Good afternoon! From the moment Mayor Eric Adams entered his lame duck era on Nov. 4, 2025, he took measures to block his successor’s agenda — in particular, by stacking the Rent Guidelines Board with members antagonistic to Mamdani’s goal of a rent freeze. Now, Mayor Mamdani is returning the favor.
In a statement yesterday, Steve Banks — Mamdani’s corporation counsel — announced that he will ask a State Supreme Court judge to allow the city to withdraw representation for the former mayor, who is facing a civil lawsuit charging him with sexually assaulting an NYPD employee.
“Based on my review of new evidence since the original decision to represent him was made, I have determined that he is not entitled to representation by the City in this matter,” Banks said in the statement.
Adams is accused by former NYPD employee Lorna Beach-Mathura of pressuring her to perform oral sex in a car in 1993 before masturbating in front of her. Adams has denied the allegations.
The corporation counsel under Mayor Adams contends that Adams is entitled to city-appointed representation because the alleged incident took place while he was employed by the NYPD. Banks, however, argues that Adams was not acting within the scope of his city employment, disqualifying him from this legal protection.
This is the third time in the last week the Mamdani administration has dropped city-funded legal service for Adams or his top allies. On Mar. 13, the city’s Law Department dropped representation of Jeffrey Maddrey, Adams’ former Chief of Department for the NYPD, and Timothy Pearson, a high-ranking advisor, in their respective sexual misconduct cases.
The state judge is expected to grant Banks’ request. Adams will likely have to find private representation, adding to the millions of dollars in legal debt he accrued during his 2024 federal indictment on charges of fraud and bribery.
Brooklyn’s streets are in much better shape after Saturday’s citywide pothole repair blitz: 7,192 potholes were patched across the city, including 1,683 in Brooklyn alone.
The largest union of New York City transit workers, a disability rights group and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso accused the MTA in a lawsuit of scaling back staffing of customer service booths in subway stations without going through the required public hearings first.
Lawmakers urged the State Assembly to pass the Stop Super Speeders Act, which would require any motorist who accumulates 16 or more speed camera violations in a year or 11 or more license points within 18 months to install a speed limiter device on their vehicle.
A New York man who spent nearly two decades in prison for a roughly $550 robbery was exonerated and freed in Brooklyn federal court, after prosecutors said they now agree he didn’t commit the crime.
Nearly 400 people attended a special celebratory Mass and reception last Sunday, March 15, at St. Anselm Catholic Church to honor Msgr. Michael J. Phillips, 91.
The Long Island University men’s basketball team is headed to San Diego for a first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against top-seeded Arizona on Friday afternoon. That’s March Madness, Brooklyn style!
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Martin Meissner/AP
GERMANY — Dramatic, enlarged photos capture worlds not often seen up close by humans: A man watches a large photo of stag beetles fighting in a forest during the opening of the new exhibition "Forest Worlds" in the industrial monument Gasometer, formerly Europe's largest disc-type gas holder in Oberhausen, Germany, Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
From left to right: Maris Kreizman, Dashiel Carrera, Tuhin Chakrabarty and Bruce Holsinger. Photo: Moira Weinstein/Brooklyn Eagle
The Center for Fiction on Lafayette Avenue hosted a lecture on artificial intelligence and literature on Thursday, March 12.
Four unique perspectives on AI and its effect on art made for a complex discussion on the environmental and personal repercussions, responsibilities, questions of literacy and the need for regulation on a limitless tool.
The panel discussed the challenges, promises and solutions posed by AI, as well as confronting the tool in art and academia.
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By John Darkow
For the Road
Open Data: “Echo{logies},” an art exhibition based on data available through the NYC Open Data portal, will be presented at the BRIC House Gallery as part of this year’s citywide Open Data Week, March 21 through March 29. “Echo{ologies}” will also present an artists’ panel, workshops on making maps and art using free public data, and a discussion on responsible data stewardship. Learn more about the exhibition.
Happy Birthday to “Living Single” star Queen Latifah!
On This Day in 1872, the Eagle reported: “Without underrating any branch of our industries, we venture to say that the soap department will be of the greatest importance, and that our townsmen, U.S. Higgins & Co., will do honor to the city of Brooklyn by their display of soaps.”
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