New York Focus is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom covering state and local politics in the Empire State. We aim to make government more transparent by publishing in-depth journalism that explains how the state really works.

Jan 13, 2025 · Reporters’ Notebook: Covering Governor Hochul’s 2025 State of the State Our team will be descending upon Albany on Tuesday. Here’s what they’ll be watching.

This week’s State of the State address kicks off the year’s state legislative session in earnest, and we sent nearly our entire news staff to cover it — and to badger state officials in the corridors of the Capitol to flesh out the details. In this newsletter, you’ll find our reporters’ initial dispatches. They tell a story of a governor in retreat on her most ambitious climate and ...

Jan 15, 2025 · Hochul Wants to Revisit Another Criminal Justice Reform: State of the State 2025 After years of targeting bail, the governor is proposing changes to New York’s 2019 discovery reform law.

Jan 15, 2025 · Housing Hopes, or Housing Half Measures? State of the State 2025 Hochul is pushing an array of financial incentives to tackle the state’s housing crisis. But will they make a dent?

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Jan 17, 2025 · New York's only statewide newsroom dedicated to holding Albany accountable.

Dec 18, 2024 · ‘In a Bind’: Some New Yorkers Reject Transition to Electric School Buses, Despite Mandate New York’s push for electric school buses by 2027 has districts across the state struggling with voter approval and funding.

Dec 23, 2024 · Ever since New York passed its landmark climate law in 2019, a question has dogged its implementation: Who should pay the $15 billion annual cost of slashing emissions? Two years ago, Governor Kathy Hochul offered an answer: corporate polluters. She outlined an economy-wide system, called “cap and invest,” that would put a price on pollution and drive the steep emissions cuts mandated by ...

Mar 11, 2024 · Most of the money spent in the budget comes from the taxes that New Yorkers pay to the state government. But a sizable portion is cash that the federal government gives New York to provide services ranging from highways and transit to health insurance for low-income residents. Hochul’s proposal this year included $129 billion in state funds, $85 billion in federal funds, and another $19 ...