This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin has bestowed two of her key supporters with powerful positions. Council Members Linda Lee and Kevin Riley will respectively chair two of the council’s most influential committees: Finance and Land Use. Both positions will serve as lofty perches over the next four years, giving the members say over the council’s agenda for two of its most closely-watched issues. And hey, maybe even set them up nicely for whatever they decide to do next.

It’s time for state Senate musical chairs, and Luis Sepúlveda and April Baskin grabbed new chairs when the music stopped. Sepúlveda is now the first Latino Judiciary Committee chair, taking over from Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Baskin takes over the Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business Committee from Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan. For now, Sepúlveda and Baskin also remain chairs of the Cities 1 and Procurement and Contracts Committees, respectively, at least until two new senators arrive in a few weeks. 

Equinor’s Empire Wind project has received a second wind after a federal judge ruled that construction on the project can continue. The Trump administration had issued a stop-work order late last month, citing vague national security concerns. Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables America, had warned that if the company couldn’t resume work by Friday, it would likely have needed to cancel the project. So the federal injunction just one day before the deadline was the troubled offshore wind farm’s saving grace.

Those of us who have been quietly, perhaps tipsily, insisting to people at happy hours that “actually the Eric Adams administration was pretty successful” were HUMILIATED this week. First there was the antisemitism-fighting cryptocurrency launch, followed immediately by a crypto scam, then the viral “go fuck yourself” video captured as the ex-mayor deplaned. Then Tony Herbert, a former aide, was indicted on corruption charges. Eric, take a page out of Andrew Cuomo’s book. Go upstate. Go to Martha’s Vineyard. Go to the Hamptons. Lie low for a while. Please. 

Hochul’s State of the State address hit the New York State Trial Lawyers Association like a car crash. She wants to lower car insurance rates, but to NYSTLA President Andrew Finkelstein and his band of billboard attorneys, her plan sounds like it would cut personal injury payouts. And hurt their bottom lines. The lawyers shot back, comparing her to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis… but Hochul wouldn’t mind getting the kind of “DeSantis lowers Costs” headlines he’s been earning.

When you’re bracing for a major labor strike, you probably don’t want to be going up against a workforce that can spend hours upon hours upon hours on their feet. Nearly 15,000 nurses across three hospital systems in New York City have been on strike for four days as of Thursday, holding tight to their demands. Raske, who heads the Greater New York Hospital Association, now has to answer why hospitals are shelling out more than $100 million to hire and house temporary nurses rather than pay union nurses more.