Clips of the Week

I took a week off from Clips of the Week – but our reporters didn’t rest. Here are some offerings from the past two weeks:

• Rima Abdelkader scored a scoop with this interview with the victim of a suspected Election Night hate attack. Her piece appeared on the News Service, and is scheduled to be published by In Focus, a monthly newspaper based in Southern California.
• Alana Rigal reported from the red carpet outside the Gotham Awards, and co-produced this video for the Daily News’ website.
• Henry Stewart offers some off-beat holiday gift ideas in this fun piece for The L Magazine.
• Francesa Levy has the lowdown on the most and least family friendly cities in the U.S. Check out her story and slideshow at Forbes.com.
• I’m just catching up to this fine Marathon story Kristen Joy Watts wrote for Law Times about a group of runners from Toronto who call themselves the Fatboys Running Club.
• Kate Lurie’s feature about a group of former prisoners who performed their off-Broadway show about life in a Manhattan half-way house for a grateful audience at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility merited full-page treatment in the Daily News.
• Stephen Bronner shared a byline on this Daily News story about protests at Rent-a-Center outlets.
• Matt Townsend contributed to this Daily News article about complaints over a new Burger King ad campaign.
• The city’s efforts to push its new regulation mandating chain restaurants to post calorie counts was chronicled in this video by Aisha Al-Muslim and Mirva Lempiainen. Their story is featured on the News Service.
• Cristiana Oliveira hit a Manhattan food pantry on Thanksgiving Eve, and found a huge line of folks waiting for turkeys and trimmings to take home. Her video made the News Service.
• Kieran Meadows and H’Rina DeTroy reported on the effort to force building owners to provide parking for bicycles in this video piece for the News Service.
• Mary Stachyra’s story and slideshow about the 75^th anniversary of Prohibition’s end made the News Service.
• Michael Preston and Collin Orcutt profiled an up-and-coming high school basketball star. Their video was picked up by sportcaster Adam Zagoria’s blog.
• Sergey Kadinsky’s Flushing River photo essay as featured on the Forgotten New York website.
• One of Candice Johnson’s Election Day photos made about.com.
• Three of our recent podcasts – Culture Shock, HealthPods and This Place Called Home – were broadcast Dec. 1 on radio station WHCR.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

Hard to believe we’re entering the final month of the semester. Here are some of the latest results of our reporters’ continuing hard work:

• Joshua Cinelli wrote an article for City Hall about local efforts to boost the economy by luring more foreign investment.
• We all know quitting smoking saves lives and money – Francesca Levy offers a state-by-state look at the dollars kept by kicking the habit in this article-and-slideshow package for Forbes.
• Heather Chin reaped the benefits of hopping on a breaking story with her video piece about the New York Times hoax edition distributed last week. Her video accompanies an article put together in short order by the News Service class.
• Joe Filippazzo’s News Service story about Bobby Fischer’s FBI file was picked up by El Nuevo Herald, and got many blog links.
• Karina Ioffee profiled a popular sari tailor for the Queens Courier. (Note: as of this writing, the link seems to be broken. I’ll check into it.)
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote about incumbent Assemblymember Marge Markey’s reelection for the Queens Tribune (I have a copy in my office – feel free to come by for a look.)
• If you missed our latest podcasts during the week, check them out here: Health Pods, produced by Loren Bonner, Shuka Kalantari, and Djenny Passe-Rodriguez; and This Place Called Home, produced by Linnea Covington, Celina Fang, and Tyler Mitter.
• Collin (Hoops) Orcutt predicts great things for the Lakers in his latest Men’s Fitness blog post.
• Busy Barry Paddock shared a byline on this Daily News story about a drunk driving tragedy.

