Almost everyone can think of an instance when they struggled to cancel a streaming service or gym membership, or were billed for something they didn’t want after a company renewed their subscription automatically.

Earlier this year, Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to take on this issue, unveiling a budget proposal she said would make it “just as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up.”

But New York Focus found that her proposal contains a significant loophole: It wouldn’t cover companies that provide internet, TV, radio, or phone service, or any of those companies’ subsidiaries or affiliates. That means that major companies like Verizon, Hulu, Amazon Music, and others wouldn’t be forced to make it easier for customers to cancel, or to give more notice before billing them.

Now, as New York’s April 1 budget deadline ticks closer, the state Senate wants to eliminate those loopholes.

Due to understaffing, lengthy investigations, and scheduling challenges, as well as delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it can take the state Education Department up to seven years to resolve some complaints against educators, a New York Focus investigation has found.

The agency said there is no meaningful way to quantify the average amount of time it takes to close a case, and that there are a number of factors that can delay the process. The slow grind has contributed to a backlog of more than 1,360 open complaints as of December.

The true scale of food stamp theft could be much higher than previously thought, putting families at greater risk for going hungry or racking up debt, according to a new survey that polled nearly 12,000 benefit recipients across the country.

For years, New York has been a hotbed for SNAP theft with tens of thousands of recipients reporting stolen funds. Since 2022, the state has reimbursed $40 million in benefits that were likely stolen from skimming — a rising form of fraud that’s been tied to organized crime rings where thieves place hidden devices on card readers at checkouts.

Under Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), 151 farmers, rural businesses, and municipalities in New York State were promised $186 million, according to an analysis by Atlas Public Policy prepared for New York Focus.

The grants are for projects designed to plant trees, protect farmland from the effects of climate change and to bring solar power and other forms of clean energy to rural areas.

Almost all of that money is now frozen.

New York has ambitious climate goals — and is significantly behind on meeting them. That’s in part because the state isn’t building renewable energy fast enough.

So what is the future of public renewables in New York? And can they help the state chart its own energy transition in the Trump era?