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New York Governor Kathy Hochul at a podium next to her budget director, Blake Washington, with a binder, both superimposed over a photo of two stacks of paper files.
Your Guide to the 2024 State Budget Fight

We read the governor’s, Senate’s, and Assembly’s budget proposals — so you don’t have to.

New York Focus   ·   March 15, 2024
New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie speaking at a press conference in 2021
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie Has Been Dating a Legislative Lobbyist

While Heastie privately pledged to avoid meetings with relevant interests, lobbyist Rebecca Lamorte has sought to keep representing them before the Assembly, according to her employer’s attorney.

Chris Bragg   ·   March 14, 2024
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins before three tall stacks of paper.
How the New York State Budget Is Made

We answer your questions on the state’s notoriously opaque budget process.

Sam Mellins   ·   March 11, 2024
These Local Agencies Hand Out Over a Billion in Tax Breaks Across New York

What are industrial development agencies?

Arabella Saunders and Julia Rock   ·   March 6, 2024
Former state budget director Robert Mujica sits at a table with a name card wearing a suit.
Robert Mujica, Former Budget Chief, Advises Hospital Lobby on Budget

The former budget director’s role may break a law meant to keep ex-state employees from monetizing insider knowledge.

Chris Bragg   ·   February 29, 2024
Greater New York Hospital Association President Kenneth Raske sits at a table and gestures with a pen in front of an American flag.
How the Hospital Lobby Pummeling Hochul’s Budget Brought in a Billion Dollars

While the nonprofit Greater New York Hospital Association lobbied, a lucrative for-profit arm may have run up costs for hospitals.

Chris Bragg   ·   February 29, 2024
People gather outside a stone arch with sign that says "Hospital & Emergency Room" displaying letters A, C, D, F, G, H, and an emergency cross.
Retired Teachers Seek Union Shakeup to Dodge Medicare Advantage

In the New York City teachers union, anger over a plan to privatize retiree health care could send a longshot campaign over the edge.

Sam Mellins   ·   February 26, 2024
A magnifying glass reveals a jail cell otherwise obscured by static.
Be a Jail Watchdog

New York Focus has published thousands of pages of county jail oversight records. Browse them in our database.

Chris Gelardi and Eliza Fawcett   ·   February 23, 2024
Governor Kathy Hochul, wearing a red turtleneck and blazer, sits at a table with other officials.
Hochul’s Plan to Close Prisons Faces a Fight

New York’s incarcerated population has been declining for decades. Why is it so hard for prison closures to keep pace?

Eliza Fawcett   ·   February 20, 2024
Morning scenic of a power line field in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY.
Long Island Legislators Unveil Push for Public Power, With Union Nod to Labor Provisions

A new bill to municipalize Long Island’s utility includes key worker protections that the union had sought.

Julia Rock   ·   February 16, 2024
A woman in a purple dress and a black head covering opens a door to show a sunny world outside.
Adams Administration Shelter Policy Disproportionately Evicts African Migrants

Migrants from Mauritania and Senegal were the most likely to receive eviction notices, but not the most populous groups in shelters, a New York Focus analysis found.

Churchill Ndonwie   ·   February 15, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul stands at a podium next to a sign reading "treating addiction and preventing overdoses."
As Overdoses Soar, Addiction Treatment Funding Stagnates

Hochul’s budget would level off funding for addiction treatment — and use opioid settlement funds to fill the gaps.

Spencer Norris   ·   February 13, 2024
An overhead view shows streets, buildings, trees, and a river in the forested town of Kingston, New York, the Ulster County seat.
Ulster County Leaders Struggle to Rein in Real Estate Tax Breaks

The county is ready to restart real estate subsidies after a two-year pause. Residents fear it won’t fix their housing crisis.

Arabella Saunders   ·   February 8, 2024
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul stands in front of American flags and behind a podium reading "Our New York, Our Future."
Hochul Sparks Outcry With Proposed Cash Transfer From Legal Aid Fund

Her administration says the fund won’t be harmed. Legal experts question whether she can take it at all.

