Boroughs in Brief

Plus, five men were stabbed and slashed in a bloody Queens bar brawl late Saturday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Persistent fare evasion and a decline in real estate tax revenues were on track to land the MTA’s day-to-day operating budget in a $428 million deficit in 2027, with a $469 million deficit projected for 2028, the transit agency said Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Roughly 750 smoke shops have been shuttered across the five boroughs in the three months since Mayor Adams’ administration launched a crackdown on unlicensed weed peddlers, city and state officials announced Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

City Comptroller Brad Lander announced Tuesday he’s running against Mayor Adams in next year’s primary election, making him the first candidate to officially declare a challenge against the incumbent mayor and teeing up an unusual matchup between two high-profile elected officials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams and top administration officials announced Monday that the city financed the preservation and construction of nearly 29,000 affordable and public housing units over the last year — a 12% increase over last year when the city funded more than 26,000 such units. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams killed several components of a new law meant to ban solitary confinement in city jails in an emergency order Saturday, just one day before it was set to take effect, officials said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congestion pricing supporters filed two lawsuits against Gov. Hochul Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, arguing her “indefinite pause” violated New York state law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the country’s largest auto insurance companies is seeking to question Frank Carone, Mayor Adams’ political confidante, as part of a civil lawsuit alleging corporate entities Carone co-founded were involved in orchestrating a sprawling “money laundering scheme,” court papers reveal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is resigning from office August 20th following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek reelection in 2024, New Yorkers weighed in with mixed emotions — and relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Biden announced Sunday he will not seek reelection in 2024, sparking a flurry of reactions from prominent New York politicians just four months before Election Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hochul administration will close two upstate New York maximum security prisons citing a continuing overall drop in the incarcerated population, cost savings, staffing shortages and authorization from the state Legislature in its latest budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Outgoing FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is leaving the department to focus on family and friends, which she says she neglected as the head of the country’s largest fire department, she explains in an online essay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez Tuesday declined to resign from the Senate after his conviction on federal bribery and corruption charges, raising major questions about what will happen to his seat, which is likely to stay in Democratic hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a sign the 2025 mayoral race may well be contested, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer told the Daily News he’s raised approximately $425,000 in donations for a potential primary run against Mayor Adams — an amount that could grow to about $2.1 million once matching funds are factored in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scores of NYPD officers have turned to the Bible to avoid shaving off their beards, police sources said. A recent edict that cops dress neater banned beards, but allowed for both religious and medical accommodations. Now, an untold number of cops — the NYPD could not provide statistics — have said their religious rights would be violated were they forced to go clean-shaven. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is preparing to announce an election-year run against Mayor Adams within the next two weeks, several political sources revealed to the Daily News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rudy Giuliani was warned by a judge to keep his mouth shut Wednesday after the ex-mayor interrupted an opposing lawyer at his chaotic bankruptcy hearing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City’s head of early childhood education is out after a tenure pockmarked by backlash to 3-K budget cuts and workplace tensions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Chancellor David Banks’ last chief of staff, is taking over as deputy chancellor for family engagement and external affairs — after the schools head tapped outgoing Deputy Chancellor Kenita Lloyd last week as his next right hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After being held out as an example of how a new state law was allowing NYC to quickly stamp out unlicensed cannabis shops, New City Smoke Shop in downtown Manhattan is back up and running as errors in execution and legal challenges hamper efforts to shut down thousands of weed shops, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Delta Airlines flight destined for Amsterdam was forced to make an emergency landing at JFK International Airport early Wednesday after passengers were given rotten food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams defended NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban’s decision to save the job of a police officer who admitted to submitting a phony COVID vaccination card and then lying about it, saying Tuesday the cop in question ultimately suffered a “huge penalty.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams took a victory lap Monday over the adoption of a municipal budget that reversed his controversial cuts to the city public library systems, vexing City Council members who argued it’s disingenuous for him to celebrate the rollback of spending reductions he long advocated for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just hours left on the deadline clock, the New York City Council on Sunday voted to approve a $112.4 billion budget that restores almost all of the cuts proposed by Mayor Adams and adds about $1 billion to what he proposed in April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Initial results of several hotly-contested state Assembly primaries offered a view Tuesday night into which way the political winds are blowing for New York City Democrats — with most incumbents holding onto their seats and maintaining the status quo." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City is poised to impose strict limits on cell phone use in local public schools, as restrictions on their use gain traction across the country, Schools Chancellor David Banks indicated Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams shrugged off news Tuesday that the city teachers union no longer supports his controversial effort to enroll retired municipal workers in a Medicare Advantage plan, saying he’s confident his team will “resolve” the matter and that everything’s “going to be fine.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City public schools will launch a division to better serve the city’s growing populations of English learners and students with disabilities, and push for more standardization how math is taught, education officials announced Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

