This Week’s Headlines: Summer of hell freezes over and de Blasio goes global

Track maintenance at New York Penn Station began at the start of the week, but so far the “summer of hell” has felt like the summer of heck. Fewer trains used the nation’s busiest transit hub, but contingency plans – on average – worked well, with no major calamities, and adjustments are being made for underutilized buses and ferries. Commuters aren’t exhaling yet – there’s still more than a month to go.

RELATED: State DOT chief talks transit and Penn Station

Bürgermeister de Blasio goes global

(carol.anne / Shutterstock)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio flew to Germany for the G-20 summit just hours after announcing the trip, defying criticism coming from a number of angles. The last-minute decision also kept New York reporters from covering the trip in person, but the de Blasio administration said it didn’t commit to the protest until it learned the date of murdered NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia’s funeral. Many officers were still offended that the mayor would leave town while the NYPD mourned, and some turned their backs on de Blasio at the funeral. De Blasio attended events around the G-20 summit in Hamburg, including a rally to oppose Trump. The mayor also spent time with his son, Dante, a college student who’s spending the summer in Germany. Rally organizers paid for de Blasio and his aides, but city taxpayers footed the bill for his NYPD security.

Police family shows up for Officer Familia

(Michael Appleton / Mayoral Photography Office)

Nearly 25,000 police officers from 85 departments filled the Bronx’s Grand Concourse in their dress blues on Tuesday, standing proud at the funeral for Miosotis Familia, an NYPD officer who was murdered while sitting in a police command vehicle on July 5 while working in the Bronx. Familia, who was remembered as a mediator, was the sixth NYPD officer to be killed while on duty in the past three years.