• Alexander Abad-Santos and Peggy Truong covered a pet store protest for The West Side Spirit.
• Erin McCarthy’s videos about the impact of the recession in the South Bronx were picked up by The Bronx Times.
• Eleanor Miller’s article chronicling complaints against a Murray Street bar was featured in The Tribeca Trib.
• Shane Dixon Kavanaugh’s piece about a marathon runner from Oregon with a great comeback story made the Eugene Weekly. (Note that’s Kavanaugh with a “K” – not a “C” as I blundered last week. Mea culpa.)
• Matt Robinson’s story about an Albanian celebration in the Bronx made the Daily News (see attached pdf). Meanwhile, Kate Nocera scored an exclusive interview with a shooting victim, and Mark Morales shared a byline on a Cyber Monday story.
• Megan Finnegan’s story and audio slideshow about a women’s chorus in New Jersey made The Local. Speaking of The Times, Damiano Beltrami’s video profile of an art therapist was featured on the paper’s website, while Kristen Joy Watts wrote a post and produced an audio slideshow about geologist and photographer Roger Ballen for The Lens blog.
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote about Sarah Palin’s reaction to the President’s Afghanistan plan for CBS News.com.
• Aisha Al-Muslim’s video piece about the travails of street vendors made the News Service (it’s a version of a story first seen on “219 West.”) Meanwhile, H’Rina DeTroy, Karina Ioffee, Mark Morales, Nicholas Martinez, Alana Rigal, Jessica Simeone and Sophia Tewa contributed to a package of stories and audio slideshows about the state of parking in the city.
• Emily Feldman wrote about how to deal with odd MetroCard balances for NBC Local Integrated Media, while Maya Pope-Chappell contributed a piece about the end of “Monk.”
• In his latest post for True/Slant, Michael Preston weighs in on the end of school, the end of the decade and the future.
• This clip may look familiar, but it’s well worth another read. That’s because Carla Murphy’s two-part series for Women’s eNews about the inequities girls face in school sports support earned first-place honors in the education category for the Ippies Awards, handed out by the New York Community Media Alliance.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• Christopher Schuetze got into the holiday spirit for The Local with this piece about a store window decoration competition. Joe Walker, meanwhile, wrote about the unclear plans for retail space in an under-construction building. Damiano Beltrami covered a big drug bust.
• Speaking of The Times, Kristen Joy Watts scored the lead photo in a holiday-exodus slideshow.
• Alana Casanova-Burgess earned a Daily News clip with her piece about a row of Harlem buildings slated for a green overhaul. Kate Nocera wrote a first-person piece about testing how fast traffic agents are on the draw. Maria Clark shared the byline on a story about a double-murder in Queens. Rima Abdelakader and Mary Stachyra wrote about the scourge of sex trafficking, interviewing a woman once forced to work in a Queens brothel. Joel Schectman contributed to the paper’s Black Friday coverage.
• Shane Dixon Cavenaugh wrote a piece for the Westside Independent about the crackdown on pedicabs.
• Tim Persinko covered a fraud case sentencing in Manhattan Federal Court for Arkansas Business.
• Sergey Kadinsky’s story about recycling woes in Mott Haven made the Mott Haven Herald. Carla Candia, meanwhile, wrote about the day laborers who congregate on E. 141^st St. and Jackson Ave.
• Karina Ioffee, Sophie Tewa and Nicholas Martinez’s video piece about the hassle of getting rid of e-waste found a home on the News Service, and packages nicely with Karina’s previously published Daily News article.
• Jessica Simeone’s story about an art peddler bounced from the High Line made the New York Post.
• Michael Preston writes about The Boss and David Brooks in his latest post for True/Slant.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• Valerie Lapinski’s exclusive about the contents of Studs Terkel’s FBI file, posted on the News Service, went viral – The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post and scores of other news sites and blogs picked up the story.
• Jordan Shakeshaft’s feature about Atlantic Avenue’s fragrance markets – where the offerings include “Obama Oil” – made am New York.
• Rochana Rapkins’ article about a young veteran living on Roosevelt Island was featured in The Main Street Wire. Click here for a pdf of the issue – Rochana’s story starts on Page 1.
• Sherry Mazzocchi covered a Flight 587 anniversary memorial for The Queens Courier. David Montalvo wrote about a Catholic veterans group seeking new members. Andrew Petrie wrote about the possible closure of the Aqueduct Racetrack flea market, and Perry Santanachote found merchants who are commissioning graffiti artists to paint murals.
• Emily Feldman wrote a story for NBC Local Integrated Media about the proposed five-minute grace period at parking meters.
• Kerri MacDonald wrote a piece for The Local about a computer glitch that kept Maplewood residents from getting emails containing H1N1 vaccination information. Nicholas Martinez, meanwhile, put together a story and audio slideshow about a push to place Muni Meters on Brooklyn’s Myrtle Avenue. Joe Walker wrote about the search for a new operator for a parking lot near BAM.
• Speaking of The Times, Mike Reicher’s story about a move to stop homeowners from turning front yards into driveways was featured on the City Room blog.
• Sergey Kadinsky’s story about the controversy over a fundraiser to be held at Citi Field made the Daily News. Kate Nocera shared a byline on the paper’s Bernie Madoff auction story.
