This Week’s Headlines: Turnout for what?

The New York City primaries on Tuesday had few surprises and incredibly low turnout, with 14 percent of the city’s registered Democrats participating. Mayor Bill de Blasio easily won against several little-known competitors, including always a bridesmaid Sal Albanese. Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez will soon drop the “acting” from his title, as he coasted to victory in his race against five challengers. There were a few tight races in the City Council – Districts 1 and 8 still have yet to be called – but most expected winners prevailed. And several state lawmakers are heading home, with Assemblymen Francisco Moya and Mark Gjonaj and state Sen. Rubén Díaz Sr. winning their City Council races.

RELATED: New York City 2017 primary election results

The best of the rest

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

The Democratic establishment had a strong showing in upstate New York. Mayors Kathy Sheehan of Albany, Byron Brown of Buffalo and Lovely Warren of Rochester vanquished their opponents. In Syracuse, Juanita Perez Williams easily won the open Democratic primary for mayor. Steven McLaughlin won the GOP primary for Rensselaer County executive, despite explosive allegations that he had abused a female staffer. In Westchester County, Democrat George Latimer won the primary for county executive. On Long Island, Laura Curran defeated George Maragos in the Democratic primary for Nassau County executive, and Larry Zacarese had an upset victory over state Sen. Phil Boyle in the GOP primary race for Suffolk County sheriff.

RELATED: Upstate New York and Long Island 2017 primary election results

Cuomo spurns de Blasio at Cornell Tech

After years of planning, the Cornell Tech campus opened on Roosevelt Island on Wednesday. The complex was built by Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who were awarded $100 million by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. Bloomberg attended the dedication, as did Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. The new campus brought innovative technologies to Roosevelt Island, and brought the feud between Cuomo and de Blasio to a boil. In his speech, the governor praised Bloomberg effusively and all but ignored de Blasio, and left the event before de Blasio spoke.

Education nation

Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia

The state Board of Regents on Monday approved two blueprints for the future of public education. One is the New York plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, the successor to No Child Left Behind that allows states more flexibility in creating education standards. This proposal will now be sent to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for approval. The second proposal is the Next Generation educational standards, which will succeed the Common Core in New York and provide new guidelines for schools in English and math.