^{The bettors thank you, KAT.}

When the Knicks won its first championship in 53 years, they brought home a lot more for New York than the Larry O’Brien trophy.

For the week ending June 14, sports books like DraftKings and FanFuel lost more than $48 million, state data shows — the first time since they’ve been recording data that it happened. It’s the only week with the parenthesis showing a deficit for companies that usually make money hand over fist, week after week.

That week didn’t just see Games 3,4, and 5 in the Knicks series, but also paid out all those early-season bets on who would win it all and who would be MVP. The team’s popularity and underdog status made the odds initially against them, making the payout even bigger.

Since writing the story, I’ve had random people sending me screenshots of their FanDuel and DraftKings accounts, payouts that make me want to take up sports gambling. You can read the full story here.

Also, this was a very busy week! Some bullet points:

🔸 The primary election was Tuesday. The ads are over! The fliers are done! I covered it from Bushwick, where Claire Valdez and a bunch of state senate and assembly candidates were holding their parties.

The cheers began at 9:03 p.m., just a few minutes after the polls closed. Supporters were happy about what they were seeing so early, and it became a predictor for the night. For Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and for the Democratic Socialists of America, it was a near sweep. Every congressional candidate they endorsed won, in some cases handily.

Read our coverage from that night and the next day and listen to our primary night edition of FAQ.

🔸 Everyone who covered Tuesday’s primary woke up the next day to find out Frank Carone, former chief of staff to Mayor Adams, was arrested alongside his brother Anthony and two others for an alleged bribery scheme tied to a migrant shelter. I was off Wednesday but read the coverage from my colleague Greg. Some current and former cops also had their homes raided as part of a SEPARATE investigation.

🔸 There’s also budget drama. The council wants the city to drop its litigation against the expansion of the housing voucher program CityFHEPS, and council members say they won’t vote for the budget, due 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, without it. They went on a tweeting blitz Saturday night slamming Mamdani, unifying most council members, even those you wouldn’t expect. My story from Friday.

🔸 There was also a vote for a rent freeze. Here’s how that’ll work on the next lease for rent-stabilized tenants.

🔸 City pools also opened Saturday, and as promised, Mayor Mamdani jumped in the pool. In his suit. Here’s our guide on how to swim this summer, but you actually have to wear a real swimsuit (and there’s some bummer news about Red Hook pool.)

🔸 My colleague Rosie worked for a while on this investigation into a food stamp skimming scheme, where there’s not much recourse to help in New York.

🔸 The city’s Haitian community is also reeling after the Supreme Court ruling on TPS.

🔸 The new jails commissioner is releasing some detainees using a little-known power.

🔸 It’s going to be oppressively hot this week. Our guide on what to do when your apartment is too hot.

I got my Knicks parade film back this week. They’re not perfect but I love disposable cameras!!!!!!

Stay cool this

^{Not even this couple taking wedding photos was safe from the canvassers.}

If you watch TV the old-school way, through a cable box, then you’re likely sick of the ads. “Alex Bores, bad; Alex Bores, good.” “Micah Lasher, bad! Micah Lasher good actually.” “I’m George Conway, and I filmed this ad in Washington, D.C.”

The 12th congressional district encompasses a large chunk of Manhattan — the Upper East and Upper West sides, Times Square, Central Park, Hell’s Kitchen, Union Square, Roosevelt Island, and much more. It’s the densest congressional district in the country and the third wealthiest. The four leading candidates to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler are four guys aligned on nearly every issue, but tens of millions of dollars have been spent by AI and other spending groups to try and get voters to differentiate between them.

Although the district has some of the most politically knowledgeable and educated voters in the city, most polls show the “undecideds” are still in the lead.

A lot of money has been tossed around in the race, but sometimes money can’t buy excitement.

I saw this early Saturday morning, outside The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as canvassers lined the walkway of trees trying to grab any voter as they made it to the side door entrance of their polling place.

Around 9 a.m, one of the district’s newest voters arrived to cast his ballot. He’s politically active and engaged. He talks about politics constantly, even during Knicks games! He’s even been accused of doing pseudo-political events during his day job. When asked about who he voted for, though, he seemed more interested in the congressional races uptown, in Brooklyn and in Queens.

“I’m going to be keeping my vote in this race between myself, the ballot, and that incredible pen that the Board of Elections gives to every New Yorker,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said after his vote.

“I do wish that every New Yorker had the chance to vote for Darializa Avila Chevalier, for Claire Valdez, and for Brad Lander — three congressional candidates I’m so excited to endorse.”

Mamdani may no longer be an undecided NY-12 voter, as he called himself recently, but he certainly seemed like a reluctant one.

Yes, his endorsement could have hurt a candidate in this district. He could be ultimately helping out a top political advisor, Morris Katz, who is also working on the Micah Lasher campaign, by staying out of it. He could be so unenthused by the slate that he couldn’t possibly fake it.

We’ll see Tuesday how the races shake out, and whether they’ll serve as a referendum on the mayor’s endorsement and canvassing power. I’m mostly looking forward to the political ads ending.

If you haven’t voted yet, here’s some coverage —
Early voting check-ins by the numbers. A guide to the top house races. A cheat sheet to the PACs spending big in the races.

Other interesting stories
My colleague Jose has been all over the cabbie whose car was destroyed during Knicks celebrations. [THE CITY REPORTER]
Heat killed 21 New Yorkers last year, the highest in a decade [TCR]
The keys to the city given to the Knicks are a new design [TCR]
Mamdani visits a shelter to watch the World Cup, but there are major issues [TCR]

LISTEN

My FAQ co-hosts were off last Monday and thankfully my friend and colleague Rachel joined for the gab. I then interviewed Janet Fash about her upcoming memoir, “Lifeguard: A Love Story.” [FAQ]
I spoke about some of these races on this podcast from The Economist.

I watched the Knicks parade from City Hall, and plan on sharing more photos once my film is properly developed. Hoping for some gems. Thanks for reading!

My mom told me to call her if the Knicks won, and in those jubilant few moments after the game was called I ran out of LIC Bar to do so. “I know,” she said, when I yelled to tell her.

“I heard the cheering from outside a few seconds ago.”

The cheering was everywhere Saturday, distant and right in my ear as crowds spilled out into streets. The city skyline was lit up blue and orange. People set off fireworks. The car parades started almost immediately, with fans hopping out of sunroofs waving flags.

I hit three boroughs, and saw the same thing — joy in the street, cheering, people marching down the street with someone holding a speaker over their head. When someone yelled “LET’S FUCKING GO!” you knew exactly how they felt.

