New York’s public radio and TV stations are facing major blows to their budgets after Congress two weeks ago approved a bill that cancelled over $1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB.

Twenty-seven media organizations in New York, including 18 public radio and TV stations, receive funding from the CPB for line items ranging from broadcasting and transmission to content development and community outreach.

In total, the state’s public media organizations stand to lose at least $57 million in federal funding over two years, according to estimates that CPB funding recipients shared with New York Focus. Nearly $50 million of that will come from the budgets of public radio and TV stations, while roughly $7.6 million will come from the budgets of other types of public media organizations.

YES.

New York state significantly undercounted Covid-19 nursing home deaths in 2020 by excluding residents who died in hospitals. This reporting practice made the state’s mortality ranking appear lower than it was.

We live in strange times.

The rise of AI, the fall of local newspapers, the increasing willingness of politicians to bend the truth (OK, outright lie), the speed at which falsehoods spread on social media — it’s no wonder that the majority of Americans have a hard time separating fact from fiction.

New York Focus is helping to change that.

We’re partnering with Gigafact, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps local newsrooms respond to common questions, rumors, and claims. Together, we’ll be publishing weekly “fact briefs” that provide a clear “yes” or “no” answer to the questions at hand and show the sources used to verify or debunk that claim. All in 150 words or less.

YES.

Working-class New Yorkers are leaving New York City at significantly higher rates than wealthy residents.

According to research by the Fiscal Policy Institute, affordability concerns — especially housing and the cost of raising a family — are major drivers of population loss in New York state. The report notes that 90 percent of this loss comes from New York City, with Black and Hispanic residents, households with young children, and low- to middle-income families most likely to leave.