New York’s mayor repeals bedtime during the NBA Finals. Baltimore posts its first single-digit monthly homicide total in five decades. Illinois lawmakers approve a new tax on social media firms. Vermont bill to ban masks for federal agents fails in final session.
As we mention here regularly, Decision Points primarily focuses on national and international news. But we also occasionally deliver a roundup of local, regional or under-the-radar news with a political dimension – something unusual or interesting, or that may illustrate a broader trend.
Our guiding principle is that the definition of politics includes how a society organizes itself to allocate finite or scarce resources, manage internal disagreements and blunt external threats.
Here’s this week’s look ‘round.
PR Stunt or Slam Dunk?
Tonight is the first game of the NBA Finals, pitting the New York Knickerbockers against the San Antonio Spurs, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doesn’t want early bedtimes to prevent the city’s youngest from watching the 8:30 p.m. showdown.
On Monday, Mamdani signed a tongue-in-cheek executive order repealing bedtime as the Knicks reached their first Finals since 1999.
“Bedtimes should not impede the ability of New York’s Cutest to cheer for the Knicks and watch every second of this historic Championship series,” it says, in part. The order “shall not expire until the Knicks complete – and hopefully win – this historic Championship run.”
There was not, however, a corresponding executive order permitting middle-aged New Yorkers to show up late for work tomorrow.
Baltimore Gets Much Less Murder-y
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is celebrating the city’s first single-digit monthly homicide tally in five decades. Charm City recorded just eight killings last month. And homicides are down 23.1% as of June 1 compared to the same period last year.
“This isn’t luck, it is the result of intentional work across BPD, prosecutors, and our violence prevention ecosystem,” Scott said on social media.
Violent crime is down nationally from its peaks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Baltimore reported its 2025 homicide numbers were the lowest in nearly 50 years.
Social Media May Get Taxed in Illinois
Lawmakers in Illinois have approved legislation that would impose taxes on social media companies based on the number of users in the state. The legislation also taxes prediction markets, fantasy sports and digital assets, Ben Szalinski reports at Capitol News Illinois.
“Social media companies would be taxed on a progressive scale starting with platforms with 100,000 to 499,999 users paying 10 cents per month for each user all the way up to platforms with at least 1 million users paying a $165,000 fee plus 50 cents for each user each month. A similar tax in Chicago is already tied up in court,” Szalinsky writes.
Will this work? Will it survive legal challenges? Will other states follow suit?
Vermont No-Mask Bill Stalls
Vermont’s legislature has adjourned without passing a bill that would have barred federal agents, like those of ICE, from wearing masks, Shaun Robinson reports at VTDigger. The proposal died because of a procedural issue.
“The bill, S.208emerged from a joint House and Senate conference committee Thursday,” Robinson writes. “In order for the latest version of the legislation to be taken up on the floor so soon after, though, the House needed to suspend its rules. Such a procedural move needs three-quarters approval. And while rules suspensions are common late in the session, when it came to taking up S.208 ‘for immediate consideration,’ that was not the case.”
Supporters would have needed 99 “yes” votes but got 81, Robinson says.
President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration enforcement campaign has relied heavily on officers who are masked and wear little to no identifying symbols.