It wasn’t all fun. A 17-year-old was shot in Times Square, police said, and had to walk to Bellevue Hospital because an ambulance couldn’t get to him. People destroyed World Cup buses, lighting at least one on fire. Dozens of people were arrested. After Game 4, a cabbie was mobbed by a crowd, the taxi he leased destroyed. He spoke exclusively to my colleague Jose and told him, through tears, that he wanted to quit.

But for the doom and gloomers who thought “the city’s gonna burn” — it was mostly jubilation and happy tears and spontaneous embraces of strangers.

This week will be about preparing for Thursday’s parade, which will be the team’s first despite this being their third win, which I get into here.

The Knicks took it in five, so here are five charts breaking it all down.

If coming back from a 29-point deficit this week doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what can. There is only one city, and I’m lucky that it’s mine.

Other interesting stories

Oh, early voting also began this weekend. [THE CITY REPORTER]
Midtown businesses are still unclear about World Cup restrictions [TCR]
Mamdani has already started fundraising for 2029 [POLITICO]
A council bill would codify the mayor’s municipal grocery stores [TCR]
On clowning [TCR]
Judges will have to see prison conditions firsthand soon [TCR]
Relatives want Delaney Hall renamed [NYT]

LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading, and GO NEW YORK!

I was eight years old when the New York Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in 1994, against the Houston Rockets. My interests then were heavily influenced by the news (Daily and Eyewitness), and I was caught up in Knicks fever. I loved the players, the jerseys, the commercials for The Wiz, the song. I loved the way I felt connected to the entire city, the one beyond my narrow neighborhood, where the big city skyline looked like a tiny cutout across Jamaica Bay. I dreamt of how it would feel for the city if they won, and felt a deep sadness when they didn’t. It was my first of many sports disappointments.

Years later, my family was in Disney World, where we were exposed to the rest of America outside of our New York City bubble. While waiting to get into the Magic Kingdom I saw a family behind us decked in matching Rockets gear, celebrating the team’s back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. I was again filled with a deep emotion, this time of rage.

The NERVE of those people!, I thought. How dare they celebrate their team’s win, in front of us? I told my sister I wanted to say something to them — God knows what — and she looked at me like I was crazy (as the older sister, she won out.) I wanted to let this family know that we were from New York City, and I was ready to pick a fight right there in Orlando on that alone.

I think of this now as the Knicks are in the Finals again, like there were in 1994 and later in 1999, when I wasn’t as rabid. I am not a super fan but I’m caught up again in that Knicks fever, mostly for other people. I want this so badly for my diehard friends, for the oldest fans, the fans who have dreamt of this for decades, the ones who’ve suffered the longest. But I especially want it for the kids.

I see the joy and excitement in all of the young fans, who are hoping and dreaming big about for maybe the first time in their young lives. Some people don’t understand fandom; they don’t see it as anything more than a game. But rooting for something gives you space to feel alive, to feel the highest highs and the deepest lows we feel as humans. It connects you to a place and people you might not ever connect with.

The energy and excitement from a run like this will stay with these kids for a long time. It did with me, and so many other people. This time around I’m dreaming of the thing that felt impossible a few years ago, a championship, a parade! I hope we all get to experience it together, so we can think about it for the rest of our lives. Go New York!

REBRAND!

My newsroom rebranded this week, to The City Reporter, to really drive home the work we’re doing (and to clear up confusion from people who think we are MOCS or DCAS.) I was initially worried about a change, but I got used to it, and also people really seemed to dislike THE CITY name. I joked that it’s like when someone finally breaks up with their crappy boyfriend and everyone comes out of the woodwork to share how much they always hated him. Ok, ok, we get it! Thanks to everyone for reading and supporting the work that we do. Hopefully this will help us continued doing it for a long time.

Some of our work this week:

A program to help connect people to benefits is on the brink [THE CITY REPORTER]
A months-long investigation into ICE arrests on the street [TCR]
Inside the battle over Delaney Hall [TCR]
A suit alleges ACS abused emergency power to separate kids from their parents [TCR]
A deed theft case targets City Councilmember’s family [TCR]
The great charter wars, round 2 [TCR]
The Mamdani endorsement everyone is talking about [TCR]

A few weeks ago I joined a Pop-A-Shot league that plays weekly at Pig Beach in Astoria. I love that game and while I never played on this particular brand of machine, I envisioned greatness for myself. It turns out I really suck at this type of arcade basketball, which I blame not on myself but on the design of the machine (the backboard doesn’t help at all!). Despite my poor shooting, I’ve had a blast meeting new people and eating at Pig Beach more than I ever have. Last week I tried their Smoked Turkey A’La Mets sandwich, which is now my favorite thing on the menu. The tender and smokey turkey is piled high on a seeded bun, topped with vinegar coleslaw, Alabama white sauce, and thick bacon strips. I didn’t take a photo because it was so good I forgot to take one, but trust me on this. It looked better than this:

Thanks for reading!

The dock being brought into the Wharf

A few weeks ago, I met Department of Health staffers down at Beach 17th Street for the start of the first water quality test of the season. Scientist Jessica Bonamusa thinks about swimming year-round; in the winter, she approves health plans for pools and saunas. In the summer she flocks to some of the 25 public and private coasts where New Yorkers swim, dipping her test tube into the water and then bringing those vital vials back to the lab to see if that water is full of bacteria or not.

Our story on the water quality tests kicked off our Summer & THE CITY newsletter this week. Although the weather stinks, summer unofficially started yesterday when the lifeguards reported for duty on the beach. There’s also a lot of summer left, this being the longest possible beach season, with Memorial Day the earliest it can be and beaches are also open the weekend after Labor Day.

The other good news, as I saw from my reporting, is that our city beaches are mostly very clean. Rockaway in particular is so clean, it only has to be tested every other week. I often tell people of the miracle of environmental conservation, of how I’ve watched the wildlife return to the coast in a way we almost take for granted now. There were no dolphins swimming off of Rockaway when I was a kid, but now I see them nearly every time I go to the beach (including during the water testing trip.)

Please sign up for our summer newsletter and read the full story here.