The weather is getting cooler, but our hot streak continues. Here are some of the latest pieces:

• It’s not even Halloween, buy many of us already are beginning to think about holiday travel plans. Before sure to check out these Forbes.com pieces by Francesca Levy  about the best and worst times to fly and  how to save on holiday travel.
• Joshua Cinelli tackles the potential impact of Wall Street’s woes on public pension systems for City Hall.
• Jenni Avins’ story about a former temple that’s been reborn as a mosque made the Queens Courier.
• H’Rina DeTroy’s article about East Village anger over the slow pace of a playground rebuilding project was featured in The Villager.
• H’Rina was joined in The Villager by Matt Townsend, who wrote about a pedestrian mall improvement plan along Allen Street.
• Megan McGibney put together a video piece for nypost.com on the race Staten Islanders seem to care about most this year: the contest to replace disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella.
• Abi Ishola’s been hosting the News of the Week segment for CUNY TV’s Independent Sources, a new show, produced by Prof. Prout, about the ethnic media. Abi’s segments are usually about 17 minutes into each show. But be sure check out the full broadcasts – it’s a great way to learn more about what’s going on, and to pick up story ideas and pinpoint more potential outlets for your work.
• Annie Shreffler’s been added The Huffington Post’s OffTheBus masthead for a feature she started, called Eyes and Ears, which solicits fun election-related items.
• Barry Paddock covered a heartbreaking fatal fire story for the Daily News.
• Caitlin Drexler dished up some food-world news for Saveur’s Word of Mouth blog.
• If you missed this week’s live audio webcast of Health Pods – produced by Loren Bonner, Shuka Kalantari, and Djenny Passe-Rodriguez – check it out here.
• Vinita Singla’s timely TV piece about voter registration drives and her companion print story made the News Service.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

Even with the recent holidays, our newsroom has been buzzing. Here are some of the latest rewards of your hard work:

• Rosaleen Ortiz reported for the AP from Chile about a document-preservation effort to help tell the full story of those who “disappeared” during the murderous Pinochet era. Her story was picked up by MSNBC, among numerous other outlets.

• Damiano Beltrami covered the first annual New Italian American Cinema festival for i-italy.org.

• Some ethnic radio outlets fear that new Arbitron “People Meters” will lead to an unfair undercounting of listeners, Karina Ioffee reported for New American Media.

• Francesca Levy put together a story and slideshow for Forbes.com about the hardest and easiest places to sell a home in the  U.S.

• Lee Hernandez interviewed actor Laz Alonso, star of Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna,” for the Daily News.

• Barry Paddock is learning the art of covering the “perp walk.” He managed to get the Daily News a (denial) quote from a suspect in a vicious beating.

• Matt Townsend covered the seventh annual Tunnel to Towers Run, which commemorates the life of Firefighter Stephen Siller, who sprinted through the Battery Tunnel on 9/11. Matt interviewed Siller’s widow, who participated in the run for the first time.

Our News Service benefited from some fine work this week, as well:

• Check out Jennifer Saavedra’s TV piece about Borough Park residents’ fight against a construction project many fear will overwhelm the neighborhood.

• Jessica Firger and Emily Mayer teamed on a TV-and-print package about The Waterfalls public art exhibition.

• Steve Pacer exhibited good timing with his TV piece about the battle to preserve an East Village synagogue.

• Barry Paddock and Maureen Ker teamed on a fun article and slideshow that says a lot about kids and the presidential election.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming.

It was a great week for clips – and our News Service. Check these out:

