Our journalism made a difference in 2023. These stories brought awareness, change

In the past year, residents of Binghamton and Broome County have banded together, partnered against injustice and fought to make sure their voices were heard.

Our reporters at the Press & Sun-Bulletin and pressconnects.com, as well as our USA TODAY Network New York colleagues, have highlighted high school champions, dug deep through court records to publish investigative reports, and told firsthand stories about topics that matter most in the community.

Here are some of the stories that made a difference in 2023, told by Binghamton journalists and our New York State Team:

Your questions answered: What happens to insurance, billing when Guthrie acquires Lourdes

Our initial breaking story on the news that Guthrie would be acquiring Lourdes in early 2024 garnered a lot of attention from our readers as well as many questions. Details in those early days were slim, so we brought our questions to the president/CEOs from both Lourdes and Guthrie to get highly anticipated answers out to our readers in an easy-to-read format. Through a Hearken callout tool, we turned to you. We asked you: What questions do you have about the planned transition? Are you worried about costs or insurance coverage? Wondering how this impacts future appointments or procedures? We took your questions back to hospital leadership and shared their answers with readers in a follow-up story.

Read the story: This Binghamton hospital is being sold: Here are your questions answered

Why Binghamton schools rejected a planned apartment complex at this empty downtown lot

A Binghamton housing/parking garage being considered for a huge tax break enraged city residents, but Binghamton City Council ultimately voted the tax break through after an hours-long discussion in July. All that was needed after that was for the Binghamton City School District board to vote it through as well. They didn't. We wrote the first story on the topic after city council voted it through, outlining what the project was, why the project leaders were asking for a tax break and what stakeholders had to say about it. We continued our coverage when the school district board stopped the approval process in its tracks.

Read the story: Apartment complex planned for Binghamton under scrutiny

'We’re perfectly capable of taking care of each other.' Mutual aid on display in Binghamton

A bounty of mutual aid events and festivities were organized in Binghamton this year, encapsulating the community’s efforts to care for its most vulnerable amid economic strife and rising rates of eviction and homelessness in the Southern Tier. #WeOutside607 hosted a series of summertime pop-up events bringing children’s activities, free meals and giveaways of produce and school supplies to public parks in some of the city’s most isolated and underserved neighborhoods. Many of the same volunteers also coordinate the monthly Buy Nothing Market, which outgrew its original site at the Bundy Museum Annex and moved to the former Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Chenango Street this fall. We covered these efforts throughout the year.

Read the story: This Binghamton market sells everything, and costs nothing

Asylum seekers in NYC: Broome, Chemung among NY counties sued over emergency orders

We asked important questions of Broome County officials after County Executive Jason Garnar imposed a state of emergency prohibiting the relocation of asylum seekers from New York City. The order banned Broome County lodging establishments from contracting with New York City to house migrants who could not be placed in the city’s own shelters following the expiration of pandemic-era travel restrictions in May. New York City countered with a lawsuit against Broome and dozens of other upstate counties that issued similar states of emergency, decrying their efforts to “wall off their borders” to migrants seeking refuge outside New York City’s overflowing shelter system as “premised on specious claims that the prospect of a few hundred asylum seekers sheltered at the City’s expense would somehow constitute an emergency imperiling public safety.”

Read the story: Asylum seekers in NYC: Broome, Chemung among NY counties sued over emergency orders

They delivered a verdict in 2 hours. What the Colonial rape trial jury heard before voting

A years-long process of allegations, protests and restaurant shutdowns culminated in a two-hour jury deliberation. The verdict: Jordan Rindgen and Yaron Kweller, the former owners of the now-closed Dos Rios Cantina and The Colonial were found not guilty. Our reporting covered the stories shared by witnesses in the trial, and what the jury heard before delivering their verdict, including testimony about what happened in the early morning hours of Nov. 27, 2021 in the basement of a Washington Street business.

Read the story: What the Colonial rape trial jury heard before voting

New York's latest fracking proposal promises cleaner method. How experts rated it

The Southern Tier is no stranger to the fracking debate. When a new company approached landowners with the idea for a net-negative emissions way to drill into the Marcellus and Utica shales, the reception was not a quiet one. The proposal involved using carbon dioxide instead of water to extract gas. Local politicians reached out to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) with questions about the potential impact, and environmental activists called for an even tighter crackdown on drilling in New York.

