Clips of the Week

I got word yesterday that we’ve received a Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence award in the Best All-Around Independent Online Student Publication category for Region 1, which covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Central/ Eastern Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Long story short, we have a shot at the SPJ’s national award in this category come September.

The well-deserved recognition is a tribute to all your hard work and dedication, which also can be seen in this latest batch of clips:

• Rebecca Harshbarger reported on the controversy over redeveloping the Bowery for The Villager.
• Joe Filippazzo’s piece about a split in a Manhattan Beach civic group made the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
• Dan Macht noted the 20th anniversary of the Campaign Finance Board for City Hall News.
• Linnea Covington’s profile of musician Shara Worden found a home in the Brooklyn Paper.
• Mathew Warren contributed to this New York Times congestion pricing story.
• Kate Lurie’s story about seemingly recession-proof pet pampering made Chelsea Now. Kate also notched a Daily News clip with her story about a program that aims to keep troubled teens out of juvenile lockups.
• AnnMarie Costella also made The News with her story about Brooklyn librarians and parents banding to fight RIF program cutbacks.
• Annie Shreffler’s been working on a cool poetry project for WNYC.
• In our alumni corner, Heather Appel’s slice-of-life feature about a Passaic store graced the front page the Herald News.

• Check out Dana Oliver’s story about Chinese New Year’s celebrations in Sunset Park. (PDF)
• Daniel Macht and Rosaleen Ortiz put together a multi-media piece for Off The Bus on what some voters of the future (already gearing up for the 2020 election) are thinking about during the current campaign.
• Joe Filippazzo’s neighborhood profile of St. Albans made amNY.
• Lakshmi Gandhi’s guide to a podcast interview with author Manil Suri appeared on SAJA’s website.
• Mathew Warren was part of the team that produced the New York Times’ front-page story on the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of an Upper East Side therapist.
• Eliot Caroom’s story about a controversy over a composting toilet found a home in the Daily News.
• Stephen Bronner joined Eliot in the News’ Bronx section with his story about a Valentine’s Day push to teach teens how to avoid abusive relationships.
• Cristina Alesci pointed out how credit card companies aren’t following the fed’s led in cutting interest rates in this Daily News business section piece.

Our alumni also are going strong:

• Sweet Georgia Brown! Sebastian Bednarski produced a video about Harlem Globetrotters legend Curly Neal for NY Post.com. He also put together a story on the man behind the White Flag clothing line.
• Heather Appel had the honor of writing the obituary of an extraordinary colleague at the Herald News.

• Claudia Cruz’ walkup to the Florida primary – focusing on Miami’s Hispanic community – made The Huffington Post.
• Linnea Covington’s article about an entrepreneur bringing a taste of Trinidad to Wall Street found a home in Downtown Express.
• Barry Paddock is on a hot streak at the Daily News. He scored his second front page story.
• Our alumni are having a big impact as well. Check out Heather Appel’s multi-media package for her new gig at the Herald Examiner — it’s the piece headlined, “Last to abolish, first to apologize”.
• Doaa Elkady scored a Crain’s New York Business clip with her story about Little India merchants being squeezed by rising rents.
• Danny Massey also made Crain’s with a story about how different businesses are using creative recruiting methods to attract talent.

