Albany sometimes has problems writing laws that actually work. Omissions and errors can render bills ineffective, leading to serious consequences like people staying in jail past their release dates or parents not being able to use child care vouchers.

One reason for these failures is that the staffers responsible for reviewing and finessing bills are underpaid, overworked, and frequently leave their jobs, starving the development of expertise and institutional memory.

A recent round of raises could help change that.

Fifteen elected officials, including 11 state legislators, were arrested Thursday at a Manhattan federal building where immigrants have been detained as they protested President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and called on the state and city to mount a stronger opposition to it.

The protest took place as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to ramp up arrests and detain record numbers of immigrants, including across New York state.

It also marked three months since the state legislature ended its annual session without passing immigration protection bills that advocates have framed as key to countering Trump’s agenda. Legislative leadership failed to bring the New York for All Act, which would prohibit state and local authorities from collaborating with ICE, up for a floor vote, despite strong support for the bill from immigrant rights groups and members of the state’s congressional delegation.

You may have noticed your energy bills going up recently. It’s not just you, and it’s about to get worse.

Electric bills in New York are the highest they’ve been in over a decade, even when taking inflation into account. More than a million households are at least two months behind on payments, owing utilities close to $2 billion. And record numbers of households had their electricity or gas shut off this spring, including more than 61,000 in May — the highest number the Public Utility Law Project (PULP), a decades-old consumer advocacy group, has ever seen.

Anxiety about unaffordable bills only mounted over the summer. Laurie Wheelock, PULP’s executive director, said this August was the group’s busiest month ever, with a surge in calls to its hotline. The top concern on people’s minds: rate hikes.

Utilities are successfully jacking up prices. At the same time, electricity demand is surging: New York, like many other states, is bringing new data centers, high-tech manufacturing, and other energy-hungry industries onto the grid, while also electrifying more home heating and transportation. And President Donald Trump’s onslaught of policies aimed at hindering renewables is only adding fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, both the federal and state governments are eyeing deep cuts to assistance programs meant to help keep energy bills under control.

What’s behind the surging costs? Here’s what you need to know.