Reality show on NYPD unit sparked private rift between Tisch and Adams, records and officials say

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ☀️🦫 Sunny, highs in the lower 30s, expert predicts six more weeks of winter.

It's Monday in New York City, where we've learned more about the drama behind "Behind the Badge," the Dr. Phil-affiliated NYPD reality show.

According to a Gothamist review of court records and interviews with key players, former Mayor Eric Adams and his allies saw the show as a way to boost the image of the Community Response Team, a widely criticized NYPD unit created to deal with quality-of-life issues like illegal dirt bikes and smoke shops.

"They wanted to show the compassionate side of CRT," said Kaz Daughtry, the former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety who now works for the Trump administration.

But NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch opposed the show on the grounds that it would jeopardize undercover officers.

Luis Martinez, a top aide to Tisch, wrote in an affidavit that portions of the program "would be detrimental to NYPD's ability to reduce violent crime and narcotics trafficking."

Here's where things stand with the producers' fight to air the show. 

And here's what else is happening:

• Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he’s dispatching 20 “warming buses” for homeless New Yorkers. But on a recent night at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, flaws in the plan's execution were evident: No one in the terminal knew two of those buses were parked outside.
• Mamdani has appointed Dr. Alister Martin, an emergency physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, to lead New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
• The mayor named Stanley Richards, a prominent criminal justice reformer, to lead the city's Department of Correction.
• New Jersey local elected officials are sounding the alarm after federal immigration agents were seen making arrests near the Hoboken and Jersey City border on Sunday morning.
• The city’s education department said new guidelines for the use of AI in public schools are coming this month.
• Police said a woman’s remains were found in the basement of a NYCHA building in Williamsburg yesterday.
• 🎧 Zohran Mamdani’s First 30 Days as Mayor: From a snowstorm that tested his crisis response to early moves on child care, Mamdani has paired constant public visibility with a push to deliver on his affordability agenda. In the latest episode of NYC NOW, WNYC's Brigid Bergin and Liz Kim assess his tenure so far. Listen here.

• Moving apartments in the aftermath of the snowstorm seems like a nightmare.
• Mamdani is killing a flawed AI chatbot the Adams administration had launched as a way for local businesses to get information.
• Some Long Island drivers told the New York Post that if they get their licenses suspended because of a new state-level crackdown on reckless driving, they're just going to keep driving anyway.
• It appears Jeffrey Epstein thought it was lame that Woody Allen went to that 2016 community board meeting to oppose a bike lane on his Upper East Side street.
• The head of the International Olympic Committee said it's "sad" that ICE arrests and the Epstein emails are distracting the public from the Winter Games.
• Full list of Grammy winners.
• Full list of "Melania" reviews.