New York

Times Union

The Times Union is the dominant media organization in NY’s Capital Region, and in the past four years has expanded its coverage area to include the Hudson Valley and (in partnership with a nonprofit) the Adirondacks. In addition to covering the news and events of the region, we are recognized for our statehouse coverage and watchdog journalism. The paper has been in operation since the Civil War and has been part of Hearst Newspaper Group for a century.

WXXI News

WXXI News is part of WXXI Public Media, a resource that strengthens our community by bringing highly valued media services on platforms that serve residents' needs. As an NPR member station, we offer around-the-clock on-air news, with numerous local cut-ins that provide both spot and enterprise reports. We offer two hours of live public affairs discussions each day on our talk show. We also have a daily news podcast and a monthly arts-focused magazine.

Isabelle Taft

Isabelle Taft covers immigration for New York Focus through Report for America. Prior to joining Focus, she was a reporting fellow on the National desk at the New York Times, covering breaking news around the United States and writing about criminal justice, higher education and immigration. Before that, she spent four years in Mississippi reporting for Mississippi Today, the Biloxi Sun Herald and ProPublica. Her investigation into Mississippi's practice of jailing people with no criminal charges to await mental health treatment helped lead lawmakers to overhaul the involuntary commitment process there. Taft's first full-time journalism job was copy editing at Viet Nam News in Hanoi. She speaks Spanish and is proud to be from Atlanta.

Debadrita Sur

Before joining Report for America, Debaditra Sur graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she reported on housing and homelessness, and co-produced a short documentary on food insecurity in the South Bronx. After graduating, she joined The Buffalo News as a general assignment reporter, covering daily breaking news and long-term enterprise stories on pedestrian safety, homelessness in Erie County, and Jewish and Arab families in Western New York reacting to the Middle East conflict. She later joined Reach PLC in New York City, where she worked on tight deadlines to cover the Trump administration. She grew up in Kolkata, India, and completed her undergraduate degree in English literature from Presidency University, while also working for a London-based cultural magazine, Far Out, on the side. When she's not reporting, Sur makes adventure bucket lists or plays with her cat, Mountain Dew.

Adam Smith-Perez

Prior to joining Investigative Post, Smith-Perez produced podcasts, fact-checked and reported for The Nation. Smith-Perez has also worked extensively as a freelance fact-checker for several outlets, including Mother Jones, Ambrook Research, Noema Magazine, and HarperCollins. He started his journalism career reporting on COVID's impact on immigrant communities in his hometown of Boston, where he worked for an immigrant and refugee advocacy non-profit writing newsletters. As a student at Columbia Journalism School, Smith-Perez reported more extensively on the housing and overdose crisis. Following his graduation, he hosted and produced a segment about Hepatitis C for VICE News, and was a fellow at the Columbia Age Boom Academy, where he honed his reporting and research skills on the aging, housing and health beats. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists, and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

New York Focus

New York Focus unmasks power in the Empire State. As the only nonprofit publication with an emphasis on state-level coverage, we produce deeply reported, investigative stories on the systems, decisions and actors that affect communities throughout New York. While most local accountability coverage is directed at New York City, we keep an eye on Albany — the notoriously corrupt and quietly impactful center of power throughout the state.

Central Current

Central Current is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newspaper for Central New York. It provides fact-based news and analysis about the challenges, solutions and opportunities in the region. It's goal is to foster civic engagement and democratic governance, and to help build a more prosperous and healthy community.

Investigative Post

Investigative Post is a nonprofit investigative reporting center based in Buffalo, N.Y. It produces fact-based investigations and analyses on issues that matter to Buffalo and Western NY. Its goal is to expose injustice and malfeasance and hold those in power accountable.

Ryan Tarinelli

Ryan has been the crime reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where he anchored the paper’s coverage of gun violence and gang problems. He has also worked as a temporary legislative correspondent for the Associated Press in Nevada and Texas. Earlier, he had internships with the Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington; and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in Idaho. He attended University of Idaho, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the student-run newspaper, The Argonaut.

David Escobar

David Escobar covers diversity in the Adirondacks for the Adirondack Explorer & North Country Public Radio. He previously served as the news editor for WFUV 90.7 FM in the Bronx. Along with mentoring student reporters, he produced, directed, and hosted the station's daily news podcast "What's What". Escobar has also worked as an associate producer for the podcast and radio show "Our Body Politic" and as an intern for WNYC's "The Takeaway". His journalism career started at WFUV as an anchor and student reporter. Prior to working in journalism, Escobar researched the history of Chinese migrant labor at the John Muir National Historic Site as an intern for the National Park Service. He has a master's degree in public media from Fordham University, where he also earned bachelor's degrees in journalism and digital technology & emerging media.