Six politicians, including state Senator Malcolm Smith and a New York City councilman, were arrested Tuesday on charges of trying to buy a spot for Smith on the ballot in this year's New York City mayoral race. Smith has said he is innocent.

Republican mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota says Council Speaker Christine Quinn's support for a new police Inspector General is "reckless and dangerous."

It’s already been a tough week for Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose support of an NYPD Inspector General drew the ire of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And on Friday, she’ll be facing more heat - this time from the Democratic side. A paid sick leave bill that Quinn doesn’t support gets a public hearing for the first time this campaign season on Friday, and it comes the week after two other cities passed similar laws.

City Comptroller John Liu announced he is joining the crowded field of Democratic mayoral hopefuls in a chaotic scene at City Hall on Sunday. Hundreds of supporters crammed in to stand behind him as he announced, and others were moved to overflow areas, which forced Liu to deliver his speech twice.

Republican Joe Lhota raised more than $729,000 in his first two months in the race, the most of any Democrat or Republican in the field during this filing period. But fundraising totals are just one barometer of a candidate’s formidability, given the city’s complicated public campaign financing system.

In the first two months of his campaign for mayor, Republican Joe Lhota raised $729,987, according to records filed Friday with the city Campaign Fiance Board. Lhota, the former MTA Chairman, listed his occupation as “unemployed” on the filing, but his campaign got a boost from his former colleagues at Cablevision and in the Giuliani administration, as well as real estate interests.

A potential run-off in citywide elections this year could be a disaster, elections officials told the City Council Thursday. Board of Elections officials also argued that chronic underfunding is partially to blame for some of the recent problems at city polls.

The election season is heating up, with a full slate of Democrats and Republicans trying to raise as much cash as possible in advance of the primaries. WNYC reporter Anna Sale and Azi Paybarah, political reporter for Capital New York, talk about the latest developments. Plus: What the recent unrest in East Flatbush around the shooting of Kimani Gray says about the state of community relations and the Bloomberg policing legacy. WNYC's Stephen Nessen joins briefly from East Flatbush to describe the community's reactions. 

→ WNYC Mayoral Resources: Mayor Tracker | Brian Interviews the Candidates

Enter internet trickery into the 2013 mayoral campaign. A fake website is mocking Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s opposition to mandatory paid sick leave.

A week after he secured ballot access on the Independence Party line, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion officially announced he's running for mayor. In the crowded field of candidates, Carrion is casting himself as a business-friendly populist.

With increasing numbers, and definite buzz, some in the tech sector are looking to leverage their new power to decide who will come after Bloomberg, but it’s not yet clear how much return a tech investment will have at the polls.

Supporters of a bill to require paid sick leave in New York City have a new tactic: framing it as a women's issue, and they think it's gaining traction to pressure mayoral hopeful Speaker Christine Quinn to bring the bill to a vote.

Adolfo Carrion, a former Obama appointee and Bronx Borough president, secured a spot on November's mayoral ballot, setting up a potential three-way race.

The city is expanding its Made in New York campaign to promote tech jobs as well as film and television production in the city: "I think it's fair to say that we are on the right path, growing dramatically, but Silicon Valley is still bigger than New York City in terms of start-ups and access to capital," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

In his final State of the City address Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the long view. He spoke boldly of his administration’s accomplishments after 11 years in City Hall, and added a warning to any who would stand in his way.

Three days after the blizzard, quiet settled over snow-sacked neighborhoods in Connecticut. Light rain on Monday emptied residential streets that had been dotted with crowds of sledding children and optimistic driveway shovelers over the weekend.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wistfully touted his achievements as he outlined his final, $70 billion budget proposal on Tuesday, and he warned that whoever follows him will likely face the same difficult budget constraints that he has. 

In this season of jockeying for endorsements, there are plenty of mayoral candidates who want to show they feel labor's pain under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.