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.

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.

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’s reversal on carbon pricing and the gas transition measure leaves very little in her 2025 agenda for climate groups to get excited about. It could leave the state mostly tinkering around the edges at a time when the incoming Trump administration is promising a massive rollback of federal climate efforts and many are looking to big, blue states like New York to hold the line. Her ...

I’m Jie Jenny Zou and I’ll be covering Social Services for New York Focus. As a Brooklyn native, I’m super excited to dig into the wide array of programs and services that New Yorkers rely on daily. I’ve spent the past decade reporting on a variety of topics from environmental health and climate change to worker safety and immigration detention. My work has centered on accountability ...

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?

New York's only statewide newsroom dedicated to holding Albany accountable.

Jan 15, 2025 · New York's only statewide newsroom dedicated to holding Albany accountable.

New York Focus is an independent nonprofit newsroom investigating power in the Empire State. Launched in October 2020, New York Focus publishes in-depth journalism that explains how the state really works.

Jul 7, 2022 · A New Conservative Majority on New York’s Top Court is Upending State Law A new four-judge bloc has consistently voted together in its most recent term, impacting criminal defendants, workers and people suing police.