• Vinita Singla and Megan McGibney’s News Service story about an email warning to Obama supporters to leave the T-shirts and buttons home on Election Day — or face problems at the polls — got big pickup. The New York Observer’s Politicker blog, Off The Bus and the Daily News’ Mouth of the Potomac blog linked to our piece. Similar stories have popped up online and in print in Pennsylvania, Alabama and Kentucky. This story, as we say in the business, may have legs. Our part of it started when Prof. Williston got one of the emails and handed a copy to Vinita and Megan with the three words that have spurred so much great journalism: “Check it out.”
• Everything old again is new again. There’s a push to rechristen the Crown Heights-Prospect Heights border Crow Hill, which was the area’s 19^th Century moniker. You’ll find Steve Pacer’s TV report detailing the neighborhood name game and Franklin Avenue’s revival on the News Service.
• Dwindling supplies at city food pantries have prompted one Bronx man to ride his bicycle from pantry to pantry in search of nourishment. You’ll find Cristiana Oliveira and Adeola Oladele’s TV report on the News Service.
• Jessica Simeone wrote about the opening of a new teen center in a Jersey City library for the Jersey Journal.
• Francesca Levy put together some great news-you-can-use articles and slideshows for two major media outlets. Her analysis of 20 business school websites can be found at BusinessWeek.com. She also put together a package about the U.S. cities with the most- and least-expensive rents for Forbes.com.
• Speaking of Forbes, Eliot Caroom wrote about the continuing fallout from the travails of America’s least-favorite couple: Fannie and Freddie.
• Mathew Warren shared a byline on this New York Times story about a couple’s mysterious rooftop plunge.
• Rebecca Harshbarger wrote about the screening of a documentary chronicling the post-9/11 violence against — and the resilience of — South Asian-Americans and Arab-Americans  for Queens Tribune.
• There’s a definite Yankees theme this week, much as it pains me to say (you’ll find me at Shea tomorrow, hopefully not weeping in my beer.): Collin Orcutt wrote about the unhappy October coming up for Bronx business owners who had been hoping for a post-season boost. His story made the Highbridge Horizon.
• Fritzie Andrade produced a video about the last game at Yankee Stadium for nytimes.com.
• Barry Paddock and Matt Townsend contributed to the Daily News’ coverage of the last game at the Babe’s  House.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

There’s no “I” in team — but there is one in “clip.” I’m not even sure exactly what I mean by that, but I happily noticed that teamwork played a role in some of this week’s work. Here’s a sampling:

• Dan Macht found a great local angle to the story of the week (and likely beyond). He wrote a piece for Crain’s  New York Business about the impact Lehman Brothers’ fall could have on charities and foundations. Dan gave himself a head start: he began researching and pitched his article before the bankruptcy was official. Rosaleen Ortiz snapped an eerie nighttime photo of Lehman’s headquarters to go with Dan’s story.
• Barry Paddock and Matt Townsend also worked the Lehman story, talking to shell-shocked employees for the Daily News.
• Matt contributed to a local primary story package for City Hall that also included pieces by Joshua Cinelli and our Class of ‘07 pal Andrew Hawkins.
• Francesca Levy shows — and tells — what kind of digs a million bucks will get you in cities around the world in this story/slideshow package she put together for Forbes.
• Mathew Warren scored a solo byline and some prime real estate in the Times’ Metro Section with his fun takeout on circus and sideshow performers who bring their acts to clubs and private parties.
• Walking along 41st Street just isn’t the same anymore. Valerie Lapinski captured that spirit and more in her radio story about the closing of “Rent.” Her piece was featured on WNYC.
• Rebecca Harshbarger weaves some great information and images into her first-person piece for The New Vision about the Seven Wonders of Kampala.
• Here are some amazing numbers: One man, 20 cannoli, six minutes. Megan McGibney hit Little Italy for this fun nypost.com video piece on the annual cannoli-eating contest
• Sarah Trefethen witnessed lots of pie eating when she headed upstate to cover a boating festival. She focused, of course, on the local angle: The South Street Seaport Museum’s W.O. Decker took Tugboat of the Year honors. Her story and photo made Downtown Express.
• On his first day out for the Daily News, Stephen Bronner covered a dramatic rescue story.
• Speaking of the Daily News, Lee Hernandez scored a clip with his interview of actress Dania Ramirez, who spoke about the upcoming season of “Heroes.”

Congrats to all — and keep ‘em coming!

Welcome Class of ‘09 — and welcome back, Class of ‘08. Here’s a sampling of some of the latest fine work from our reporters:

• TIVO Alert: A video about the Brazilian music scene in New York, co-produced by Fritzie Andrade for the nytimes.com, is scheduled to be featured this weekend on NY1’s New York Times Closeup (Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m.) For those who can’t wait, here’s a link to the video, which made The Times’ homepage this week.
• Speaking of The Times, Mathew Warren contributed to this talker about “knock-off sushi.”
• It’s been a long week for our incoming class. But take heart: you could be in business school. Check out Francesca Levy’s BusinessWeek piece about growing orientation sessions for MBA students.
• I don’t feel so silly about the hundreds of records I’m hoarding in my basement after reading Carl Winfield’s BusinessWeek story about rising vinyl LP sales. The accompanying slide show is worth a look, too.
• You might feel a little less guilty about watching TV after reading Matt Townsend’s Columbia Journalism Review piece suggesting the media overstated the environmental impact of flat-screen televisions.
• Money-saving Tip: Check out Henry Stewart’s reviews in The L Magazine before hitting your local multiplex. This week, he has some choice words for “Traitor.”
• Barry Paddock scored a solo byline on this sad crime story published in the Daily News.
• In our Alumni Corner, Annaliese Griffin interviewed actress Amber Heard for V Magazine.

