This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

A state Appellate Court judge ruled that the Equal Rights Amendment will appear on New York voters’ ballots in November after a Republican-led lawsuit saw it briefly removed. New Yorkers for Equal Rights Campaign Director Sasha Neha Ahuja was able to tout the win, which would bolster abortion protections and anti-discrimination measures in the state, after she helped lead a coalition backing the constitutional amendment.

Tiktok- and Instagram-addicted kids across the state may soon be going into social media withdrawal as algorithmic feeds on their accounts are about to become illegal without parental consent. Gov. Kathy Hochul just signed the SAFE for Kids Act and the Child Data Protection Act, both sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Nily Rozic, making New York the first state in the nation to bar algorithmic feeds on the social media accounts of minors.

If New York was a high school, Gov. Kathy Hochul would be that earnest, hardworking student whose individual work is respected, she just wouldn’t sit with the cool kids at lunch. A new poll shows that 45% - a vast plurality statewide – agree with Hochul’s congestion pricing pause. While Hochul can take solace in that when attacked by Brad Lander, it doesn’t mean she’s personally popular. Hochul’s favorability and job approval continue to be underwater and sinking.

A tumultuous year for colleges and universities isn’t over yet. Concluding one of the first of several dozen similar investigations they’ve opened into universities across the country, the U.S. Department of Education found that the City University of New York mishandled complaints of antisemitism and anti-Arab and Islamophobic discrimination. While several of those complaints have come up since the Israel-Hamas war, a handful of complaints relating to antisemitism dated back to 2019. CUNY Chancellor Féliz V. Matos Rodríguez vowed to take steps to improve the university system’s response to complaints.

Goodbye art and open space, hello senior housing. The state’s highest court just signed off on a plan to build a housing development on the site of the Elizabeth Street Garden, a city-owned but community-run sculpture garden – ending a decade-long fight over the redevelopment proposal. The court decision is a defeat for Council Member Chris Marté, one of the few local politicians who joined with local community board members to try to save the garden.

The New York City Schools chancellor rarely steps in to remove parent leaders from local Community Education Councils. But unfortunately for Maud Maron and Tajh Sutton, they were that rare case. Maron is a controversial figure, and some progressive and LGBTQ+ activists have called for her to be removed over anti-trans comments she has made. Sutton has also drummed up controversy for her pro-Palestine activism and for moving CEC meetings from in-person to online.