Clips of the Week

Here are some great stories to enjoy over the holidays:

• Tim Persinko’s article about a rising Brooklyn boxer made the Canarsie Courier.
• Henry Stewart cites some Brooklyn history to bolster his opinion piece about plans to eliminate the B-37 bus. You’ll find all the reasons he’s against scrapping the line in the Brooklyn Eagle.
• Linnea Covington has the lowdown on New York’s best empanadas for Serious Eats.
• Maya Pope-Chappell made Essance – as an interview subject. She talks about how she won two tickets to the inauguration through Sen. Schumer’s lottery. Maya will be reporting from Washington – but she doesn’t reveal whom she’s taking.
• Damiano Beltrami’s audio slideshow about how Arthur Avenue’s merchants are weathering the economic crisis and other changes is featured on the homepage of i-Italy.org.
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote a piece about Councilmember-elect Liz Crowley’s transition effort for the Queens Tribune. (I have a copy in my office – come on by for a look.)
• Igor Kosov’s story and slideshow about half-completed ghost buildings in soon-to-be-rezoned Brighton Beach was featured in City Limits.
• Jessica Firger also made City Limits with her story about an ad campaign encouraging pit bull owners to have their pets spayed or neutered. Jessica’s companion piece and video – produced by Steve Pacer – can be found on the News Service.

Our News Service had another busy week:

• Valerie Lapinski shot a video piece about a group of bikers who made their annual holiday visit to a Brooklyn nursing home.
• Tracy Chimming’s video story features interviews with Union Square holiday market merchants who are singing the blues over slow business.
• Maya Pope-Chappell, keeping with her inauguration theme, put together a print-and-video package about a Brooklyn youth marching band whose members hope Barack Obama’s big day will be their next gig.
• Maureen Ker, Vinita Singla and Adeola Oladele combined on a print-and-video package about the push to get shoppers to use reusuable bags – and Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to hit plastic bag users with a six-cent surcharge.
• Cristiana Oliveira found a food pantry that offers the hungry more than food. Clients can get free haircuts – courtesy of volunteer pantry workers from Manitoba, Canada.

Congratulations once again to the Class of ‘08 – it was a pleasure attending that inspiring ceremony.

Have a great and safe holiday – and keep those stories coming.

It’s been unseasonably cold, but seasonably busy as we head into the homestretch of another action-filled semester. Here are some examples of our reporters’ latest work:

• Barry Paddock, working for the Daily News, covered the tragic death of a FDNY lieutenant killed battling a Staten Island blaze.
• The TV studio was in full swing Friday with the latest edition of Talking Health – Political Promises, hosted by Prof. Lieberman and produced by Prof. Williston. The first live hour-long video webcast from our TV studio came together with the help of CUNY TV, the J-School Tech Staff, and the following students: Lauren Bonner, Angela Donadic, Caitlin Drexler, Jessica Firger, Emily Mayer, Tuan Nguyen, Shuka Kalantari, Maureen Ker, Djenny Passe-Rodriguez, Jennifer Saavedra and Erica Sullivan.
• Our radio studio also was buzzing this week – with music. The latest edition of Culture Shock,produced by Abi Ishola, Erin O’Neill, and Craig Thompson, featured a live performance by fusion musicians Gaida and Amir El Saffar.
• Matt Townsend got taken for a ride in this fun Daily News video.
• Sarah Trefethen’s story about a Bronx pastor who established a new church made the Norwood News.
• Just in time for the long-awaited release of “Chinese Democracy,” Kaili Boyd interviewed new Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Bumblefoot. Her article was featured in am New York.
• Lakshmi Gandhi covered the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families’ Caring for Children awards ceremony for SAJA Forum.
• Sergey Kadinsky scored clips in the Jewish Press (he covered the funeral of a slain do-gooder) and the Amsterdam News (he profiled a young black Republican). I have a copy of the Amsterdam News story in my office — feel free to come on by for a look.
• Ria Julien’s piece about how changes in the state Senate might lead to the repeal of the Rockeller Drug Laws made Lives in Focus.
• Clark Merrefield’s story about Queen State Sen. Frank Padavan’s push for re-election was published in The Capitol.
• Collin Orcutt found an inspirational Marathon story for his hometown paper, The Herald Gazette of Maine.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

In between embracing Summer’s final Fall visit, enjoy some fine reading, listening and viewing:

• Fritzie Andrade worked on a couple of videos posted this week on nytimes.com. She’s particularly proud of this fun piece starring chef Ferran Adria that could have been straight out of a Food Network show.
• Shuka Kalantari has been contributing to thehealthcareblog.com. She recently put together a post – combining text, links and audio interviews – about the push for a single-payer national health care plan.
• Kate Zhao’s been writing for New American Media about the economic crisis, with an eye on China. This piece tackles the relationship between the U.S. and Chinese economies.
• H’Rina DeTroy notched a clip in The Villager – a direct result of a connection made at the Meet the Media Makers mixer. Check out her feature on the annual Lower East Side Kids’ Art Bike Parade.
• Matt Townsend scored a solo byline on a Daily News story about a pregnant woman pulled from a burning house by two good Samaritans.
• Speaking of the Daily News, Lee Hernandez profiled designer Isabel Toledo, who gained notice when Michelle Obama wore one of her creations to a Manhattan gala.
• Jessica Firger and Maureen Ker’s TV-and-print package about the “pop-up” store trend 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.

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!

• Claudia Cruz was busy in two states, heading to her old stomping grounds of Ohio and filing three pre-primary story packages for Off The Bus. Check out her work, here, here and here. She also found time to file an article – in English and Spanish – for the Manhattan Times about a first-of-its-kind study of spending habits of Dominicans in the U.S.
• “Busy” Barry Paddock also was hard at work. He contributed to several Daily News stories, including covering a murder at his local supermarket ! He also scored his first Daily News solo byline with this light, bright and tight Page 2 story about a Fay Wray scream-a-like contest at the Film Forum. An expanded version of Barry’s live-in piece about an author who turned his job at Chelsea specialty foods store in a book was picked up by Chelsea Now.
• AnnMarie Costella’s story about a new controversy surrounding Harry Houdini’s death made the Daily News.
• Maureen Ker took a run of the mill wire piece about a medical study on acupuncture and fertility, and gave it a local angle – and a (very cute) human face. Her story – complete with a picture of a happy mom and her newborn daughter – was published in am New York.
• Jessica Firger’s story about a bunch of clowns with a serious message made Beyond Race magazine’s website, along with one of her pictures.
• Exhibiting some good street reporting and teamwork, Roisin O’Connor-McGinn, Rosaleen Ortiz, Annie Shreffler and Mathew Warren hit Chinatown the day after a much-ballyhooed raid on peddlers of counterfeit designer good. They found some hawkers who were still doing business. The team’s multi-media package can be found on the News Service.
• Clark Merrefield’s story about the battle to unionize part-time workers at the Lower East Side Tenement museum also can be found on the News Service.

Speaking of the News Service… check out our new News Map. Special thanks to Drew Geraets, Joe Filippazzo and Dana Oliver for making it happen.

• In our alumni corner, Tanzina Vega’s feature about Colombian party buses in NYC not only made the New York Times’ Sunday paper, it also was the day’s most emailed Metro section story.

• 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.