Who's up and who's down this week?

These Siena College pollsters will be able to brag to all of their polling expert friends when they gather for their data nerds club meeting. Siena College Poll got an “A” rating from FiveThirtyEight.com, one of only 18 polling institutes to receive the honor. In this era of fake news and fake polls, it’s difficult to build a trustworthy brand. Siena College, one of the state’s top polling operations, just proved that it also has credibility nationwide.

Things aren’t looking so grim for Grimm. A new poll shows the ex-con has a 10-point lead over his challenger in the 11th Congressional District Republican primary, the squeaky clean Rep. Dan Donovan. Sure, Grimm may have pleaded guilty to tax evasion in  2014. And yeah, he spent some time away from constituents during his seven month stint in prison. But apparently Staten Islanders still love him, even if President Donald Trump didn’t endorse him.

The Wall Street Journal, the venerable home to shadowy pencil drawings and in-depth reporting on upstate New Yorkers-turned royal experts, has a new editor-in-chief. Less the firebrand than former EIC Gerard Baker, an alleged Trump-lover, Murray is a well-respected Journal “lifer” whose promotion was reportedly greeted with relief. Good luck to Murray – and here’s hoping the WSJ can step up its game with more scoops like the one that brought us the Stormy Daniels saga.

James O’Donnell is a Republican, but he might want to consider donating to Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s attorney general campaign, since it could ultimately help to turn the Hudson Valley red. O’Donnell is running for Maloney’s House seat this fall, and he jumped on the attack when Maloney said he’d be running for AG and Congress at the same time. Now the safe seat is looking shakier, and O’Donnell could be the one to gain.

Nearly 500 years after his death, and over half a century since a bridge was named after him, one of the less-famous Italian explorers is finally getting his due. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was incorrectly spelled for decades – in fact, there are two z’s in the illustrious adventurer’s last name. The state Senate passed a bill to update the spelling of the bridge this week, proving that while they can’t seem to come to an agreement on much, they can agree to give a dead guy some extra credit.

Maybe it would be easier to run things by Gov. Andrew Cuomo first. From the mayor’s calls for a millionaire’s tax to his proposal for affordable housing atop Sunnyside Yards, the governor just can’t help but dismiss de Blasio’s biggest plans. With the mayor’s latest big idea – shaking up admissions for the city’s elite high schools – the criticism isn’t only from Cuomo. Plus, neglecting to pay his legal fees is just the kind of thing the tabloids are going to pounce on.  

The positive vibes and productivity of Monday’s state Senate hearing gave way to passive-aggressive behavior on Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul presided over the chamber. In a move that seemed to surprise her, Republicans started the session with a measure to override a Cuomo’s veto on a bill that passed back in March. To add insult to injury, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan later called Hochul out for breaking decorum in a tone described as “patronizing” and “mansplaining,” and she left the floor thwarted by the GOP leader.

“Sex and the City” is celebrating its 20th anniversary, but Nixon’s week was hardly celebratory. It began late last week, when her campaign sent out an email invite to an event in “Ithica.” On her road to woo upstaters, misspelling the very city where she thinks upstate begins is not a good look. But at least she still has New York City, full of progressives where she has high name recognition, right? Wrong. At her kickoff event for ballot petitioning, only 11 volunteers showed up in the Bronx to help her get the 15,000 signatures she needs to be on the Democratic ballot. Not a promising start.

Time to take out the trash. According to a scathing article co-published by ProPublica and Voice of America, Steven, John and Andrew Squitieri, owners of one of the largest private trash-hauling companies in New York City, have been involved in: underpaying workers, overworking employees, creating a sham union, having mob ties and employing workers involved in two tragic deaths. Oh, and one of those victims was one of several off-the-book workers whose colleagues lied to the police about his identity after running him over. But who cares when you’re busy riding around in a Rolls Royce and getting honored by elected officials.

As if it wasn’t hard enough to be an immigrant delivery man in New York City, Pablo Villavicencio probably didn’t even get a tip – he got cuffed instead. The pizza delivery guy flashed an IDNYC card at the checkpoint at the Brooklyn Army base at Fort Hamilton and instead of heading back to the restaurant, he was taken into custody by ICE. It’s been a firestorm of bad press for the feds after jailing the husband of a U.S. citizen with two young daughters. Although Cuomo may want to go in for a Ken-Lovett-style rescue, Villavicencio is slated for deportation. Let’s see what comes on their pizza NEXT time.