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Other interesting stories

Two Legionnaires’ cases found at East Village complex [THE CITY]
Buffering: a new council bill [THE CITY]
NYPD overtime could be another strain on Mamdani/Tisch relationship [POLITICO]
SI shipyard explosion leaves one dead, 34 FDNY members injured [amNY]
Bird sale ban bill takes flight for the second time [THE CITY]
First buildings open at Willets Point [QUEENS DAILY EAGLE]
Please, please please do not swim in the ocean without a lifeguard [NY1]
Colbert returns to TV on public access [VULTURE]
I have a lot of press pass thoughts that I like to share in person [NYT]
If Knicks crowds feel chaotic and unruly now … 🤞🤞 [NYDN]

🔊WATCH & LISTEN🔊

We had Jeff Coltin on FAQ last week for what I thought was a very funny episode

I really enjoyed the Legislative Correspondents’ Association’s show this week, which was very, very funny. Here is Bruce Blakeman’s green screen rebuttal.

Thanks for reading!

It’s supposed to hit 87 degrees today, and I’ve spent all weekend on Jamaica Bay, which I hope is a preview for my summer. So today, let’s stick to a link roundup of some of last week’s biggest stories, from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s executive budget to an LIRR strike.

• Mamdani plugs budget hole with Hochul assist [THE CITY]

• But budget watchdogs fret over “one shots” [THE CITY]

• NYPD overtime is still high, despite mayor’s pledges to reduce [POLITICO]

• Vacant affordable apartments won’t go back into lottery, for now [THE CITY]

• Tim Pearson’s lawyer still thinks the city should pay for his defense [THE CITY]

• This pile driving is driving Brooklyn neighbors insane [THE CITY]

• After a rough start, Mamdani focuses on skeptical Black New Yorkers [NYT]

• The legality of evicting good cause tenants over “demolition” [THE CITY]

• LIRR STRIKE! [THE CITY]

• This strike is Newsday’s World Cup, and they have a good live blog with updates.

• Our latest FAQ episode

Some reminders: We kick off our summer newsletter at THE CITY next week, and I hope you’ll sign up and also send along any suggestions on things for us to check out and people to talk to.

I also rarely watch late night TV anymore but I watched David Letterman on Colbert, and was reminded of my time as an intern and then freelance fill-in there many years ago. It is still funny throwing things off a roof.

Thanks for reading!

I started my Thursday workday listening to Gov. Kathy Hochul talk about a deal for an approximately $268 billion state budget, which was due April 1. “We got it done,” she said, four separate times, interspersed with light details on the funding and legislation that made it in. Oh, and go Sabres!

We published our story and then, shortly after, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told the Albany reporters that there wasn’t a deal. Oop. The governor jumped the gun, it seemed, and Heastie calmly explained his thoughts on the whole process: “I’m never doing this again.”

The only budget process I mostly understand is the city’s, with a deadline and a performative handshake; Albany frightens me, in many ways. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s executive budget will still be unveiled as planned on Tuesday, even without a state budget — or so his team says. They’ll have to fill in the blanks on any state aid they’re hoping to generate. The mayor said this week things seem better than they had been, but we’ll know more this week.

Here’s some other coverage of the Albany budget mess - from Gothamist/WNYC, POLITICO, from City & State, from New York Focus, and from the New York Times.

Other interesting stories

A rent freeze is no sure thing in first vote by Mamdani-majority board [THE CITY]
A staggering racial gap in Carter cases [CHALKBEAT]
Suspect charged in murder of man shoved down subway stairs [NBC 4]
Mahmoud Khalil hurdles towards deportation as the US speeds up his case [NYT]
Grub Street’s restaurant recommendations, mapped [GRUB STREET]
Hell Gate’s excellent Courts of Contempt [HELL GATE]
Here’s why so many new buildings have 99 units [THE CITY]
New mother’s find their community far from home [DOCUMENTED]
How Keith Kelly went from media reporter to local news legend [HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]

🎧LISTEN🎧

Our latest FAQ episode is here.
Errol Louis spoke with Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez on his podcast.

She lost her mind over the rainbow yesterday

Today is Mothers’s Day, and I am ceding the end of this newsletter to my wonderful mom, Fran. She wanted to share a memory from her first Mother’s Day, just a few days after my sister was born.

It was the Saturday before Mother’s Day, 43 years ago, when my husband Mike said he was going out for something. He didn’t share any details, which was rare for him. He always told me where he was going and when he’d be back, but he hurried out that day without much information.

It was the morning, and I was harried without much sleep, every second going to caring for Roseanne as I adjusted to to my new role as mom. I hadn’t even thought that the next day was supposed to be for me.

I grew angrier as the phone didn’t ring, as the morning turned into the afternoon. It was a pre-cell phone world and I had no way to tell him I wanted his help with a fussy baby, that I needed him home. He returned at 2:30, a huge smile, but I was pissed. “Come outside!,” he insisted. I bitched as I walked outside to the porch but softened when I saw it: a shiny, new beige bicycle with a bright red bow.

Mike listened months earlier when I told him I never had a bike, and he spent the day assembling it at his best friend’s house a few blocks away. My anger went away and I hugged my wonderful husband, who did always listen to me. We spent so many years riding the boardwalk and Rockaway’s streets with our two daughters throughout the years. This is my first Mother’s Day without him but this memory feels even clearer to me today. I am holding it with me even closer.

Thanks for reading!

My colleague Reuven Blau wrote this week about the most recent report from the city’s Board of Correction, which outlined three deaths on the island and the systemic issues that played a role.

They found familiar issues. Officers were off post, or didn’t secure cells. The Correctional Health staff also failed to properly care for detainees, the report found.

Kyron Randall had a history of severe mental illness and substance use, and was in and out of Bellevue Hospital and a state mental health facility. He died from septic shock at Rikers.

You can read the whole story here.

THE BUDGET

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin joined together this week to request a change to a tax credit for some businesses in their quest to fill a $5.4 billion budget hole.

Gov. Kathy Hochul swiftly said no.

Any change to the pass-through entity tax, or PTET, would require an OK from state lawmakers. The governor sees a proposed PTET cut as a personal tax increase.

“We’re not changing PTET,” she said when asked in Albany.

The city’s gap is still there, and the mayor requested a delay for his executive budget, which was expected May 1, because of the state’s late budget. Hochul wants the city to keep looking at ways to cut expenses before she’d even consider giving even more money as a bail out. Mamdani and Menin, allies in begging, contend they still need state aid.

You can read the full story on PTET from my colleague Sam, and some other related budget stories from POLITICO and the New York Times and NY1.

Other interesting stories

I also wrote about dog poop again this week.
Soccer players want the lights kept on for late night games [GOTHAMIST]
Mayor Mamdani finally wears a helmet (he’s riding in the 5 Boro Bike Tour) [CBS]
Hard to argue with this [HELLGATE]
Oh no, Tina Brown is mad about Mamdani not sweating the royals! [NYT]

After a rare incredibly brutal winter, we are on the cusp of summer. We’ll be kicking off our summer newsletter again later this month, and I’m thinking ahead to the people and places that will be interesting to write about. Do you have any ideas? We’ve written about horseshoe crab stewards and the Parkies checking for loose boardwalk planks and carnival ride inspectors. Happy for any suggestions!

