Chris Bragg is the Albany bureau chief at New York Focus. He has done investigative reporting on New York government and politics since 2009, most recently at The Buffalo News and Albany Times Union.
Foreign governments have long courted local officials. Prosecutors are starting to go after them.
Rebecca Lamorte was let go by her employer in June, prompting the Assembly Speaker to place an upset call to her boss.
A secret group of Senate Democrats helped decide the fate of nearly 650 bills over the last month. Just don’t ask any questions.
Legislation to accelerate New York’s casino process copies a lobbying firm’s draft version nearly word for word.
Asked for records related to top politicians’ use of a Buffalo Bills suite, Empire State Development cited potential interference with a law enforcement investigation.
You haven’t heard of it, and your state senator might not have either. The Working Rules group helps determine the fate of hundreds of bills at the end of each legislative session.
New York’s Equal Rights Amendment would enshrine the right to abortion in the state. A judge threw it off the ballot for the fall, but an appeal is expected.
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.
Guidelines limiting gifts of taxpayer resources have “no teeth whatsoever,” according to good government watchdog.
As the state legislature considers a bill to change warranty payments, unions join their bosses to make car companies pay more.
As the relationship was coming to light, Heastie returned $5,000 in campaign cash to a labor group from which he’d recused himself.
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.
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.
With chapter amendments, governors can make major changes to pending laws. Kathy Hochul uses them more than any executive before her.
A “ghost entity” linked to Tom Suozzi spent $2 million attacking Kathy Hochul. Then the Board of Elections started an investigation, and it disappeared.