Sam Mellins

New for @nysfocus.bsky.social NY home health aides are now covered by insurance that slashes payments to doctors and leaves patients with debt. One woman on the plan is skipping MRIs for a brain tumor — she just can’t afford more uncovered bills. nysfocus.com/2025/06/12/lea…

NEW: The Assembly wants to freeze your energy bills, the Senate wants to stop police from working with ICE, and the governor wants to slash auto insurance premiums. We’ve been working around the clock to break down the governor’s, Senate’s, and Assembly’s budget proposals.

NEW: Measures to speed up housing construction and incentivize the repair of affordable housing are gaining momentum in the state budget process, but the state Assembly could be the holdout. nysfocus.com/2026/03/10/new…

NEW: In their budget proposals released Monday night, the state Senate and Assembly both included tax increases for high earners and corporations. They’re both similar in scope to the legislature’s proposals last year. nysfocus.com/2026/03/10/sen…

NEW: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a bold pledge last month: Within weeks, he would send state lawmakers a plan to fix the city’s broken property tax system. A failed attempt by his predecessor, Eric Adams, shows why that won’t be easy. nysfocus.com/2026/03/02/mam…

NEW: An anti-development NYC Councilmember approved a project in her district rather than risk being overruled by a new appeals board — the first sign of a potential sea change in the city’s housing landscape caused by the ballot questions that voters approved in November.

@NY1 @SamMellins Read the full story here: nysfocus.com/2026/02/12/hou…

As housing construction booms in red states, blue states are falling behind. That will likely boost Republicans in federal politics. Thank you, @NY1 for having New York Focus Senior Reporter @SamMellins on the show to talk about his story. ny1.com/nyc/all-boroug…

The top investigator at New York’s horse racing regulator has resigned after a New York Focus investigation last month revealed that the agency spent years ignoring key evidence in a massive horse doping scandal. nysfocus.com/2026/02/20/hor…

Last month, my investigation revealed that state horse racing regulators spent years ignoring evidence of a major horse drugging ring. Now, NY's top racing investigator has resigned to avoid being fired: nysfocus.com/2026/02/20/hor…

Is it a good idea to freeze the rent? Fiscal Policy Institute's Emily Eisner shared some insight on the debate at last night's housing panel. #panel-3-housing" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">nysfocus.com/turning-platfo…

New York Could Lose Seats in Congress Because It Won’t Build Housing (via @nysfocus) nysfocus.com/2026/02/12/hou…

NEW: @SenGianaris will not seek re-election, he tells @bcuza. The longtime lawmaker/powerful State Senate Deputy Majority Leader is also a key ally of @ZohranKMamdani -- sharing parts of mayor's former assembly district & largely responsible for Mamdani's free bus pilot program.

New York's youth prisons are a disaster. Kids locked in solitary for days at a time. Staff forced to work 24-plus-hour shifts. Crisis after crisis. "I'm a human rights violator," one whistleblower told me. They recounted the nightmare at one facility: nysfocus.com/2026/02/04/ocf…

Hochul hopped on the anti-ICE train with some new, two-pronged legislation. One proposal, to ban jail contracts, would be big. The other... maybe not so much. I've said it before: 287(g) is the red herring of local ICE collaboration. From liv veazey and @SamMellins:

NEW: Nine months after the prison guard strike, incarcerated people are being denied early release after not completing programming that they don’t have access to. nysfocus.com/2026/01/26/doc…

I interviewed Lt. Governor Antonio @DelgadoforNY about Hochul's big speech this week, Mamdani, and why he's running for governor: nysfocus.com/2026/01/16/ant…

After we revealed years of state inaction on horse drugging last week, the NY Gaming commission opened an investigation. Now @GovKathyHochul says there should be "consequences" for dopers. Other top lawmakers echoed her sentiment. nysfocus.com/2026/01/16/hor…

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

New: Eric Adams asked Brock Pierce, the crypto investor, for help cleaning up his coin rollout amid blowback. Pierce told me Adams partners “did not have any of the necessary experience” and the launch had “gone sideways." w/@yaffebellany nytimes.com/2026/01/13/nyr…

NEW: New York regulators got FBI evidence of a massive cheating scandal in horse racing. They ignored it. 5 takeaways from our investigation: nysfocus.com/2026/01/08/tak…