And for fun, here’s a highlight reel of the Knicks dominating the Hawks.

Thanks for reading!

Mayor’s office

In May 2024, a gay couple filed a class action lawsuit against the city, saying they couldn’t use the full slate of IVF benefits because of who they are.

Nicholas Maggipinto and Corey Briskin wanted to start a family with biological children. But although Maggipinto’s health benefits as an assistant DA in Manhattan helped with IVF for other city employees, he wasn’t eligible.

The case received significant media attention at the time, but nearly two years later, there hasn’t been much progress — because the city’s lawyers have been dragging their feet, transcripts show.

I wrote about the issue this week, where even the federal judge slammed the city’s attorneys for being woefully underprepared. You can read the full story here.

The rest of last week was a recovery from the first 100 days of Mayor Mamdani news cycle. We covered his barnburner at Knockdown Center last week, where Sen. Bernie Sanders was the surprise guest. It felt like a campaign rally, and in many ways it was. Although his election is over, there’s still lots of work being done around coalition building, around securing the critical mass of support to get his big ideas across the finish line. The rally also served to reiterate how he sees his admin’s wins.

Speaking of those wins, Mamdani had an event Saturday in the Bronx with former President Obama, focused on his childcare initiative. The footage from the event has gone viral, of course; it’s the perfect combination of kids and politicians (although not truly natural, since the kids aren’t usually there on a Saturday but opted to come in for it.) It was also a carefully controlled event, with only invited press and some influencers allowed inside. I understand space constraints, and security, but after a while, having to RSVP for every event even if you do get invited is wearing on my fraying patience.

Other interesting stories

A doorman strike was averted [THE CITY]
Some of the mayors allies are urging him to veto a “buffer zone” bill [THE CITY]
The mayor floats insurance fix for rent-stabilized buildings [THE CITY]
Stouffers is king [BON APPETIT]
The council is pushing for reforms to let detainees vote [THE CITY]
Like “Biennial,” thinking of saying “pied-à-terre” aloud makes me nervous[GOV]
Outside of NYC, local authorities routinely cooperate with ICE [THE CITY]
The fight over Muhammad Ali’s shorts [WSJ]
Tier 6 pension reforms could benefit the lawmakers fighting to fix it [THE CITY]
Some New York City movie recommendations [NYT]

LISTEN

I’m three episodes into this podcast about the murder of City Councilman James Davis in the balcony of the City Council chambers almost 23 years ago.

WATCH

A deep dive into the Dolan surveillance at MSG.

Thanks for reading!

Later today, Mayor Zohran Mamdani will address city workers and others with a 100-day speech at the Knockdown Center. We expect a celebration of the city’s workforce, and hopefully some news.

I learned this week that the 100 day marker in politics first began under Franklin D. Roosevelt, who promised massive changes in government in the first few months of 1933 at a time the country needed it. It’s stuck around. While I sometimes find the marker random, it can give a little glimpse into the rest of an elected official’s first term.

We’ve seen that so far with Mayor Mamdani. I’m covering tonight’s rally, and will have more tomorrow, but for now, enjoy a roundup of all that 100 day coverage from THE CITY and others:

Will Mamdani tame the NYPD? [THE CITY]
How’s he doing otherwise? [THE CITY]
Mamdani grapples with a learning curve [NYT]
And talks about jobs losses [NYT]
”Zohran Mamdani the candidate might not recognize Zohran Mamdani the mayor.” [POLITICO]
With John Wilson on scaffolding [YOUTUBE]
FAQ had a live event, thanks to ABNY, where we discussed the first few months.

LISTEN

One of my favorite bands, Bell X1, returned to New York City for the first time in nine years this week, and I saw two of their three shows at the Irish Arts Center. I was hoping some of the video I saw people recording (no judgement) would end up on YouTube, but I haven’t found any. So instead enjoy some old live videos

It was the Inner Circle a few weeks ago. Some disposable pics from it:

And I’ll give my mom the last word here, because what she wrote this week on Facebook about my dad was so beautiful more people should read it:

Thanks for reading!

Dylan Darling after the Big East Championship

Dylan Darling dribbled the basketball up the court last week with a few seconds left in the game, but I couldn’t watch. Through my lifetime of rooting for St. John’s I’d seen this go wrong before, so instead of watching the drive I closed my eyes.

The cheers around me let me know that my team would advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since I was in the 8th grade. I hugged the other fans around me and continued to cheer, watching the replay of that wobbly shot over and over, as if we needed to see it again and again to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

Last Friday I watched us play the evil Duke Blue Devils while also participating in the dress rehearsal for The Inner Circle, where this year I played both Gale Brewer and George Conway. I set it up on my iPad and caught glimpses while I changed in and out of long scarves and fake pearls. If we pulled out a win, I’d join my friends for an early Sunday road trip to Washington D.C. for the Elite Eight, a tiring weekend run on adrenal and the continuation of a great season.

Things began to unravel in the last few minutes. I hoped for a miracle, even as we were running out of time. I dared to dream until the last 30 seconds, and then I let it go.

When you root for a team, you get so much more than just wins and losses — camaraderie, connection, elation, heartbreak, something to love, something to hate. You want to keep winning so that everything that comes along with that can keep going.

My friends and I obviously weren’t in DC today. Our team didn’t make it to Indianapolis this year. But next year, next year! Coach Pitino is in it for the long haul, and we’ll learn all about new players in an exhausting way over the next few months. There will be so many fights on Twitter, some I’ll definitely engage in. There’s so much to dream about for next year.

(Although it pains me to admit this, I was so happy watching UConn win tonight, if only because it was against Duke.)

Other interesting stories

The “buffer zones” bill passed in the council [THE CITY]
The NYPD thwarted a plan to firebomb a prominent Palestinian activist’s house [PBS]
Unsurprising data on immigration [THE CITY]
The Pentagon only wants authorized questions [THE INTERCEPT]
Bushwick Farm padlocked amid migrant crisis, fines, and fed-up owner [THE CITY]
A comprehensive rundown of the Air Canada crash at LaGuardia [NYT]
The mayor and governor skipped the “Tax the Rich” rally today in the Bronx [C&S]
More budget pain is in store for Mayor Mamdani [POLITICO]
”People need to lighten up.” [NYT]

WATCH

The type of stuff I watch to wind down

Thanks for reading!