• If you missed The Aerial View webcast – with Mark Morales, Rachel Senatore, and Jessica Simeone – or the Audiophiles webcast – with Kaili Boyd, Maureen Sullivan and Nicole Turso – you can check both out here.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• The reporters in our Interactive Fundamentals sections fanned out around the city, Flip Video cameras in hand, and asked dozens of New Yorkers: “Tell us one way the recession has changed your life.” The results of the video vox pop are plotted out on a Google map. The hits already are starting to roll in, through both the News Service site and YouTube. Thanks to all the reporters and professors involved. Special shoutouts are due to Drew Geraets, Collin Orcutt and Kristen Joy Watts who made the map presentation come to life.
• Kieran Meadows spent his summer as a Carnegie Fellow with the Brian Ross Investigative Unit at ABC. The piece he worked on – a “Harvest of Shame”-style expose of the use of children as fruit pickers – hit the ABC trifecta last week, with segments on “Good Morning America,” “World News with Charlie Gibson” and “Nightline.” ABCnews.com also ran a print story – co-written by Angela Hill (’07), our first Carnegie Fellow. It looks like the Ross story already is having an impact.
• Joel Schectman’s report about fears that U.S. satellites might be vulnerable to attack made BusinessWeek.
• Joe Walker broke into The New York Times’ Metro section with his story about a developer who was barred from selling apartments in New York State. Mike Reicher, meanwhile, wrote a piece for The Times’ City Room blog about a U.N. investigation of New York’s affordable housing situation. David Montalvo, writing for the New Jersey branch of The Local, profiled a Millburn township committee candidate, while Lois DeSocio wrote about new lacrosse nets for Memorial Park.
• Page 18 of last Monday’s Daily News was a J-School affair. Maria Clark, Mark Morales and Kate Nocera’s bylines popped up on different stories.
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote about the New Jersey gubernatorial race for CBSNews.com.
• Alana Rigal’s video piece about offbeat mayoral candidates made the News Service. It’s a version of a longer story she did for “219 West,” which now can be found online.
• In you missed last week’s live webcast of “The Aerial View,” produced by Mark Morales, Rachel Senatore and Jessica Simeone, no worries: you can catch the show here.
• How’s this for J-School teamwork: Nicholas Martinez’ feature about “pink-slip parties” included additional reporting by Aaron Adler, Aashish Jethra, Erin McCarthy. The story made am New York.
• Janet Lawrence’s profile of a maintenance worker at the Paramount Plaza is featured in Our Town.
• Emily Feldman wrote a story for NBC Local Integrated Media about three Harlem restaurants offering an unusual special: free round-trip car service rides.  Maya Pope-Chappell, meanwhile, wrote about two young brothers who gave their World Series tickets to charity.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• The new edition of Mott Haven Herald is on the streets – and on-line. The issue features contributions from Sarah Trefethen (on the proposed South Bronx Greenway), Lindsay Lazarski (on a rat problem at a senior citizens complex), Jeanmarie Evelly (on a public art project involving trees – and stories), and Maria Clark (on the closing of a senior citizens service center).
• Joe Hirsch (’07), the paper’s community editor, wrote about a march to denounce gun violence (Maria contributed an audio slideshow). Incoming student Azriel James Relph (’10) wrote about artists’ fears of being forced out by rising rents.
• Geneva Sands-Sadowitz worked on this Nightline Twittercast web show about the swine flu.
• Valerie Lapinski interviewed Buzz Aldrin for this Time.com video pegged to the 40^th anniversary of the moon landing.
• Speaking of space travel, Joel Schectman wrote this article for BusinessWeek about NASA considering hiring private contractors to take on some key duties.
• Jenni Avins wrote a piece for Saveur about hamburgers that are worth a trip.
• Alana Rigal put together the slideshow for this WNYC post about Albany’s so-called Four Amigos.
• Nicholas Martinez worked on this NBC News story about Paul McCartney.
• Karina Ioffee wrote an article for the AP about the Russian government telling postal officials that cops are allowed to open private mail.
• Kate Nocera shared a piece of Page 1 and the byline with this Daily News story about a cop wounded in the line of duty.
• Xiomara Martinez-White wrote about the viral “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” video for People.com.
• Jessica Simeone, covering the Astor trial for the New York Post, wrote about disputes over money and marbles.
• Emily Feldman penned a piece about oddball jail mates Phil Spector and Charles Manson for NBC Local Integrated Media. Meanwhile, Mark Morales wrote about a report that Walter Cronkrite was floated as a possible running mate for George McGovern in 1972.
• Damiano Beltrami, who is working in Jordan, filed a long distance post for The Local, following up on a story he broke before the summer. Jim Flood wrote about the opening of a much-needed bank. Mike Reicher, along with Sandra Roa and others, led a three-day journalism training session for high schoolers in Ft. Greene, as Kristen Joy Watts wrapped up her photography training for middle schoolers. Meanwhile, a montage of some of the pictures and video captured by the high schoolers Lois DeSocio worked with in New Jersey can be found here.

