NEWS: NY State Educate Dept review finds upstate district placed five students with disabilities in wooden boxes and held the door shut. The district violated education regulations and has been ordered to change its practices www.timesunion.com/education/ar...

Breaking News: A former New York judge was arrested and accused of defrauding investors of millions of dollars, including by offering fake real estate deals in New Jersey.

The state Health Department @nysdoh.bsky.social has a massive backlog of FOIL requests. The agency couldn't even be bothered to offer @emiliemunson.bsky.social a response as to why that was so or what it's doing to reduce it.

NEW, for @nysfocus.com: Last month, we obtained hours of body-cam from Oswego County. It showed sheriff's deputies pulling over drivers — and if the drivers didn't speak English, the deputies called Border Patrol. Some drivers were held for 30+ min while BP responded. nysfocus.com/2026/05/07/o...

The Fonda Fair, which is operated by a nonprofit, has been promoting Anthony Constantino’s congressional campaign — a likely violation of the law. @emiliemunson.bsky.social reports. www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Syracuse University donated to the campaign of its former rowing coach. An affordable housing nonprofit gave to the re-election of a mayor who was helping it ink a new project deal. These contributions and many more were forbidden by state and fed law www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

NEWS: large nonprofits like Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, Bryant & Stratton College, Liberty Affordable Housing, Binghamton Philharmonic and more have made prohibited contributions to PACs and candidates timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

News: NY elections officials have sued nearly 300 campaigns and PACs as they step up their enforcement of state election law www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Will the IRS take action against tax-exempt nonprofits that violate the law by participating in election activities? Some are foreign-influenced nonprofits; others are churches, health care groups and youth organizations. www.timesunion.com/news/article...

FIRST in @timesunion.com: Leaders of 2 Congressional committees wrote to the IRS asking for a briefing from the IRS on how the agency is addressing “threats to our political institutions” from tax-exempt nonprofits, esp those subject to Chinese influence www.timesunion.com/news/article...

No big deal just a solar eclipse as seen from the moon streamed to us here on Earth by astronauts who are farther away from their home planet than any human has ever been

NEW: I found IRS paperwork for several nonprofits whose addresses matched Border Patrol stations. Some of the groups, named after the military's "morale, welfare, and recreation" program, were selling challenge coins commemorating last year's enforcement surges: www.wired.com/story/us-bor...

Increasingly American politics is being funded by nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. The growth is particularly stark on the left, reports @nytimes.com @teddyschleifer.bsky.social and @datab.ae www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...

ICE arrested more people in NY in Nov, Dec and Jan than any other months going back to 2022, new data shows. More details on ICE enforcement in NY in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Welcome to Hearst!

BREAKING: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is offering a $148M settlement to resolve the hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits that forced it into bankruptcy three years ago. Brendan Lyons reports. www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

IMPACT: in 5 days since @timesunion.com published my reporting on illegal nonprofit electioneering in NY, the state elections board issued a new warning, a U.S. Congresswoman wrote to the IRS demanding action, a Syracuse city auditor started a probe and more www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

UPDATE: In response to this investigation, Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to the IRS demanding the agency take action against these nonprofits. The state elections board issued a new warning, Syracuse city auditor started a probe and much more... www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

More 501(c)(3) nonprofits making illegal contributions are located in Brooklyn than anywhere else in NY, although Manhattan has 40,000 more registered nonprofits than Brooklyn. I found more than a dozen cases of them making endorsements, promoting election fundraisers and displaying campaign signs

NEWS: Hundreds of NY nonprofits that are prohibited from engaging in election activity have been making contributions to candidates in violation of state and federal law. Many told the IRS under penalty of perjury that made no such donations. Read more with gift 🔗 www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Tremendous investigation by @emiliemunson.bsky.social of @timesunion.com: www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Great reporting from @emiliemunson.bsky.social. More evidence that New York’s enforcement of campaign finance law is, to be generous, porous in the extreme.

My latest for @timesunion.com

It's the end of 🌞Sunshine Week🌞, celebrating public records and government transparency, so take this opportunity to exercise your right and file a records request if you haven't already! I've filed 5 this week

SCOOP: A special education teacher was arrested in the district that used wooden 'timeout boxes' with students. A parent told police the teacher put her child in a closet and poked with with tooth picks. Much more in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/news/article...

happy sunshine week! go file an open records request. you do not have to be a journalist to do it and i highly recommend that everyone file at least one at some point and learn about how your government (federal, state, local, all of the above) works!

