Early voting nearly doubles 2022, Queens buses speed up, Knicks fall to 0-3. New York Explained for October 27, 2026.

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October 27, 2026
The Front Page
Mayor Mamdani spent Monday crediting Gov. Hochul for the early-vote surge after two weekend rallies with her, and said he expects "a continuation of a positive and productive working relationship" in return [16].
A Manhattan judge temporarily barred after-hours work on the Chinatown borough jail, whose permits allowed digging until midnight on weekdays; daytime work continues and the next hearing is Dec. 1 [55].
Former Chancellor David Banks, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and three borough presidents meet at Abyssinian Baptist Church Tuesday to press Mamdani on specialized high school admissions, where Black students got 3.5% of roughly 4,000 seats last year [86].
Survivors' lawyers say the Archdiocese of New York's settlement of more than $800 million with 1,300 claimants is due to be signed in early November, with a public list of accused clergy to follow [45].
Two Mamdani officials told a policy forum that "one-time handouts disempower people," the same week Hochul's $100-to-$200 energy rebate checks are reaching about 8.2 million households [2].
This Morning in New York

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2 lines with delays
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1Planned Work

Downtown [1] skips 125 St

2Planned Work

In Manhattan, downtown [1] and [2] local skip Christopher St-Stonewall, Houston St, Canal St and Franklin St

46Planned Work

In Manhattan, downtown [4] local and [6] skip 116 St, 110 St, 103 St, 96 St, 77 St, 68 St and 51 St

7Planned Work

In Queens, Flushing-bound [7] skips 52 St and 69 St All trains at Woodside-61 St board from the Manhattan-bound platform

APlanned Work

In Manhattan, uptown [A] local skips 72 St, 81 St, 86 St, 96 St, 103 St, 110 St and 116 St

EFDelays

[E][F] trains are running with delays in both directions while we perform track maintenance in Manhattan and Queens.

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No [D] between 59 St-Columbus Circle, Manhattan and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, Brooklyn

GPlanned Work

In Brooklyn, [G] skips 4 Av-9 St, 15 St-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Pkwy in both directions - take the [F] instead

This Week

Free things to do
Early voting nearly doubles the 2022 pacePhoto: spectrum

Early voting nearly doubles the 2022 pace

More than 485,000 New Yorkers voted in the first two days of early voting, up from about 262,000 in the same stretch of 2022.

Politics & GovernmentAlbany / statewide2 newsroomsRead the story →
The Queens bus redesign is workingPhoto: amnewyork

The Queens bus redesign is working

Transit & StreetsQueens1 newsroom
 The champion Knicks start 0-3Photo: posting and toasting

The champion Knicks start 0-3

SportsCitywide1 newsroom
Story: the day’s big ones, in their own words and numbers

Early voting nearly doubles the 2022 pace

More than 485,000 New Yorkers voted in the first two days of early voting, up from about 262,000 in the same stretch of 2022.

Early voting nearly doubles the 2022 pace
Photo: spectrum

Turnout is up most sharply in counties with competitive House races, including Fulton and Essex in the 21st District and Rockland and Westchester in the 17th [17]. In the city, Brooklyn led the weekend count, ahead of Manhattan and Queens [20]. Early votes are counted as check-ins and say nothing about party share, so the surge measures enthusiasm, not a result [17]. Hochul and Blakeman both spent the weekend courting the city: Blakeman on Staten Island, Hochul in Brooklyn with Mamdani [17][19].

“One of the things that we saw in 2022 that helped to make the governor’s race much closer than people had anticipated was that you had really low turnout in New York City,”
Shawn Donahue, University at Buffalo political scientist · [17]
“Here on Staten Island, if we get those record numbers here, we are going to have a sweet victory,”
Bruce Blakeman, Republican nominee for governor · [17]
By the numbers
  • 165,143city voters checked in over the first weekend [20]
  • 47,177of them in Brooklyn, the most of any borough [20]
  • 224,894city early votes after day three, unofficial [15]
The thread
  1. Nov 2022Hochul narrowly beat Lee Zeldin as low city turnout helped Republicans win several New York House seats [17]
  2. TodayEarly turnout is running far ahead of that year's pace [17]
WatchEarly voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1; polls close Monday, Nov. 2, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3 [20].
FromPolitics | Spectrum News NY1News NBC New York

The Queens bus redesign is working

A year after the overhaul, 24 of the 25 bus routes that sped up most citywide are in Queens.

The Queens bus redesign is working
Photo: amnewyork

The MTA added 17 Queens routes, converted 25 more into "rush routes," and changed part of 49 others [69]. Rush routes make local stops in transit deserts, then skip stops on the big avenues to reach the subway faster [69]. The agency compared spring 2025 with spring 2026 and presented the results to board committees Monday [69].

