Samantha Max

5 days ago | gothamist.com | Samantha Max

New details are coming to light in Mayor Eric Adams’ now-dismissed federal corruption case, after the court unsealed a trove of documents Friday. For the first time, the public can see the search warrants, affidavits and various other records tied to the case. The New York Times and the New York Post asked a federal judge to publish the materials. The investigative documents foreshadow what the prosecution’s theory of the case would have been.

6 days ago | gothamist.com | Arun Venugopal |Samantha Max

New Yorkers and tourists flocked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon to celebrate the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago, the first American pope. Prevost, 69, who took the name Pope Leo XIV, addressed a cheering crowd outside St. Peter’s Basilica shortly after white smoke billowed from a chimney over the Sistine Chapel, signaling to the world that a new pope had been selected.

6 days ago | gothamist.com | Samantha Max

A controversial new bike lane that runs through a portion of north Brooklyn's Hasidic Jewish community is now at the center of a legal dispute between City Councilmember Lincoln Restler and Sabrina Gates, one of his challengers in the June Democratic primary. Restler, a vocal supporter of the bike lane, has been trying to block Gates from the primary, arguing in court last month that her campaign improperly gathered the signatures needed to put her on the ballot.

1 week ago | gothamist.com | Samantha Max |Charles Lane

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers allege that police illegally searched his backpack after locating him at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, and that none of the evidence inside should be allowed at trial, according to a motion filed Thursday evening. If a judge agrees, it could pose a major hurdle for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting one of several criminal cases against the 26-year-old, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.

2 weeks ago | gothamist.com | Samantha Max

One of the most controversial elements of the $254 billion state budget lawmakers reached this week is a change to New York’s evidence sharing laws for criminal cases. Since 2020, a measure known as discovery reform has required district attorneys to share more evidence with defendants, and more quickly. But some prosecutors have urged lawmakers to adjust the measure, saying it led to a surge in case dismissals and made it too difficult to hold defendants accountable.