• Our Team New Hampshire — Eliot Caroom, Joshua Cinelli, Claudia Cruz, Lakshmi Gandhi, Daniel Macht and Matt Townsend rocked the Granite State, contributing print pieces, pictures, slideshows and videos to offthebus.com, an off-shoot of the Huffington Post. (Their fine work, by the way, is the latest product of a relationship forged with Off the Bus at Prof. Jarvis’ October Networked Journalism conference.) Check out results of one wild weekend — including Joshua’s video of the Bill O’Reilly-Obama aide tussle.
  • Paulites Raid Their Piggybanks To Support Ron Paul
  • Obama Takes Subtle Jab At Hillary In NH
  • Kucinich Attacks ABC News And Decries “Dittos”
  • Bay Buchanan, Tom Tancredo Shill For Romney
  • Off the Candidate Track: Voices from Plymouth, New Hampshire
  • Steelworkers Sold on Edwards
  • One Latino Voter For Obama
  • Michelle Obama Poaches Voters From Rival Camps
  • Chewing the Fat at Munce’s
• Loren Bonner proved the value of follow-up in this piece for the Brooklyn Paper about the effect of Victory Memorial Hospital’s turmoil on moms-to-be.
• In just his second day out, Barry Paddock scored the wood (front page story) for the Daily News, contributing to this piece on the surging Giants.
• Barry’s neighborhood beat piece about a dispute over a community garden in East Harlem made yesterday’s paper.
• Maureen Ker also notched a Daily News clip by reworking her live-in piece about a Flushing fortune teller.
• Chika Osaka had a TV piece about bringing French to public schools and Megan Kelty had one about using laser surgery to battle a serious eye problem suffered by diabetics – both among the latest additions to the News Service.
• Heather Appel went far beyond the general findings in a report on infant mortality and turned in this great story for the Daily News.
• In the you-saw-it-here-first department. Remember our Election Day photo project? Check out this New York Times link.

• Dmitry Kiper’s article about the latest exhibits at P.S.1 enlivened the pages of the Queens Chronicle.
• If you haven’t seen Sebastian Bednarski around much lately, that’s because he’s been very busy producing videos for the New York Post’s website. Here are just a couple examples: a quirky marathon story; and a tribute to Jam Master Jay.
• Joseph Gargiulo’s profile of a local entrepreneur made the News Service site.
• Danny Massey did a followup story for Newsday on the federal investigation of the Rev. Al Sharpton.
• Heather Appel’s story about efforts turn a forgotten Bronx park – once a dumping ground for animals sacrificed in Santeria rituals – into condos, found a home in the Daily News.
• Matt Townsend’s story about one man’s successful quest to bring a Starbucks to Riverdale also made The News’ Bronx section.
• Craig Thompson’s article on the Blip Festival, a geek electronica extravaganza can be found in Chelsea Now.
• Katherine Lurie also made the latest Chelsea Now with her coverage of a GMHC panel discussion on issues affecting HIV-positive African-American men. It’s paired on the news service with a video by Ana Toro that focuses on local black churches stepping up the fight against AIDS.
• Joe Filippazzo’s story about Sheepshead Bay residents’ efforts to turn a vacant lot into a park made the front page of the Brooklyn Eagle.
• Vinita Singla’s story about controversy about trees being planted in Brooklyn managed to make a literary allusion without invoking Betty Smith or Joyce Kilmer. It’s in the latest Courier Life here (PDF).

• TiVo Alert: Set your DVRs for 20-20 tonight at 10 p.m., Channel 7. The story Angela Hill spent her summer working on as part of her Carnegie Corporation-supported internship with ABC’s Brian Ross Investigative Unit airs tonight. For a print preview, check out Angela’s piece on abc.com. The topic: Soldiers and Drugs.
• Loren Bonner scored a byline in The Brooklyn Paper with her followup piece on Victory Memorial Hospital’s fight for life.
• Vinita Singla also made pages of The Brooklyn Paper with her story on the impending sale of a particularly noisy Williamsburg bar.
• Vinita also combined with Joe Filippazzo, Tyler Mitter and Daniel Teigman to turn a Craft assignment into a clip with this holiday shopping story for Our Town.
• Also showing the J-School spirit of cooperation were Tanzina Vega and Mathew Warren, who both worked on this tragic story for the New York Times.
• Carolyn Nardiello scored a solo byline in today’s Times with her poignant, personal piece about family trips past to Long Island’s northern shore.
• Francesca Levy chronicled a dive bar’s planned move from the east side to the west side of W. 14th St. in this article for Chelsea Now.
• Matt Townsend offered a sobering look at rising milk and food prices in the latest edition of The Riverdale Press.
• Dorian Davis reported on the raucous City Planning Commission hearing on Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion plan in this Architectural Record article.
• Kate Pastor offered a look at some of the legal wranglings involving the Columbia plan in a story for City Limits.
• Our latest podcast explores at how the city’s older set is embracing the net. Khadijah Cole produced the podcast, with reports by Abimbola Ishola and Anna Limontas-Salisbury.
• Joe Hirsch looked at the conflict between some usual allies over the fate of the Bronx’s Oak Point rail yard. Check out his piece in The Hunts Point Express.
• Danny Massey published an article in Crain’s New York Business about the growing demand for techno-savvy advertising creatives. He also was busy for Newsday with this followup story about the lawsuit filed by the ousted principal of a Brooklyn Arabic language and culture school.
• Heather Appel was equally ubiquitous, publishing a piece in amNew York about a new online registry of accessible apartments for people with disabilities, and contributing to the Daily News’ coverage of the ongoing transit fare saga.

