Our team will be descending upon Albany on Tuesday. Here’s what they’ll be watching.
BEFORE YOU GO, consider: If not for the article you just read, would the information in it be public?
Or would it remain hidden — buried within the confines of New York’s sprawling criminal-legal apparatus?
I started working at New York Focus in 2022, not long after the outlet launched. Since that time, our reporters and editors have been vigorously scrutinizing every facet of the Empire State’s criminal justice institutions, investigating power players and the impact of policy on state prisons, county jails, and local police and courts — always with an eye toward what it means for people involved in the system.
That system works hard to make those people invisible, and it shields those at the top from scrutiny. And without rigorous, resource-intensive journalism, it would all operate with significantly more impunity.
Only a handful of journalists do this type of work in New York. In the last decades, the number of local news outlets in the state has nearly halved, making our coverage all the more critical. Our criminal justice reporting has been cited in lawsuits, spurred legislation, and led to the rescission of statewide policies. With your help, we can continue to do this work, and go even deeper: We have endless ideas for more ambitious projects and harder hitting investigations. But we need your help.
As a small, nonprofit outlet, we rely on our readers to support our journalism. If you’re able, please consider supporting us with a one-time or monthly gift. We so appreciate your help.
Here’s to a more just, more transparent New York.
I hope this article helped you better answer the question that guides all of our journalism: Who runs New York? Before you click away, please consider supporting our work and making more stories like this one possible.
New York state is standing at a crossroads for climate action. After passing one of the nation’s most ambitious climate laws in 2019, the state is lagging far behind on its targets, struggling to meet deadlines to build renewable energy and clean up its buildings and roads. Other states are closely watching our progress, making decisions about their own climate plans based on New York’s ability to implement this legislation.
As New York’s only statewide nonprofit news publication, we’ve been scrutinizing the state’s climate progress. Our journalism exists to unpack how power works in New York, analyze who’s really calling the shots, and reveal how obscure decisions shape ordinary New Yorkers’ lives.
But we can't do this work without your help. We rely on reader donations to help sustain our outlet, and every gift directly allows us to publish more pieces like this.
Our work has already shown what can happen when those with power know that someone is watching, with my reporting prompting a state investigation and fine for a major corporation. I have more story ideas than I can count, but only limited resources to pursue all the leads that come across my desk.
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Thank you for reading.
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