Sam Mellins   ·   February 7, 2024
A New York City subway on the left, and highway traffic on the right.
Flush With Biden’s Infrastructure Cash, New York Is Choosing Highways Over Public Transit

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directed billions toward public transit in New York, but the state is choosing to spend billions more on highways.

Sam Mellins   ·   February 5, 2024
A sign reads "IDAs DRAIN $1.8 BILLION A YEAR FROM NEW YORK SCHOOLS."
Unions Join the Fight to Slash Economic Development Tax Breaks

When local authorities hand out subsidies, school budgets lose revenue. The state teachers union is now pushing back.

Arabella Saunders   ·   February 2, 2024
A digital illustration shows two rolls of $100 bills spewing natural gas emissions over a blue sky.
Hidden Subsidies Prop Up New York’s Fossil Fuel Industry

The state wants to phase out fossil fuels. Localities have given over a billion dollars in tax breaks to help keep them around.

Colin Kinniburgh and Julia Rock   ·   February 2, 2024
A classroom full of students with the teacher's silhouette filled in with pennies.
When Schools Assign Substitutes the Wrong Status, the Error Suppresses Their Pay

Long-term subs stay with the same classes and can serve like full-time teachers. New York City schools misclassify them — so their pay doesn’t reflect that.

Teddy Ostrow   ·   January 31, 2024
In school classroom full of children, a teacher silhouette of a teacher is filled in with microscopic coronaviruses.
In New York City Schools, Substitute Teachers Are Systematically Denied Covid Sick Pay

The state established Covid leave to compensate employees who fell ill during the pandemic. One group of essential workers has been unable to claim it.

Teddy Ostrow   ·   January 29, 2024
A group of people before the judges of the Court of Appeals
It’s Hard to Get a Criminal Case Heard in New York’s Top Court. The New Chief Judge May Change That.

Some Court of Appeals judges are far more likely to grant requests to hear appeals than others, a New York Focus analysis found.

Sam Mellins   ·   January 25, 2024
A collage of book covers, including Richard Wright's Native Son
What You Can’t Read Behind Bars in New York

As book banning sparks outrage in schools and libraries, the censorship of classics like Native Son persists in New York prisons.

Rebecca McCray   ·   January 24, 2024
New York City Governor Kathy Hochul stands behind a podium reading "Combatting the Opioid Epidemic"
In Upstate New York, Treatment for Opioid Addiction Gets Harder to Find

The average New Yorker has to travel nearly 10 miles to access methadone, a New York Focus analysis found. Upstate, they have to go even further.

Spencer Norris   ·   January 23, 2024
A green welcome sign superimposed over an aerial suburban shot reads "WELCOME TO Greenburgh," with Greenburgh crossed out, and replaced with "Edgemont."
How One Wealthy Neighborhood Got Itself Exempted From State Law

Westchester’s Edgemont community wants to secede from its town — and has scored a legal carveout to let it.

Sam Mellins   ·   January 22, 2024
Governor Hochul in a hard hat
Hochul Is Ready to Start Weaning New York Off Gas

The governor and the Senate have aligned on large swathes of the NY HEAT Act. The Assembly might be ready to move on it, too.

Colin Kinniburgh   ·   January 22, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul sits at a large wooden table and signs papers in Albany, New York.
How the Governor Upends Bills Before Signing Them

With chapter amendments, governors can make major changes to pending laws. Kathy Hochul uses them more than any executive before her.

Chris Bragg and Sam Mellins   ·   January 17, 2024
Governor Kathy Hochul stands with a hand on her hip next to a New York state trooper on a cloudy day.
Kathy Hochul’s Copy-and-Paste Crime-Fighting Formula

This year, the governor’s budget contains an agenda to combat retail theft. It looks a lot like last year’s plan to curb gun violence.

