Dear readers,

I don’t know if it’s the change in weather or the thrill of budget season (well, for us it’s a thrill), but our reporters this week have been working with a fire in their bellies, pumping out a ton of scoops, explainers, investigations, and updates on their respective beats.

I wouldn’t blame you if you’d missed some of what we’ve had going on, so here’s a recap of an extremely productive week ...

Reporter Julia Rock has been covering the impending funding cliff that will affect low-income New Yorkers who utilize the state’s child care voucher program.

On Monday, Julia showed us the toll this will take by speaking to six parents at risk of losing funding.

Julia followed up on Thursday with the news that 49 state legislators sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders asking them to help close a $900 million funding gap for the program.

Freelance reporter Clara Hemphill published a story earlier this week about the Trump administration halting $186 million in conservation payments to New York farmers, frustrating even Republicans across the state’s more rural districts.

“It’s unfair. We signed a contract with the federal government to complete a project. We did that. Now, they’re not holding up their end of the deal.”

—Keith Wagner, Wagner Farms

Climate and environment reporter Colin Kinniburgh published another installment in our “In Brief” series.

This time, Colin broke down in simple terms the future of public renewables in New York by explaining the role of the New York Power Authority, what the law requires it to do in the coming years to meet the state’s climate goals, and how federal climate rollbacks affect NYPA’s plan.

Here are quick links to common questions and their answers:

• What is the NYPA?
• What does the new law allow/require NYPA to do?
• What are NYPA’s plans?
• Why are some still disappointed?
• How do federal climate rollbacks affect NYPA’s plan?

Social services reporter Jie Jenny Zou got her hands on a new survey that polled nearly 12,000 food stamp recipients across the country and found that the true scale of food stamp theft — which Jenny has been covering over the past month — could be much higher than previously thought.

Roughly 3 million New Yorkers used SNAP last year, Jenny writes, with the average household receiving $376 in monthly benefits.

One survey respondent from New York reported losing $124 the first time their benefits were stolen and then $275 on a second round. Another New Yorker said they visited a local food pantry after also having their benefits stolen twice.

Education reporter Bianca Fortis published an investigation this week that found New York state can take up to seven years to resolve complaints against educators, leaving students in limbo.

There are currently more than 1,360 open complaints against educators as of December, Bianca found, and the Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability — responsible for evaluating an educator’s “moral character” and revoking the licenses of those deemed unfit to teach — receives between 5,500 and 6,500 moral character complaints each year.

And there are only 11 investigators on staff to review those complaints.

Bianca also published a short Reporters’ Notebook entry this morning. In it, she describes how Governor Hochul’s budget allocates only a fraction of what the state Board of Regents suggested for three state-owned Indigenous schools, including one within the St. Regis Mohawk territory that is in desperate need of repairs.

IMPACT

Last month, Sam Mellins found that Hochul’s consumer protection plan to address subscription cancellations contained a huge loophole that exempted companies that provide internet, TV, radio, or phone service. (Missed it? Read it here).

It seems the Senate paid attention to our reporting and removed the loophole from its budget proposal. 

Chris Bragg teamed up with Julia Rock this week for a mind-numbing endeavor — poring over a list of more than 60 potential “bundlers” for Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign (these are people who fundraise on behalf of a candidate). 

“This was necessary because Cuomo’s campaign did not disclose a single bundler in his March campaign finance disclosure,” Julia said.

What did they find?

“At least 10 people with the Cuomo fundraising web pages are registered as having business interests before the New York City government, including the three undisclosed intermediaries identified by New York Focus last week. The web pages Cuomo’s campaign set up for them incorrectly stated that their fundraising would be matched.”

Chris and Julia even created an interactive chart and graphic laying out who these people are, and their history with Cuomo.

And not to end this newsletter on a depressing note, but criminal justice reporter Chris Gelardi published a shocking — and gruesome — article on Friday detailing the final minutes of Messiah Nantwi’s life inside the Midstate Correctional Facility.

Nantwi was allegedly beaten to death by prison guards in full view of his cellmate, whom Chris was able to track down despite the cellmate being shuffled from prison to prison for his protection. The cellmate’s recollection, coupled with an interview with a separate inmate, allowed Chris to reconstruct the day’s events starting in the morning of March 1.

So, why does this keep happening? And who’s supposed to be keeping an eye on these facilities? Chris has an answer for that, as well, in another article published yesterday.

No one else in New York so brazenly peels back the curtain surrounding the state’s (literally deadly) carceral system. Chris’s journalism is often disturbing — yet consistently vital.

Stay tuned this week for much more from our small-but-mighty team.

Brad Racino Managing Editor brad@nysfocus.com