Wages have surged for anyone in New York City who wants to sign up to shovel snow, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced at a Monday press conference.

Mamdani increased the hourly wage for snow shovelers from $19.14 to $30 per hour. After 40 hours, that rate jumps even higher, to $45 an hour.

“Due to the historic nature of this blizzard, we’ve increased pay to $30 per hour. You can walk into any DSNY garage until 8 p.m. this evening and starting again tomorrow at 9 a.m. All you need to bring is two forms of ID to ensure you get paid,” Mamdani said.

The identification requirement sparked backlash over the weekend, with some Americans questioning why ID is required to shovel snow, but not to vote. Mamdani responded saying that the requirement is mandated under federal law.

Before the hourly wage increase, the program reportedly failed to attract any shovelers for hours at the NYC site, according to the New York Post. City officials said they hoped to attract a total of 1,400 public shovelers. By comparison, in 2015, the city attracted 6,454 shovelers.

During the press briefing, Mamdani also reminded New York City property owners that the mandate to clear four-foot-wide paths along all sidewalks remains in effect.

“We issued more than 4,000 violations after the last storm, we do not want to issue as many citations again,” the mayor said. “So please, if you are a property owner, do your part, clear the snow and help make our city passable for our neighbors, especially those with disabilities.”

A first offense carries a $150 fine, while a third or subsequent violation can result in penalties of up to $350. Based on the more than 4,000 violations issued after the previous storm, New York City collected anywhere between $600,000 and $1.4 million in fines from unshoveled snow.

In addition to the snow shovelers, the New York City winter weather response team includes 2,600 sanitation workers, more than 2,300 plows, and 700 salt spreaders. Mamdani reported that the winter weather response team cleared more than 1,600 crosswalks, 419 fire hydrants, and nearly 900 bus stops during the storm’s first night.

With the city’s progress, Mamdani said schools will reopen tomorrow. However, amid 15 inches of snow, parents across the city are calling for a remote learning day. The petition currently has over 100,000 verified signatures.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump broke his silence on the armed intruder shot by Secret Service at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, jokingly acknowledging the many attempts on his life and the possibility of future attacks.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be around,” Trump told angel families assembled in the East Room of the White House on Monday morning. “Got a lot of people gunning for me.”

He joked: “So maybe I want to be a little less consequential? Can we hold it back a little bit, please? Can this be a normal presidency for a little while?”

The Secret Service announced on Sunday morning that an armed man was shot and killed by Secret Service agents and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office after he unlawfully entered the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday morning. Trump was not present at his Florida home when the incident occurred, since he had stayed at the White House for the weekend.

President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen on September 14, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Authorities later revealed that the deceased intruder was 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, reported missing by his family on Saturday. Around 1:30 a.m., authorities discovered him breaking into the premises, carrying a shotgun and a fuel can. He refused to drop these items and was shot by the authorities guarding the premises.

While the tabloid TMZ reported that Martin was obsessed with the Jeffrey Epstein files, citing text messages between Martin and his friend, the Secret Service and the FBI have not confirmed this point.

“I’d be careful about leaning too much into that,” said Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the United States Secret Service. “There is a lot of work to do. As of now, the investigation is being led by the FBI and we are working in conjunction with them to try to learn more about the suspect’s background, actions, and potential motivations for going down to Florida.”