes from the Pittsburgh area of the state where she served as Allegheny County's director of Department of Human Services.

The Mamdani administration heralded her efforts there to get homeless people off the streets without using the threat of jail and her implementation of a county mobile response team that sent out mental health workers on 911 calls.

"Erin Dalton has spent decades proving that government can and must work better for people who rely on it most," Mamdani said. "She has expanded access to housing, strengthened social services and protected our most vulnerable neighbors."

But Dalton faced blowback for her oversight of the child welfare program in the county, which has less than half the population of as Queens alone.

Allegheny County's algorithm repeatedly flagged black children much more than their white counter parters for "mandatory" follow-ups, alleging potential neglect, according to the Associated Press.

County officials brushed off the concern, saying social workers had the ability to override the tool.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and lefty Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparked online backlash after urging illegal immigrants to sign up for free Big Apple childcare in a cringey Spanish-language ad. 

The democratic socialists awkwardly stumbled through their lines in Spanish in a promo shared on social media Tuesday, alerting migrant parents — including those in the country illegally — of the looming deadline to enroll in free 3-K and Pre-K childcare.

“Any New York City parent, regardless of your occupation, income or immigration status is eligible to sign their child up,” Ocasio-Cortez said, noting that applications are available in more than 200 languages. 

“We’ve made the application process easy, no matter who you are. Because no family should be shut out from our programs just because of the language they speak.”

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