On of my biggest scoops: www.nydailynews.com/2016/01/04/e...

I'm biased but loved this family saga by @rosalindadams.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/20/g...

District attorneys. Prison superintendents. Even sentencing judges. They’ve urged @governor.ny.gov to grant clemency. She hasn’t freed anyone all year — despite promising to grant pardons and clemencies on a "rolling basis." www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/30/h...

“I vividly remember what it’s like as a kid backpacking around the world to need a shower,” Steves said at an event last week announcing the purchase. “This is a place that gives countless people that are down and out a shower.” wapo.st/4sg8B31

“Burning coal produces more planet-warming carbon dioxide than any other form of energy. It also emits mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, and other heavy metals.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/c...

From federal indictment to political fallout, Adams’ administration weathered scandal after scandal, echoing Gilded Age corruption. Boss Tweed comparisons aren’t just hyperbole. — via @gregbsmithnyc.bsky.social and @yoavgonen.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/24/e...

Use of force by members of the NYPD surged 20% last year to 11,746 incidents — a record high since the department began detailed record-keeping on the issue in 2016, according to a police department report quietly posted online in recent days. — @yoavgonen.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/23/u...

Attorneys asked the judge to let them amend the complaint, a common practice in lawsuits, but the state, represented by the office of Attorney General Letitia James, argued (in a filing that misspelled the judge’s name) that the typos created a “jurisdictional defect.” nysfocus.com/2025/12/22/p...

"The practice of stop-and-frisk encounters, which Mr. Adams once criticized, increased under him, as did misconduct complaints against officers." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/n...

Local news matters. On Monday, @gwynnefitz.bsky.social reported on conditions outside Newark’s Delaney Hall and how families waiting to see detained migrants had to endure frigid temperatures without shelter. Hours later, workers were seen erecting walls on a waiting room structure.

The bills do not include any changes to the state prison system’s maligned disciplinary system or new avenues to reduce the population behind bars. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/22/h...

Hochul calls It ‘landmark’ prison reform. Advocates call it a first step. They contend the reforms won’t end violence behind bars and don't go nearly far enough b/c they don't include any changes to the maligned disciplinary system or early release initiatives. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/22/h...

Inbox: Kyron Randall, 33, died after apparently suffering an allergic reaction on Rikers Island early this morning. He’s the 15th death this year so far. A federal judge overseeing the department has agreed to appoint a “remediation manager” to takeover. But has spent 6 months deciding who to name.

Valladolid’s life has been upended since her husband’s arrest at his credible-fear interview in Newark several weeks prior. “To see my son every day pick up the phone, put in headphones and call his father, it tears me apart,” she told @gwynnefitz.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/22/d...

“I saw the captain coming up the stairs,” Knight recalled. “I told him, ‘They sprayed me in my face, they put their finger in my ass.’ He didn’t say a word.” www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/18/r...

Year-end tributes tend to honor the famous. I'm thinking of A'millah Currie, 2, and Darnell Currie Jr., 9. In February, their mom sought help from Detroit's homeless response system. No one called back. Shelter beds were available. The kids died of carbon monoxide in the van they were living in.

"A longtime union leader has been tapped to run incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which will play a crucial role in building political support for some of his biggest — and costliest — campaign promises." — @katiehonan.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/17/m...

“Crucial to public safety is ensuring the public has confidence officers will be held accountable for their actions,” said Davie, who served as board chair from 2017 to 2022. “To do anything less makes a mockery of oversight and undermines public safety." www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/16/n...

“There didn’t appear to be a single Black juror in the room.” www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/15/s...

“States continue to allow parents to operate with little or no oversight, resigning the fates of millions of kids to the assumption that parents know best, even if evidence abounds that this is not always the case.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...

For @nysfocus.bsky.social and @thecity.nyc , I took a deep-dive into NYC’s Department of Social Services. OT spending has soared while frontline positions processing SNAP and Cash Assistance applicants remain unfilled, impacting the city’s most vulnerable residents (with @reuvenblau.bsky.social)

"San Francisco and Philly are limping along. Yet in New York, North America’s largest mass transportation authority finds itself running more trains and buses, and limiting fare hikes." — @jmartineznyc.bsky.social reports www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/12/m...

Nearly 12% of positions at the Department of Social Services are vacant; in November, the not-quite-11,000-strong agency had 1,439 job openings, making it one of the emptiest departments in city government. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/11/e...