We’re at the end of a busy summer, and the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be a very productive fall. I know we’re going to see contributions from many new names in the months to come.

Many of the internships are wrapping up, but the clips just keep coming. Here’s a sampling of the latest:

• I can guarantee that not one word of Henry Stewart’s review of “Henry Poole is Here” will be used as a blurb in any future advertisements. Check out his very entertaining piece in the L Magazine. He also said a lot in very few words in this blog item — sounds like a full-blown story waiting to happen.
• Linnea Covington, writing for New York Press, offers a short, but image- and information-packed review for the enticingly titled play, “Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell.”
  
• Jessica Firger found a hipster friendly doctor in Williamsburg who offers E-mail, video and IM consultations — but will occasionally make an old-fashioned house call. You’ll find her story in The Brooklyn Paper.
• Shuka Kalantari hosted the latest edition ofKPFA Radio’s “Voices of the Middle East and North Africa,” and contributed a segment about the late Palestinian poetMahmoud Darwish. She also started a companion blogf or the show.
• Dan Macht put together a piece about McCain’s and Obama’s reactions to the Russia-Georgia conflict for the Telegraph.co.uk
  
• Francesca Levy wrote about the world of for-profit universities owned by publicly held corporations for BusinessWeek. Check out her video interview with the new dean of the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland
• Barry Paddock contributed to today’s Daily News front page story about heroism amid tragedy in Queens.
• Damian Ghigliotty reports for Crain’s New York Business that unemployment in the city is down – even as unemployment claims are up.
• Meanwhile, in a glimmer of sunny economic news, the hotel business on Long Island is doing well, Danny Teigman found for Newsday.
• Mathew Warren contributed to this New York Times talker about MetroCard ethics (which may be an oxymoron these days.)

Congrats to all — and keep ‘em coming. (But make sure to enjoy what’s of summer, too).

We’ve hit August, but they’re hardly the dog days for us. Here are some of the latest example of the Class of ’08’s fine work:

