It’s the first step New York has taken to address its housing shortage in years — but tenant groups are fuming and real estate wants more.
A version of good cause eviction and new hate crimes are in; new taxes on the wealthy and education cuts are out. Here’s where things landed in this year’s budget.
The Assembly rejected legislation that would have sped up New York’s transition away from gas.
Low-wage manual laborers can sue to make their bosses pay them weekly. Hochul’s late-breaking budget addition may undermine that right.
New York’s transparency watchdog found that the ethics commission violated open records law by redacting its own recusal forms.
New York has one of the weakest consumer protection laws in the country. This year’s state budget may change that.
Previously unreleased disciplinary files expose officers who beat, slap, and pepper spray the residents they’re supposed to protect. Most are back at work within a month.
Hochul’s proposed Medicaid cuts include $125 million from Health Homes, a program that connects the neediest New Yorkers with medical care, food assistance, and more.
One in five kids in New York live in poverty. Legislators are pushing Hochul to fulfill her promise to cut that rate in half.
The Assembly and Senate want to beef up labor standards and farmland protections for clean energy projects. Developers say that would slow down the energy transition.
As real estate developers resist wage guarantees and try to roll back tenants’ rights, a potential budget deal is at an impasse.
Guidelines limiting gifts of taxpayer resources have “no teeth whatsoever,” according to good government watchdog.
Local regulations haven’t kept up with the rollout of new surveillance tech. Some reformers see Washington as their best hope.
State investigators accused the gas utility of “sloppiness” in managing customer funds, but took a light touch in enforcement.
As the state legislature considers a bill to change warranty payments, unions join their bosses to make car companies pay more.
Backing primary opponents to progressive Democrats, the new Solidarity PAC resembles a state-level analog to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
As the relationship was coming to light, Heastie returned $5,000 in campaign cash to a labor group from which he’d recused himself.
Stark disparities in access to life-saving medication for opioid addiction persist between facilities — and racial groups.
New York legislators have a plan to claim billions in federal funding for health care, driving a fight between industry groups.
Referencing a New York Focus story, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas introduced legislation to prevent public agencies from naming the medically discredited condition in their reports.
We read the governor’s, Senate’s, and Assembly’s budget proposals — so you don’t have to.
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.
We answer your questions on the state’s notoriously opaque budget process.
What are industrial development agencies?
The former budget director’s role may break a law meant to keep ex-state employees from monetizing insider knowledge.
While the nonprofit Greater New York Hospital Association lobbied, a lucrative for-profit arm may have run up costs for hospitals.
In the New York City teachers union, anger over a plan to privatize retiree health care could send a longshot campaign over the edge.
New York Focus has published thousands of pages of county jail oversight records. Browse them in our database.
New York’s incarcerated population has been declining for decades. Why is it so hard for prison closures to keep pace?
A new bill to municipalize Long Island’s utility includes key worker protections that the union had sought.
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.
Hochul’s budget would level off funding for addiction treatment — and use opioid settlement funds to fill the gaps.
The county is ready to restart real estate subsidies after a two-year pause. Residents fear it won’t fix their housing crisis.
Her administration says the fund won’t be harmed. Legal experts question whether she can take it at all.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directed billions toward public transit in New York, but the state is choosing to spend billions more on highways.
When local authorities hand out subsidies, school budgets lose revenue. The state teachers union is now pushing back.
The state wants to phase out fossil fuels. Localities have given over a billion dollars in tax breaks to help keep them around.
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.
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.
Some Court of Appeals judges are far more likely to grant requests to hear appeals than others, a New York Focus analysis found.