• Marlene Peralta got the wood again — this time in today’s Newsday — for her great follow up story on the driver who was critically injured in the Lexington Ave. steam pipe blast. She also contributed to another headline grabber: the murder of a Queens dentist.
• Heather Appel showed some range this week with an environmental story for the Daily News and a Bronx murder tale for the Norwood News.
• Claudia Cruz wrote about holistic health practices (PDF) in Washington Heights for the Manhattan Times.
• Amy Goldstein’s piece about efforts to rename a school after a beloved principal, Nadia Zonis’ article on controversial plans for a new hotel on a deserted Bronx street, and Joe Hirsch’s takeout on Citgo’s/Hugo Chavez’ latest involvement in the Bronx helped enliven the pages of the Mount Hope Monitor.
• We also contributed some eminently fit-to-print news at the Times: Mariel DiSibio wrote about a land dispute between The villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow.
• Carolyn Nardiello chronicled the protest over new requirements for animal owners on Long Island.
• Georgia Kral wrote about Connecticut’s lawsuit against the FAA.
• Tanzina Vega contributed to the Times’ coverage of the slain dentist.
• Mathew Warren was all over town for the Times, contributing to several stories, including this breaking news building collapse piece.
• Clark Merrifield hit the stats and found that there’s a big problem with water main breaks on the Lower East Side. The Villager picked up his story.
• Joshua Cinelli notched two pieces in the Norwood News: One about community concerns about plans to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory and another about a senior citizens protest of the war.
• Eliot Caroom wrote about a Bronx salvage yard’s efforts to go green for the Hunts Point Express.
• Dan Rivoli told Daily News readers the show will go on for a Croatian rock band accused of glorifying the Nazis.

• Check out the latest two editions of our new NY Pulse podcast on the News Service site. The current very timely podcast about flu shots was produced by Megan Kelty, with stories reported by Carolyn Nardiello and Laura Silver. You can still catch last week’s edition about the challenges running enough phys ed classes in city schools. The program was produced by Angela Hill, with reports by Megan and Chika Osaka.
• Daniel Macht did a story about the impact of the lowest Social Security increase in several years — giving the reader a combination of real people and hard facts. The piece was published in the Queens Courier.
• Vinita Singla got two clips in Brooklyn’s Courier Life. She covered the opening of a new wing of a Williamsburg school, and reported on two students’ alternative plan for the old Domino Sugar refinery.
• Keeping with the waterfront revival theme, Cristina Alesci also made the News Service with a Downtown Express story about a glass hotel planned for the old Battery Maritime Building.
• Georgia Kral scored a solo byline on the front page of the Times’ Connecticut section this past Sunday with her fine news feature on the possible New England casino war.
• The J-School also was represented in the Times by Mathew Warren who shared a byline on this story about Gov. Spitzer’s controversial plan to grant illegal immigrants driver’s licenses.
• Heather Appel went to Japan for this great video piece about the first Power Soccer world championship, in which player compete in motorized wheelchair. She reported the story for AP’s asap service.
• Heather also found time to report and write this Daily News story about the 21st anniversary of a non-profit housing group in Mt. Hope.
• Cathy Jedruczek has been busy as a bee at BCAT (try saying that 10 times fast!), and our reward is getting to see these three fine stories: go here and click on “A Polish Empire in Greenpoint”. For the other two, go here. Cathy’s stories are titled “Prepping For Parenthood” and “Sleep Disorder Lab.”
• Dan Rivoli got right to this point with a three-word lede in this very timely health story for the Daily News.
• Marelene Peralta, writing for Newsday, outlined the debate over a proposal to cut flights at JFK.
• Danny Massey also was busy for Newsday with this piece about the unveiling of a memorial for a fallen soldier.