In our alumni corner, Kate Pastor wrote an article for The Riverdale Press about the family that started the now-embattled Stella D’oro cookie company.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming.

our

• Karina Ioffee, working out of AP’s Moscow bureau, shared a byline on this story about President Obama’s recent visit to Russia.
• Nicholas Martinez help pull together a segment on Levi Johnston for the Today show.
• Speaking of Sarah Palin (and NBC), Emily Feldman wrote this piece for NBC Local Integrated Media about the soon-to-be ex-governor’s plans. Mark Morales, meanwhile, contributed this story to NBC LIM about the censoring of South Park in Russia.
• Carla Murphy’s article about an exhibit of photos showing American music greats abroad during the Cold War-era Jazz Ambassadors program made The Christian Science Monitor.
• Kate Zhao’s story about how the baby clothing business is doing well amid the recession can be found on the Wall Street Journal’s website.
• Rima Abdelkader helped produce this video about the death of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for Al Jazeera.
• Ben Fractenberg’s slideshow about South Africans settling in Israel can be found on Haaretz’s website.
• Mirva Lempiainen covered a UN panel on the recession and gender equality for UNA-USA’s World Bulletin. Sarah Trefethen, meanwhile, wrote a piece for the World Bulletin about a worldwide poll in which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon placed second in popularity to President Obama.
• Sergey Kadinsky’s photo essay showing College Point’s waterfront was featured on the Forgotten New York website.
• Jessica Simeone shared a byline on this New York Post exclusive about spending by City Council members.
• Damiano Beltrami’s article about how learning Spanish is becoming popular in Jordan made The Jordan Times.
• Joel Schectman’s story about a call for changes at NASA is featured on BusinessWeek’s website.
• Jeanmarie Evelly reports that St. Barnabas Hospital has halted plans to construct a health center, citing the economy. You’ll find her story in the Mount Hope Monitor.
• Heather Chin shared a byline on this Philadelphia Inquirer story about the debate over expanding state-sponsored health insurance in Pennsylvania.
• Our Local team has been busy: Kristen Joy Watts began training area kids in photography last week and contributed a photo herself to this piece. Mike Reicher put out a call for historic photos of Fort Greene in this post. Jim Flood showed the value of follow up in this story about the ongoing Myrtle Avenue building collapse saga. Lois DeSocio helped put together this well-knit slideshow for the New Jersey edition of The Local.

