This week's biggest Winners & Losers

In the new Senate Majority Leader’s own words, “Buckle Up!” With Democrats winning both seats in Georgia, this Brooklynite is more powerful than ever, and finally in a position to deliver more federal aid to his home state.

2020 was a dumpster fire of a year, but state lawmakers got together one last time to give New York tenants some good news on the tail end. After weeks of negotiations, the state Legislature held a special December session to pass state Sen. Brian Kavanagh’s and Assembly Jeffrey Dinowitz’s eviction moratorium law, good until May 1. It was lauded as one of the strongest eviction protections in the entire country, applauded by tenant advocates for keeping renters in their homes. A nice send off for the year an anticipation of the craziness continuing unabated into January.

Off to the virtual races: Cuomo is finally going all-in on mobile sports betting. The governor’s endorsement of the idea – a much needed new source of revenue for the state – is a big win for Assembly Member Gary Pretlow and state Sen. Joe Addabbo, who have both sponsored legislation to legalize online sports wagering. With Cuomo in their corner, the odds are looking good for Pretlow and Addabbo.

Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of their own actions. After two months of lying about election fraud, these four Congressional Reps. ended up hiding from their own fans in the basement of the Capitol building, and then still voted to disenfranchise the American people. 

You might have thought that nine months into a devastating global pandemic, the arrival of a vaccine would have been met with efficient administration of it. Judging by the first month of rollout, you’d be wrong. Only a fraction of vaccine doses made available in New York have been used; in New York City just 30% of delivered doses have been administered. New York isn’t alone in being slow to administer the vaccine, and Cuomo isn’t the only one who’s been blamed for the underwhelming rollout. But the governor is now facing increased pressure to expand vaccine eligibility, while some experts have criticized the state’s reliance on hospital systems for vaccine distribution.

While Northwell Health was busy vaccinating New Yorkers against COVID-19, the state’s largest health system was also sucking their blood, as the only major hospital chain that kept suing patients over unpaid medical bills during the pandemic. But after the Times called them out, Northwell President Michael Dowling – a Cuomo confidant – publicly reversed course.