“Many bus routes are faster, many bus routes are more reliable,”
Evan Bialostozky, MTA director of network redesigns · [69]
“I’m thrilled to say that the team has delivered on all fronts,”
Demetrius Crichlow, NYC Transit president · [69]
By the numbers
  • 1.7%average weekday speed gain on local buses [69]
  • Over six minutessaved on the Q36 Rush between the Little Neck LIRR station and Jamaica [69]
  • 71.2%of trips arriving within five minutes of schedule, the best non-pandemic mark since the MTA began publishing it [69]
  • 124,000more Queens residents now have a bus every 10 minutes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. [69]
WatchThe new Q51 Limited along Linden Boulevard and Q74 Limited to Queens College are the redesign's biggest time-savers, at 18 and six minutes [69].
FromNYC Transit amNewYork

The champion Knicks start 0-3

The defending champions lost to a Magic team playing without Paolo Banchero, and shot 24% from three doing it.

The champion Knicks start 0-3
Photo: posting and toasting

New York led by 10 in the fourth quarter Sunday before Orlando scored 40 points in the period and won 111-102 [159]. It is the Knicks' first 0-3 start since David Fizdale's 2019-20 team [157]. Mike Brown benched Andre Drummond for James Wiseman during the game and says Drummond returns as the backup next game [158].

“our crap stinks. It does. And we’re the only ones who can do anything about it.”
Mike Brown, Knicks coach · [158]
“Not happy. Plain and simple.”
Jalen Brunson, Knicks captain · [158]
“You can make the guess for me”
Andre Drummond, on why he sat · [158]
By the numbers
  • 47-11Orlando's bench scoring edge over New York's [159]
  • 50%Knicks shooting in the paint, last in the league [157]
WatchThe 3-0 Pistons, without Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, visit the Garden Tuesday at 7 p.m. on NBC [155].
FromPosting and Toasting

Around the Boroughs

  • Bronx (Concourse): The MTA's $26.7 million in new elevators at 161st Street-Yankee Stadium logged 41 outages April through September, and the lift to the northbound B/D platform stays out until January [65].
  • Bronx (Soundview): Construction started on a 22-story, 228-unit building at 1920 Turnbull Ave., with 137 apartments for formerly homeless New Yorkers, due March 2029 [50].
  • Bronx (Eastchester): Edenwald Houses reopened a senior center shuttered for 25 years and named it for Walter McNeill, tenant association president for 33 years [54].
  • Bronx (Van Nest): Hochul signed the bill making Little Yemen a state cultural district, opening state arts grants to groups inside it [97].
  • Brooklyn (East New York): NYCHA finished $636 million in renovations at Reid & Park Rock, though one tenant leader says new floor tiles are already bubbling up [56].
  • Queens (Long Island City): Tenants at three Rockrose buildings filed a class action claiming more than $50 million in 421a rent overcharges [63].
  • Queens (Forest Hills): Forest Hills Stadium agreed to cap its 2027 season at 28 shows with a 10 p.m. curfew, settling neighbors' lawsuits [122].
  • Manhattan (Harlem): A $35.7 million project will recirculate water through the Pool, the Loch and the Harlem Meer, keeping about 132 million gallons a year out of the sewers by fall 2028 [88].
  • Manhattan (SoHo): Community Board 2 opposed DOT's two-way Grand Street bike lane, eight feet wide in total, but DOT says it is building anyway [72].
  • Citywide: Of 101 city-placarded vehicles with 16 or more speed-camera tickets in a year, nearly a quarter belonged to nonprofits [71].
  • Citywide: The Council holds a hearing Tuesday on juvenile detention, which averaged 385 young people in July in facilities built for 259 [36].
  • Queens (Edgemere): The body found in a shallow grave on Beach 58th Street was Seraphina Pereira, 35, a mother of young children; police are questioning a person of interest [40].
  • Manhattan (Central Park): Police released images of a man who raped a woman at knifepoint near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue Saturday night [41].
  • Citywide: The Giants beat Houston in overtime to go 4-2-1 and lead the NFC East into their bye [136].

Worth Doing

  • Haunted Hotel: A 20-to-25-minute walk-through at Prospect Park's LeFrak Center at Lakeside, $20 Mondays and $35 other days, through Nov. 1, with a free pumpkin patch next door [94].
  • "Twenty Petal Flower" ofrenda: A giant woven marigold altar in Flatiron's North Plaza where anyone can leave offerings, through Nov. 3 [104].
  • Village Halloween Parade: Saturday at 7 p.m. from Canal Street and Sixth Avenue; march free in costume or watch free along the route [100].
  • Good to know: Clocks fall back at 2 a.m. Sunday, the same morning the marathon closes roads in all five boroughs, and your early-voting site may differ from your Election Day one [100].

Only in New York

Only in New York
Photo: brooklyn paper

About 5,000 people turned out in Fort Greene Park Saturday for the 28th Great PUPkin, where more than 100 dogs competed in costume, including a pug named Beast doing the dishes as Scrub Doggy. The judges included Council Member Crystal Hudson and a Saturday Night Live costume designer. Third place went to the Dogyssey, which brought a working Trojan horse [93].