This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

After Howard University forcibly unenrolled hundreds of incoming students, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that SUNY and CUNY will accept eligible Howard students from New York for delayed admission – and even provide them with an $800 credit to make up for their lost Howard deposits. Saving spots for college freshmen that otherwise would have nowhere to go is a great move for a governor running for reelection. Plus, CUNY Chancellor John King and CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodriguez get to fill out spots in their classes that were otherwise going to sit empty.

From Manhattan’s U.S. attorney to the nation’s spy chief, Jay Clayton is moving up in the world – or at least to Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate confirmed Clayton as the director of national intelligence, bringing a messy nomination process to a close after President Donald Trump made a play to fast-track his confirmation. Of course, Clayton lost the support of Democrats along the way when he refused to say Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, but hey, who said the country’s intelligence director needs to move with intelligence?

There’s a new sheriff in town, and his staffers just ratified a new union contract. NYPD whistleblower Edwin Raymond was sworn in as New York City’s new sheriff this week, replacing Anthony Miranda, who’s now under investigation for corruption. Days later, Sheriff’s Benevolent Association President Ingrid Simonovic inked a new collective bargaining agreement with the city after going four years without a union contract.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is known for his politics of joy. Baseball cards introducing city officials! Custom World Cup jerseys! Not so joyful: An ominous letter informing homeowners they have to navigate city bureaucracy to prove they’re not subject to the new pied-à-terre tax. The new tax should be a political win for Mamdani, but City Hall has spent the week on defense. In another own goal, Mamdani is getting flak for not naming a single Jewish person to the 19-member Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary.

What’s Lori Zeno’s dream day? A Fifth Avenue shopping spree and Michelin star dinner, before ending the day in a penthouse apartment. But how can one possibly pay for all that luxury? Easy! Do as the Queens Defenders cofounder did and loot your nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income New Yorkers! Consequences may include getting sentenced to three-and-a-half years in federal prison and destabilizing said nonprofit.

Racist and sexist language is derogatory, full stop. Republican Nassau County Legislature nominee Anthony Capone did not think so when confronted with 14-year-old Facebook posts where he used racist language, called women “sluts” and posted a photo of a female friend wearing a dog leash, saying “keep my girls on a leash.” Capone initially called the posts, written when he was 17, “meaningless” and not “derogatory.” Capone later deemed his language about African Americans “derogatory and offensive.”