Krueger, Glick top winners list, while Giuliani is voted biggest loser

Brooklyn and Manhattan may have some suffering in store with the new L train plan, but at least the Bronx and Westchester got good transit news. Metro-North and Amtrak came to an agreement and greenlit the $1 billion Penn Station Access Project. Once completed, Metro-North will be able to use one of Amtrak’s commuter rail lines, allowing Westchester commuters to take a train directly to Penn Station. The project will also result in four new stations in the Bronx being built. Sometimes, the MTA does something right, and Diaz Jr. and Latimer are the lucky recipients this time around.

The sponsors of the Reproductive Health Act finally got it enacted after years of effort. State Sen. Liz Krueger fought back tears as Senate Democrats announced that they were ready to pass the legislation that codified Roe v. Wade in state law. There was also a special guest star on hand as lawmakers voted – attorney Sarah Ragle Weddington, who argued Roe before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971, and now will see her legacy on women’s rights protected – at least in New York – if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the decision.

In 2015, the state tied teacher evaluations to student performance on state tests, and New York State United Teachers has been trying to undo it ever since. The issue was politically pivotal in the 2018 election, as state Senate Republican inaction on legislation contributed to a massive union campaign to unseat them. For Pallotta, the efforts were ultimately successful as both chambers passed the bill returning control over teacher evaluation methods to local districts.

The late state senator was a longtime proponent of a bill allowing young undocumented immigrants in New York to qualify for in-state financial aid while also setting up a scholarship fund for them. Peralta, who lost his Queens seat in the Democratic primary in September, unexpectedly died in November of what was eventually identified as leukemia – and the bill was subsequently renamed in his memory.  State Sen. Luis Sepulveda and Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa were the final sponsors of the bill, which passed this week, but it’s Peralta who will be forever linked to the law.

Steven Roth, the head of the real estate powerhouse Vornado Realty Trust, just sold the single most expensive apartment in the U.S. (and second priciest in the world!), raking in a cool $238 million from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who got a prime spot at 220 Central Park South – joining millions of New Yorkers paying too much for housing. Billionaires, they’re just like us.

New York City’s correction chief is dealing with quality over quantity lately. While the city’s inmate population continues to drop, the ones left in jail are, on average, more violent and more expensive, according to Comptroller Scott Stringer’s latest report. How expensive? At $302,000 a year, it would be cheaper to buy every inmate a vacation ocean-view vacation home in Maine.

Thousands of New Yorkers were without heat in NYCHA apartments on the coldest day of the year, and while there were no steamy sex parties at Throggs Neck Houses to heat things up, there was still lots of misconduct. NYCHA interim chief Stanley Brezenoff may get more time to fix it all, thanks to the government shutdown (or not if HUD regional chief Lynne Patton has a say: “THESE ARE BASIC HUMAN CONDITIONS & EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL AMERICANS. I DON’T CARE IF I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TWEETING DURING THE SHUTDOWN. FIX IT, @NYCHA!!!” she tweeted.)

This year is already a rough one politically for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the Archdiocese of New York. That state government codified Roe v. Wade and the Catholic Church has to get ready for a big financial hit once the Child Victims Act becomes law, which could happen as soon as Monday. Plus in his capacity as archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of New York, Dolan has to be feeling the proverbial pain after the Albany diocese lost a court battle over covering abortions for employees. To overcome these setbacks, Dolan might need to pray a few extra Hail Marys and add some Our Fathers this week.

It’s been a rough week for the former New York City mayor, even by his own diminished Trump-era standards. Over the weekend, he contradicted his boss, President Donald Trump, saying that Trump had actually been involved in talks over Trump Tower Moscow for the entire presidential campaign. Then he tried to walk things back, saying his comments were “hypothetical.” Does he have any idea what he’s talking about? Is Trump now frustrated with Giuliani’s performance? Or does Trump still like Rudy?   

As president and chief executive officer of the New York Racing Association, Christopher Kay successfully led the association in getting the association out from under state mismanagement, turning it into a private entity. But with the news that Kay is resigning following reports that he used NYRA staff to do his personal yardwork, it seems he’s got some management problems of own to solve.