Former Obama Advisor and Finance Executive Confirmed as New York’s Top Financial Regulator
Adrienne Harris was approved to lead New York’s Department of Financial Services by a wide margin, as a progressive push to block her nomination sputtered.
Adrienne Harris was approved to lead New York’s Department of Financial Services by a wide margin, as a progressive push to block her nomination sputtered.
At New York Focus, our central mission is to help readers better understand how New York really works. If you think this article succeeded, please consider supporting our mission and making more stories like this one possible.
New York is an incongruous state. We’re home to fabulous wealth — if the state were a country, it would have the tenth largest economy in the world — but also the highest rate of wealth inequality. We’re among the most diverse – but also the most segregated. We passed the nation’s most ambitious climate law — but haven’t been meeting its deadlines and continue to subsidize industries hastening the climate crisis.
As New York’s only statewide nonprofit news publication, our journalism exists to help you make sense of these contradictions. Our work scrutinizes how power works in the state, unpacks who’s really calling the shots, and reveals how obscure decisions shape ordinary New Yorkers’ lives.
In the last two decades, the number of local news outlets in New York have been nearly slashed in half, allowing elected officials and powerful individuals to increasingly operate in the dark — with the average New Yorker none the wiser.
We’re on a mission to change that. Our work has already shown what can happen when those with power know that someone is watching, with stories that have prompted policy changes and spurred legislation. We have ambitious plans for the rest of the year and beyond, including tackling new beats and more hard-hitting stories — but we need your help to make them a reality.
If you’re able, please consider supporting our journalism with a one-time gift or a monthly gift. We can't do this work without you.
Thank you,
The governor is proposing a tax break to reimburse volunteer organ donors for their gift. Meanwhile, the state has failed to implement a 2022 law that would do the same thing.
Student performance in math and reading is still below pre-pandemic levels, according to new data — but on par with the national average.
Hochul proposes school funding updates and a climate funding alternative. A prominent lobbying firm racks up fines.