• Rebecca Harshbarger contributed to this Washington Post A-1 story about abducted Ugandans. She’s also been writing many pieces for The New Vision, including this story about the apparent rising asthma rate in Uganda.
• Claudia Cruz also got the wood this week, notching the front page of Diario Libre with her story about the grand opening of a Mets training camp in Boca Chica, where she met Dominican President Fernandez.
• Francesca Levy made the BusinessWeek.com’s homepage with her timely story on lost luggage. Be sure to check out the accompanying slideshow.
• Kate Lurie is everywhere these days, it seems. You’ll find some of her latest work on abcnews.com, marieclaire.com and in the Daily News.
• Speaking of the Daily News, Allison Esposito helped the student reporters at Children’s Press Line assemble this story about the Sikh community’s battle again hate crimes.
• Roisin O’Connor-Mcuinn has been very busy at Time Out New York. I love this piece about the rollgate at the Jay Street-Borough Hall Station. She answers a question I’ve had for years — but I never bothered to look into, now much to my chagrin.
• Mathew Warren contributed to this New York Times subway story of another sort: the MetroCard machine foul-up that snagged thousands of credit card users.
• Emily Mayer produced this fun nypost.com video with the grabber title, “Seven Days to Sex Appeal.”
• Fritzie Andrade helped put together this lively nytimes.com video about a fledgling band promoter. It’s part of the ongoing “Breaking in” series.
• Clark Merrefield takes a literary turn in this Point Reyes Light article: He interviewed new U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan.
• Also working hard on the West Coast is Shuka Kalantari, who interviewed an Iranian musician for KPFA radio. Check out Shuka’s blog for QUEST, a science- and environment-driven KQED multimedia series.
• Danny Teigman found a sweet — or rather, sweets — story for Newsday: an Oyster Bay bakery that delivers desserts directly to customers’ docked boats.
• Come up with your own headline for this one-of-kind bank robbery story Jessica Firger wrote for The Brooklyn Paper. She also contributed this more uplifting piece about a local Little League team headed to a top tournament in Puerto Rico.
• Steve Pacer’s story about Canadian shoppers flooding Buffalo, spurred by the declining (U.S.) Dollar, has been picked up by central and northern New York radio station WRVO. You listen to his piece at the Public Radio Exchange . You’ll have to set up a free account — it’s quick and well worth the effort.
• Fritzie Andrade helped produce a NYTimes.com video about the return of the Zeppelin (not Led Zeppelin — the German airship).
• Mathew Warren shared the byline on this New York Times story about a fatal upper East Side fire.
• Jessica Firger nicely turns some phrases in this Brooklyn Paper piece about how the owner of Debbie’s Reins, an equestrian shop in Gowanus, is riding off into the sunset.
• Clark Merrefield’s latest article for the Point Reyes Light is the story of an anger management teacher with an alleged anger management problem.
• Stephen Bronner has the scoop on the city’s newest Family Justice Center in this Queens Courier article. This was a story Stephen has been trying to snag for months. His persistence paid off: he became the first reporter to get a tour of the facility and to interview its director.
• Dan Macht’s been contributing to The Telegraph’s political blog, and got to write about the much-talked-about Paris Hilton campaign video.
• If Danny Teigman comes back sporting a tan, this story may have something to do with it: He wrote a major battle-of-the-beaches takeout for Newsday on how Long Island and New Jersey shore towns are vying for visitors.
• Eliot Caroom, writing for abcnews.com/Nightline, profiled about a demographic group that’s getting hit harder than most by high gas prices: country folks with long commutes to city jobs.
• Barry Paddock did a story about a mode of transportation that’s not oil dependent: he wrote a very sweet piece for the Daily News about some Queens kids headed for the national Soap Box Derby championships.
• Allison Esposito helped the young reporters at Children’s Press Line put together a story for the Daily News about how Queens was excluded from a program that gives poor families vouchers to buy healthful foods at Greenmarkets.
• Maureen Ker’s story about the “cosplay” phenomenon — youths massing in public dressed as anime characters — made am New York, along with a gallery of her photos. The piece has been picked up by fan sites and the Florida Sun-Sentinel’s website.
• Carl Winfield wrote a news-you-can-use (but hopefully won’t have to) story for BusinessWeek.com about how to negotiate a severance package. You’ll find a companion video and story here. * Speaking of BusinessWeek.com, check out the video of Francesca Levy’s interview with the new dean of UC Berkeley’s business school.

Congrats to all — and keep ‘em coming!

While others are filing tax returns, the Class of ‘08 is filing stories. Here are some of the latest:

• Rebecca Harshbarger’s story about how the weak dollar is hurting local immigrants who send much-needed money to their loved ones back home made City Limits.
• Francesca Levy’s piece about a unique anti-domestic violence program was featured in Women’s eNews.
• “Busy” Barry Paddock’s learned that sometimes the picture is as important – if not more important – than the words. He not only scored some strong interviews for a story about a teen stabbed in school, he was the only reporter to come away with the all-important photo of the victim. Check out his work in the Daily News.
• Erin O’Neill’s story about a bitter nursing home strike in the Bronx, where strikers created a “wanted poster” of pictures they snapped of replacement workers, was published in The Riverdale Press.
• Matt Townsend’s article about a controversial rezoning plan that could bring big buildings to Chinatown found a home in The Villager.
• Well, the Mets aren’t exactly smokin’ these days – and neither are their fans. Matt and Damian Ghigliotty teamed on a piece about how some tobacco-happy Mets fans are fuming over the enforcement of the smoking ban at Shea Stadium. You’ll find their story in the New York Observer.
• In our alumni corner, Kate Pastor’s been busy for City Limits, writing a piece on how a rezoning plan could change 125th St. and a story about man who was evicted from his Harlem home – and caught in a legal morass.