This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

It’s clearly Jessica Tisch’s year! The New York City police commissioner is celebrating the first nine months of 2025 having the fewest shootings in the city’s recorded history. The stats also show that subway crime for July, August and September is at its lowest and major crimes keep decreasing. Good timing for Tisch, who will soon need to make her case to a new mayor to stay as the city’s top cop.

There’s a new king of Staten Island. North Shore Assembly Member Charles Fall was elected chair of the county Democratic Party this week. Staten Island isn’t exactly a blue stronghold, and the county party’s controversial endorsement of Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani shows that Fall’s ambition won’t come easy. Still, Fall’s election is an impressive feat for a lawmaker whose district isn’t even solely on Staten Island.

There was a time when the casino proposals from Mets owner Steve Cohen and from Bally’s Corp. looked as dead as the Mets’ 2025 season. And yet, both managed to make it to the final round of the lengthy bidding process last week and are now among the four finalists vying for three downstate casino licenses. But to quote Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

While the writing may have been on the wall, Mayor Eric Adams was clearly desperate to avoid this fate. But this weekend, Adams found himself ending his long-shot, turbulent bid for a second-term, in a nearly nine-minute video filmed at Gracie Mansion. For months, he’d projected confidence that the polls had it wrong and he could fight his way back. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough to escape the constant drumbeat of scandal.

In Nassau County, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups – and one of them isn't supporting the other. Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly could count on the backing of local law enforcement unions in the past, but she won’t have their support going into election day this year. They’re not supporting her opponent, either, but it’s still not a good look. Dun-dun.

Toxic waste dumping is back on the menu, boys! That’s right, the Hudson River will continue to serve as the dumping site for radioactive wastewater in Westchester County during the ongoing decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear plant. State Sen. Pete Harckham tried to stop it with a 2023 law banning the practice, but a federal judge ruled that the state had overstepped its authority. The decommissioning company says the tritiated water is safe, but be on the lookout for three-eyed fish.