| | | | |  | | By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Irie Sentner
|  Mayor Eric Adams visited the Jewish Quarters, Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum in Rome. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office | NEW YORK MINUTE: 77 WABC radio station leaders today will announce the official cancellation of Rudy Giuliani’s show and detail how the former mayor turned Donald Trump attorney turned far-right media personality flouted their ban on discussing discredited 2020 election claims, a Red Apple Media spokesperson told Playbook. Giuliani, who was suspended Friday, had said the company’s prohibition is a violation of free speech. — Emily Ngo HIGHER POWER: Mayor Eric Adams believes that religion and government are intertwined. Deeply so. “It was clearly what I always held on to: People of faith is needed as much as we need government,” he said Sunday from Rome in response to a Playbook question. “I believe that we spend a great deal of money and time building cities’ infrastructures — buildings, bridges — but we also need to build the infrastructure of people.” The remark in a news conference was not as blatant as his rejection last year of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state, but it did make clear that Adams seeks an elevated role for religion in public life. Faith can build “strong people” just as governments build “strong brick and mortar and iron,” he said. The mayor toured a church, synagogue and mosque in the last full day of his visit to Italy, the pinnacle of which was an audience with Pope Francis. There is a common doctrine of decency, he said. “From those different houses of worship, there was the same underlying theme: Be kind to your fellow man,” Adams said, “Be there to assist them as they move forward and let your faith be shown through you as you move about your daily lives.” The New York City Democrat is a practicing Christian, though not a Catholic. And he regularly, unapologetically cites his belief in (and conversations with) a higher power. Adams was roundly criticized after he said at a February 2023 interfaith breakfast, “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart.” “If government is going to represent all of us, it can’t favor any religious belief over another. That includes non-belief,” NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman had said then of the First Amendment. The mayor described being moved by his face-to-face with the pope. “It was a sacred moment for me,” Adams said Saturday, commending the pontiff’s “authentic attentiveness.” He and the leader of the Catholic Church discussed antisemitism. During his three-day tour of Rome and Vatican City, Adams also met with dignitaries at the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, was hosted by his Roman counterpart and visited a welcome center for migrants. (He skipped a planned visit to a migrant school.) He was accompanied by the chief of staff of his intergovernmental affairs team and a City Hall photographer and joined at some points by his former chief of staff, Frank Carone, who told Playbook they were invited separately. — Emily Ngo HAPPY MONDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Amazon: When Rachel Gutierrez-Aguirre was looking to take her handcrafted coffee beyond Brooklyn, she turned to Amazon because of the tools it offers sellers. “Amazon is a very important part of our overall e-commerce business,” she said. Amazon invests billions of dollars in people, resources, and tools that support local entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey. Learn how Amazon innovates for sellers. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? In New York City and Erie County making an announcement with the 5/14 Memorial Commission. WHERE’S ERIC? Traveling back to New York City following his trip to Rome. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Lack of courage from a judge who didn’t want to decide the case on its merits.” — Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman criticizing State Supreme Court Judge Francis Ricigliano’s decision striking down his ban on transgender girls in sports via Newsday. Blakeman vowed to appeal.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | | 
Mayor Eric Adams announced the start of a five-borough operation to shut down the city's unlicensed smoke and cannabis shops. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office | LOCKED UP, BUT NOT LOCKED DOWN: Remember the illegal weed shop the Adams administration raided live on video during the mayor’s Tuesday presser last week? The relatively small lock and chain the sheriff’s office used to shut New City Smoke Shop’s door was cut by Wednesday morning, and employees put some of the illegal vapes and other merchandise in a car and drove away. But they were caught in the act by staffers from the council’s Oversight & Investigations Division — who alerted the sheriff and NYPD, who shut down the shop again Wednesday and locked it up this time with a thicker chain and bigger lock. (The saga is ironic given the NYPD’s claims that the thick chains protesters used to take over a Columbia University building proved their professionalism.) Now, Council Oversight Chair Gale Brewer — the body’s top crusader against illegal weed shops — is raising questions about how the city is applying the expanded enforcement powers won in the state budget. The Adams administration responded quickly by reinspecting the shop, one block from City Hall, and arresting the guy who cut the lock, a mayoral spokesperson said. Brewer also sent a letter to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings last week, raising concerns that unlicensed cannabis shops would reopen if the office doesn’t have the capacity to adjudicate their cases quickly. The city can now handle those summons for illegal sales itself, rather than rely on overburdened state offices, but the law says cases need to be done within five days, she wrote. OATH receives more than half a million summonses a year, but takes an average of 12 days to reach a decision — a week too long for the new law. “I’m worried that some lawyer is going to get in there,” Brewer said to Playbook. “It’s not hard to padlock, but then what happens? How do they stay closed?” A City Hall spokesperson said cannabis cases will be just a tiny fraction of OATH’s work, and that they’ll be prioritized. — Jeff Coltin