Chris Gelardi   ·   January 16, 2024
Window looking into a darkened foreclosed home. A yellow sign says "LENDER FORECLOSURE" and "PUBLIC HOME AUCTION." Smaller paper signs say "Warning No Trespassing" and note a lawn maintenance company.
After Foreclosing Homes, New York Towns Have to Pay Residents Back

New York municipalities used to keep the surplus from foreclosed homes sold at auction. Then the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

Arabella Saunders   ·   January 12, 2024
A man installing a solar panel
The United Auto Workers Are Unionizing Rooftop Solar

Workers at Long Island’s leading rooftop solar installation firm voted to unionize, in a New York first. Then the company furloughed almost half of them.

Julia Rock   ·   January 10, 2024
Governor Kathy Hochul holds two signed bills, superimposed over a background showing the state of New York.
As It Happened: Kathy Hochul on the State of the State

The governor gave a preview of her budget priorities — and we looked out for 2024’s major fights. Follow along to see what we’re watching.

New York Focus   ·   January 9, 2024
How to Dump Dark Money in New York Elections — And Get Away With It

A “ghost entity” linked to Tom Suozzi spent $2 million attacking Kathy Hochul. Then the Board of Elections started an investigation, and it disappeared.

Chris Bragg   ·   January 8, 2024
Here’s Every Bill That Kathy Hochul Vetoed in 2023

One hundred and fifteen laws that almost were.

New York Focus   ·   January 3, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, seated, holds a document that has been edited to read "New York Focus Quiz!" in front of a background covered in question marks.
Who Knows Who Runs New York?

Thanks for a great 2023. To show our gratitude, we’re giving you a test.

New York Focus   ·   December 22, 2023
New York governor Kathy Hochul kneels in a red suit with a child looking out in distress
Hochul Administration’s Inflated Cost Estimate Could Imperil Child Care Bill

The clock is ticking for the governor to sign or veto a bill to expand child care assistance. Her administration might decide it costs too much — but supporters say their numbers are off.

Arabella Saunders   ·   December 21, 2023
The back of an open prison transport van
He Was Sick, So They Sent Him to Prison

New York jails can transfer people with mental illnesses to maximum security prisons, even while they’re legally innocent.

Chris Gelardi   ·   December 21, 2023
Park Slope Neighbors Seek to Block New Apartment Buildings on Industrial Site

A laundry company wants to turn its factory into 13-story apartment buildings, sparking the latest in a series of fierce zoning fights.

Sam Mellins   ·   December 20, 2023
Gray poster-style houses over a sepia landscape.
Industrial Development Agencies Look to Dish Out Housing Tax Breaks

As the governor urges more housing, IDAs are looking to pitch in. Critics say it goes beyond their legal role.

Arabella Saunders and J. Dale Shoemaker   ·   December 20, 2023
Attica Correctional facility exterior in grayscale, with bright TV static behind.
This Agency Is Supposed to Monitor Jails. Is Anyone Monitoring It?

The State Commission of Correction has been stumbling for decades — with millions of incarcerated people caught in the lurch.

Eliza Fawcett   ·   December 18, 2023
A jail cell with keys in the lock seen through a dirty window.
Demystifying the New York Parole Board’s Murky Decisions

In New York, many incarcerated people don’t know how to secure their freedom. A court fight could clear up the lethally opaque process.

Nathan Porceng   ·   December 18, 2023
Kathy Hochul stands with her hands spread at a podium reading "Combatting the Opioid Epidemic"
With Overdose Deaths at All-Time High, Hochul Ignores Calls to Declare Emergency

The governor has neglected to announce a public emergency over the increasingly deadly opioid epidemic. Observers are perplexed.

Spencer Norris   ·   December 14, 2023
Correctional officers are being blocked from a door of a prison on the left side of an illustration. They walk around the corner, removing their uniforms, only to be welcomed back to a door on the right side of the prison. Their uniforms are returned to them in the process.
‘A Crazy System’: How Arbitration Puts Abusive Guards Back in New York Prisons

Over a 12-year span, three out of every four state correctional officers fired for abuse or covering it up got their jobs back.

Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff   ·   December 14, 2023
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