New York Focus

New York Focus Who runs New York? | New York Focus is an independent newsroom covering power, politics, and popular

Immigrant children who crossed the border into the United States without their parents are facing a barrage of changes t...
07/31/2026

Immigrant children who crossed the border into the United States without their parents are facing a barrage of changes that could increase their odds of being deported.

President Donald Trump’s administration has begun rapidly scheduling large numbers of asylum interviews for unaccompanied children, lawyers representing them told New York Focus, leaving kids and their attorneys with little time to prepare for sessions in which they could win the right to stay in the United States.

For some legal organizations, what’s normally a trickle of perhaps one interview per month has turned into a deluge of dozens.

Here’s what we know about the latest changes initiated by the Trump administration and what’s ahead for numerous immigrant children in New York as they scramble to prepare for these hearings.

The Trump administration is accelerating asylum proceedings as legal aid funding expires, leaving immigrant children less time to prepare.

In New York’s first-ever effort to track its own use of artificial intelligence, only 13 of the state’s roughly 100 agen...
07/30/2026

In New York’s first-ever effort to track its own use of artificial intelligence, only 13 of the state’s roughly 100 agencies publicly reported using the technology in a way that could “directly impact the public” — fueling concerns that the state’s AI transparency guidelines are too ambiguous for effective oversight.

The disclosures were the result of an inventory under the state’s 2024 policy governing AI use, part of Governor Kathy Hochul’s efforts to boost transparency around the technology.

But several high-profile AI programs do not appear in the inventory, New York Focus found.

Here’s a look at the AI programs New York’s state agencies reported as part of the inventory — and the others we found that were not.

In New York’s first effort to track its AI use, only 13 of the state’s roughly 100 agencies reported using AI in a way that could “directly impact the…

The photos were shocking: Four Buffalo nursing home residents, partially undressed, in heavily soiled clothing.They were...
07/29/2026

The photos were shocking: Four Buffalo nursing home residents, partially undressed, in heavily soiled clothing.

They were “covered in black f***s and soaked in urine,” with “fire red” skin, an inspection report later found.

Some of the photos showed the residents’ buttocks and genitalia.

A nurse aide who worked at the facility and was concerned about the care residents were receiving texted the photos to their supervisor and posted them on social media. The inspector’s report expressed deep concern about the treatment of the residents, noting that graphic photos of them had been shared online, and that the home didn’t report the incident for three days.

Conditions like this aren’t supposed to happen anywhere, but they especially aren’t supposed to happen at this home, the Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing.

In November 2024, Centers Health Care — the 37-facility nursing home chain that owns Buffalo Center — agreed to pay a $45 million fine, increase staff, and hire independent monitors in a landmark settlement with the state.

New York Focus has uncovered multiple violations since the settlement as residents continued to suffer. Here’s what we found.

New York Focus found multiple violations of the attorney general’s settlement with Centers Health Care, including staffing failures and resident harm.

A student being bullied at school. Struggling with their homework. Bringing a gun to school.These are familiar scenarios...
07/28/2026

A student being bullied at school. Struggling with their homework. Bringing a gun to school.

These are familiar scenarios, but what happens when the person encountering them first isn’t a person at all but an AI-programmed teaching assistant?

After a New York Focus report on the plan sparked fierce debate over the use of artificial intelligence in schools, Salamanca City Central School District announced that it was putting the project on hold to “work through enhanced student data privacy agreements” with the state education agency.

Earlier this month, New York Focus had the opportunity to interview Sally, an artificial intelligence-powered tool the school district had planned to introduce to students this fall alongside a humanoid robot.

Here’s our exclusive conversation with Sally — and a firsthand look at how it would interact with students this fall should it receive approval.

A New York school district is weighing whether to use an AI teaching assistant this fall. We interviewed "Sally" to see how it would interact with…

Immigration agents are stalking the workers of the Sungrow tomato greenhouse and packing plant in Ontario, New York.They...
07/27/2026

Immigration agents are stalking the workers of the Sungrow tomato greenhouse and packing plant in Ontario, New York.