This week, hundreds of thousands of Muslim New Yorkers celebrated Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. For the first time, the city’s mayor was one of them.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has spent the last 30 days fully embracing his religion and identity with Iftars and celebrations around the city. On Tuesday, I joined him at the Masjid Islamic Unity & Cultural Center in Astoria, founded by Bosniaks who fled displacement from the Bosnian War and genocide in the 1990s. I also started my day with him at Gracie Mansion, where he hosted his St. Patrick’s Day breakfast and talked about the solidarity so many Irish people have for other people facing genocide and persecution around the world.

Mamdani’s connection of Palestininians with the Irish was criticized by some officials who felt it was unnecessary. Councilmember David Carr of Staten Island, who is also the minority leader, slammed his “co-opting of a Catholic feast day that is central to Irish faith, culture, and identity to fit his distorted political ideology. Not every road leads back to Gaza.”

Strangers on social media wanted the mayor to stick to the pipes and drums, remarking — without any understanding of the parade’s history — that this had been an apolitical march until Mamdani came around.

Tell that to the people marching every year with “England Get Out of Ireland” banners, or to the organizers who picked Michael Flannery, the founder of NORAID, as the grand marshal in 1983 after he and others beat charges of running guns to the IRA.

I try to remember this when covering specific groups of people: no ethnicity, no religion, is a monolith. As a half-Irish New Yorker I recognize so many opinions and contradictions exist within the community, and it’s all on parade. In Rockaway, the celebration is pipes and drums and fire trucks and, for some reason this year, Sid Rosenberg. But in Sunnyside and Woodside, it’s banners saying “Saoirse don Phalaistín” and a memorial to the victims of of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire and a large banner with a Daniel Berrigan quote.

Mamdani finished his week with more Iftars and, on Friday, prayers with the Brooklyn Islamic Center in Prospect Park. I asked him how significant it was for not just Muslim New Yorkers, but all New Yorkers, to see him so fully embrace who he is.

“New Yorkers can be from anywhere, we can be part of any faith, and the beauty of this day is that, all that so many Muslims want in this city is just to belong in the place that they know is their home,” he said.

“And that belonging is not something that should be exclusive to any religion or any one community, but for all of us.”

You can read more here.

And! Come to a live taping of an FAQ episode with ABNY, food and drinks with your ticket (but 21+ only, so sorry to all of our teen listeners) Get tickets here!

Other interesting stories
We have a new sanitation commissioner [THE CITY]
The former TLC commissioner backs out of controversial job [THE CITY]
Street vendors are still getting criminal summonses despite law change [THE CITY]
How Hochul will weaken the state climate law [THE CITY]
Feds subpoenaed records related to former council speaker and top aide [POLITICO]
New community safety office gets a soft-launch with just a few staffers [THE CITY]
Bernie Sanders will rally to tax the rich in the Bronx. Mamdani won’t be there. [NYT]
Eric Adams will lose his city-funded lawyers for sex abuse case [THE CITY]
I enjoyed this detailed explainer on using Google better [SUBSTACK]

WATCH

St. John’s plays Kansas this evening, so please send all of your positive vibes to get this team out of the second round of the tournament for the first time this century.

Shoutout Bootsy Thornton!

And here’s a buzzer-beater compilation

Thanks for reading!

I spent Saturday night screaming and cheering and trying not to cry during the men’s Big East tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s, the team I’ve rooted for my whole life, was poised to win back-to-back tournament championships, something they’ve never done before.

I was born a few months after St. John’s appeared in the Final Four, when fans thought it would be like that forever. It hasn’t. It has, at times, been very painful. I was a freshman at the school the year Mike Jarvis was fired. I’ve watched Fordham beat us more than once, and we lost to a team named Incarnate Word by more than 20 points.

But the pain in some ways connected me to a larger fandom, a community of people proud of the team and of Queens and New York City, all believing that things would turn around.

And it especially connected me to my dad. I’m a St. John’s fan because he was a St. John’s fan. He went to St. John’s, and I wen’t to St. John’s. Watching games was one of the things we did together — on TV, like we did for last year’s championship, or in person, at the Garden or Carnesecca Arena. For years, we shared the pain, and didn’t mind it if we got dinner or lunch before or after. Last year, we shared the joy until we lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament. But there was always next year.

On Jan. 3, after St. John’s lost to Providence at MSG, I called my parents to bemoan how badly the team played. I had gotten on the Jumbotron with my friend Michelle, which my dad and I had gotten on last season. “What a crappy game,” I said on speaker. My dad, who started chemo a few weeks before, was having a rough day. His voice was strained, which was one of the side effects, so he didn’t really talk. The lozenges I ordered that were supposed to help would arrive today, I said. We ended it with “I love you” and I biked down to a friend’s birthday at a movie theater, where we watched “Back to the Future.”

My mom and sister called during the movie, as Marty McFly was trying to get back to 1985. My dad collapsed at home, and was headed to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. A friend called me an Uber and I went through the long drive from Chelsea to Far Rockaway trying not to think too much.

When my dad was diagnosed with cancer I envisioned so many bad scenarios, a long spiral of suffering ending in the worst thing, but I never imagined he could go quickly. So although he was sick the call from my mom that he didn’t make it felt sudden.

Once I got inside the hospital I checked in at the front desk, clutching the St. John’s Starter jacket I bought during my excitement the year before. I gave his name to a nurse who said she’d walk me over, then yelled out to a colleague where she was going. “Oh, expiration,” the other person replied. I saw it in that moment not as callous shorthand but a reminder of the way it is in a hospital, the way it is in a newsroom to a lesser extent during breaking news. It’s just part of the job.

My mom and sister were waiting in the room with my dad when I got there. You can’t prepare for something like that, no matter how much you worry about it. But dark humor has gotten me through everything else in life, so after a few minutes of being together I looked at my dad and blurted out, “I can’t believe the last thing you watched was that game against Providence.” My dad would have laughed, and maybe he did.

Later that night when we got back to the house I heard a thud on the porch. It was the delivery of lozenges and other things I ordered to help my dad, a reminder of how different life was just a few hours before.

The next few weeks were a swirl of emotions and a long list of things to do. There’s so much entertaining when a person dies, so many conversations, so many decisions. Whatever else we had planned was forgotten about, but I did keep paying attention to college basketball. And St. John’s, somehow, started and kept winning. They went on a 13-game streak through the end of February, the longest streak of my entire life. Jan. 3 seemed like an anomaly, a blip, and it also became a marker. In mid-February a TV announcer noted that the team hadn’t lost in 53 days and I then had a number for the last time I had spoken to my dad.

