This comes one day before the law would’ve gone into effect. It mandated at least 14 hours of time outside the cells in shared spaces every day, and limited the use of handcuffs and leg restraints, among other things.

Never even liked tennis anyway.

Former Rikers Island detainees say “it was a regular story” that corrections officers were sexually assaulting incarcerated women. “The truth needs to be told,” one woman told us. We also talked to the man known as Officer Champagne. Read the story: bit.ly/4fsuVA5

This law essentially renders broad, systematic requests for Brady/Giglio materials impossible. Luckily, Sanjana Bhambhani Annika Grosser and I (for MuckRock) have filed 600+ FOIL requests for these records over the past year. We’ve obtained 27,000 pages of records. More soon!

I've spent almost 10 months fighting with the Village of Chester to gain access (under FOIL) to police disciplinary files. Earlier this week, after the Village failed to respond to admin. appeals, I filed a pro se suit in Orange County Supreme Court: iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentD…

Come work with us! MuckRock Sanjana Bhambhani Emma Rose (formerly Annika Grosser)

Just published a story that’s been months in the making. In May, Rice’s famed horn professor abruptly retired amid sexual misconduct allegations. But dozens of former students say the school has “known for 30 years” — and for decades, did nothing. thebarbedwire.com/2025/02/05/hou…

Most of my Indian friends speak two or more South Asian languages. But I speak just one: Hindi. This is, at least in part, because during the Partition of India, my family fled the state in which my ancestral language and culture thrives. I dug into why: bbc.com/future/article…

Turns out the CNN Catholic analyst overlapped at school with the new Pope and just referred to him as "Bob"

Years after the repeal of §50a made police files (theoretically) susceptible to FOIL, we are suing to force prompt disclosure. We've also sued others — my colleague Sanjana Bhambhani sued the Westchester County District Attorney recently — and filed numerous internal appeals.

Across New York State, police officers have driven drunk. And sometimes, they avoided criminal punishment. An investigation with The New York Times.

Video by Sanjana Bhambhani. Read the full investigation by Sammy Sussman: nysfocus.com/2025/09/09/new…

Zohran Mamdani now faces tremendous pressure to deliver on his agenda. To do it, he’ll need Governor Kathy Hochul and the leaders of the Democratic majorities in the legislature to get on board.

Read Sammy Sussman’s latest for The New York Times and New York Focus about how an investigator with the Yates County Sheriff’s Office bungled a teen’s rape case with little in consequences. nytimes.com/2025/11/17/us/…

Without our reporting, there's a decent chance this lifesaving program never gets implemented. For people waiting for organs, the absence of this journalism could have been a death sentence. Support us today and your donation will be tripled! nysfoc.us/give

An officer bungled a teen rape case. The victim was abused again. The investigator, who did not believe the teen, faced little punishment, illustrating the different ways that officers in New York State are disciplined for misconduct.

The feds gave New York key evidence on horse racing’s largest doping ring. State regulators have done nothing with it for years.

Video produced by Sanjana Bhambhani Read the full investigation by Sam Mellins: nysfocus.com/2026/01/07/hor…