Head of Major NYPD Union Resigns + Dem Chair Endorses Hochul

Local News

• Following FBI raids of his office and his Long Island home, Ed Mullins resigned as chairman of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association. Since 2002, Mullins has used his platform as head of one the NYPD’s biggest unions to resist any police reform efforts, and has engaged in personal, misogynistic, and racist attacks on many prominent New York City officials.
• After promising to clean house of Andrew Cuomo’s closest allies, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she would retain Robert Mujica as state budget director. Mujica formerly worked for Senate Republicans and was thought to be central to Cuomo’s austerity agenda.
• New York’s Excluded Workers Fund, the state relief money for undocumented workers, has stopped taking new applicants as it runs low of funds.
• Governor Hochul directed the Port Authority to reexamine Cuomo’s controversial “AirTrain” project, which would build a new transit line to LaGuardia Airport and has faced significant criticism from transit advocates. State senators, including Jessica Ramos, Leroy Comrie, Michael Gianaris, and John Liu, pushed Hochul to kill the project, citing the need to instead focus on increasing affordable transportation in their district.
• As COVID-19 persists, the City University of New York (CUNY) faces steeply declining enrollment
• Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to overhaul the city’s segregated gifted and talented program. The new system, which would permanently eliminate the test given to kindergarten students but offer the possibility of accelerated learning to students in the later years of elementary school, is left to be implemented by his successor, who may replace it. 
• All New York City libraries have cancelled outstanding late fees and will not issue late fees on borrowed items moving forward.

Elections

• State Democratic party Chair Jay Jacobs, a close Cuomo ally, endorsed Governor Kathy Hochul for re-election in 2022.
• Gothamist broke down the five state constitutional ballot proposals that will appear on November’s ballot.
• Eric Adams turned down the latest round of matching funds. He also released his first general election campaign ad as the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. Unlike his crime-focused ads in the primary, this video focuses on his working class roots.
• Before his sexual harassment scandal surfaced in March, Andrew Cuomo’s aides told Kathy Hochul that she would not be part of his 2022 ticket to be re-elected to a fourth term.
• City & State broke down the early progressive challengers to New York City incumbents in next year’s primary.