Maybe I wouldn’t feel this same emotional connection between him and our team if he died in July. If our last conversation was about the Mets, or about a concert, maybe I’d pin all these feelings to that. But this is when he went, so this is what I think about. (That he died at St. John’s Hospital and is buried at St. John’s Cemetery also must mean something.)

I felt a heavy mix of different emotions last night at MSG with my friend Brynn, who lost her dad two years ago and understands. I kept my dad’s prayer card in my pocket; we were sitting in the best seats we ever had. After St. John’s crushed UConn by 20 points Brynn and I stuck around for the ceremony, pushing our way down to the front with all of the other fans who wanted to experience it. Coach Pitino said during an interview played on the big screen that he knew how much the win meant to the fans and to New York City, and the place erupted in cheers. I thought of everyone else in that arena who wished they could celebrate a happy moment again with someone who was gone, and had to find a way to bring them along whichever way they could. I thought of all the fans who waited for next year, but next year didn’t come.

I felt joy and pain at once, up and down and back and forth like a basketball game, the only way to do it.

It starts over again today, when we find out who St. John’s is playing next in the tournament. I’ll be watching, and so will he.

Other interesting stories

I spent the night with the annual HOPE count last week [THE CITY]
My profile of a longtime Parks Department photographer [THE CITY]
The latest on two teens inspired by ISIS to attack NYC [NBC NEWS]
The latest on state legislature-backed tax hikes [NY FOCUS]
The budget woes continue [THE CITY]
Brooklyn nurses lose health care despite $15 million from the state [THE CITY]
Where do Noma’s staffers go now? [GRUBSTREET]

LISTEN

“The vital records of Mr. George Rex, ‘The Last Slave’” [LIT NYC]
I called in moments after the Gracie Mansion presser from outside The Mansion diner for this week’s FAQ

WATCH

You can relive last night’s game with this recap. Maybe you can hear me yelling “Cry more Hurley!” from my seat.

Thanks for reading!

The meeting was secret because President Trump asked it be kept secret, although we all figured out by Wednesday morning where the mayor was (no public schedule and evasive press secretaries will do that.) The pair discussed capping the yard to build 12,000 affordable apartments along with schools and parks — something that needs more than $21 billion to do.

Like his first meeting with Trump in November, Mamdani charmed the president. He used that goodwill to not just request billions but to request the release of a Columbia University student detained by ICE earlier that day, and requested five other people have their immigration cases dropped.

The mayor described their meeting like this:

“New York City is facing a generational affordability challenge.Working families are being priced out of the neighborhoods they built. To meet this moment, we need a true federal partner prepared to invest boldly and act urgently. I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with President Trump about building more housing in any single project than our city has seen since 1973.”

My colleague Sam Maldonado did a great job of laying out the plan and challenges here, which I encourage you to read. Here’s the 2019 EDC feasibility study, and the master plan.

More interesting stories

All about the blizzard fallout — complaints around parks, shaming bad property owners, and when the snow shovelers can get paid.

Our coverage of the first “rental ripoff” hearing [THE CITY]
A deep dive into the end of Brooklyn Mirage [WSJ]
Tokyo pizza comes to New York [GRUB STREET]
The NYPD is still illegally stopping New Yorkers, court monitor finds [THE CITY]

WATCH

“The half life of grief is endless.”

Thanks for reading!

I woke up at 4 a.m. on Wednesday to make the 2+ hour drive up to New York’s capital, picking up two colleagues at the gas station near PS1 in Long Island City before heading north. Mayor Zohran Mamdani was sitting in the backseat of his SUV making that same drive that morning.

We were all on our way for Tin Cup Day, the annual trip where mayors beg the legislature for money in the state budget. Mamdani’s testimony came weeks after he held a press conference in the Blue Room at City Hall to discuss the city’s budget woes — a $12 billion shortfall over the next two fiscal years, placing the blame on former Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A funny thing happened between Jan. 28 and Feb. 11. That gap shrank by $5 billion, thanks to some cost-cutting and Wall Street bonuses. The mayor still called for a tax raise on the wealthiest people and corporations, and requested for the city’s “fair share” of the state’s money, but hole was now $7 billion.

So what was the point of that Blue Room press conference?

At its core, politics is theater. And budget messaging is a common stage.

But for Mayor Mamdani, facing dual criticism of relative inexperience and being merely performer, even usual political acting will be scrutinized more. Dean Fuleihan and Sherif Soliman, the city’s first deputy mayor and budget director, surely knew the Wall Street bonuses would be out after that presser. Sounding the alarm and placing blame before the Albany hearing felt premature, even if it matched Comptroller Mark Levine’s warnings. The preliminary budget is expected on Tuesday, where there will be more numbers to look at.

You can read my Tin Cup day coverage here.

Other interesting stories from THE CITY

Can somebody please tell me with former Adams staffer bought the whistles [THE CITY]
A former federal prosecutor is nominated to lead the Department of Investigation [THE CITY]
An NYPD official, alleged bribes, and indictment. [THE CITY]
The Queens DA charges mentally ill man shot by police [THE CITY]
After an ICE arrest, a scarred family returns to 26 Federal Plaza [THE CITY]

Of course I couldn’t visit Albany without stopping at Sovrana’s, a very good Italian deli and pizza shop.

I got the Sovrana’s special and an antipasto salad which I just immediately covered up and took home, eating half the sandwich and that salad the next day over three meals. And remember my rule: if there’s a Padre Pio photo anywhere, it’s a great shop.

Thanks for reading!

NYC Mayor’s office Flickr

Soon after he was elected, Zohran Mamdani unveiled a hiring portal designed to translate the enthusiasm for his historic election into employment in a new city government. Within a few days, tens of thousands of people applied. By the end of November, that number rose, and remained, at around 80,000 applicants.

I started asking about the portal soon into January, especially as people were getting hired. Who was handling sifting through all of those resumes? Surely some were bots or fake. How did all that get cleaned up?

This was a simple story that somehow took me weeks, because it was so difficult getting answers from the admin’s press shop. I asked to talk to folks hired off the portal, or for any data at all from who else was hired. All I got was the data on City Hall hires. Of the 149 hired, 31 came off the portal, a rate of 21%.

Our CITY Instagram followers think this is very high, as they’ve expressed displeasure with our story. The number does expose the challenges of hiring in city government, as my colleague Reuven wrote in November, but also a new mayor naïveté in encouraging people to apply while bringing on old de Blasio staff anyway.

