This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

COVID-19 who? Following a fiery debate, Nassau County Republican lawmakers passed legislation sponsored by County Legislator Mazi Pilip that will make wearing a mask or any facial covering in public a misdemeanor.  Supporters argued the ban was necessary to prevent people from hiding behind a mask to commit crimes – particularly antisemitic hate crimes. In a way, it’s a return to the norm. The state banned wearing masks in public for two centuries before the law was changed for obvious health reasons in 2020.

The jury’s still out on whether Mayor Eric Adams can make New York a City of Yes, but a major rezoning plan from his administration won key approvals this week in the Bronx. The administration and Deputy Mayor Maria-Torres Springer celebrated two City Council committees’ passage of the Bronx Metro-North Station Area rezoning – and the roughly 7,000 new apartments it’s intended to create – which puts it on a fast-track to final approval from the City Council.

Her lobbying ban on the state Legislature is long over, so it’s time for Aravella Simotas to officially cash in. The former Assembly member just got hired by the famously deep-pocketed Real Estate Board of New York to serve as the organization’s senior vice president of government affairs. It’s a great gig for Simotas, and there’s some sort of karmic justice that she will now work for the people her socialist opponents accused her of selling out to when they successfully challenged her in 2020.

Did you know that there's a list chronicling the WORST landlords in NYC? Well, there is and #1 on that list is Daniel Ohebshalom, who has now been arrested for the second time. How did he get there? By ignoring over 300 tenant and court-ordered complaints regarding horrible living conditions that he allegedly neglected, therefore endangering the lives of his tenants.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is once again bringing into question the phrase, “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” In a video posted online on Sunday, Kennedy described a 2014 incident where he retrieved a roadkill bear before leaving it in Central Park with a bicycle on top as a kind of “prank.” The strange story emerged as Kennedy continues his legal battle to stay on the ballot, appearing in court on Tuesday just days after the bear news broke.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry picked a fight with Daily News police bureau chief Rocco Parascandola this week, and the NYPD initially backed him up – releasing a bizarre statement accusing Parascandola of “waging personal attacks” against NYPD officials. Daughtry later patched things up with Parascandola, even posting a photo of himself alongside the reporter. But Daughtry may find it more difficult to resolve a lawsuit filed by a woman whom he allegedly body slammed during a protest.