Boroughs in Brief

As families continue to flee New York City over child care costs, a parent-led advocacy group is releasing a five-year proposal calling for free statewide universal child care for children as young as six weeks old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City has elevated its “drought watch” to a “drought warning” amid ongoing record dry conditions in the five boroughs, officials said Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The MTA plans ramp up Manhattan’s congestion pricing tolls to $15 in 2031 — a sharp increase from the $9 charge Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus - Governor Hochul plans to relaunch the MTA’s congestion pricing program with a $9 base toll for passenger cars — marking a 40% reduction from the price previously approved by the MTA — according to four sources briefed on the governor’s plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New York City Council approved new legislation on Wednesday that will eliminate hefty upfront broker fees for most renters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus - Dry winds in NY and NJ keep wildfires burning throughout the region; Bill to End Forced Rental Broker Fees Goes to Council Vote With Near Veto-Proof Support; New York City issues Code Blue as temperatures set to tumble Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Trump transition has begun and we have a few names from New York have made the list Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mayor’s girlfriend, who received a significant promotion and a roughly $50,000 raise after Adams took office in 2022, ended work on November 1st. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand glided to re-election on Tuesday, easily winning another six-year term as the junior senator from New York over longshot Republican challenger Mike Sapraicone, a retired NYPD detective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than 1 million New York City residents voted early in this week’s high-stakes election — a new record, according to city officials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams’ historic corruption trial will start in late April 2025 — just over two months before he’s set to face off against multiple challengers in next summer’s Democratic mayoral primary." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Republican-led congressional panel on the COVID-19 pandemic has referred former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution for allegedly lying at a closed-door hearing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some of Mayor Adams’ top advisers received pay increases this year that pushed their salaries above his, including David Banks, the since-resigned schools chancellor whose wage bump made him the highest-paid city government employee over at least the last decade, new payroll data shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Democratic politicians in New York grew increasingly angry with Mayor Adams on Monday after he suggested it’s wrong to call Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a “fascist” — a stance the mayor took before the ex-president’s weekend rally in Manhattan, where speakers made racist remarks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Firefighters from across the country will join federal Homeland Security Department officials at the FDNY Fire Academy this week for a two-day deep dive on how to better tackle the scourge of deadly lithium-ion battery fires, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams defended Donald Trump Saturday against recent bombshell allegations by a former White House aide that the former president is a “fascist” who said positive things about Adolf Hitler and his Nazi generals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams’ administration recently carved out part of a citywide traffic camera contract in a way that stands to benefit a firm whose president is an ex-top aide to Phil Banks — Adams’ former public safety deputy who’s entangled in a federal corruption probe, according to city records and sources familiar with the matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams said he would still run for reelection even if the city’s Campaign Finance Board rules he’s not eligible for matching funds — a huge potential hit to his campaign warchest as he faces several mayoral challengers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hundreds of New Yorkers are signed up to share their views at a marathon City Council hearing Tuesday reviewing the Adams administration’s sweeping “City of Yes” plan, which aims to boost the city’s housing supply by overhauling decades-old zoning regulations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams has discontinued a controversial policy requiring local elected officials to seek permission via an online engagement form before speaking with senior officials in his administration about a range of issues, according to two sources directly familiar with the matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams might think it’s “common” to accept tens of thousands of dollars in benefits to pressure a city agency, but it is “nonetheless illegal,” federal prosecutors argued Friday in opposing the mayor’s motion to toss a bribery count in his sweeping corruption case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The nation’s largest school district has a new leader. On Wednesday, Melissa Aviles-Ramos takes the reins from David Banks, who served as chancellor of the New York City Public Schools since the start of Mayor Adams’ administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams’ legal defense trust received less than $100,000 in donations over the past three months, a sharp downturn in fundraising that raises questions about how he’ll be able to afford his high-priced team of lawyers as he faces a federal corruption indictment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New York City Department of Investigation’s staffing levels are so low that employees can’t go on vacation without “significant disruptions” to the agency’s work — a problem that’s becoming especially dire amid various corruption probes into Mayor Adams’ administration, according to a letter obtained by the Daily News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Monday she is satisfied with the avalanche of high-level resignations from Mayor Adams’ senior ranks after she urged him to clean house, the strongest endorsement she’s given Adams since the a federal corruption indictment against him dropped late last month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A real estate developer who calls himself “Turkish Trump” was among a group of businessmen who gave money to Mayor Adams’ reelection campaign as part of a 2023 fundraiser that’s emerging as a focus in the federal corruption case against the mayor, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Embattled NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon is expected to vacate his post as early as Friday after his background check hit a snag — and the city’s current Sanitation Department boss, Jessica Tisch, is seen as the top contender to replace him, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City families are suing the nation’s largest school district for failing to help their children who struggle to find the will to attend school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Serious crime dipped 3% in September, the ninth straight month with a decrease, the NYPD said Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Phil Banks, Mayor Adams’ top public safety deputy and longtime friend, resigned over the weekend, the latest senior City Hall official to step down after becoming embroiled in federal corruption investigations that are rocking the administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new high school is coming to southeast Queens where students can earn credits through an early college program — for the first time in New York City’s history, offered by a historically Black university. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jesse Hamilton, a former state senator now in charge of the city’s massive real estate portfolio, had his cellphone taken last week by state investigators at Kennedy Airport at the same time as they seized devices from Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Adams’ chief adviser, three sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams may face more charges in his historic federal corruption case for allegedly selling his political influence to Turkish powerbrokers in a years-long conspiracy — along with several others in his orbit “likely” to be indicted, prosecutors divulged in court Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams’ defense team on Tuesday accused Justice Department prosecutors of leaking information about the criminal investigation leading to his indictment on corruption charges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count against him in his federal corruption indictment Monday, describing the allegations as “extraordinarily vague” and claiming the sweeping case brought by Manhattan prosecutors is based largely on the word of a disgruntled ex-staffer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was a moment of high drama. Federal agents stopped Mayor Eric Adams on the street on November 5th and took his cell phones. As word of the seizure emerged November 10th, Adams declared he had “nothing to hide.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Questions about what’s next for Mayor Adams intensified Thursday after he was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud and foreign campaign donations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Adams administration’s “City of Yes” housing plan, aimed at tackling the ongoing affordability crisis by loosening outdated zoning restrictions to allow for “a little more housing” in every neighborhood, overcame a critical hurdle Wednesday with approval by the City Planning Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks, the hand-picked head of the nation’s largest school district and a long-time family friend of Mayor Adams, is expected to resign amid a federal corruption investigation, PIX11 reported Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris will skip the Al Smith dinner next month in New York, her campaign announced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon said late Saturday the feds raided his homes and seized materials from two decades ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Daily News reported last year that a never-released internal NYPD report painted a damning picture of how police handled the protests that started two days after Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, by police in Minneapolis. There were nearly 1,400 arrests, scores of allegations of police brutality, numerous instances of rioting and looting and more than 400 cops assaulted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams offered a somewhat different response Tuesday to questions about the swirl of federal investigations touching his administration, letting the press know he’s growing weary of continuous updates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Murders are down, but traffic deaths are up and emergency teams are taking longer to respond to calls, according to the city’s annual management report, released Monday by Mayor Adams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As New York reviews how it allocates state aid to local school districts for the first time in years, more than 100 advocacy groups are coalescing around a handful of key changes they’d like to see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The flurry of federal investigative activity last week — with feds seizing the electronics of five of the mayor’s most senior officials — sent tremors through City Hall, raising questions about how they would affect Mayor Adams’ ability to govern effectively and offering new fodder for a growing roster of opponents as he heads into a mayoral election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban submitted his resignation Thursday, telling fellow cops he made the decision out of concern he’d become “a distraction” if he stayed put in the wake of his cell phone being seized by federal authorities as part of a sprawling corruption investigation that has ensnared the upper echelons of Mayor Adams’ administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After being repeatedly stonewalled for pivotal data on the toxins that hovered over lower Manhattan following the terror attacks, attorneys for 9/11 survivors are suing for the never-released studies and documents created more than two decades ago — but New York City continues to stall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Randy Mastro, Mayor Adams’ controversial corporation counsel nominee, removed his name from consideration for the city government’s top lawyer post late Tuesday — and blasted the City Council for subjecting him to a confirmation hearing he called “anything but fair.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 approaches, FDNY firefighters are making what they hope will be their final plea to Congress for long-term healthcare funding for first responders suffering from illnesses linked to toxic exposure at Ground Zero. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, two reporters from the Times and Post were ousted from NYPD headquarters media trailer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, New York City suspends drilling around Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the first day of school Thursday, more than 11,000 New York City children will head into new buildings — in the largest school construction expansion in two decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Linda Sun, a former aide to Gov. Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has been arrested alongside her husband for working as an agent of China a month and a half after the feds raided their $3.6 million home in Manhasset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City has agreed to pay $12 million to a former Wall Street trader paralyzed in a June 2020 pandemic-era police-involved shooting in Manhattan’s East Village, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, a driver hits four cars and two pedestrians in a Brooklyn hit-and-run spree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The MTA cracked down on fare jumpers on 41 bus lines Thursday, the latest high-profile enforcement push to stem fare evasion on city transit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah Palin was granted a new defamation trial against The New York Times on Wednesday after a federal appeals court found “several major issues” tainted the first one in February 2022 – including jurors learning the judge had dismissed the case from breaking news alerts during their deliberations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams dialed back plans for a cell phone ban in New York City public schools, saying it may not happen this school year — just two months after the schools chancellor announced changes were imminent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

State officials are offering south Brooklyn families shut out of free afterschool programs a back-up plan, though not all will qualify, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York State officials are conducting a review of college safety plans as pro-Palestinian protests start to resume at some campuses, Gov. Hochul announced Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An attorney for the ex-city employee accusing Mayor Adams of sexual assault threatened to sue the mayor’s lawyer for defamation during a contentious court hearing on Friday, where the two sides traded barbs and accused each other of withholding information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just weeks until the start of school, families in southern Brooklyn are scrambling to find free after-school options, after the state unceremoniously pulled funding from multiple neighborhood programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A group of uptown Manhattan tenants filed a lawsuit Thursday that alleges their landlord engaged in a “systemic” scheme to raise their rents beyond the legal limit by claiming credit for fictitious building repairs — a case advocates say points to a need for stronger state housing law enforcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City is significantly expanding its 60-day limits to shelters where the bulk of migrant families are staying but until now had been spared eviction, the Adams administration confirmed Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The United Arab Emirates’ government paid as much as $5,000 for Joel Eisdorfer, then a senior City Hall adviser to Mayor Adams, to visit the Middle Eastern country for a summit in February, newly released documents show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams told reporters Tuesday he didn’t ask for a speaking slot at this week’s Democratic National Convention and that there are no sour grapes between him and party leaders over the fact that he wasn’t offered one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams’ top attorney at City Hall said Tuesday that neither the mayor nor anyone working in his government office have been told they are targets of a federal investigation into his 2021 campaign’s ties to Turkey’s government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Republican Representative George Santos pleaded guilty to 23 counts of a superseding federal indictment on Monday, putting an end to the notorious fabulist’s legal battles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A $500 million plan to drastically rezone a swath of the East Bronx secured final approval from the City Council this week, paving the way for significant infrastructure upgrades in the area as well as the construction of some 7,000 new apartments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the wake of revelations that he was personally subpoenaed by federal prosecutors investigating him and his campaign, Mayor Adams said Friday he believes evidence collected as part of the probe will show he “did nothing wrong.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Thursday she still hasn’t made up her mind whether to support or oppose Mayor Adams’ nomination of controversial litigator Randy Mastro to become his administration’s next top attorney. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams is heading to Chicago next week for the Democratic National Convention — and hopes the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, will take time at the event to talk about the country’s migrant crisis despite ongoing sensitivity in the party around the issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert Kennedy Jr. on Monday lost his bid to appear as an independent presidential candidate on the New York State ballot after a judge’s ruling found the residency claims “preposterous.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert Tucker, a committed philanthropist with deep roots in civic service and strong ties to public safety, was appointed as New York City’s 35th FDNY commissioner on Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams, who has focused heavily on rodent extermination efforts across the city, got a $300 ticket thrown out this week that alleged a rat infestation is persisting at his Brooklyn property. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City has started applying for new preschool special education classes, after advocates sounded the alarm about young children with disabilities who could be shut out of the program on the first day of school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The medical services company with a nearly half-billion-dollar contract to feed, house and care for thousands of migrants in New York City overcharged the city by millions for vacant hotel rooms and security guards, according to an audit released Tuesday by NYC Comptroller Brad Lander. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York State is providing a fresh infusion of $4 million for a grant program that helps city homeowners build unconventional forms of apartment units on their properties, Mayor Adams announced Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mayor Adams blamed the city’s independent election watchdog agency Monday for stirring up “a lot of sensationalism” by releasing a draft audit that found his 2021 campaign failed to properly document $2.3 million in spending, among other alleged violations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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