In our alumni corner, Henry Stewart’s capstone piece about eco-friendly burials made The L Magazine’s website. Linnea Covington’s interview with writer Neil Gaiman and musician Amanda Palmer was featured in New York Press.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• Rima Abdelkader produced this video about the economy for Al Jazeera.
• Valerie Lapinski was the reporter for this Time.com video piece about wind power.
• Alana Rigal shared a byline with Brigid Bergin (’07) on this WNYC story about the Brooklyn building collapse.
• Speaking of the building collapse: Kristen Joy Watts snapped a picture of the aftermath for The Local, while Jim Flood wrote a follow-up story, as did Mike Reicher, who found the contractor didn’t have proper permits for the work reportedly being done.
• The Straphangers Campaign gave the R train an F — for Filthy, Jessica Simeone reported for the New York Post.
• Kate Nocera wrote about the 40^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots for the Daily News.
• Speaking of the Daily News, Damiano Beltrami and Nick Loomis’ story about struggling immigrant day laborers being forced to cut back on wiring money home to Ecuador made the made the paper’s Queens section. You’ll find Nick’s accompanying audio slideshow on the News Service.
• Xiomara Martinez-White wrote about one of last week’s celebrity deaths – Farrah Fawcett – for People.com.
• Mark Morales wrote for NBC Local Integrated Media about how Time magazine rushed out a special edition commemorative Michael Jackson issue. Emily Feldman also contributed a sidebar to the Jackson coverage.
• Marcella Veneziale interviewed the national PTA president for Parenting.com.
• Nicholas Martinez was the lead researcher for this NBC News piece about former President George H.W. Bush’s latest skydiving adventure.
• Tim Persinko covered a protest by Iranians in Britain for The Independent.

Congrats to all on the clips – and keep ‘em coming!

• The Mott Haven Herald, our latest effort to cover to journalistically underserved neighborhoods, is off to a strong start. Prof. Stein’s staffers, among them Maria Clark, Lindsay Lazarski and Caroline Linton, contributed to the first wave of articles.
• Our other local news venture, The Local, features contributions this week from Kristen Joy Watts (a fun photo) and Mary Stachyra (a piece about a Public Advocate candidates’ forum).
• Marcella Veneziale and Jeanmarie Evelly teamed to report on how pension changes could spur an exodus of nurses. Their story was featured in City Limits.
• In another sign of J-School teamwork, students from Prof. Mifflin’s class – including Nicholas Martinez, Amber Benham, Marcella Veneziale, Collin Orcutt, Maya Pope-Chappell, Kaili Boyd, Xiomara Martinez-White, Lois DeSocio, and Sergey Kadinsky — offered photos and stories about artists working out of Smack Mellon gallery in DUMBO. Their story made the News Service.
• Speaking of our News Service, Robert Voris’ piece about artificial turf wars in city parks was posted this past week.
• Sergey Kadinksy’s account of the impending demise of the Soho DKNY advertisement mural, which started as a local bane and became an icon of the changing neighborhood, was featured in AMNew York.
• Igor Kossov’s article about how merchants along Kings Highway are trying to beat the recession made the Brooklyn Eagle.
• Meanwhile, Tim Persinko’s piece about merchants’ struggles along Brooklyn’s Avenue U found a home in the Daily News.
• Joel Schectman shared the byline on this Daily News story about the murder of a family man in Brooklyn.
• Maria Clark shared a Daily News byline with J-School alum Barry Paddock on another sad murder story.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

That we’ve gotten this far is a tribute to the hard work of our reporters, faculty and staff. The Region 1 winners will be announced on April 25 – stay tuned.

