This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Time for some vitamin K. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that her incentive based housing program is growing, and that despite last year’s setbacks in Albany, she is progressing toward her affordable housing goals. While dozens of municipalities across the state signing on to be pro-housing communities is great, all everyone seemed to care about was…carrots. First a visual gag when she said she would be using the carrot approach to win over communities, the produce became sustenance for staffers and reporters who forgot breakfast. Talk about ginning up goodwill. Hochul also saw vote-by-mail laws held up in the state Supreme Court this week, foiling a G.O.P legal challenge in a year when Democrats are hoping for a comeback.

Who needs the Democratic National Convention when you can play host to what will probably end up being a more passionate – and better organized – group of fans? The “New York New Jersey” region was selected this week to host several games and the final of FIFA’s World Cup in 2026. That region designation is a generous one, as the games will actually take place on New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s turf, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. But Mayor Eric Adams celebrated while draped in FIFA gear this week, projecting that the event will bring in 1 million tourists to the shared region in 2026.

Here’s a fine example of journalism that gets results. In 2019, The City’s incomparable Greg B. Smith published an investigation about how NYCHA building managers were giving out small contracts with little to no oversight – a perfect recipe for corruption. This week, that reporting led to a major NYCHA bust by Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. The feds arrested 70 officials from the public housing authority who were allegedly handing out contracts under $10,000 to vendors who gave them kickbacks, resulting in an estimated $2 million in bribes.

Some Erie County clerks go on to become governor, others have some explaining to do. A new audit shows that County Clerk Mickey Kearns’ office has been shortchanging some local governments and overpaying others for funds due from complex mortgage tax transactions. The audit also showed a March 2022 check from the clerk’s office to a state agency for $326,456 was stolen, counterfeited and cashed. This is on top of a pending case – and insurance claim – for $100,000 stolen by an employee in the clerk’s office and questions about the office’s accounting abilities.

It’s possible members of the Biden Administration were left scratching their heads when they read the bizarre engineering reference, “triple cantilever,” and rejected New York City’s application for $800 million for the redesign of this crumbling section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. That means Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez is nowhere closer to addressing the deteriorating conditions on the decades-old roadway that pose a risk to both motorists and pedestrians strolling along the Brooklyn Promenade.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is used to negative press and GOP attacks. He was the first prosecutor to bring charges against former President Donald Trump, after all. But this week was particularly brutal after more than a dozen migrants were caught on video assaulting two NYPD officers in Times Square. Bragg’s office held just one person on bail and released five suspects. That initial decision sparked outcry, but Bragg insisted he needed more time to gather enough evidence to properly identify the men. Even Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed in, saying, “All I know is that assault on a police officer means that you should be sitting in jail.” Bragg announced seven indictments alongside Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, saying he was “sickened and outraged” by the attack.