This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Ahead of the start of the the one year “look back window” for victims for sexual abuse, these four state legislators went the extra mile to make sure that the public got educated. They bravely took to the airwaves not just to disseminate information about the bill, but to share their own experiences as survivors of childhood sexual abuse in order to encourage others to seek justice. By the end of the first day, nearly 430 claims were filed, and well over 1,000 are expected before all is said and done. 

If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again … to get appointed. In a move straight out of the party machine playbook, Wyatt Gibbons was essentially handed a state Supreme court seat by the Queens County Democratic Party, despite losing a contested race for civil court judge a couple months before. Gibbons himself put the situation best, telling Gothamist, “You’ll have to speak to county, they took care of me.”

Last December, New Yorkers were outraged by a viral video of police officers and security guards tearing Jazmine Headley's son from her arms at a public benefits office. But the city is trying to make amends. The New York City Council passed 11 bills aimed at improving the way the city treats people seeking public assistance. Still, the battle isn't over yet for Headley. She just filed a lawsuit against the city last week. 

West Village lawyer Arthur Schwartz once again put the brakes on the implementation of a plan to keep most cars off 14th Street when he secured an appeal in court. This latest turn in the long and winding road of the 14th Street busway came just after transportation advocates and the DOT initially got Schwartz’s lawsuit thrown out. This is becoming almost as hard to follow as the Queens DA race.

WNYC hasn’t had a new leader in over two decades. But then, at the end of 2017, multiple male hosts at the station were accused of harassment and bullying behavior, leading Laura Walker to step down as head of New York Public Radio last year. Those unfortunate circumstances opened the door for Goli Sheikholeslami, who comes from WBEZ in Chicago and will officially take the reins in October. She reshaped and grew WBEZ during her five years there, and while WNYC is already a top-tier station, it has changed so much since the 1990s that it’s surely ripe for new ideas.

The younger brother of Gov. Andrew Cuomo got into it with a Rush Limbaugh fan who called him “Fredo” – the inept older brother of Michael Corleone of “Godfather” fame. The CNN host responded to the comparison with a profane litany of violent threats that were more like Sonny than Fredo. Critics noted that Cuomo had suggested he was like “Fredo” years before. Comparing “Fredo” to the N-word did not help, but at least Cuomo did say he “should be better.” 

Boy Scouts have a standing order: Be prepared. The Child Victims Act is going to put that to the test. Survivors of sexual abuse across the state have one year beginning this week to bring past legal claims against their alleged attackers, and Surbaugh, chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America, already has a lot of lawsuits on his hands. Too bad for Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York – which faces lawsuits of its own – that this time around the scouts are looking out for their own. 

Rep. Joseph Morelle s made the top of the list … for worst congressional district for black Americans. Rep. Brian Higgins’ district also showed up in the top ten, and his office said he “has a clear understanding” of the challenges facing Western New York. Though it’s a bit unfair to point fingers at any one person – especially Morelle, who just took office last year – it’s up to the first-term rep to step it up and fix things up. 

Who knew sharing a 15-minute-long video demonizing black people would seem racist? Not “keyboard gangster” and police union leader Ed Mullins, apparently. He sent the video to union members saying they'd hear “what goes through the mind of real policemen every single day on the job.” He now insists he hadn't heard the audio, which described black people as "monsters," but no worries – he says he has black friends, so it's cool.

There are a lot of conspiracies have sprung up about who allowed Jeffrey Epstein to kill himself, but there are at least a few clear culprits: the correction officers who were asleep on the job and their boss, Metropolitan Correctional Center warden Lamine N’Diaye. Although he was supposed to be checked in on every half hour, Epstein went unmonitored for hours – and N’Diaye was put on leave while the matter is investigated.