You can read the full story here .

FEELING A TYPE OF WAY:

Have you noticed this horrific change from New York City’s Daily News? They quietly changed their iconic font in favor of one of the ugliest things I’ve seen. A comparison:

I don’t know what to do about this, but wanted to share my rage at this change for a newspaper whose staff has struggled while still putting out important news for New Yorkers. Why did the hedge fund bosses do this? Who thought this was attractive? Does it save money somehow? WHY!

Other interesting stories

✨Adrienne Adams was picked as Gov. Hochul’s running mate. [THE CITY]
✨The head of the Brooklyn Dems somehow made it about her. [POLITICO]
✨The city’s effort to dispatch mental health workers ends in police response 86% of the time [THE CITY]
✨Our bus stops are still treacherous [THE CITY]
✨We (I’m counting myself as an ashes & palms Catholic) have a new archbishop [NYT]
✨The Starbucks strike quietly ended this week [THE CITY]
✨A new city rule will make it harder to get people off streets into shelter [THE CITY]

WATCH

An enviable camera collection from a longtime volunteer at the Met

And relive what I got to experience Friday at Madison Square Garden, but just imagine me high-fiving all of the Johnnies fans around me and tormenting the few UConn fans nearby.

Thanks for reading!

Critics (from the New York Post to former Eric Adams staffers to people in Facebook comments) have pointed to these tragedies to say it’s all because the new mayor said last month he wouldn’t go after encampments on the city’s streets. Street homeless advocates have criticized the practice from previous mayors, notably Adams, citing stats like these:

Although more than 4,148 sweeps were conducted, not a single person was offered permanent shelter through housing-voucher applications, direct placements, or transfers to supportive housing, the numbers show.

In May, the city’s data showed that although 3,500 people were moved out of homeless encampments, just 114 were placed in shelters, according to Gothamist.

Others say allowing anyone to sleep on the street is ultimately cruel to them, keeping the most vulnerable in dire situations. The mayor said the city has involuntarily removed some New Yorkers to hospitals, and increased outreach to encourage others into shelters or hospitals. But it’s all a complicated situation, and not new. The most recent vital statistics data from the health department, from 2023, shows 29 deaths related to the cold.

My colleague Haidee Chu spoke to some New Yorkers living on the streets, showing their real-life challenges. William Galarza set up a tent in Union Square Park this week, unaware that there was even a snowstorm. He hadn’t yet been approached by any homeless outreach officials but wouldn’t be interested in shelter anyway, now that he had Casi, a tabby cat. Pets are usually not allowed in city shelters.

I encourage you to read her full story , and also David Brand from Gothamist/WNYC’s story about one of the men who died on the street although he had an apartment.

Other interesting stories

🔸 Catching up on more appointees for Mayor Mamdani: new DCAS, Probation, and Environmental Protection commissioners, new correction, health, OATH and DYCD commissioners. There’s also a new “remediation manager” at Rikers.

🔸 There’s a $12 billion budget hole and Mamdani blamed Adams and Cuomo in a bizarre presser. More details here.

🔸 Speaking of Adams, the Mamdani administration is looking for ways to starve of resources the hastily-planned charter review commission he announced on his final day, staffed with many staffers who are presumably looking for something to do (the position is unpaid.) Politico has a good look at that here.

🔸 More details on the case against Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

🔸 Should we build more artist housing?

🔸 A delightful feature, with great photos and videos, about the tugboat cutting through ice to keep you warm during this freeze!

LISTEN

🎧Our latest FAQ NYC pod

🎧 Pilgrims — a special project from one of my favorite singers, Paul Noonan, and composter Brian Crosby — has a new album out called Wintering that I love so much after listening to it all week. You can grab on Spotify and Bandcamp and here’s a favorite:

🎧 Ye Vagabonds also has a great new album out called All Tied Together.

🎧 I also saw Heems at Baby’s All Right last night. Here’s one of my favorite songs (that he sadly didn’t play) because I have long loved my computers.

He did play this favorite:

Thanks for reading!

Mayor Zohran Mamdani officially announced the city’s new Parks Commissioner, Tricia Shimamura, inside High Bridge Park on Saturday. The snow had just started to fall, making the announcement seem cinematic.

Shimamura has most recently been Manhattan borough commissioner and worked earlier jobs in politics and communications; at the announcement, she stressed how the spaces and places the Parks Department oversees are the city’s truest example of affordability.

“We have a responsibility as a city to do more,” she said. “Mayor Mamdani has rightfully outlined a vision for a more affordable city where every New Yorker, not just the few, can grow and thrive, and where government works for the people. I deeply appreciate and understand that [the] Parks [Department] has a mandate to uphold and a critical role to play in the future of our city.

“Parks is the agency of affordability. With over 30,000 acres of parkland, playgrounds, and sports courts, we are the official backyard of New York City families, providing children safe places to play and learn. Our pools and beaches are where New Yorkers learn to swim and cool off in the heat of the summer, at no cost whatsoever.”

Thanks to the Parks Department, you can go hang out at world-class beaches, swim in Olympic-sized pools, and hike through miles of trees all for free. But there are challenges that I’ve written a lot about. There’s my obsession with lifeguard staffing, and persistent capital issues; last year, a leak in an ancient pipe kept the Red Hook pool closed for months.

The mayor vowed during the last mayoral debate to fund the city’s parks at 1% of the city’s budget, which is a little more than half of what it’s funded at now (about .6%.) In an interview about parks with advocates and staff last month, they outlined what that could actually look like.

Funding is one of the largest needs for the Parks Department. The city, though, is facing a larger budget deficit — a $12 billion hole, Comptroller Mark Levine shared this week.

How will that get solved? The mayor believes there should be tax increases on the wealthiest people and corporations. However:

“In addition, Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled in this week’s State of the State speech that she will not propose any tax increases in her budget. Mamdani’s top budget advisor, first deputy mayor Dean Fuleihan, said at a Citizens Budget Commission event in December that the administration would include revenue from new taxes only if they were included in Hochul’s budget.”

That 1% parks pledge — and a lot more — is watching and waiting.

Other interesting stories

How to read crime stats like a pro [THE CITY[

There’s new council leadership [THE CITY]

ICE is opening a huge lockup in Orange County [THE CITY]

In non-news things, I’ve re-read this a few times since my dad died. “Some say the dead speak to them in their dreams. But as mystical as they seem, dreams come from our thoughts. My mother is always in my thoughts, so she is always in my dreams.”

Here’s “Ripple” from Bob Weir’s memorial. “If I knew the way, I would take you home.”

