They say April showers bring May flowers, and while the April showers still haven’t stopped, the sun started poking through the clouds for some in the world of New York politics this week. In the education realm, there were rays of hope that New York City teachers would secure a new contract complete with retroactive raises. Even high school cheerleaders saw the sun with the state Board of Regents voting to officially recognize cheering as a sport. But it wasn’t all clear skies and rainbows. Rep. Michael Grimm might have escaped the rain on Staten Island, but he hit another storm in the nation’s capital, where he had to answer to John Boehner. Meanwhile, Merrell Schexnydre and the rest of the Brooklyn Health Partners crew were swept away in the latest tempest to hit Cobble Hill. The end of April showers didn’t dampen at least one flower, though: May’s first round of Winners and Losers:

WINNERS

Cheerleaders - How do you get something done in Albany? Be aggressive! B-E AGGRESSIVE! Competitive cheerleaders are doing back flips this week over the Board of Regents’ 17-0 decision to give their sport interscholastic status. Now that cheerleaders are officially athletes they might finally get the opportunity to shed the stigma of social outcasts that has historically plagued them and vie to be among the popular kids.

Robert Danzi  - Gov. Andrew Cuomo once again landed at the top of our Albany Power 100 list, but according to the governor “the single most powerful political force in Albany” is actually the state’s trial lawyers. Cuomo’s comments came in response to the lack of progress in reforming the state’s controversial Scaffold Law, which may now be all but dead in the state Legislature this year. And that’s good news for Danzi, the president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, a powerful lobby that is a staunch defender of the construction safety law.

George Miranda - It’s been a slow and steady climb to political relevance for the Teamsters, and their recent activism will be rewarded next week when the Working Families Party honors Miranda, the president of the Teamsters Joint Council 16, as its “Labor Leader of the Year.” From playing a key role in the passage of the Commercial Goods Industry Fair Play Act, to successfully urging UPS to rescind the terminations of 250 Teamsters drivers, Miranda has established himself as a major player in organized labor this year. Fresh off the WFP honor, it will be interesting to see if Miranda and the Teamsters continue their activity through the election season. 

Eva Moskowitz – Success! Moskowitz has been a thorn in Mayor de Blasio’s side for months, ever since the mayor said three of her schools couldn’t share locations with public school facilities. The public fight elevated Moskowitz’s status while causing de Blasio headaches. This past week it all came to an end when the city found new sites for the schools. Moskowitz graciously thanked the mayor, knowing full well who had come out on top in this round.

Michael Mulgrew - Many New York City labor insiders predicted that the teachers union would be the first domino to fall of the 150-plus municipal unions working without a contract, and sure enough, Mayor de Blasio announced a preliminary agreement with the UFT on Thursday. Mulgrew proved his political worth by scoring an enormously favorable contract for his membership, including the retroactive pay increases they had been seeking. After years of Bloomberg administration intransigence, Mulgrew seemed relieved to be negotiating across from de Blasio’s team—despite the fact that he backed the mayor’s primary opponent, Bill Thompson, during last year’s election.

LOSERS

Dmitry Aronshtein, Gerald Denault, Mark Mazer - Looks like that CityTime scam didn’t work out so well after all. Denault, Mazer and Aronshtein, the three contractors convicted of perpetrating the near $100 million kickback and money laundering conspiracy, got slapped this week with sentences of 105 years, 80 years and 40 years, respectively. Though they’ll each ultimately end up with around 20 years in jail because they’ll be serving their sentences concurrently, that’s still no slap on the wrist. When are people going to learn that crime doesn’t pay—if you’re within Preet Bharara’s jurisdiction?

Michael Grimm - He made it through the Marines. He made it out of the Gambino crime family as an undercover FBI agent. But it very well may be Healthalicious that does him in. The Staten Island pol was slapped with a 20-count indictment this week alleging he broke all sorts of rules while running a Upper East Side health fast food restaurant prior to his election. After that Grimm couldn’t throw supporters over the railing faster than they started jumping on their own. The congressman might be man enough to face all the adversity, but it’s the Republican Party he might end up making look like a boy. It’s too late for the GOP to replace him on the ballot, leaving Democrat Domenic Recchia with a far easier path to Washington than previously thought. However, for all of Grimm’s problems, The Washington Post might have summed up best the most embarrassing one: “The restaurant is named ‘Healthalicious,’ which, frankly, is egregious enough.”

Scott Levenson - A Daily News report this week reinforced what many in city politics had long suspected: that Levenson and his consulting firm, the Advance Group, may have been a tad overzealous in advocating for the animal rights organization that helped topple former mayoral candidate Christine Quinn in 2013. Levenson is now reportedly being scrutinized by the Feds—never a good situation to be in. And in other, perhaps just coincidental Advance Group news, two more members of Levenson’s firm left for other jobs this week, the latest in a recent spate of departures.

Merrell Schexnydre - Everyone thought Brooklyn Health Partners and its CEO, Merrell Schexnydre, were the clear winners when the company was chosen to buy, restore and maintain the destitute Long Island College Hospital last month. But unions, state officials and even Mayor Bill de Blasio have since questioned the California-based organization’s ability to hold up its end of the bargain. De Blasio has called on SUNY to drop its agreement with the company and an anonymous state source was quoted in the Daily News as saying the proposal looked like “fantasyland” and that it isn’t a matter of if, but when the negotiations will crumble. Now it seems like Schexnydre and Brooklyn Health Partners might very well end up facing a harder loss than if they had never won at all.

Helena Williams - Getting fired doesn’t exactly make you feel like a winner. Unfortunately for Helena Williams, that’s exactly why she makes the losers list this week. Williams says she was caught by surprise when MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast suddenly gave her the axe amid heated labor negotiations. Patrick Nowakowski, a veteran of the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., transit systems, will take over what Williams called her “dream job”. Williams could get the last laugh, though. Come July, the loser could actually be Nowakoski if the MTA and LIRR unions can’t arrive at an agreement and workers strike. If millions of angry transit riders let the summer heat get the best of them, Williams will have dodged a bullet—and being on the losers list will be the least of Prendergast’s and Nowakoski’s worries.