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.
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?
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.
Some Court of Appeals judges are far more likely to grant requests to hear appeals than others, a New York Focus analysis found.
As book banning sparks outrage in schools and libraries, the censorship of classics like Native Son persists in New York prisons.
The average New Yorker has to travel nearly 10 miles to access methadone, a New York Focus analysis found. Upstate, they have to go even further.
Westchester’s Edgemont community wants to secede from its town — and has scored a legal carveout to let it.
The governor and the Senate have aligned on large swathes of the NY HEAT Act. The Assembly might be ready to move on it, too.
With chapter amendments, governors can make major changes to pending laws. Kathy Hochul uses them more than any executive before her.