From New York, the greatest city in the world, it's The Update with Brandon Julien!

On #TheUpdate this Monday, colleges across the country will be forced to stop considering race in admissions under Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, ending affirmative action policies that date back decades. From human ashes to cell phones, fans are taking their adoration for their favorite artists to dangerous new heights. And Space disco cowboy. Yacht Shabbat. Burning Man Formal. Dress to Express Your Inner Spirit. More bridal couples are tossing tradition when it comes to what guests should wear.

On Monday's edition of #TheUpdate, Rep. George Santos says he's just trying to protect family members by asking the courts to keep his bond cosigners secret as he fights criminal charges. New Yorkers who commit crimes could have their records automatically sealed if they stay out of trouble for a certain number of years after they have finished serving their sentences. And a mobile clinic in Baltimore is expanding access to buprenorphine, a medication that treats opioid use disorder by reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms. 💊

On Thursday's edition of #TheUpdate, an NYPD officer is speaking out against the use of “courtesy cards” by friends and relatives of cops, accusing department leaders of maintaining a sprawling system of impunity that has fueled both reckless driving and racist traffic stops. The town of Manlius in upstate New York is mourning the loss of Faye, a swan who was stolen from the village pond over the weekend along with her four cygnets. And there are media reports that Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from after he left office in which he talks about holding onto a classified document related to a potential attack on Iran. 🇺🇲🇮🇷

On #TheUpdate this Thursday, A U.S. Marine veteran has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the fatal chokehold of a man who was behaving erratically on a New York City subway train. A man who oversaw food service for New York City schools has been convicted in a bribery case that picked apart how chicken tenders riddled with bone and bits of metal were served for months. And thousands of prisoners throughout the United States get their college degrees behind bars, most of them paid for by the federal Pell Grant program, which offers the neediest undergraduates tuition aid that they don’t have to repay. That program is about to expand exponentially next month. 💵👨‍🎓

On #TheUpdate this Wednesday, drivers in New York City will be charged extra in tolls to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street as part of a long-stalled congestion pricing plan. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says in a $1 million lawsuit that a cleaner who switched off power to a lab freezer containing cell samples and cultures destroyed more than 20 years of research. And here we go again with the drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada. It's creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States. 💨

On Wednesday's edition of #TheUpdate, New York City is sinking under the weight of its skyscrapers, homes, pavement and humanity itself. A third man has been charged in the 2002 shooting death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay. And scientists and tech industry leaders, including executives at Microsoft and Google, have issued a new warning about the perils that artificial intelligence poses to humankind. 👨‍💻🤖

On Monday's edition of #TheUpdate, Donald Trump’s lawyers are demanding that the judge in his New York City criminal case step aside, echoing the former president’s complaints that he’s “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” A new report finds several shortcomings in Buffalo's response to a historic December blizzard in which 31 city residents died. And a new Florida law banning gender-affirming care for minors is getting a lot of attention nationally as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis runs for president, but it's also impacting transgender adults. 🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇲

On Friday's edition of #TheUpdate, a New York City artist and college professor who held a machete to a journalist’s neck and threatened to chop him up has been arrested on charges of menacing and harassment. The owner of a New York adventure park on Long Island has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $3 million in federal coronavirus aid and spending it on himself, including a home on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. And a U.S. study suggests 1 in 10 people are getting long COVID after an omicron infection, a lower estimate than earlier in the pandemic. 🇺🇲😷

On Wednesday's edition of #TheUpdate, relatives of eight people killed in a Halloween terror attack on a New York City bike path are expected to speak at a sentencing hearing for an Islamic extremist who prosecutors say deserves multiple life sentences. House Democrats are seeking to force a vote on expelling Rep. George Santos from Congress. The effort is expected to be defeated but puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of taking a stand on an indicted colleague. And in the American west, tiff over Taco Tuesday is heating up, with Taco Bell asking U.S. regulators to force a Wyoming-based fast-food chain to abandon its longstanding claim to “Taco Tuesday” as a trademark. 🌮