This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The veteran critical care nurse set a good example for everyone on Monday when she became the first person in the U.S. to get a federally approved vaccine for the coronavirus. Not only did the Jamaican-born Lindsay refrain from flinching when the big moment arrived, she also spoke up for science in the process. That’s the type of thing that’ll go a long way towards restoring confidence in the health care system within communities of color moving forward. No wonder there’s so many happy tears.

Gov. Cuomo signed the Protect Our Courts Act this week, which bars ICE from arresting immigrants at New York court proceedings without an arrest warrant. The legislation builds on an executive order from 2018 and signals that the Trump administration shouldn’t let the door hit it on the way out. 

It took 12 years, but it’s finally happened – the New Kings Democrats took on the Brooklyn Democratic Machine and won. President Mariana Alexander led the charge at a recent county committee meeting which lasted a painstaking 13 hours. By the time the meeting ended, she had secured a massive victory for her group after the county committee approved its slate of proposed rule changes. This after getting a previous vote at the meeting overturned thanks to an improper vote tally, revealing that county leaders didn’t have the votes to stop the reformer’s agenda.

Please rank these six New York City Council members, in order of how much they want to stop ranked-choice voting. These six members of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus have been trying to block RCV since last year. And even after 74% of voters supported it, they’re still trying to block it. But a state judge said it’s too late to turn back now, and denied their attempt to stop RCV, forcing the lawmakers to rank their priorities: focus on fighting the lawsuit, or work on voter education.

Landlords in New York City are pretty universally bad. But to be named the worst of the worst? That’s a real lowpoint. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams released his list of worst landlords this week, with the New York City Housing Authority and private landlord Jason Korn again earning top spots. Williams reported that Korn’s 10 buildings built up an average of 1,822 violations this year, though Korn disputed the report. And NYCHA – well, takeyourpick of crises at the city’s public housing buildings.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may be avoiding its most dreaded doomsday cuts for now – with the promise of federal aid edging slightly closer – but if you’re Phil Eng, the picture doesn’t look so pretty. The Long Island Rail Road president was hit with a double whammy this week, as a state comptroller report revealed that the LIRR let projects run almost $70 million over budget and behind schedule because of lax enforcement of construction rules, and as the MTA board settled on a budget that avoids service cuts for New York City Transit, but not the LIRR. It’s no consolation, but MTA officials stressed that the LIRR service cuts are not budget related – it’s just because of the railroad’s steep ridership declines.