They have lurked in the parking lot in unmarked cars before dawn.

They have shown up at the motel where many of the workers were staying.

Since mid-June, they have arrested at least six people near the plant in a kind of slow-motion raid that has drawn little public outcry but upended life for dozens of immigrants who work in this corner of western New York, where the Rochester suburbs give way to farmland.

“They were like alligators. They swooped in and devoured them,” said one of the plant workers.

The targeted workers say authorities are harassing the lifeblood of the region’s agricultural economy.

Here’s an up-close look at the workers living in “Jason Bourne-type mode” on the outskirts of Rochester amid what locals say is the largest wave of immigration enforcement activity in recent memory.

ICE and Border Patrol are stalking a Sungrow greenhouse and packing facility 20 miles outside of Rochester, prompting workers to flee.

Over a few days in late May, an advertisement warning of the dangers of a New York City bill that would require logistic...
07/25/2026

Over a few days in late May, an advertisement warning of the dangers of a New York City bill that would require logistics companies to employ their drivers directly, rather than treat them as contractors, racked up more than a million views on Facebook.

“Getting groceries, getting medication — delivery isn’t a luxury for us,” a woman identified as Miss Dawn tells the viewer. “So the last thing I need is politicians making delivery more expensive or harder to get. The Delivery Protection Act is not protecting me or my neighbors, it’s making our lives harder.”

The ad was posted by a group called New York Delivers, which describes itself as a coalition of small businesses, workers, and some “national carriers.” The group and the bill’s other opponents have made small businesses the face of their campaign, highlighting its potential impact on local business owners.

In fact, however, the delivery giant Amazon appears to have funded most of the group’s opposition, according to new disclosures filed with the state last week.

Amazon supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of New York City workers, small businesses, and national carriers.

A Western New York school district has halted its plans to place a humanoid robot in a classroom after a New York Focus ...
07/24/2026

A Western New York school district has halted its plans to place a humanoid robot in a classroom after a New York Focus report on the plan sparked fierce debate over the use of artificial intelligence in schools and backlash from local parents.

A Western New York school district is pausing its humanoid robot pilot after state officials raised privacy and classroom concerns.

The delivery giant supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of workers, small businesses,...
07/23/2026

The delivery giant supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of workers, small businesses, and national carriers.

Amazon supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of New York City workers, small businesses, and national carriers.

This September, a new elementary school is set to open in the South Bronx that will operate year-round, seven days a wee...
07/23/2026

This September, a new elementary school is set to open in the South Bronx that will operate year-round, seven days a week, and 12 hours a day to accommodate working parents.

But the state teachers union is suing to block it.

The dispute is the latest salvo in a long-running battle in Albany over who should approve and regulate charter schools: the legislature-elected Board of Regents, which is housed under the state education agency, or the governor-appointed State University of New York trustees.

State law allows both bodies to approve new charter schools, but it also gives SUNY the power to overrule objections by the Board of Regents.

SUNY approved the Bronx school even though state education officials warned it could violate state law and recommended abandoning the project.

In a new analysis this morning, New York Focus looks at nearly a decade's worth of state charter school decisions to find out how many times SUNY chose to overrule the Board of Regents.

Here's what we learned: Dozens of charter schools earned approval to open, expand, relocate, merge, or receive early renewal without making any modifications to the original requests rejected by the Board of Regents.

A New York Focus analysis found SUNY overruled state education officials at least 51 times, intensifying New York’s charter school power struggle.

Larger questions remain about New York’s cash-strapped fund for compensating victims of attorney theft.
07/22/2026

Larger questions remain about New York’s cash-strapped fund for compensating victims of attorney theft.

Pamela Brown will receive most of her money back after New York Focus exposed failures in the handling of her lawyer-theft complaint.

Address

New York, NY

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when New York Focus posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to New York Focus:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category