hard times in new york town

so, in case you hadn't already heard, the new york sun, where i was working up until this week, is in dire financial straits and may well close before the month is out.

i don't have anything to say here, so i'll just let you see what's out there for yourself:

the editor's open letter announcing the problems.

the new york observer's story on it.

gawker's analysis of it.

the wall street journal's article on it.

romenesko's brief on it.

i hope the paper pulls through.

stories 39 - 44: corruption, tragedy, torture, and abu dhabi

sorry that these posts are getting so infrequent. circumstances make it difficult to make regular posts.

okay, first the big stories:

"New Yorkers Claim Mistreatment at Hands of Chinese" (the pic above is from that story)

"Police Department Will Send Liaison Officer to Abu Dhabi"

"Judge Rejects Dismissing Indictment Against Senator" (a poorly-written headline, not my fault; should read something like "Judge Rejects Effort to Dismiss Indictment Against Senator")

"Pace Student's Death Being Probed as a Homicide" (really tragic; hard to write as a result)


and now, the briefs:

"Window Contractor Falls 12 Stories, Dies"

"Man Arrested in Cab Drivers Robberies"


and that's it for now.

story 38: a bigger chinatown story, this time with sheldon silver!

"Chinatown's 'Glorious Flute' Facing an Unusual Primary Challenge"

new york magazine picked it up, too!

spent a lot of time on this one, and they let it run at a big word-count, which is nice. probably my last long-form feature at the sun (i finish up my gig there on thursday). sad!

stories 31 - 37: chokeholds, old ladies, car crashes, and big rigs

lots of stuff this week. first the full stories, then the briefs:

"Man is Wanted for 12 Brooklyn Robberies" (featuring horrifying video!)

"Fire at Homeless Center Injures Two Firefighters"

"Court Date Set for Officers Charged in Bronx Beating" (can't wait to hear their side...)

"Business Owners Send Strong Message on Willets Point" (they gave me a break from the crime / emergency beat for the evening)

"Arrest Made in Robberies of Elderly" (echoes of d'angelo barksdale in the last few paragraphs)


THE BRIEFS:

"Politicians Demand More Protection for Seniors" (related to the elderly robberies...)

"Woman Who Crashed Police Van Faces 7 Charges" (crazy!)

stories 29 & 30: the intersection of disaster

"Times Square Taxi Crash Causes Injuries"

"Another Glass Pane Hits the Street in Times Square"

seriously, y'all—it was the same freaking intersection! over the course of about four hours, a cab flipped over onto a median and hit six people, then a 15-square-foot pane of glass fell out of a skyscraper! onto the same intersection at 43rd & broadway!

WATCH THE SKIES

story twenty-nine: pray for him

"Dying Woman's Unborn Baby is Saved"

the baby's in critical condition. let's pray. stay tuned for an update.

stories 24 - 28: the whirlwind

so i'm the crime / emergency reporter now, all of a sudden. it's been exhausting, but pretty fruitful. the stories aren't long, but they're intense to do—you're running against the clock and the other papers!

so, here's what i did this week:

"Fumes Shut Down Subway Station"

"Two Injured as More Glass Falls at Bryant Park"

"Shots Fired Into Judge's Home"

"Developer Bruce Ratner Is Honored at Gala" (not technically part of crime / emergency beat, but i did it in addition to all that)

"Fumes Cause Evacuation of West Side Duane Reade"

sheesh! will this city just slow the hell down??

story twenty-three: live at the gay marriage trial

"Paterson Win on Gay Rites Looks Likely"

okay, not a trial. but i wanted to reference an album by the fall.

OLYMPICS SUPERSITE

HERE IT IS

second one is my story.

story twenty-two: gay marriage set for trial

"Christian Group Challenges Paterson on Gay Rites Order"

love that pun. a big issue with a complicated legal history. stay tuned for an update after i go to the hearing.

one quick disavowal

just so you know, i recommend that you do NOT read the latest story from me in the online edition of the sun. it's a gutted-down (like, as in, wordcount literally cut in half) version of last week's page-one feature. it's only up there to accompany the slideshow and go on the sun's olympics supersite, set to debut tuesday.

multimedia: abe speaks!

we went to a pro-olympics parade and made a multimedia slideshow! and i'm talkin'! enjoy!

story twenty-one: the big chinatown story

"Olympics Expose a Rift in Manhattan's Chinatown"

the product of nearly a month's work; page one of the print edition (if you wanna pick it up). let me know what you think.

story twenty: uprooting construction

"Mayor Announces Changes to City Construction Projects"

do you think the building boom is over in NYC? the jury's still out...

story nineteen: small contributors

"Number of Small Campaign Contributors Soars"

just a brief on a report that the campaign finance board issued. thought you should know.

story eighteen: brooklyn flea UNDER ATTACK

"Brooklyn Flea Market's Future is Focus of Town Hall Meeting"

STAY TUNED, BROOKLYNITES

also, the story got picked up by the NYT (scroll to the "neighborhoods" section).

JELLYFISH UPDATE

the story got gawk'd, and i have to say, it is quite odd how the jellyfish became yesterday's big story in four of the city papers. what the hell?

story seventeen: jellyfish (...?)

"Spotlight on Jellyfish After the Triathlon"

i'm gonna be honest—i'm not super-proud of this one. i don't really know what it was supposed to be, and i think that uncertainty comes through in the text. but there it is.

update: keeth smart audio slideshow

you can view it here.

story sixteen: the tribulations of keeth smart

"Fencing Captain Brings New Perspective to Third Olympics"

my first long-form profile at the sun (they don't do many of those—it's not that kind of paper). we're doing weekly profiles of olympians. i'm really proud of this piece.

oh and i'll be re-linking soon, when we have this multimedia thing for the piece up on the site. there were some snafus, i guess, because it wasn't ready for the site yet. whatever. you'll get to see it soon.