Meanwhile, check out some of our reporters’ latest fine work:

• You won’t see a CUNY J-School byline on this piece – but it deserves special mention. Jim Flood got a Fort Greene Park soccer player to defend his turf in a post on The New York Times’ new “The Local” blog. It’s the first example of how we’re reaching into the community to find contributors. Jim took the picture accompanying the post, and Kristen Joy Watts contributed this photo to the blog.
• Mirva Lempiainen and Aisha Al-Muslim put together a video report for the News Service on how the peanut industry came to New York to try to rebuild its reputation amid the recent salmonella-contamination scare.
• Kieran Meadows’ feature on the Red Hook Community Justice Center, which is fighting to stave off budget cuts, made Brooklyn Rail.
• Nicholas Martinez covered an international festival at a school for special children in DUMBO. His article was published the Brooklyn Courier, but isn’t online yet – feel free to come by my office to check it out.
• Jenni Avins’ look at bustling Grand Street (in Brooklyn) was featured in TimeOut New York.
• Joel Schectman’s report on sparse banking services in the South Bronx made the Daily News.
• Sergey Kadinsky shared a byline on this Daily News story about a protest aimed at stopping evictions spurred by foreclosures.
• Tim Persinko covered the tragic (for pizza fans) fire that devastated Totonno’s in Coney Island.
• Carla Murphy wrote about the impending debut of competitive double dutch in public high schools for Women’s eNews.
• In our alumni corner, Becky Harshbarger also made Women’s eNews with her piece about female engineers serving as role model to girls.
• Linnea Covington’s review of a Czech café in Fort Greene was published in New York Press – and was linked to by The Local.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

• Henry Stewart’s entertaining review of the not-so-entertaining (by his reckoning) revival of “All My Sons” was featured in The L Magazine.
• Linnea Covington offered a somewhat more positive review of the new Nolita bistro Lulu in her piece for New York Press.
• Jenni Avins profiled multi-talented artist Alex Kopps for Foam magazine.
• Nicole Turso’s profile of a real Queens character – a kiddie entertainer who calls him The Balloonatic – made the Queens Courier.
• Karina Ioffee also notched a byline in the Courier with her profile of a popular Jackson Heights sari tailor.
• Collin Orcutt and Michael Preston proved the value of follow up with this video piece about a high school hoops standout’s decision to attend Villanova. The video was featured on sports reporter Adam Zagoria’s blog — as was the duo’s earlier profile of the athlete.
• Ben Fractenberg’s opinion piece about the Internet, the Obama campaign and finding one’s self through a connection to others made The Huffington Post.

Our News Service was very busy this week:

• Nicholas Martinez and Brian Winkowski offered a video piece about the fight to save Admirals’ Row in the old Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Nick Loomis and Jim Flood did a video on the revival of the growler – a vessel guaranteed to make for fresher and less expensive beer drinking.
• Geneva Sands-Sadowitz gets down to the nitty gritty of urban composting in this video story.
• Adeola Oladele’s latest video focuses on some immigrant grad students and what they want to see from the Obama Administration.
• Jessica Wakeman found a Harlem jazz club with hot music – and a great backstory — in this video piece.
• Joe Walker and Sophia Tewa profiled two young Brooklyn entrepreneurs who are recycling vinyl records into fashion accessories.
• Caitlin Drexler got the story behind Commerce Bank’s now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t transformation into TD.
• Stephen Bronner and Clark Merrefield obtained Margaret Truman’s FBI file for our latest I-Team special.
• Valerie Lapinski chronicled the latest clash between Central Park horse carriage operators and animal rights activists in this Sounslides presentation.
• In case you missed them, the final installments of this semester’s audio podcasts – Culture Shock, This Place Called Home and Health Pods — can be found here.

Okay, I promised not to lede with mawkish sentiment, but I didn’t say anything about ending with it.

I want to thank the member of the Class of ’08 for their help in bringing the News Service to new heights, especially during this historic election year. Your energy, enthusiasm, dedication and hard work have been inspiring to me – and to the Class of ’09, which is following your fine example.

Do not hesitate to call, email or visit any time I can be of help. If you want to drop by and just shoot the breeze, that’s fine, too – one of the great parts of working in a newsroom is when friends drop by.

So good luck and congrats to all – and keep those stories coming.