“New York is quietly preparing for a Donald Trump takeover of the country’s largest city,” Politico reports.

“A wide range of New York’s most prominent civic leaders have for weeks been meeting behind the scenes to plan for the possibility of Trump sending in the National Guard or any other federal agents into New York City, according to multiple top elected officials.”

“Alarmed at what Trump may do in response to Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York City mayor, Gov. Kathy Hochul has devised a virtual war room and convened a series of conversations with law enforcement, business officials and activist groups to stop or at least mitigate any federal incursion. More meetings are being scheduled, including with New York’s leading clergy and veterans groups, some of whom will be gathering around Veterans Day next week.”

“A newly empowered Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday vowed to use his convincing victory in the New York City mayor’s race as a mandate to push an ambitious progressive agenda past potential obstacles, from billionaire antagonists to Albany bureaucracy,” the New York Times reports.

“In a shift from the mollifying tone he had used for months, Mr. Mamdani made clear that while he would govern for all New Yorkers, he was determined to deliver for those who had been agitating for structural change.”

“The shift in tone was most striking when it came to his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy.”

“New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is willing to remain in her post under Zohran Mamdani as long as the progressive mayor-elect allows her to keep pursuing her agenda,” Bloomberg reports.

“New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani marked the morning after his historic victory by introducing a slate of transition advisers with deep ties to city government — a team meant to bolster the young, inexperienced democratic socialist as he prepares to take the helm of the country’s largest city,” Politico reports.

“Mamdani’s transition will be led by women leaders who’ve worked in the administrations of Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams and Michael Bloomberg.”

“National Guard troops deployed in Washington, DC, will remain mobilized in the city at least through February 2026,” CNN reports.

“The troops’ orders had been expected to lapse at the end of November before Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth extended them, which has not been previously reported.”

“San Francisco is back. Or at least on its way,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Crime rates have dropped to their lowest levels in decades and continue to fall, with burglaries, a particular nuisance to homeowners and tourists, down 28% this year. The homeless tent encampments that block sidewalks and bedevil retail businesses have shrunk, while foot traffic and transit ridership have risen.”

“Rents overall are up 12% year over year in the city proper, with September marking the 13th month in a row of consecutive growth, according to Apartments.com. And the hotel industry is showing signs of recovery.”

Nick Miroff: “Every city targeted by Trump so far seems to resist in its own way. Protesters in proudly weird Portland, Oregon, have been mocking Trump’s ‘war zone’ claims by dancing in animal costumes and riding bikes buck naked.”

He continues: “In Chicago, city officials and neighborhood activist groups have been more disciplined, coordinating closely on efforts to slow ICE’s ‘Operation Midway Blitz.’ Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are fighting the National Guard deployment in court, and Johnson has declared city property off-limits to ICE, though it’s unclear how he’ll be able to enforce the ban. When Noem tried to use the bathroom inside the Broadview municipal building earlier this month, staffers wouldn’t even open the door.”

The White House’s “chaos” video from Chicago “is littered with outdated footage highlighting drug busts, arrests and deportation raids in other states, including Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska,” AFP reports.

Meanwhile, several clips “that authentically showed Chicago were from January 2025 — not captured as Trump sought to deploy troops in October.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams shared with leaders in his administration that he’s received an “amazing” job offer for when he leaves City Hall this year, Bloomberg reports.

He said it was an opportunity “of a lifetime” second only to running the nation’s largest city.

South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace wrote in the Tahoe Daily Tribune that she attempted suicide because of the guilt and shame she felt from embezzling funds from a local church.  

Said Wallace: “This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am publicly admitting that I took funds from the Presbyterian Church over an extended period. Because of this, on September 11, 2025, my birthday, I tried to end my life. I was so filled with guilt, shame, and grief that I experienced a mental health crisis that made suicide seem to be the best solution.”

“Local and state politicians railed Tuesday against the Trump administration’s federalization of the National Guard in Illinois as hundreds of guardsmen gathered and protesters vowed to continue to challenge their presence,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking in Minneapolis, suggested that President Trump’s actions are a precursor to trying to intimidate Democratic voters ahead of next year’s midterm elections.”

Said Pritzker: “He wants us all, in big cities, to get used to the idea that it’s OK to have military on the streets. You are going to see soldiers outside your polling place. That’s going to intimidate a lot of people. And especially it’s going to intimidate people who are not Republicans.”

The U.S. military could hit the streets of Chicago as early as today, after a federal judge refused to immediately block Trump’s National Guard deployment, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was hancuffed by federal immigration agents while she was questioning them why they were at a local medical center, WLS reports.

New York Times: “Questions arose early on about his character, job performance and decision-making. He was caught lying about what he ate and with whom he owned real estate. And investigations plagued his administration, finally landing at the mayor’s door.”

New York Times: “In many ways, Mr. Adams’s choice to end his flailing re-election campaign was the most conventional thing he had done in some time. He was acceding, for once, to the laws of political gravity as he weighed how best to position himself for a post-mayoral future.”

“That set of options, like much of his last year, is already shadowed by the more brazen gambit he has long appeared to embrace amid federal corruption charges and the wholesale collapse of his inner circle: becoming a MAGA-amenable mayor of America’s signature big blue city and seeing where that might take him.”