• Marlene Peralta got the wood (that’s newspaper talk for the front page story) at amNewYork Wednesday with her fine piece on the effects of gentrification on Latinos in Washington Heights and East Harlem.
• Cristina Alesci attended the opening of Tiffany’s new Wall St. store – but went far beyond the ribbon-cutting hoopla, and put the opening in the context of downtown’s post 9/11 rebound and the changing Financial District landscape. Her efforts can be seen in the latest Downtown Express.
• David Chiu made the Queens Chronicle with his profile of Italian-born artist and architect Matteo Pericoli, whose muse is New York.
• Nadia Zonis’ piece about efforts to restore the old High Bridge pedestrian span between the Bronx and Manhattan was published in last Sunday’s Daily News.
• Joseph Gargiulo made the News Service site with his story about the latest efforts to bring ferry service to the Rockaways. Joe supplemented his piece with video he tracked down of Mayor Bloomberg talking about the project.
• Roisin O’Connor-McGinn’s evocative story about memorials to bicyclists killed by automobile touched on many themes, ranging from public safety to art to religion. Her piece is featured in the latest Graduate Center Advocate.
• Heather Appel wrote about home day care workers’ effort to unionize for the Daily News. She and Zeyad Kasim put together a video on the issue along with the print piece.
• Heath already has lauded Danny Massey’s fine story for Newsday about the African Burial Ground Memorial ceremony. Here’s the full piece.
• Some of our reporters did good crime and tragedy reporting this week. Matt Warren contributed to the Times coverage on the Murray Hill stabbing spree. Andy Greiner covered the death of a boy struck by a car for the Daily News. Matt Sollars worked on a Daily News story about the drug arrests of relatives of a notorious cop killer.

• Mathew Warren worked on several stories for the Times this week, including this solo piece about Betsy Gotbaum’s ill-fated stepdaughter-in-law.
• Georgia Kral was also busy for the Times, contributing to this story about a lawyer who admitted to destroying evidence in a child pornography case.
• David Chiu proved himself the leader of the pack (groan) in this Queens Chronicle piece about the unlikely comeback of Mary Weiss, lead singer of the Shangri-Las.
• Laura Silver chronicled the meetup of all the city’s meetup groups for City Limits.
• Nadia Zonis told Daily News readers how some teen Queens won a citywide contest with their public service ad warning against reckless driving.
• For this story, Matt Sollars talked to Mets fans. He also contributed to a crime story in the Daily News.
• Dan Rivoli told Daily News readers about Ray Kelly’s visit to Brooklyn Heights in the wake of a spate of anti-Semitic graffiti in the neighborhood. And he got to go to a wedding – and get a solo byline – in this story.
• Annie Shreffler reported on a marching band competition for the Journal News.
• Heather Appel also went north for this story about a new Italian cultural center in Tuckahoe.
• Juliana Bunim, Tim Catts and Matt Sollars combined on a multi-media package about training sessions to teach restauranteurs how to cook without those nasty trans fats.
• Prof. Lieberman wrote about a topic very much in the news – the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) – in this piece for The Nation.