The latest on a pied-a-terre tax and more in this week's Politics Brief. 

In March, Brooklyn prosecutors signed off on their first exoneration of the year, freeing Kenneth Windley after nearly 20 years in prison.

Such exonerations have been a proud hallmark of the Brooklyn DA’s office since its Conviction Review Unit was established in 2014. But lately, they’ve been rarer.

While the unit has exonerated as many as 10 people in a single year, it only exonerated one person in 2025.

Brooklyn is not alone in its slowdown in overturning convictions. In New York City and across the country, the number of wrongful convictions has dipped significantly in the last few years.

The National Registry of Exonerations, which collects information about exonerated people in the United States, reported just five exonerations across the five boroughs last year, the lowest total in 15 years, and a precipitous drop from the two previous years.

The trend is similarly stark nationwide, where 2025 saw the fewest exonerations since 2011, dropping by more than 60 percent after reaching a nationwide peak in 2022.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who pledged to expand the program during his campaign, is now trying to negotiate a compromise that will cost less and is fighting the City Council in court over implementing the laws. His administration said broadening eligibility for the $1.2 billion program is too expensive, and would drive costs up to $4.7 billion by 2030 — about the size of the city’s entire homeless services agency.

More than 65,000 households receive the CityFHEPS voucher, which stands for Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement, making it the nation’s largest municipal housing assistance program. Recipients pay 30% of their income toward rent and the city covers the rest.

The Mamdani administration said it's ramping up investments in tenant protections and affordable housing, committing to building 200,000 new homes over the next decade.

City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said the mayor “has been clear that CityFHEPS is an invaluable tool to prevent homelessness and support homeless New Yorkers. That is why our team is working hard to ensure that it is fiscally sound and sustainable for the long-term.”

The expansion would make many people who don't currently qualify for vouchers eligible for them, including people facing eviction and people in shelters who currently don’t qualify. Some people aren’t working enough under the current rules, some are living in a shelter that isn't eligible and some earn too much money.

Gothamist spoke to New Yorkers who would benefit from the expansion laws.

New York City gang violence often generates a lot of headlines, especially when an innocent bystander is the victim. 

New Yorkers were deeply disturbed by the recent shooting death of a 7 month old girl in East Williamsburg. At least two people have been charged in the crime, and officials said investigators believe the shooting was gang-motivated and that the child was not the intended target. But what do police, and the news media, mean when they allude to gang involvement?  

Fritz Umbach is an Associate Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He joined WNYC host Michael Hill to discuss exactly what police, and the news media, mean when they talk about gang involvement.

Mayor Mamdani has been marking his first hundred days in office with a series of events around New York City, culminating in a rally at the Knockdown Center in Queens over the weekend.

It’s probably not surprising that a mayor who ran on affordability has placed housing at the forefront of his governing agenda.

Leila Bozorg is Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning. She previously served as executive director of housing under former Mayor Eric Adams. Cea Weaver is director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. She was previously the executive director of the advocacy group Housing Justice for All. Both talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson about their priorities on affordable housing in the city.

Students are always looking for ways to make new friends and excel in school, whether it be by joining a sports team, landing internships, or hiring tutors. For a long time, playing video games was seen as a distraction from those goals. But what if excelling at gaming was the thing that gave students a real advantage? 

Chris Aviles is the founder of Garden State Esports, a scholastic e-sports league. Nick Sellers is a senior at Barnegat Highschool and a 3-time state gaming champion. Zoey Boersma is a senior at Abington Heights High School and the student production lead for the nonprofit. They joined WNYC host Michael Hill to debunk myths about gaming and to share how gaming has prepared them for college and beyond.

Most of New York City’s trash is put out on the streets, where it’s hauled away by hulking garbage trucks that can weigh more than 25 tons fully loaded.

But in leafy Forest Hills Gardens, things are different. The secluded corner of Queens enjoys an amenity familiar to residents of other cities, but alien to New York: alleyways.

The city sanitation department relies on a fleet of small garbage trucks that dash through the neighborhood’s alleys, picking up trash from a tiny fraction of New Yorkers who put their trash bins out behind their homes — instead of in front of them.

Food critic Robert Sietsema has been eating his way through New York City and writing about it for the past 35 years. And this month his journey takes him back to the Upper West Side. Robert joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to run down some of the culinary highlights.

Robert writes about food for Gothamist and his Substack, Robert Sietsema's New York.

There are few certainties in life. But we can rest reasonably assured that the sun will rise tomorrow, the days will generally get warmer as we head from spring to summer and New York's state budget will be late.

That's certainly the case this year, as lawmakers have now passed a second budget extender.

WNYC's Albany reporter Jon Campbell joins Weekend Edition host David Furst with the latest.

New York City councilmembers are considering a bill that would create job safety requirements and a licensing requirement for last mile delivery facilities. That’s the final leg of a package’s journey, usually from a local warehouse to your door. 

Josh Pomeranz is the Operations Director at Teamster’s Local 804 and Councilmember Tiffany Caban is the lead sponsor of the bill. They both join WNYC's Sean Carlson to talk more about last mile delivery workers.