••• “State Street Corp., parent company of the investment firm behind Wall Street’s iconic ‘Fearless Girl’ statue, today agreed to pay a combined $5 million to more than 300 women and 15 black employees who were paid less than their white, male counterparts, according to a federal audit. […] The ‘Fearless Girl’ statue, created by agency McCann New York (which declined to comment for this article), faces down Wall Street’s famed Charging Bull statue. It was a symbol created by State Street Global Advisors to celebrate women in leadership and encourage investment in corporations with women in top positions. ” —Adweek

••• As Matt Levine of Bloomberg put it, “If you were a maximally cynical executive, and you wanted to get public recognition for being socially progressive, would you spend your money on paying women as much as you pay men, or on a statue in a park touting the power of women? If you pay women equally, they might notice, but you are unlikely to get a tenth of the press that one statue can buy.”

••• The New York Times article on three decades’ worth of sexual harassment allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein—and subsequent settlements—is a doozy. (The Weinstein Company is based in Tribeca.) I just don’t see how a leave of absence cuts it.

••• “Defying Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo on Thursday appointed a panel to study congestion pricing and report back to him by the end of the year.” —New York Post

••• “At its Tuesday meeting, the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 discussed a range of neighborhood priorities for possible inclusion in the Board’s annual ‘district needs statement.’ This list of local goals, which every Community Board asks the City government to focus on each year, serves as a policy guide for the both Mayor and the City Council. While neither is legally obliged to comply with these objectives, they are widely understood at least to influence the deliberations of City agencies, as they formulate budgets for the coming 12 months.” —Broadsheet

••• “Don’t call him a mascot—he’s a fully certified ‘Comfort Dog’ on the staff of Lower Manhattan Community Middle School. Bruno, a tawny, 7-month-old pug and beagle mix, came to the Downtown school a few months ago in a pilot program to bring canine counselors into public schools to ease stress, de-escalate tensions and generally brighten people’s day as only a gregarious four-legged furball can.” (Photo courtesy Lower Manhattan Community Middle School.) —Downtown Express