Central Current started as a bet that this community would be invested enough in its future to support an alternative, nonprofit newsroom.
In 2025, we saw that bet pay off. This year, Central Current has nearly doubled its staff. In turn, we’ve seen the community show its support for our mission: Central Current doubled its readers, subscribers and donors.
Our reporting has shown an incredible impact:
- Central Current broke news of the city’s struggle to implement payroll modernization software and thoroughly broke down its effect on city operations. The snafu became a primary topic in the race for mayor.
- Reporter Patrick McCarthy’s dogged coverage of city budget negotiations revealed the Common Council flouted best practices in transparency by withholding a third-party audit of the mayor’s recommended budget and by holding a private meeting about the budget.
- Our politics coverage has captured the big-picture stories from the primary and general elections: Democrats again backed the wrong mayoral candidate in the primary but then flipped the Onondaga County Legislature in the general election.
- Patrick’s coverage has revealed the extent of the city’s expansion of its surveillance technologies and how Central New York police departments have signed agreements to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Contributor Eddie Velazquez provided the most policy-focused housing reporting in the region and contributors Janet Gramza, Mike Greenlar and Michelle Gabel humanized the area’s housing crisis in an exhibit with ArtRage.
This year, Central Current came of age. We redesigned our website to make it easier to navigate and read, while also grounding our logo in Central New York with the image of a red-tailed hawk.
We’re proud to have brought back Sean Kirst, a cornerstone of the Syracuse community, while adding reporters Laura Robertson and Debadrita Sur, who like Patrick will deliver on Central Current’s promise in 2026.
Thank you for supporting our mission because without you, we wouldn’t be able to spend hours calling sources, building community and revealing the truest version of Central New York. Providing free, high-quality information is vital to the region. As a staff, we’re excited about what we have in store for you in 2026, and we hope to hear from you.
Happy holidays,
Our staff nearly doubled
In 2026, Central Current will dig deeper into the issues you care about. We’ll have more coverage of:
- Onondaga County government
- The I-81 project and the redevelopment of public housing
- The people that form the fabric of the Central New York community
In late April, we added renowned columnist Sean Kirst to our newsroom. His return to writing in Syracuse after a decade away was in part driven by the historic transformations unfolding locally, and his desire to tell those stories.
Sean’s columns take readers inside the lives of fellow Central New Yorkers, including Alfie Jacques and Sharon Owens. His columns about The Landmark Theater and the Everson Museum reminded readers of the deep history around them each day.
“Adding Central Current to your local news consumption will only serve to better understand issues facing Central New York and another set of eyes to hold our leaders accountable.”
Tim, CNY resident
In July — thanks to generous support from the Central New York Community Foundation and Report for America — Central Current brought on Debadrita Sur to create a new position focused on covering the Interstate 81 project and the redevelopment of public housing.
Deb, formerly with the Buffalo News, taken a resident-focused approach to covering her beat. Deb was the only local reporter to interview every mayoral candidate about their plans for aiding these projects while in office, and her stories have shed light on shifting leadership at the Syracuse Housing Authority and Blueprint 15. When SNAP benefits were paused during the government shutdown, she quickly published a list of food pantries and interviewed residents about how they were meeting their needs.
In September, Central Current hired Laura Robertson — our first dedicated Onondaga County reporter. A Nelly Bly Award winning journalist, Laura grew up near Binghamton but has reported as far as way as Nome, Alaska, and Tajikistan.
During her first 60 days in her role, she documented the historic Democratic flip of the Onondaga County Legislature, published interviews with 12 legislators ahead of Election Day, and reported how the USCIS cancellation of naturalization ceremonies in Onondaga County was part of the Trump administration’s larger challenge over which courts had the authority to perform naturalization ceremonies in the future.
“You are covering the stories not reported elsewhere.”
Elizabeth and Mary, CNY residents
We broke readership records
2.3x
Audience growth over the past year.
2.1x
Newsletter subscriber growth over the past year.
2.6x
Active donor growth over the past year.
“I appreciate quality reporting that digs deep and provides more details than alternative news sources.”
Yona, CNY resident
Mayoral forums, photo exhibits, and more
We feel believe creating a more informed Central New York means gathering people together under the same roof. In February, we partnered with the ArtRage Gallery to host A Place To Call Home — a photojournalism exhibit by Michelle Gabel and Michael Greenlar that brought viewers inside the experiences of people navigating the housing crisis in Syracuse.
The exhibit was on display for six weeks, and through support from the UpMobility Foundation we hosted a panel conversation where housing experts were answered questions about the challenges and possible solutions to the rising rates of homelessness and soaring rental costs.
“The best investigative news source in the city.”