An uncredentialed "behaviorist" directed an upstate NY school district to use wooden "timeout" boxes to confine elementary schoolers. That violated state education regulations concluded a lawyer hired by the Salmon River CSD. More in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Big thank you to @syracuseup.bsky.social for selecting me as a finalist for the Toner Prize in Political Reporting! What an incredible honor. My work investigating NY’s public campaign finance program was selected. Links below! newhouse.syracuse.edu/centers/robi...

UPDATE: @emiliemunson.bsky.social's reporting on New York's public campaign finance program — including her Slater bombshell — was just honored as a finalist for this year's Toner Prize for Local Political Reporting. newhouse.syracuse.edu/centers/robi...

New York investigators say a state Senate candidate ran a “straw donor scheme,” “participated in material misrepresentations and fraud” and now owed the state more than $200K. Confirms findings of my August investigation www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Republican state Senate candidate Caleb Slater rooked the state out of more than $200K in a 2024 political fundraising scheme, a probe by the NY Public Campaign Finance Board has concluded. New reporting from @emiliemunson.bsky.social, who exposed the scam last summer.

This blind man - a refugee from Burma - was dropped off by Border Patrol at a Tim Horton's in Buffalo, NY. In the middle of February. A mile from a home where he no longer lived. While his relatives were searching for him. Cops found his body 5 days later www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people local newspaper reporters are rarified elites instead of ink-stained wretches driving their Honda Civic to a crime scene so you know don’t have to rely on Nextdoor and the police press release.

The invitation came as Cuomo traveled to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with real estate mogul Andrew Farkas, who was close to Epstein. Epstein offered to send a helicopter to pick them up.

NEWS: Jeffrey Epstein invited Andrew Cuomo to his island in October 2014 while Cuomo was governor and campaigning for re-election. Cuomo said he never went. Much more in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

ICYMI: Lawmakers say the NY legislature must act after "timeout boxes" found at an upstate school. They say state education regulations revised three years ago do not go far enough www.timesunion.com/news/article...

License plate camera data from Connecticut towns searched to track woman who Texas officials say had an abortion. And Out-of-state police are using Connecticut license plate camera data for immigration enforcement. www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/...

If you've been following the battle over the reappointment of Schoharie County's 92-year-old elections commissioner, we have an update: the county rejected another candidate. Some county board members are still holding out hope to get Clifford Hay back www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Buffalo Bills fire head coach McDermott after 9 seasons www.timesunion.com/sports/artic...

NY is one of 12 states that votes on legislation without knowing how much it will cost. www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

NEWS: After the discovery of multiple wooden "timeout boxes" at a school district in northern New York, police are examining a new device allegedly used to block or confine students there. More in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/news/article...

SCOOP: Police are investigating the use of a new device at a New York school that allegedly confined students in 'timeout boxes.' It's a structure made of PVC pipes and mesh for dividing students from staff during behavior incidents. More in @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Thank you to Bridgeport CT for finally providing me a copy of their vehicle pursuit policy that I FOIA requested nearly SEVEN YEARS ago. This should come in handy for that story I was working on two jobs ago...

John Sarcone's tenure as the top federal prosecutor in New York's Northern District becomes more tenuous by the day. Brendan Lyons reports.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations

Members of an Afghan family detained by ICE in Albany last year have been released. About 200 people rallied in the city to support them this weekend www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Rep. Elise Stefanik’s withdrawal from the New York governor race reflects an increasingly obvious reality: Republicans are not in a position to flip the state next year. The race shifts from Likely D to Solid D.

School leaders put on leave, state and local authorities investigating, and parents furious after discovering wooden “timeout” boxes in elementary schools in a NY district. Shocking story that you don’t want to miss www.timesunion.com/news/article...

NEWS: This week, parents discovered an NY public school district had 3 wooden, "timeout" boxes for confining students. Only after photos surfaced did some parents learn their kids may have been held inside. Investigations and outrage ensued. www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Fascinating (and alarming) data analysis by Julie Zhu about how much household income is required to be "comfortable" in different regions of New York.