What happened to the natural grass at Levi's Stadium? All we saw at the Big Game on Sunday was Astroturf ... in the form of Uber's faux-populist multi-million-dollar Super Bowl ad for its campaign to lower insurance payouts to car crash victims under the fake name "Citizens for Affordable Rates."
The group with the predictable acronym ("CAR") paid a fortune to argue that New York's car insurance rates are too high, thanks to supposed fraud and profligate payouts to crash victims. The ad also serves as support for Gov. Hochul as she marches toward re-election. (The governor should be reminded of that old adage about laying down with fleas ... or, in this case, lobbyists for Big Tech and Big Insurance.)
Fortunately, there's an alternative to this propaganda in the form of Streetsblog's coverage as well as from direct testimony from crash victims who are horrified and mystified by the governor's proposal and its billionaire backers.
A cute Super Bowl ad can't distract from the fact New Yorkers are being lied to. There wasn't a lot of offense in Super Bowl LX — this ad was offensive enough.
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In other news:
- New York's political future is much clearer after the state Democratic Party convention last week. Delegates overwhelmingly backed incumbents in state-wide races at the Syracuse gathering. It was great news for Gov. Hochul, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and state Attorney General Letitia James, but not for insurgents, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (who wants to unseat his boss) and Drew Warshaw, who is running for comptroller. The primary is on June 23.
- New York Republicans are picking their own candidates this week in, you guessed it, Long Island. (Newsday)
- A federal judge ordered President Trump to restore funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project after his antics put the project's future in question. (Gothamist)
- Sen. Schumer and Trump are in a game of "he said/he said" about the president's claim that Schumer was the one who suggested Penn Station should be renamed after Trump. (The Hill)
- Robo-taxis and Waymo are facing opposition in New York from lawmakers, street safety advocates and labor after a statewide expansion was included in Hochul's executive budget proposal. (The Times Union)
- Also meet Waymo's "man behind the curtain": workers in the Philippines. (Futurism)
- Village officials in Cold Springs want the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to hold a public hearing on the final environmental review for the proposed Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail. (Mid-Hudson News)
- Police are investigating after a 65-year-old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Bay Street in Rochester. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
- Law enforcement cracked down on intoxicated and reckless drivers over Super Bowl weekend. (Spectrum News)
- Hey, congestion pricing foes, Manhattan retail leases surged in 2025. (Crain's)
- A federal jury found Uber liable for a rape committed by one of its drivers in Arizona. (NY Times)
