At a press conference Thursday, Governor Kathy Hochul refused to commit to achieving the reductions in air pollution and traffic that congestion pricing, which she indefinitely paused in June, was slated to produce.

Since her abrupt decision to put the years-in-the-making plan on hold punched a $15 billion hole in the budget of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Hochul has maintained that she will devise a replacement plan to fully fund the MTA and all of its planned upgrades and improvements.

The governor has declined to provide any details about how this will happen. And while she has suggested that she is working with the legislature to find a solution, key legislators said they aren’t aware of any active conversations between the governor and legislature on the issue.

An April cyberattack targeting the New York state legislature led to hackers obtaining the sensitive financial information of as many as 710 New Yorkers, according to an incident report obtained by New York Focus through a public records request. It’s unclear whether the legislature is taking any steps to address the security flaws that led to the hackers gaining access.

The attack targeted the Legislative Bill Drafting Commission, an office within the legislative branch that writes up the bills proposed by lawmakers. The hack, which was widely reported on at the time, derailed the bill drafting process and forced the commission’s staff to temporarily revert to an antiquated 1994 computer system as they finalized the state budget, according to Governor Kathy Hochul.

The hackers gaining access to sensitive financial information has not been previously reported.

After her electricity got shut off for the sixth time in two years, on New Year’s Day 2020, Julia Schell couldn’t take it anymore.

She’d already been relying on benefits like food stamps to make ends meet, and she had a son to provide for in Manhattan’s Alphabet City neighborhood. Her energy bills sometimes spiked for no apparent reason, and she occasionally fell behind on paying them. Over and over, when she sought help from the city to keep her lights on, she felt herself trapped in a maze of bureaucracy.