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Former city Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich’s alleged bribery case is back in court. | Mary Altaffer/AP | COURT DATE: Former city Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich’s alleged bribery case is back in Manhattan Criminal Court today. But don’t expect any fireworks — they’re just expected to set a motion calendar, as the wheels of justice turn slowly after his September 2021 arrest, with six other defendants. The real fireworks will be across the street — the hearing was moved to another courtroom because of the Trump hush money trial in the main building. The ex-president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is expected to testify. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — The first two hotels where DocGo relocated migrants upstate were controlled by the brother of the city contractor’s chair of the board. (Times Union) — Adams was disciplined for making bombastic comments as an NYPD captain in 2005 — which could help explain why he’s hesitant to criticize his own cops doing the same. (Hell Gate) — State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who is mulling a bid for mayor, may come with some baggage. (New York Post)
| | | | A message from Amazon:   | | | | | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | |  Unions will rally today for a measure that would allow labor groups and whistleblowers to take action against companies believed to be violating wage, worker safety and retaliation protections. | Hans Pennink/AP | WAGE PROTECTIONS: Labor groups and left-leaning advocacy organizations are making an end-of-session effort to bolster protections against wage theft. Unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union, will rally today in Albany for a measure that would allow labor groups and whistleblowers to file public enforcement actions, including lawsuits, against companies believed to be in violation of wage, worker safety and retaliation protections. The rally dovetails with a letter sent by the coalition backing the proposal to top lawmakers in the state Legislature and Hochul to press for the measure. “Workers already face enough obstacles and rising costs to make ends meet,” the groups wrote in the letter to be released later today and obtained by Playbook. “Unscrupulous corporations breaking labor laws should not be one of them.” Business organizations, however, have taken a starkly different view of the proposal and have warned it could “cripple the court and administrative system.” The New York Post’s conservative editorial page has also criticized the legislation and alleged it would hurt small businesses. — Nick Reisman GOALTENDING: Gov. Kathy Hochul is open to providing some state support for a proposed soccer stadium and sports complex in downtown Albany. The $300 million proposal for the 8,000-seat stadium meant for a Major League Soccer Next team wouldn’t be the first time New York taxpayers in recent years have provided funding to boost local sports. (Example one: The $600 million from the state for the new Buffalo Bills stadium.) “I’m intrigued with it,” Hochul told reporters Friday. “I want to find out what the request is for support from the state.” The proposal also comes with some, well, anxiety for whether the state’s capital city has enough amenities and entertainment options in its downtown core, where minor league teams have come and gone over the decades. But at the same time, a concurrent effort is underway to overhaul I-787, the state highway that runs along the city’s downtown near the Hudson River in a bid to make it more pedestrian-friendly. “This is my adopted hometown. I’ve spent a lot of time in Albany. I love soccer,” Hochul said. “The city deserves a lot.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Black activists in the Bronx assailed Hochul’s remark on Black kids and computers and are seeking action with her apology. (POLITICO) — Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is boosting incumbents facing far-left challengers by visiting their districts for funding announcements. (City & State) — A plan to expand the bottle deposit law in New York is running into labor union opposition. (POLITICO Pro)
| | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — How five New York City neighborhoods are struggling with climate change. (New York Times) — A New York court struck down Nassau County’s transgender athlete ban. (New York Times) — NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy accidentally pepper-sprayed himself at a pro-Palestinian protest on the Manhattan Bridge. (New York Post)
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Learn how Amazon breaks down barriers to growth. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA | | Edited by Daniel Lippman MAKING MOVES: Michael Cook is now the press secretary for the office of state Inspector General Lucy Lang. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stephen Colbert (6-0) … CNN’s Brian Fung … NBC’s Ken Dilanian … NYT’s Mark Mazzetti … Shaila Manyam of Concordia … former Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) (6-0) … Arjun Pai … Matt Gorton … (WAS SUNDAY): Matthew Hiltzik ... Daniel Libeskind … CNN’s Natasha Bertrand … Miranda Kennedy … CBS’ Elizabeth Campbell … Liza Donnelly … Thomas Gardner … Penny Lee of the Financial Technology Association … Kim Dixon … Andrew Thorne … Patricia Zengerle of Reuters … Forbes’ Alexandra Levine … Jonathan Kaplan of the Open Society Foundations … (WAS SATURDAY): Bill Ackman … former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) … Jo Ling Kent … Bloomberg’s Tonya Riley … Daniel Nasaw … Time’s Olivia Waxman … Doug Graham … Loren K. Robinson … Larry P. Thomas … (WAS FRIDAY): Aaron Twerski ... Chris Berman ... Jason Schreier
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