Thanks for reading!

Fair winds and following seas, dad

I want to talk about my dad today, who died suddenly last week. It actually does sort of count as the news, since his death made the cover of both the Rockaway Times and The Wave (with a bigger spread than our new mayor on The Wave‘s cover, an editorial and a beautiful remembrance from our friend Paula.)

After I posted about my dad’s death a friend commented that she wished me courage as I grieve. I see now that it’ll take that to start the rest of my life without him.

My dad had been sick (he was getting chemo for kidney cancer, with a treatment plan that seemed like it would be successful) but his death was unexpected. It might be harder on the living when it’s fast but it’s easier for those who go. My dad was afraid of suffering, of the next few weeks of his brutal treatments, and I hope he didn’t feel a thing.

The chemo strained my dad’s voice and it was difficult for him to speak, but I called a few hours before he died, about the stupid St. John’s loss, and how I got on the Jumbotron like we did together last year. I’d harp on how silly a conversation that was considering what happened after, but neither of us had any idea what was coming. We ended that call like we did all conversations, with “I love you,” which is the most important thing.

The week since has been a bit of a blur. Friends and neighbors began arriving on our front porch to offer their condolences Saturday night, as soon as we got back from the hospital. My dad was beloved in Rockaway, a place that is exceptionally good when things are difficult. The food arrived on Sunday and it hasn’t stopped, and we’ve heard from so many people who loved and respected my dad. That’s all made this a little easier. The bittersweet part is knowing how much he would have loved the full house, all the food, and all the stories, photos, and home videos we shared and watched while thinking of him.

My dad showed effortless kindness, warmth, and generosity for everybody. He was always there for the people in his life, with money or food or a ride or a joke. We’ve seen that come back to us this week, in so many ways, and that part has been incredibly beautiful.

His wake was packed, with so many members of the organizations he was a part of like the Knights of Columbus and American Legion. For years, my dad would travel around New York City and Long Island attending the funerals of other Legionnaires for a poppy ceremony. On Wednesday he had his own. We also met people for the first time who knew my dad from walking the dogs, and so many people who know me got to learn about the incredible person my dad was. I know he was proud of me and my sister, and his grandson Riordan, and of course my mom, but we were also so incredibly proud of him.

At his funeral, my mom read from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, about faith, hope, and love — “but the greatest of these is love.”

The musical director played “Be Not Afraid.” “Blest are you that weep and mourn/For one day you shall laugh.” And of course he played “On Eagles Wings.” We ended with “The Parting Glass,” a traditional Irish funeral song with so many different versions. My mom said she and my dad heard one a few weeks ago sung by women, and after some playing we found the one my dad liked, from boygenius and Ye Vagabonds. We paused in the back of the church behind his coffin as it played. “Good night and joy be to you all” is all you can ask for, in this life and the next.

I know the hard part, in many ways, starts now. Life resumes and we adjust to a new way of living. I spoke to my mom this week about how my dad lived a full life, and in a world full of daily tragedies this one doesn’t seem so bad. We’d rather focus on everything we did get to do with him as opposed to any bitterness. But it’s never enough time.

What I do know is we loved each other and had amazing moments while he was alive. And we sent my dad off well on his next journey, supported by the love of everyone still here and everyone he’ll see when he gets there.

There is so much we don’t understand about death, with the mysteries of faith doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I do believe his energy remains, and I hope to see him in multiple ways for the rest of my life.

So come say hi whenever you’re ready, dad. I’ll be here.

I turned my laptop on last Monday to find a semi-disaster, squiggly L-shaped lines making my computer operable but annoying. This perhaps is a metaphor for the year 2025, when things technically worked but not that well. Or maybe it’s just my computer telling me “enough,” as I stare at it right now to type this up.

I’ve been off the last week and will be until New Year’s Eve, as we prepare to welcome a whole new mayoral administration (and City Council and comptroller and other elected offices, too.) My colleagues wrote some Adams retrospectives looking at his place in the history of corrupt mayors and a long breakdown of all that corruption that hasn’t all gone away. In other city news, greenhouse gas emissions are doing well but the city’s economy could be “treading water” as hiring stalls. Use of force by NYPD officers also surged last year and state-level prison reform falls short, advocates say. Sort of a mixed bag.

I wrote so many stories this year it’s sort of hard to remember them all, but on a personal note, I’m happy! I saw a lot of live music, traveled, slowly began apartment renovations, spent lots of time with my family, felt the warm embrace of loving and supportive friendships, and was somehow the tannest I’ve been in years this summer. I finally learned to swim properly and I’m getting better in the pool with each dive underwater. Our beloved dog Hemingway died earlier this month, but he is not in any pain anymore. I went to a few beautiful weddings. I cooked and ate many delicious meals with people I love.

I was going through old posts from January and February and trying to put myself back there mentally, when we all wondered what Mayor Eric Adams’s court case could look like, and we all speculated on the election. I couldn’t have predicted everything that happened this year — but more importantly, would I have wanted to? As a reporter I try to stay ready for anything I can imagine with pre-writes. I often spoil the end of movies for myself, and used to troll message boards for Gilmore Girls spoilers based off of casting notices and leaks from anonymous key grips.

I recently finished “Our Share of Night” by Mariana Henriquez, and was struck by this line: “Don’t be so hard on her. Life is different in practice.” As an overthinker I spend a lot of time thinking about scenarios and how I or others would and should react to events or situations. I sometimes wish I knew what was going to happen. But it doesn’t matter; Life is different in practice.

I recently told a friend, another overthinker with an active imagination for the most entertaining worse-case scenarios, that she should use that imagination differently. What if she imagined the best-case scenario, of her life unfolding in the greatest ways possible? I needed to hear this for myself, and maybe you did, too. Here’s to 2026, and whatever we can dream up.

Other interesting stories

More on Eric Adams’s legacy [NYT]
Who will likely veto a lot of council bills before he’s gone [DAILY NEWS]
The 43 best restaurants in New York [GRUBSTREET]
Families wait to see detained families in the freezing cold [THE CITY]

LISTEN

I enjoyed Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never’s turn on Track Star, and of course the incongruous music in “Marty Supreme” was a highlight. He said in this Vanity Fair interview that he listened to Peter Gabriel’s “I Have The Touch” off the Security album more than 1,000 times (I understand.) Here’s the film’s original score if you haven’t seen it yet.

I interviewed some experts on the city’s parks on FAQ.

Bell X1 are coming to New York City for the first time since 2017! Here are the tickets.

The face you saw if I took your photo this year. Thanks for reading!