Richard, CNY resident
In May and June, we kicked off our spring campaign and celebrated the launch of our new website at Salt City Market and Harvey’s Garden.
Central Current also hosted the two largest public mayoral forums in Syracuse during 2025, bringing out a combined total of roughly 400 residents to our Democratic primary and general election forums. Held at the Everson Museum’s Hosmer Auditorium, members of the public came together to watch the candidates respond live to questions from reporters as well as submitted questions from audience members.
“Relevant, legitimate, independent local news, no clickbait, no paywall, no agenda! I especially loved and appreciated the Syracuse mayoral candidate panel!”
Mishayla, CNY resident
Our favorite stories of 2025
Our reporters dug deep into housing, policing, and politics — connecting public policy with its impact on local residents. As the Trump administration scaled up deportations as part of its immigration enforcement agenda, our newsroom pivoted to cover the impact of these policies on Central New York. Reporter Patrick McCarthy broke the story of new partnerships emerging between regional law enforcement and U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services blocked Onondaga County from conducting naturalization ceremonies, Laura Robertson was the first to report on the impact in Syracuse. Central Current’s Editor Chris Libonati hit the pavement himself to report on ICE’s attempt to deport a respected member of the Syracuse community.
ICE rattled a Central New York village. Then, its police chief partnered with ICE.
Seven days after ICE took a beloved Camden restaurant owner, Police Chief Sean Redden signed an agreement with ICE to allow Camden police officers to enforce immigration law.
Feds stop Onondaga County naturalization ceremony — and say some county courts can’t conduct them
Earlier this month, USCIS canceled a naturalization ceremony in Syracuse. Now, they say county courts don’t meet the statutory requirements to conduct them.
Before the deportation
ICE agents came looking for a French national and the husband of a beloved Hawley-Green business owner, forcing the couple to contemplate a new, uncertain future.
Our series on accountability gaps surrounding police car crashes in partnership with Syracuse University and the USA Today Network earned Central Current first prize for investigative journalism at the 2025 Syracuse Press Club awards. Meanwhile, Reporter Patrick McCarthy tracked the story of how cameras with license plate reader software exposed the data of Syracuse drivers and violated the city’s own procedures for surveillance technology review.
Over the summer, the New York Times invited Central Current to co-publish an investigation they had conducted with New York Focus on how police officers across New York State had avoided prosecution after being caught drinking and driving.
This election season, we published 35 interviews with candidates running for Syracuse mayor, Common Council, and Onondaga County Legislature, including those running unopposed. Central Current is proud to produce the only comprehensive and non-paywalled election guide in Syracuse. We also highlighted longstanding gaps between the Democratic Party and Democratic voters and told readers the backstory of Syracuse’s first Black mayor.
Syracuse Democratic leaders pick the losing candidate again
For the third straight mayoral cycle, voters rejected the Democratic party endorsed candidate. Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens trounced Councilor Pat Hogan, the designated candidate.
Sean Kirst: As Owens becomes mayor, a stop at Dunbar is testament to epic length of shared journey
Like so many in the city’s Black community, Sharon Owens holds deep family gratitude for the meaning of a “settlement house.”
Our reporters explored how changes in federal funding could have affected plans to redevelop Syracuse’s public housing, documented the struggle of Nob Hill tenants trying to improve their living conditions and revealed the staggering scale of Syracuse’s property foreclosure backlog.
‘From Snob Hill to Slob Hill’: Tenants say conditions at once luxurious apartments forced them to sue owner
Ten tenants have sued the owners of Nob Hill to push for repairs of the apartment complex, which has 48 open code violations.
The flow of foreclosed properties to Syracuse’s land bank has slowed. The city says lawmakers bear some blame.
The slow flow of properties could harm the land bank’s financial health and make it difficult to build more affordable housing.
Since our founding in 2022, we have prioritized coverage of the Onondaga Nation. This year we drew readers’ attention to the ongoing efforts to recover land, ranging from the successful negotiation to recoup 1,000 aces from Honeywell to the ongoing debate with Onondaga County about the status of Maple Bay. Reporter Patrick McCarthy worked with Photojournalist Mike Greenlar to capture the historic return of a buffalo herd to the Onondaga Nation, and Sean Kirst marked the historic transfer of Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper Oren Lyons’ archives to Syracuse University.
A herd, a hide and a 50-year friendship: How the Onondaga Nation brought the buffalo back
A gift 50 years ago has allowed the Onondaga Nation to raise a herd of about 70 buffalo in southern Onondaga County.
Sean Kirst: At 95, Oren Lyons trusts SU and its skilled archivists with his treasury of papers
A lifetime of letters, documents and photos from a global Haudenosaunee diplomat will be made available to scholars, at SU.
