Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Policing Reform
On Wednesday, September 18, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker officially announced that her administration has reached an agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers over the proposed Center City 76Place arena, a significant...more
NYPD Commissioner and Adams Chief Counsel Resign- Over the weekend, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and Mayor Adams’ Chief Counsel, Lisa Zornberg, resigned their positions. Caban resigned at the request of City Hall, shortly...more
Mayor Parker Holds Town Hall on Proposed Center City Arena- On Wednesday evening, Mayor Cherelle Parker hosted a community meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center regarding the proposed $1.55 billion Center City...more
CHICAGO — CTA Launches AI Surveillance to Stop Gun Violence at Transit Stations- The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) recently rolled out an artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance tool to detect guns at stations, a move...more
Federal agents raided the homes of several top aides to Mayor Adams on Wednesday and Thursday. Law enforcement searched the homes of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Schools Chancellor David Banks, Deputy Mayor for Public...more
Last Tuesday, New York City Council held a hearing for the nomination of Randy Mastro to Corporation Counsel. Mayor Adams nominated Mastro to the position, and he must be confirmed by the Council in order to serve as the...more
Mayor Adams has appointed Robert Tucker as the new Commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). Tucker succeeds Laura Kavanagh, who served in the role for less than two years. Tucker was most recently...more
2025 Comptroller Race- Comptroller Brad Lander announced last week that he will be challenging Eric Adams in the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, meaning that he will not be running for re-election as Comptroller. Manhattan...more
July 26, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she plans to allocate more than $70 million to the ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program. Part of a $228 million federal investment, the initiative aims to optimize...more
Mayor Eric Adams has nominated Randy Mastro as Corporation Counsel, the Administration’s top lawyer who presides over the Law Department. Adams’ previous Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix, departed in May. Mastro is a...more
City Leaders Gather to Decry Violence in Wake of West Philadelphia Mass Shooting- A mass shooting in West Philadelphia claimed the lives of three and injured an additional six, prompting Philadelphia leadership to convene...more
NYC Council Introduces and Passes Legislation- Last Thursday, the NYC Council convened a Stated meeting, where they passed and introduced multiple pieces of legislation. The Council passed legislation to expand the...more
Mayor Cherelle Parker’s mandate requiring City of Philadelphia remote workers to return to their offices took effect on July 15, 2024, following the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge’s denial of a local union’s request...more
From Prosecutor to Chief Public Safety Director- Adam Geer — Mayor Cherelle Parker’s inaugural nominee for Chief Public Safety Director, a position created by City Council last year — spent the majority of his career as a...more
On June 24, 2024, the Adams administration, through the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP), unveiled Draft Strategies, including a zoning proposal, that could lead to the development of more than 14,000 homes, more...more
Readers of prior Firm client alerts in the white-collar criminal space will no doubt recall the Supreme Court's recent trend of scaling back the powers of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in prosecuting public corruption...more
In Snyder v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States held that it is not a federal crime for state and local officials to accept gratuities under 18 U.S.C. § 666. In so doing, the Court overturned the decision...more
Mayor Charelle Parker’s Street Cleaning Initiative Kicks Off- Philadelphia’s Department of Sanitation claimed that it has cleaned 3,000 of the total 18,000 city blocks promised in Mayor Parker’s citywide clean-up program....more
On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the main federal anti-corruption statute proscribing bribes to state and local officials does not criminalize gratuities, which the Court described as “payments made to an...more
Last month, in Snyder v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States narrowly construed the federal anti-bribery statute. In that case, the mayor of Portage, Indiana worked with other officials to carefully prepare...more
In the latest example of the Roberts court reining in the government’s use of broadly worded criminal statutes, on June 26, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Snyder that the federal bribery statute does not...more
On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Snyder v. United States, No. 23-108, holding that federal statute 18 U. S. C. § 666, which makes it a crime for most state and local officials to “corruptly” solicit, accept,...more
Mayor Adams has appointed a new Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Nonprofit Services, Johnny Celestin. Celestin most recently served as Deputy Director for the Mayor’s Office of Minority- and Women-Owned Business...more
Mayor Parker Bans Bump Stocks - In response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that lifted a federal ban on such items, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker swiftly enacted local legislation prohibiting rapid-fire gun...more
City Council Approves FY25 Budget- Early Thursday morning, Philadelphia City Council advanced Mayor Cherelle Parker’s proposed $6.37 billion FY25 Budget. The budget prioritizes public safety and quality-of-life improvement...more