“It’s no longer a Miami mayoral race. It’s now a proxy fight between the Democrats versus the Republicans,” said Fernand Amandi, a longtime Democratic strategist based in Miami. wapo.st/4iIPha5

NEW — I put together a list of independent journalism subscriptions that would make great holiday gifts. From music to politics, astronomy to alcohol, tech to social justice, there’s something for [almost] everyone. Support indie media *and* surprise and delight your loved ones! My guide:

“No one needs to subscribe to THE CITY — because we will never be paywalled. But to keep our stellar reporting free for all New Yorkers, we ask that those who can support us do so generously! Readers can expect fantastic, in-depth reporting on City Hall and city life.” — @rachelholliday.bsky.social

the opposite of posting through it www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

"I feel like, if I take seriously the things that I teach about and preach about and study about related to caring for people who are poor and making a community that is safe for people and where people can thrive." www.jta.org/2025/12/09/p...

Local news matters: “You saved me, whether from another beating or death, that article made them think, if we touch this kid, it’s going to hit the New York Daily News, and whoever is connected to that is going to burn." www.thecity.nyc/2025/04/07/n...

"Jeffrey Gural’s firm won bidding to convert the lower Manhattan home to the city’s housing agency into 3,700 apartments — after his family gave $45,000 to an Eric Adams super PAC." via @gregbsmithnyc.bsky.social and @smaldo.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/08/1...

"Adams moved to Gracie Mansion bud didn’t always sleep at the mansion, federal prosecutors shared in unsealed documents released last May; he sometimes slept in the Fort Lee, N.J. apartment he co-owns with his partner Tracey Collins." — via @katiehonan.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/08/z...

The woman whose testimony helped convict Nechemya Weberman has asked the court to keep his 50-year sentence intact, arguing early release would endanger others. He’s set to be resentenced on Tuesday after Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez supported the court petition. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/07/n...

Inbox: Aramis Furse, 32, died on Rikers early Sunday morning. He’s the 14th detainee death this year so far. In April, Laura Swain, a federal judge overseeing DOC said she’d appoint a “remediation manager” to takeover potentially large parts. But she hasn’t selected a candidate yet.

Vincent Schiraldi served for six months when thousands of correction officers called out sick for weeks and months — the shortest tenure of any commissioner in years. COBA did everything possible to block any of his reforms and waited him out until mayor Adams who had close ties to the union.

“A city of nearly 8.5M people, New York has more billionaires than anywhere else in the world: 123, according to Forbes, up from 78 a decade ago. In 2022, roughly 33,600 of its residents reported incomes greater than $1M; several thousand made more than $10 million.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/n...

The office of State Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced that it will not pursue criminal charges against two NYPD officers who last year shot and killed a 19-year-old who was experiencing a mental health crisis in his Queens home. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/04/w...

A conclusion to a story that still haunts me. nypost.com/2025/12/04/u...

“I can only imagine how frustrating and money consuming that is for the families of our clients. This is not an economy in which we can be spending $50 willy-nilly, sending stuff to people that is never going to arrive.” — via @ryankost.bsky.social gothamist.com/news/sending...

"A court order revealed that the Department of Investigation (DOI) has an ongoing investigation of whether Adams violated ethics laws — a probe that is proceeding even after the mayor got his corruption case tossed by the Trump DOJ." — via @gregbsmithnyc.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/03/e...

"An NYPD officer violated New York sanctuary city laws limiting the department’s assistance to federal immigration agencies by accepting e-mailed alerts from DHS flagging individuals facing deportation, according to a new DOI report." — via @gregbsmithnyc.bsky.social www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/03/h...

I can be something of a softy for both redemption stories and cats, and this ticked ‘em both.

I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.

“Every game, I go to the 18-yard line, get down on a knee, and pray,” Eckhaus said, referring to the number that has a special place in Jewish tradition. www.jta.org/2025/12/01/s...

Happy #GivingTuesday! Got space in your heart for fearless local journalism? Support our nonprofit NYC news site. We report on City Hall, immigration, NYCHA, transit — and share “how-to” guides to help New Yorkers survive (and thrive!) in the Big Apple. donorbox.org/thecityeoy25....

"ICE agents arrested a Chinese father and his 6-year-old son, separating the two and sending the father to Orange County jail while the whereabouts of the son remain unknown as of Tuesday morning." — @gwynnefitz.bsky.social reports www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i...

“A three-year probe by the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection determined that Starbucks arbitrarily cut workers’ schedules and systematically denied employees the opportunity to pick up additional shifts, keeping them involuntarily part-time.” www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/01/s...

Happy Thanksgiving. A few years ago I baked a pecan pie in a nut-based crust and the local squirrels just about lost their damn minds trying to get into the house.

Now here’s the kind of news you drop going into a long holiday weekend. Maybe no one will notice. 🤡 @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...

“A seasonal surge in the mounds of trash hauled out of Midtown subway stations — and a bump in track fires last December at the stop beneath Rockefeller Center — will result in additional track cleaning at those locations.” — @jmartineznyc.bsky.social reports www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/26/t...