Chris Bragg, New York Focus’s Albany bureau chief, reflects on how even the most familiar topics brought new twists to his coverage in 2024.
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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.
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Hochul proposes school funding updates and a climate funding alternative. A prominent lobbying firm racks up fines.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to halt all new approvals for offshore wind, which New York is counting on to meet climate law targets.
The change was among a handful of eleventh-hour tweaks to Hochul’s policy briefing book.
Hochul says she has a plan to make New York affordable, through tax cuts and payments to families.
After years of targeting bail, the governor is proposing changes to New York’s 2019 discovery reform law.
Among her many health-related proposals, the governor wants to rein in drug prices — possibly by importing them from Canada.
