Happy Wednesday! Eric Adams may be out of City Hall, but the ghosts of his administration continue to haunt NYC.
Yesterday, a 25-page indictment charged Tony Herbert, an aide to former Mayor Adams, with accepting $16,000 in kickbacks from two businesses — a funeral home and security company — in exchange for help securing city contracts and financial assistance. Herbert is also charged with creating a fake bakery specializing in “80’s-themed” cakes in order to secure a $20,000 loan from the city’s Paycheck Protection Program.
“He allegedly took advantage of his role to line his pockets by offering unfair advantages to certain businesses,” said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. in a statement, who called the scheme “a side hustle of bribery and fraud.”
As for the man himself, Adams is enjoying post-mayoral life by starting his own cryptocurrency: $NYCTOKEN. He appeared in Times Square on Monday to promote the coin, announcing that a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting antisemitism and “anti-Americanism.” Trading opened on Monday, and within minutes the coin’s market cap peaked at $600 million. Minutes after that, the value of the coin crashed, losing millions for investors and sparking accusations of fraud.
Truly, it’s like he never left.
Yesterday, several dozen people protested outside the Greater New York Federal Building, where Rubio Bohorquez, a City Council staffer detained by ICE, was being held. Some carried signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “No Human Is Illegal.”
A judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Court Street Merchants Association that aimed to put the brakes on a protected bike lane along Court Street from Schermerhorn Street to Hamilton Avenue.
Former Mayor Eric Adams launched the “NYC Token” crypto coin at a press conference on Monday. The cyber token quickly jumped to $600 million in value, but then tanked, wiping out nearly $500 million in value. The (unnamed) group behind his coin was accused of pulling a scam known in the crypto community as a “rug pull.”
Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 11 other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services for what they describe as an unlawful federal policy tying research funding to discriminatory gender mandates that seek to deny the existence of transgender people.
A man died after fatally ‘exiting’ a moving car through the backseat window on the Belt Parkway. An investigation is ongoing.
A group of people entered a commercial establishment in Sunset Park through the front door using keys and ran off with a refrigerator and kitchen supplies.
Bay Ridge local Mariann Tepedino appears alongside Timothee Chalamet in “Marty Supreme.” “It was the most amazing experience I’ve had,” Tepedino said.
StreetEasy identified three Brooklyn neighborhoods among New York City’s fastest-rising housing search markets for 2026: Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens and Downtown Brooklyn.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Bruna Prado/AP
RIO DE JANEIRO — The ice cream truck just made its rounds at the zoological park: A white-cheeked spider monkey licks a popsicle in the summer heat at the BioParque do Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
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Coney Island finally gets a BID
The Wonder Wheel, one of the most famous landmarks in Coney Island and among the oldest operating Ferris wheels in the world. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman
A Business Improvement District has officially been ratified for Coney Island, the “People’s Playground.”
Spearheaded by the Alliance for Coney Island, it will be fully operational on July 1, the start of New York City’s new fiscal year.
For more than 40 years, BIDs have proven valuable partners in ongoing initiatives of neighborhood revitalization and economic development across the five boroughs. Currently, there are 76 BIDs in New York City, including 23 in Brooklyn.
The Mini
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Harley Schwardon
For the Road
Sold, but not gone: Beloved dive bar Montero Bar & Grill in Brooklyn Heights was sold to hospitality group Crew. Founded by Joseph and Pilar Montero almost 90 years ago and now run by their son Pepe, the bar was once the favorite hangout of the sailors and longshoremen who worked the nearby docks. The owners of Crew plan to keep the bar as is. Read on to learn more.
Happy Birthday to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Grohl.
On This Day in 1963, the Eagle reported, “Voice of America broadcasts being beamed to satellites Poland and Cuba are missing their targets. The U.S. radio programs are largely ineffectual, are high-flown and attracting small audiences, and are aimed at the wrong people in both of these Communist countries.”
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