Read the story: New York's latest fracking proposal promises cleaner method. How experts rated it

A $345 utility bill became $68,000 as NYSEG, RG&E confront billing fiasco. What happened?

Utility billing issues plagued New Yorkers all over the state in early 2023, with hundreds saying they were being inaccurately billed, sometimes by exorbitant amounts, wrote New York State Team and local reporters Tom Zambito, Patrick Harney and Chris Potter.

A call for readers to tell us about their billing experiences brought in 118 comments, one of which was from Carl Popp, of Poughkeepsie, who told us he religiously read his own meter to keep from being overbilled after bad experiences in the past.

We followed up with Popp, featuring him in a how-to story. Popp later wrote in an email: “I hope (the story) will help all the other people with high estimated bills and enlighten them on what they can do themselves to lessen the problem.”

Read the story: A $345 utility bill became $68,000 as NYSEG, RG&E confront billing fiasco. What happened?

Some NY hospitals nixed medical debt lawsuits. Others sued 1,600 patients for $9M 

A USA TODAY Network investigation by New York State Team reporter David Robinson found a group of 17 hospitals and health systems sued about 1,600 New Yorkers to collect medical debts totaling $9 million since early 2022, despite a push to end the controversial practice.

When questioned about the lawsuits listed in court records, some hospital systems denied they filed lawsuits or pointed to the charity care they deliver each year. Others said they were phasing out the practice of suing patients over medical debt.

One health system, WMC Health, also appeared to have halted its debt lawsuits following the USA TODAY Network reporting in 2019 on its connections to a debt-collection law firm under federal investigation.

Getting to know Waverly's Joey Tomasso across a wide range of topics

We sat down with Joseph Louis “Joey” Tomasso, an 18-year-old Waverly High senior who as a junior was first-team all-state in football and basketball, and also ranked first in his class.

In this Q&A, reporter Kevin Stevens helped readers get to know the Wolverines' starting quarterback in a comprehensive conversation appealing to audiences in and outside of the sports world, as he unpacked everything from Tomasso's greatest sports achievements so far and why he eats Pudgie's pizza before every game to his family's golf course and the one thing he will not put on a burger.

More: Q&A with Waverly’s Joey Tomasso: A wide range of topics explored in this one

Looking back at Section 4's impact on the New York high school football state tournament

Also in sports, reporter Kevin Stevens ushered in the 30th high school football tournament in New York by taking readers back through some of the state's most eye-catching playoff stories from 1993 to today.

He resurrected the final four games of 2007, from Section 4’s Class D final through the state-title game, over which Walton outscored its opponents by an aggregate 210-20. In equal measure, he captured for football fans the thrill of Maine-Endwell's 2004 playoff run — and of course, their 2011-2014 run — as well as Vestal's path to the championship in 1997.

Read the story: Looking back at Section 4's impact on the New York high school football state tournament

Binghamton named U.S. Tech Hub for battery innovation. What it means for Southern Tier

Binghamton's spot in the emerging lithium ion battery industry took center stage in 2023, beginning with Binghamton University's New Energy New York project's vying for multi-million-dollar funding competitions. We closely followed every step of the project's forward movement, and every additional jolt of funding along the way, culminating in Binghamton's designation as America’s Tech Hub for battery innovation, a formal distinction that will allow the region to compete for a chunk of the $500 million in Phase 2 grant funding offered through a federal program. We unpacked the details of the designation and, for the future of the Southern Tier, what it could mean.

Read the story: Binghamton is now a 'tech hub.' How will it shape the future?

First cannabis shops open in Binghamton area

New York's emerging cannabis industry started, then stalled, throughout 2023. In the Binghamton area, we captured the stories of local business owners — including the first dispensary to open outside of New York City — and followed the legislative actions surrounding how dispensaries would operate in the Southern Tier. We marked openings including The Greenery Spot in Johnson City and Sacred Bloom in Vestal all while legal battles tied up dispensary plans across New York.

Read the story: What to know about Just Breathe, Binghamton's weed dispensary that's ready to open at 4:20 Friday

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: 2023 Pressconnects stories that made a difference in Binghamton