Press Releases

In a victory for open government, the Empire Center today won a court ruling requiring the prompt release of full coronavirus death tolls in New York nursing homes. Read More

After a report from New York Attorney General Letitia James confirmed suspicions of under-reporting the official record of COVID-19 nursing home deaths, counsel for the Empire Center submitted a letter to the Albany County Supreme Court renewing its urgent Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. Read More

The attorney general’s report confirms that the Health Department is grossly underreporting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, leaving thousands uncounted, as the Empire Center and other critics have warned for months. Read More

The Cuomo administration is refusing to release a full count of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes for another two months, until March 22. Read More

School districts outside New York City paid a record-high number of employees $100,000 or more during the 2019-20 school year as schools were physically closed for the final three months, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More

Two New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) plumbers each collected over $200,000 in overtime during New York City’s 2020 fiscal year ending June 30, according to payroll data added today to SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More

Today’s news about criminal charges against five current and former MTA employees for alleged overtime fraud is a reminder that New Yorkers deserve to know how government spends every dollar. Read More

New York’s special education system has ballooned to cover almost a fifth of public school K-12 students and special education accounts for about a quarter of all K-12 costs, all while producing middling results for Read More

Public officials are negotiating with unions in secret and ratifying far-reaching contracts without adequate public input, the Empire Center today warned in a new report, . Read More

More than three-quarters of last year’s retirees from the City of New York’s Fire Department (FDNY) were eligible for six-figure pensions, with 40 of them eligible for pensions over $200,000 according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

The Empire Center today filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Health (DOH) after DOH refused to release records showing the full count of coronavirus deaths among nursing home residents, including those that occurred after patients were transferred to hospitals. Read More

Despite a fiscal crisis that led Governor Cuomo to withhold aid payments for school districts and local governments, the Cuomo administration since spring has approved more than $46 million in new pork-barrel capital grants. Read More