City deputy sheriffs have seized so much cannabis from unlicensed pot shops amid a crackdown that the agency’s offices have become a weed wonderland, with pot stowed in every free nook and cranny they can find, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Governor Hochul signed legislation Thursday with the goal of reducing the harmful effects of social media on New York’s children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, scorching temperatures making life miserable for millions from Midwest to New England Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander wants to know what sparked Gov. Hochul’s about-face on congestion pricing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams on Monday reiterated his support for a ban on face masks proposed last week by Governor Kathy Hochul, but he did not say how such a ban should account for people wearing masks out of medical necessity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The head of New York City’s Campaign Finance Board voiced support Friday for a number of City Council bills that would expand the watchdog entity’s straw donor enforcement powers amid ongoing issues and investigations related to Mayor Adams’ campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Taylor Swift exhibit opens in Jersey shore town where she used to summer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City will receive $27 million as part of a year-old settlement against Juul Labs, the controversial purveyor of vape pens that was ordered to pay out a total of $462 million as part of a court deal in April 2023, city and state leaders announced Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The battle over whether to shift broker fees from renters to landlords is landing on the City Hall steps Wednesday, but only after some behind-the-scenes intrigue forced one group off that coveted piece of New York City real estate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Governor Hochul moved Monday to fund doula care and paid time off for expectant mothers before they give birth as she unveiled an $8 million plan for a new maternal health center in the Bronx. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Governor Hochul’s controversial decision to indefinitely delay the long-awaited Manhattan congestion pricing plan is being seen in Washington, D.C. as a political panic move to boost Democratic hopes of retaking the House of Representatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The City Council voted by a wide margin Thursday to expand its ability to block top mayoral hires, teeing up another potential veto battle with Mayor Adams, whose team has sharply criticized the move as a power grab that’d hamper municipal government operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an abrupt about-face, Governor Hochul directed the MTA to abandon congestion pricing Wednesday, less than four weeks before the tolling program was set to kick into gear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams praised President Biden on Tuesday for his executive order capping the number of migrants who can be let into the U.S. and said he’s ready to offer “whatever they need” toward the Biden campaign’s re-election efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of ongoing budget negotiations with the City Council, Mayor Adams has agreed to stave off some of his most controversial education cuts, including a large funding reduction for public schools with declining enrollment, sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News late Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If anyone doubted that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is taking direct aim at Mayor Adams, an upcoming radio show appearance might dispel that notion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NYC bracing for another round of Canadian wildfire smoke this summer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As investigators reportedly prepare to bring Sean “Diddy” Combs’ accusers before a federal grand jury, Mayor Adams said Wednesday that his team is still “in the process of looking into” taking back the key to the city he gave to the embattled rap impresario. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City’s top health officials will have access to fewer than two dozen medical research journals, as the department has turned to outside funding for research articles following Adams administration budget cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams announced Friday that his administration is relaxing some test requirements for lifeguards in a bid to address staff shortages in their ranks that are expected to force swaths of city beaches to stay closed this holiday weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo has quietly been reaching out to politically-influential labor leaders a move being seen by many as a clear sign the disgraced governor’s plans to engineer a comeback are picking up steam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices