Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS GALA The National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, May 15, 2019 Drinks: 6 p.m. • Dinner: 7:15 p.m. Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Meet old friends and award winners of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 [email protected] MAY 2019 Celebrating The Best BY JACK DEACY Melius, a onetime street hoodlum who received today’s equivalent of at least in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. nvestigative stories were the came to own Long Island’s unofficial $413 million from his father’s real estate highlight of this year’s Silurian political clubhouse, a grand, Gatsby-era empire and that much of it came from • Newsday reporter Will Van Sant’s IExcellence in Journalism contest. estate called Oheka Castle. Along with questionable tax schemes during the “Hands to the Neck” exposé won for The New York Times, Newsday and hosting celebrity weddings and music 1990s, including outright fraud. Public Service Reporting. It took Van The Record/NorthJersey.com were the videos by Taylor Swift and others, Ohe- Sant a year to conduct deep research, big winners in the awards spon- ka became the place where high-rank- • On their way to winning the Me- collecting documents, developing sourc- sored annually by the Society of ing public officials, political leaders and dallion for Radio News Reporting, es and using old fashioned shoe leather Silurians. law enforcement brass wined and dined, WNYC Radio and ProPublica combined to get the story. It revealed scores of Newsday also won the President’s played poker, anointed and cross-en- their staffs to produce “Trump Inc.,” a non-fatal strangulation attacks in state- Choice Medallion for its extraordinay dorsed candidates and otherwise sliced year-long series of podcasts that uncov- run or state-supervised hospital and oth- investigation that exposed a complex up the public pie. ered wrongdoing and conflicts of inter- er medical facilities. Van Sant’s report- web of corrupt ties between politicans Other winning entries also featured est in the Trump business empire. ing detailed how Patricia Gunning, the and the business, law enforcement and outstanding investigative work and sev- former special prosecutor and inspector legal communities of Long Island. Over eral of them targeted the Trump business • The Associated Press Trump Busi- general at the New York State Justice four years a battalion of Newsday report- empire: ness Team dug deep into the business Center for the Protection of People with ers and researchers conducted hundreds activities of Ivanka Trump and Jared Special Needs, was stymied in her at- of interviews, pored over thousands of • The New York Times investigative Kushner. Their investigations exposed tempt to study and combat the phenom- government documents and developed team of David Barstow, Susanne Craig glaring conflicts of interest as the pair enon, which often involved employees inside sources. The result was “Pathway and Russ Buettner won the Medalllion continue to serve as White House advis- acting against vulnerable individuals un- To Power,” a 48-page, 30,000-word spe- for Investigative Reporting by telling ers without divesting their extensive fi- der state care. Van Sant’s piece spurred cial Sunday supplement published last the complex story of the legally dubious nancial holdings. For their reporting, the calls for Congressional action. March. financial history of the Trump family AP team won a Merit Award for Busi- The vehicle for the probe was Gary business. It demonstrated that Trump ness and Financial Reporting. • Kevin Armstrong won for Sports Reporting for taking a close look at • The exhaustive research work of an FBI probe into the way business- New Jersey Bus Crash Tragedy James O’Neill, Scott Fallon and photo- men and coaches schemed to funnel journalist Chris Padota of The Record/ six-frigure payments from sneaker NorthJersey.com resulted in “Toxic Se- companies to the families of star high crets: Pollution, Evasion and Fear in school basketball players. When he New Jersey,” which won the Medal- wrote it he was working in the sports lion for Environmental Reporting. department of the New York Daily The four-part series uncovered how News. When the Daily News let half DuPont downplayed the dire health of their editorial staff go during 2018, risks posed by cancer-causing ground- Armstrong was among the casualties. water contamination at their now But he bounced back and now covers closed munitions manufacturing plant Continued on Page 4 Dennis Duggan Award Winner: Rachel Rippetoe is Dedicated to Local Reporting By Allan Dodds Frank he first story by Rachel Rippe- toe, this year’s Dennis Duggan TAward winner, appeared in the “Knightly News,” her high school news- paper at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, Tenn., home of the Blue Knights. In those days, Rippetoe was working part time at a farmer’s market so her journalism focused on agriculture and the food chain. She wanted to get out of the South and had relatives in Oregon so she enrolled at the University of Portland, A bus carrying fifth grade students from Paramus, New Jersey, where she became the editor-in-chief of hit a dump truck while allegedly making an illegal U-turn on The Beacon, the student newspaper. While still at school, Rippetoe got an Route 80. The crash killed 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and internship at the Eugene, Oregon Reg- teacher Jennifer Williamson-Kennedy while injuring 43 others. ister-Guard. It was “the most fun ever, This photo by Bob Karp for TheRecord.com was one of a series reporting in a small town,” she says. “I that won in Breaking News Photography. got into journalism there and knew I Continued on Page 6 RACHEL RIPPETOE PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2019 President’s Report Greetings, Silurians! Spring is prize time for Silurians. We had the good fortune to kick it off with a bang, celebrating our Peter Kihss Award winner, WCBS News Radio’s ace street reporter Rich Lamb, just entering his 41st year on the streets of New York. He was joined at our April awards lunch by the Dennis Duggan winner, the amazing young journalist, Rachel Rippetoe, a 23-year-old student at the Craig New- mark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The names of both awards, of course, enshrine two of the giants of our pro- fession—Peter Kihss of The New York Times and Dennis Duggan of Newsday, each of them contributing magisterially to the craft we all love. In May, as you are reading this, we will be presenting our annual Excellence in Journalism Awards at a gala at the National Arts Club. And we have an amazing collection of Medallion and Merit winners, including for the first time in many years the President’s Medallion, which I will be bestowing on an extraor- dinary work by Newsday called “Pathway to Power,” which you will find featured elsewhere in today’s Silurian News. * * * Since I will shortly be nearing the end Block goes over a script with CBS anchor Walter Cronkite in of my first (of two) years as your pres- an undated photo. ident, I thought it might be worthwhile to engage in a little accounting. I am of the strong belief that elected officials, learned good English in school? at every level of politics, society and “No,” he told me. “That’s not media, owe that to their constituents. It the problem. Writers need to is a belief nourished by my first-hand PROFILE: remember the art of writing lies experience chronicling the abuses per- in rewriting.” Block’s early ca- petrated by dictators operating in their reer was in print news. Does he own rather than their peoples’ interests. feel TV news today is generally In a real democracy, none of us operates superficial? “Yes, it is what it in a vacuum. We are all, or should be, MERVIN is. It’s not The New York Times, accountable to all of those who put us in office. (Sound familiar? Or perhaps but it’s free.” What about the unfamiliar these days.) look of TV news anchors, es- One of my principal goals in assum- pecially at the local level? Are ing leadership of what was then the So- BLOCK they just hiring pretty faces, good ciety of the Silurians, was to broaden our at reading from the teleprompter? “I Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. He had dinner reach and influence, which by strength By Bill Diehl wouldn’t say that, or think that, although with Jimmy Stewart. of the present or former employment of ervin Block is watching the a pretty face is no handicap.” His list of interviews is long: Elizabeth all of us, should be not inconsiderable. TV news and grumbling . In his books, Block doesn’t come Taylor, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland. (Gar- I was especially moved (not positively) “Too many crawls,” he says. down hard on news anchors, realizing land was 45 minutes late for her interview. by the comment from a top aide to Rep. M “It gives me the creeps. Breaking news. they haven’t written everything they “Why were you late, I asked. She said she Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), in declining our invitation to speak at one of Happening now. Those headlines are read, but “I do quote some of their scripts was taking a shower. She wasn’t pleased our gatherings, referring to The Silurians usually phony. Where are the editors? verbatim, which is bad enough.” when I said, ‘How long does it take you as “your luncheon club.” Supervisors? Management?” Does he watch the Sunday shows– to take a shower?’” Well, we are not a tea party nor Longtime Silurian Block, at 93, is “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” Meet He once had breakfast with Senator (merely) a luncheon club. We are, or still speaking his mind even though he the Press?” No, but he does like CNN’s Joe McCarthy, not in Washington but at should be, an active, exciting, impactful retired from the day-to-day news business Fareed Zakaria (“He knows his stuff.” ) the home of ABC Radio’s Paul Harvey. collection of the best and brightest from decades ago. and Jake Tapper. It happened accidentally, he said. “I was our profession. We express this mission Merv had a distinguished career as a Any thoughts about President Trump? following the senator’s motorcade and in many ways—through our awards news writer at all three of the traditional “Can’t we say something new and not it wound up at Harvey’s house in River (from Lifetime Achievement in October U.S. networks--ABC, NBC and CBS. He [just] call Trump a liar? Or why even men- Forest, a suburb of Chicago. After the to Excellence in Journalism in May), our press freedom committee, our scholar- wrote for some broadcast greats, includ- tion him, unless we can say something no senator went in, I went up to the house, ships for journalism education and of ing: Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, one has ever said? How about, President knocked on the door, and identified course our regular noontime gatherings Frank Reynolds, Marlene Sanders, Edwin Trump caught telling the truth? But no one myself as a reporter. To my surprise, nine times a year. Newman, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, would believe it.” Harvey welcomed me in to join them My first goal, then, was to help con- Roger Mudd, Charles Osgood, Doug As for Fox News, Block thinks Chris for breakfast. So I did.” vey more directly just what we are— Edwards and Charles Kuralt. Block has Wallace (son of Mike Wallace) seems to Other political interviews included hence the change of our name, retaining written five books on broadcast news be a straight shooter. Mostly he thinks Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and our beloved “Silurians” but adding Press writing, and they’re still used in journal- Fox News is partisan to a fault. “I watch Eleanor Roosevelt. And he had tea with Club for those addled few who had no ism schools today. His first book,Writing Fox briefly now and then but what I see the poet T.S. Eliot and interviews with idea what was a Silurian. Next, we have Broadcast News Shorter, Sharper, Stron- and hear leaves me shaking my head in moved on to designating a Keynote Carl Sandburg and W. H. Auden. Speaker for our Awards Gala—the ex- ger, was published in 1987. His most disbelief. Likewise, Fox’s Sean Hannity, No doubt about it, a great and fasci- traordinary Debby Krenek of Newsday. recent book, released in 2012, is Weighing who is laughable in the way he’s in the nating career that would be the envy of Finally, an invitation is out to an amazing Anchors: When Network Newscasters Trump camp.” most anyone. Lifetime Achievement winner for Oc- Don’t Know Write from Wrong. Any advice if Block were running a How would Mervin Block like to be tober. Stay tuned! Allan Dodds Frank In a review of the latter book for Time- network newsroom now? “Hire some remembered? “That’s easy,” he said. is also honchoing both our journalism Out Chicago, Robert Feder wrote, “When folks who covered city hall for a small “Just say, “Someone who tried.’” scholarships and press freedom commit- network anchors murder the language— town daily and police and fire. And hire tees, which I am confident will begin to which they do night after night—thank more folks with backgrounds in print Bill Diehl is a correspondent at ABC have the broad impact Silurians should goodness there’s Merv Block to perform reporting.” Before he was a news writer News Radio and a member of the Silurian have. And that’s all just in my first year. the autopsy. No one has a better ear or at CBS, Block was a newspaper copy So stand by! Any and all comments Board of Governors. always appreciated by the way. As one sharper pencil than Merv Block. He’s boy, reporter and editor at the Chicago who has prospered from a one-man quality control department for American, covering courts, crime and city the efforts of any number the broadcast news business.” hall (and crime in city hall) . In New York Society of the Silurians of brilliant editors, I try at Last year Block was honored by his City, he wrote and broadcast editorials least to take all such con- alma mater, Northwestern’s Medill School for WNBC-TV. PO Box 1195 tributions constructively of Journalism, with its highest award, During my career at ABC News Radio I Madison Square Station and graciously! admission to the Hall of Achievement. have interviewed some big names, but it’s New York, NY 10159 All the very best, Block has seen a decline in broadcast hard to top Merv. He once had a private 212.532.0887 David A. Andelman news writing. Is it because they never lunch with Alexandra Tolstoy, daughter of www.silurians.org MAY 2019 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3

at the time that my mother was in the early stages of dementia; she had let the PETER KIHSS: JUST DAD TO ME insurance lapse two months earlier. I called Dad’s old friend and editor Gelb to see if On April 17 the Silurians Press Club After John Kennedy’s assassination, he he could help. What happened next over- awarded its annual Peter Kihss Award to led a team of reporters covering the War- whelmed my mother, sister Wendy and Rich Lamb of WCBS Radio for his role in ren Commission and had access to all the I. Arthur, who died in 2014, held a fund mentoring young journalists over a long background information the commission raiser at the Times and we started getting career. The award is named for a legendary gathered. He believed that Oswald acted personal checks in various amounts from New York Times reporter who did the same, alone. I don’t know what he would make Dad’s former colleagues, from the pubisher and died too young, in 1984. In his Times of all these conspiracy theories today. down to young reporters who only knew of obit, Peter Kihss was lauded as, “by nearly My father would never tell me whom my father by reputation. With this money every standard of American journalism, an he voted for in an election, keeping that and what I could borrow from my pension ideal reporter: thorough, fast, tenacious reporter’s objectivity, even with his own plan, we were able to save the house and get and objective, with an encyclopedic mem- family. I suspect, however, that he voted re-insured. My mother lived another three ory, voluminous contacts and the ability mostly Democratic. Still, even Richard years in that house and died peacefully in to write with speed, grace and a towering Nixon praised him for his fairness. He her own bed. I am forever grateful to all calm against a deadline.” We asked his wrote a profile of the Nixon family in 1963 the great people at the Times for their gen- son Erik, a music teacher in New York, to that pleased the future President. I have a erosity in a way that can never be repaid. recall what it was like growing up with a framed letter on my wall from Nixon saying I am so glad that the Peter Kihss Award man regarded as a titan of his profession. “ the best newspaper reporters are objective, is given out each year by the Society of the fair and considerate, particularly when Silurians so that my father’s legacy endures. By Erik Kihss they are writing about a man’s family and ike many children of people who personal life.” After Watergate my father Erik Kihss, who has a masters degree are noted in their professional said he had never seen such a change for in music from Columbia University, is a Lcareers, I was unaware of how the worse in a person as he did in Nixon. retired music teacher and a jazz pianist. highly regarded my father was until several Peter Kihss did have enemies, though: He was the house pianist at Gage & Tollner major events in my life. I was, of course, his editors. I heard him many times argu- restaurant for six years, and entertained very proud of him, but he was always just ing with copy editors over the phone about many celebrities, including Walter Cronkite Dad to me. changes in his stories. One time I heard Kihss and the young Erik and the old Brooklyn Dodgers. The first of these events was when I was him angrily say something on the order of, in college at NYU in the early 1970’s and ”You can print that story, but without my got a call that my father suffered a major byline or else I quit.” He did quit the Herald heart attack while walking our dog on a Tribune over arguments with editors before cold, snowy winter’s night. He dragged joining the Times in 1952, the year of my ADVENTURES IN RADIOLAND the dog home and had to be coaxed into the birth. He quit the Times over editing issues Rich Lamb of WCBS Radio is this and listened to the richness of his tones ambulance by my mother and the family three times and had to be coaxed back. year’s choice to receive the Peter Kihss it came to me that he knew how to use a doctor. This was dad, through and through. One quote attributed to him: “An editor is Award, given each year to a journalist microphone way better than I did. By the People had no idea how self-deprecating someone who separates the wheat from the who has served as a mentor to his fellow way, I erased the tape, knowing that po- he could be, telling us that we should let chaff and sees to it that the chaff gets into scribes and broadcasters. The award litically Reagan was going nowhere….. him die, and that the world and my mother the paper.” Ironically, my father’s first job was presented at an April 17 luncheon Here is my favorite Pope story… It’s would be better off without him. after graduating from the Columbia School at the National Arts Club attended by a 1979 and I’ve been at WCBS for about I rushed to the hospital to find him in of Journalism in 1932 was as an editor for squad of Rich’s friends and family. Lamb a year and a half and a 59-year-old Pope intensive care with the next 24 hours being the AP. He must have been miserable there. has covered every major event in New John Paul, in very good shape, he visits critical. It was at this time that I met [New I never heard my father utter a curse York Times metro editor] Arthur Gelb, who word stronger than “hell” or “damn” in my York since 1978, including two subway New York. It’s hard to imagine now but visited him almost every day throughout his life. He was a man of a different generation. strikes, the bombing of the World Trade I was assigned to stand behind a blue recovery. Arthur sang his praises to me in He had rather old-world views on women’s Center in 1993 and its destruction in NYPD sawhorse at the top of the front ways I had never heard my father described roles, and actually made my mother quit her 2001. He “has been there for every steps of St. Patrick’s cathedral and that before. At that time my father was doing a secretarial job before they got married. But mayoral, gubernatorial and presidential was it [for security]. The Holy Father lot of city news stories, about topics such I know he had utmost respect for female election since 1978,” said Silurian Presi- is walking and waving on the 51st Street as welfare and the city budget, that, as a colleagues at the Times like Edith Asbury, dent David Andelman in his introduction, side of the cathedral. He stops, looks up young music major, I wasn’t particularly Nan Robertson and Anna Quindlen. “not to mention the utterly innumerable at the buildings and does his patented interested in. Mayor John Lindsay, know- When he retired, my father felt he didn’t murders, fires, blackouts and parades— two-handed gesture of appreciation. The ing my father’s attention to detail, jokingly deserve all the accolades and, according to all the stuff of a hack on the streets of people are roaring. I am on the air live sent him a copy of the city budget for his AP writer Jerry Schwartz, said, “Somehow, New York.” The plaque presented by and I say, Here is the Pope about 30 yards reading pleasure while he recuperated. Of I must have lived a life of deceit to create Andelman commends Lamb, in part, for away, now 20, and I expected he would course, my father dove right into it and such illusions.” Typical dad. He also “nurturing young journalists to follow in turn to his left and enter the cathedral. alerted the mayor’s office that there was a didn’t appeal his mandatory retirement and, your footsteps, all in the legendary tradi- But no, he kept walking toward me. As page missing, which sent everyone scram- according to Schwartz, said “the Times is tion of Peter Kihss.” Some recollections he drew even he turned his head—and bling to look at their copies. Apparently the better off with young reporters.” And when from Lamb’s long career: winked at me. And I thought, do I say missing page was only in the copy sent to he was working, he tried to reject the salary One night a former California gov- this on the air, the Pope winked at me? my dad, but this was typical of him. increases grateful editors pushed upon him. ernor was speaking at the Waldorf. The Would it be disrespectful? But I went The next major event that really showed He had to be persuaded to take them by my station didn’t really care. At that point ahead and said: The Pope winked at me. me how well respected he was was his man- mother, Alice, whom Arthur Gelb in his in the race for the GOP nomination Ron- Ben Farnsworth and Pat Parsons both datory retirement at age 70 in 1982. He was book City Room described as “the voice ald Reagan was way behind, but I was cracked up on the anchor mics back at called for interviews on radio shows such as of reason” when it came to her husband’s assigned to hear what he had to say any- the studio, laughing and asking, “Rich, Howard Cosell’s “Speaking of Everything” career. According to Arthur, Dad once on WABC, where Cosell in that unique accused executive editor Abe Rosenthal of way. There was so little media interest did the mayor wink at you, the police voice of his described him as a “reporter’s “binding me with chains of gold.” in Reagan that his PR guy immediately commissioner?”... reporter.” This was followed by tributes Retirement gave my father a bit of time offered me a one-on-one. So I did him a It was Dec. 8, 1980 and on Monday even by reporters from competing news- to indulge his dual interests in history, favor and said yes. The interview was in Night Football Howard Cosell announces papers speaking of my father’s generosity, which he read voraciously despite terrible one of those grand ballroom anterooms. that John Lennon has been shot. I was helpful advice, and how he would freely eyesight, and baseball. He was a die-hard Reagan spoke so softly that from two feet dispatched to Roosevelt Hospital, jumped share information and sources. My father Brooklyn Dodger fan. He was appalled away I could barely hear him. When I out of the WCBS mobile unit and arrived had an address book full of phone numbers when they left New York, but thrilled when got back to the studio and played the tape just in time to hear a doctor announce of city officials. If you wanted the home the Mets came into being and brought back that John Lennon has been shot in the number of the water commissioner, Dad some of his National League heros such as chest four times and he has expired. I would give it to you. Duke Snider, Richie Ashburn, Gil Hodges dashed back to the car, unlocked the His career started in what today’s jour- and Wille Mays at the end of their careers. door and landed on broken glass. In the nalists consider the ancient past. According He would say, “The Mets got a break today; five minutes I had been out of that car to my mother, one of the stories that had the game is rained out.” But he loved them, thieves had broken in and ripped out all a profound affect on my dad was when a Marvelous Marv Thorneberry and all. the two-way radio gear. No choice, you plane crashed into the Empire State Build- When he died in December 1984, what had to keep going. About three in the ing in 1945. He was apparently coming really brought home to me how appreciated morning at the 20th precinct, Inspector out of the subway and witnessed the crash my father was by his peers was the outpour- Pete Prezioso told me to go into a nearby and was the first reporter on the scene. My ing of tributes from journalists everywhere, room and look at a piece of paper. On mother said that he didn’t like to talk about including Robert McFadden, Pete Hamill, it was written the words Mark David it after seeing such carnage as a woman’s Sydney Schanberg, Nat Hentoff and many Chapman. I wrote the name down and head on a window sill. I am glad he was not others. A few months before he died, the went back to him and said who is that? around for 9/11. Times sent him a special award signed by Although he, like the rest of the country, 200 Times reporters and editors, lauding He said who expletive-deleted do you was shaken by the assassination of Presi- him for “setting and maintaining standards think it is? I said where is he from? He dent Kennedy, the murder of Robert Ken- of journalism at their highest. In grateful said Hawaii. I said, can I use this? He nedy seemed to affect him more deeply. He acknowledgement of all he has taught us.” said go ahead, it’s yours. So now I had to covered RFK on numerous occasions while I am glad he lived to see this and it hangs go down to the corner and call the radio he was campaigning for senator of New proudly on my wall. station because all the gear was out of York and I know he thought him an honest One final measurement of the regard in the car. It was quite a long night. Driv- and good person. I remember waking him which my father was held came in 2001, ing home that cold December morning, up with the news early that morning as I almost two decades after his death. There I really lost it when [the Lennon song] was getting ready for school and saw how was a devastating fire in my parents’ house Rich Lamb “This is Christmas” came on the radio. deeply it affected him. in Jamaica Estates, Queens. I didn’t know PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2019 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 1 was attempting an illegal U-turn on the seasoned reporter to produce a story that ing and sophisticated accounting analy- the Mets for The New York Times. highway, while reporter Jim O’Neill is understated, thorough and ultimately sis, this New York Times report exposed Strong investigative and research expertly stitched together feeds from heartbreaking. how the President’s fortune was built on a skills were also at work at the Norwood reporters positioned on opposite ends of foundation of misrepresentations, lies and News, a community weekly paper that a three-county coverage area to create a Merit Award: “Housing Crisis In alleged fraud, behavior that continues to covers the Northwest Bronx. The pa- compelling narrative of the day. New York City” by David Cruz for the this day. This investigation is a landmark per’s Housing Matters series, written by Norwood News. in the history of the Trump presidency. editor David Cruz, won a Merit Award FEATURE NEWS With City Hall committed to expand- when it found that the city’s plans for REPORTING: ing the stock of affordable housing, Merit Award: “ Sign Here To Lose creating affordable housing may be Newspapers, news service, magazines Norwood News, covering the north- Everything” by Zachary Mider, Zeke beyond the means of many Bronx res- and online. west Bronx, asked a basic question: Faux, David Ingold and Demetrios idents. Medallion: “The Case Of Jane Doe affordable for whom? The newspaper’s Pogkas for Bloomberg News. In the Reporting on Minority Issues Ponytail” by Dan Barry and Jeffrey well-researched Housing Matters series, This well-documented and meticu- category, Christine Veiga and Samuel Singer for The New York Times with written by editor David Cruz, found lously reported story uncovered a dan- Park of Chalkbeat, a non-profit edito- photographs by Todd Heisler. that planned housing may be beyond gerous new form of predatory lending rial website covering education, won This is a brilliant investigative news the means of many Bronx residents that relies on the legal system to drain the Medallion for a series of articles on feature, tracing in depth the operation struggling for the very soul of their bank accounts of citizens accused, often community pushback against the pro- of a Asian sex trafficking ring in Queen. neighborhoods. falsely, of failing to pay their debts. posed integration of middle schools on It was done with crisp writing and deep New York’s Upper West Side. background reporting, all conveyed in INVESTIGATIVE Merit Award: “Blue Lies” by Joseph Extraordinary reporting and writing colorful, novelistic style. REPORTING: Goldstein for The New York Times. were on display in pieces by several Newspapers, news service, magazines This series uncovered the disturbingly Medallion winners. Merit Award: “A Bright Light, and online. widespread practice of “testilying” by In “The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail,” Dimmed in the Shadows of Homeless- Medallion: “Taxes and Trump” New York City police, even under oath in Dan Barry and Jeffrey Singer of The ness” by Ben Weiser for The New York by David Barstow, Susanne Craig judicial proceedings, to cover up shoddy New York Times won in Feature Re- Times with photographs by George and Ross Buettner for The New York or illegal police practices and question- porting by telling the tragic life-and- Etheredge. Times. able or mistaken arrests. death story of an Asian girl caught up A fine example of how to bring to vivid For decades, Fred and Donald Trump in the illegal massage/prostitution trade life the story of a person who too often escaped detection while building the BUSINESS & FINANCIAL that was a big business along one street fades into the background of the urban Trump empire, using questionable finan- REPORTING: in Flushing, Queens. scene, reduced to an abstraction rather cial practices, deception and unlawful Newspapers, news service, magazines Jim Dwyer of The New York Times than flesh and blood. Weiser wears out manipulation of the tax laws. Combining and online. won the Medallion for Commentary by shoe leather and all the other tools of a deep documentation, exhaustive report- Medallion: “Keep Quiet,” by Ann bringing the lives of everyday working Marsh for Financial Planning. New Yorkers to life and by digging deep In this outstanding demonstration of to uncover wrongdoing that sent inno- determined reporting, senior editor Ann cent men and women to prison. Marsh dug deeply into how Wells Fargo The New York Times garnered five rebuffed, tried to quiet and eventually Medallions and three Merit Awards; fired an executive who tried to expose Newsday won two Medallions and five systemic fraud and disregard of federal Merit Awards and The Record/North- regulations in its wealth management Jersey.com won four Medallions. division. She outlined how the bank’s actions contradicted its professions of Here is the full list of this year’s protecting whistleblowers in the midst winners: of its efforts to clean up a reputation already damaged by the creation of THE PRESIDENT’S CHOICE thousands of fake accounts for unwit- MEDALLION ting customers. Extraordinary Excellence In Journalism Merit Award: “Ivanka, Kushner Gus Garcia-Roberts and Sandra Could Profit From Tax Break They Peddie and the Newsday Staff Pushed” by AP’s Trump Business In March of 2018 Newsday published Team for the Associated Press. a special 48-page, 30,000-word insert for The AP’s Trump Business Conflict its readers that shined a light on Long Is- Team dug deep into Jared Kushner and land’s corrosive politics. Its investigation Ivanka Trump’s activities in 2018, with exposed corrupt ties between politicians, hard-hitting investigations that broke news businesses and the law enforcement and Excerpt from “Sir Shadow, Maestro at the Bowery Hotel cost around $400 a and got action. The reporting shined a light legal communities of Long Island, many of the Last of the Bowery Flophouses” night, the men pay no more than $8.50 for on glaring conflicts of interest and disturb- dating back generations. These complex by Alex Vadukul for The New York Times, their cramped cubicles, though they pretty ing business practices that continue to this webs stretch into some of the darkest the Medallion winner in the People much have the run of the place. day as Ivanka Trump and Kushner act as corners of the region’s social fabric, es- Profiles category. Sir Shadow is the man As Sir Shadow hums for inspiration, White House advisers without divesting pecially in the real estate and industrial in the fedora, above. his slender hand strikes a sketchpad with their extensive financial holdings. development industries. a silver marker and swirls deliriously, here’s a ghostly old flophouse never leaving the page, as though he Merit Award: “Paper Jam” by BREAKING NEWS on the Bowery. Rowdy brunch were signing a signature. The elegant Shawn Tully for Fortune. REPORTING: Tcrowds stumble past its stained- silhouette, formed with one continuous Troubled Xerox planned to merge with Newspapers, news service, magazines glass windows and locked double doors. line, depicts a saxophone player. He blurs one of its biggest stakeholders, Fujifilm and online. It’s lonesome but not empty. through more: a jazz ensemble featuring of Japan. Shareholder and corporate Medallion: “Class Trip Turns Dead- Radiators hiss in its cracked tile floor trumpet and upright bass; a drummer in raider Carl Icahn teamed up with Texas ly” by Jim O’Neill and Steve Janoski lobby. Dusty, unused keys hang behind a the flurry of a solo. His musicians are billionaire Darwin Deason to block the for The Record/NorthJersey.com. reception desk. Dark halls are lined with faceless abstractions. deal in one of the nastiest takeover battles with photographs by Bob Karp, Amy hundreds of boarding rooms empty ex- “I’m a doctor and this is the medication of the year. cept for worn mattresses. A few of these for my patients,” he said one afternoon. Newman, Marko Georgiev, Tariq cubicles are occupied, stuffed with clothes “My medicine is positivity. Every line is Zehau and Kevin Wexler. ENVIRONMENTAL and belongings. Steam rises from a shower based on what’s in my heart.” When The Record/NorthJersey.com REPORTING: stall. Light flickers behind doors. And a Sir Shadow arrived at the Whitehouse staff photographer Bob Karp sent his Newspapers, news services, magazines lullaby can be heard through the building Hotel around 1995, and he has become a first photograph from the terrible scene and online. when a 70-year-old poet and artist who kind of Bowery folk hero since then. At of a Route 80 crash involving a school Medallion: “Toxic Secrets: Pollu- calls himself Sir Shadow draws at night. 6-foot-4, he sleeps diagonally to fit into bus loaded with Paramus middle school tion, Evasion and Fear in New Jer- Sir Shadow is one of six men who are his windowless cubicle. Rarely without students, it made the newsroom go quiet. sey,” By Jim O’Neill, Scott Fallon and the final residents of the Whitehouse Hotel. his fedora, he gets around on a red elec- Reporters raced to the scene and found photojournalist Chris Padota for The The crumbling four-story building is one tric scooter and draws his blues and jazz that a child and teacher were dead and Record / NorthJersey.com. of the last of the cheap single-room-oc- musicians across the neighborhood. He 43 other students and teachers injured. This exhaustively researched four-part cupancy hotels that lined the Bowery a calls his one-line style Flowetry, which All day long reporters and photog- report brought to light for the first time century ago alongside brothels and saloons can be found in the calendars he sells. raphers gathered the story. Reporter the lengths to which DuPont, over a peri- and defined the area as a symbol of urban Quincy Jones, Lauryn Hill, and Diana Steve Janoski used a network of law od of a decade and more, downplayed to despair. While rooms across the street Ross are said to be fans. enforcement sources to get the details regulators and inhabitants of the nearby of the crash, learning that the bus driver Continued on Page 5 MAY 2019 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 4 MINORITY AFFAIRS residential community the dire health REPORTING: risks posed by cancer-causing ground- New York’s Shrinking Middle Class Newspapers, news services, magazines water contamination at its now-shuttered and online. Pompton Lakes munitions-manufactur- Medallion: “Middle School Integra- ing site. At the time the series ran, the tion In New York City” by Christina problem remained largely unaddressed, Veiga and Samuel Park for Chalkbeat. despite reports of elevated levels of ill- There may be no more liberal, tolerant ness. Following its publication, Gov. Phil neighborhood in the United States than Murphy ordered his attorney general to Manhattan’s Upper West Side. But when probe DuPont’s management of the mat- it comes to the education of their children, ter and his environmental commissioner attitudes among the parents in the wealthy to monitor cleanup operations. enclave can take a hard right turn. Veiga and Park, writing for a new education-ori- SCIENCE & ented website, chronicled in a series of HEALTH REPORTING: articles the fierce resistance from par- Newspapers, news services, magazines ents when education officials proposed and online. to integrate West Side middle schools Medallion: “Simple Surgeries, Trag- with schools just to the north in Harlem. ic Results” by Lindy Washburn for The The stories serve as a backdrop for a Record / North Jersey.com. discussion of the broad segregation that Invited by the USA Today Network to characterizes New York’s 1,000 schools, participate in an investigation of the safe- which educate 1 million children. Recent ty record of the nation’s fast-proliferating political attention has been focused on the same-day surgery centers, the Record had Kamik Chin, 37, a single mother, works two jobs, as a medical city’s half dozen specialized high schools, its health reporter look into the state of biller and Uber driver, to support herself and her two children. Veiga writes, where admission is by test affairs in New Jersey, home to more than She takes in $42,000 from the two jobs, which leaves her ex- and African-Americans and Hispanic 300 such units. What Washburn discov- students are a tiny minority. Those elite ered, based on her resourceful mining of hausted and without enough time with the children. “If [my apart- high schools get most of their students hard-to-locate public data, dogged pursuit ment rent] wasn’t income-based, I wouldn’t survive,” she says. “I from just 10 middle schools, several of of attorneys, heart-rending interviews absolutely couldn’t afford to live in the city without it.” Fortune’s them on the Upper West Side. with patients and family members, and Andre Wagner won the Feature Photography Medallion for his personal visits, were facilities that were photos of Chin’s and two other struggling New York families. Merit Award: “MS-13” by Victor often woefully understaffed, improperly Manuel Ramos for Newsday. equipped, and free to hire personnel who Newsday reporter Ramos tapped could not make the grade at regular hos- who says, “A man with a million dollars tiorskaya with photographs by Alexey into contacts he developed during years pitals. In a number of instances, these doesn’t have what I have.” Regarded as Yurenev for The New York Times. of covering Long Island’s immigrant lapses led to infections; in others, to a folk hero by the locals, his own story Brighton Beach, a seaside enclave of communities to earn the trust of Edwin, death. Washburn’s reporting prompted – who he is and how he got to where Soviet emigrés not far from Coney Is- formerly a homeboy in one of the most lawmakers to begin tightening state reg- he is – has remained a mystery. Until land, is one of New York’s liveliest and violent cliques of MS-13, the Salvador- ulations governing these facilities. now. In this compelling, compassionate most culturally insular neighborhoods. an gang whose members have terror- profile, Alex Vadukul brings Sir Shadow Here, novelist Yelena Akhtiorskaya and ized high schools and neighborhoods Merit Award: “It keeps us safe”: A into the light. photographer Alexey Yurenev have in eastern Long Island and cities from New York City Bathroom Set Up To teamed up to capture with exuberance, Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. Ramos Stem Overdoses” by Jennifer Peltz of Merit Award: “The Change Agent” energy, warmth and wit a portrait of a uses Edwin’s tribulations as he separated the Associated Press. by Amanda Fortini for Vanity Fair. bit of New York where “the sea turns himself from the gang to tell the larger When New York became the biggest This is an illuminating portrait of the to vodka and the newspapers turn Cy- story of where MS-13 came from and U.S. city to embrace safe haven sites actress Michelle Williams, known for rillic.” how police and communities are battling for injecting drugs, the Associated Press guarding her off-screen privacy just as to contain its depredations. set out to find a story beyond the debate fiercely as she bares the feelings of her COMMENTARY: over whether such facilities should be on-screen characters. Williams opens Newspapers, news services, magazines SPORTS REPORTING established. Through patient and sensitive up to writer Amanda Fortini with an and online. AND COMMENTARY: reporting, Jennifer Peltz tells the story of exclusive account of how she felt when Medallion: “About New York” Newspapers, news services, magazines an under-the-radar facility that already she learned she was being paid less than columns by Jim Dwyer for The New and online. exists in the overdose crisis: monitored $1,000 for some reshoots while her male York Times. Medallion: “Through the Looking bathrooms where staffers are prepared to co-star was getting $1.5 million for the For millions of his devoted readers, Glass” by Kevin Armstrong for the come in with overdose reversing drugs if same job. Williams also reveals the grief Jim Dwyer brings the texture and the New York Daily News. necessary. she felt following the death of her part- atmosphere, but above all, the real peo- A sweeping look at an FBI probe ner Heath Ledger in 2008 and the new ple of this great city to life. New York into the way businessmen and coaches Merit Award: “Cold Spring Harbor love she found with her marriage to Phil is a richer place for his unique gift of schemed to create a climate of corrup- Scientists Discover a New Form of Elverum last year. storytelling. tion in which six-figure payments from Lung Cancer” by Delthia Hicks for sneaker companies were funneled to the Newsday. Merit Award: “A Broadway Mogul Merit Award: “Up and Down Wall families of elite high school basketball Newsday Health and Science reporter Redefines Clout in His Own Fashion” Street” Columns by Randall Forsyth players via college coaches who them- Delthia Hicks takes us inside the story of by Michael Paulson for The New York for Barron’s. selves pocketed piles of kickback money. the discovery, by sheer serendipity, of a Times. Forsyth explains in exquisite detail Reporter Kevin Armstrong spent six new form of lung cancer. The finding of Jordan Roth — pony-tailed, red-car- and deep understanding the arcana of months pursuing the story, moving from a once-obscure population of cells by a pet ready, flamboyant and gay — is the how Wall Street functions and the critical high school gyms to college arenas, from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientist highly successful, 42-year-old head of role it plays in the American and global Vegas hotel rooms to federal courthouses. and his team helps clear up why a subset Jujamcyn, a group of five Broadway economy. He talked to teenage “next big things,” of patients never fared well with conven- theaters, who managed to lure Bruce former NBA stars, scouts and coaches; tional treatment. Now, doctors have a new Springsteen to perform in one of them PUBLIC SERVICE: listened to government wiretaps; and target for strategic therapies. and who has had major hits in the others. Newspapers, news services, magazines scoured documents obtained through He is, by any measure, a big-time show- and online. FOIA requests. The result: A panoramic PEOPLE PROFILES: man. He is also an outspoken Democrat, Medallion: “Hands To The Neck” look at a probe that produced multiple Newspapers, news service, magazines activist and fund-raiser who is behind a by Will Van Sant for Newsday. convictions, guilty pleas and the resig- and online. series of satirical videos that poke fun For a year Van Sant cultivated sourc- nation of at least one key coach. Medallion: “Sir Shadow, Maestro at Donald Trump and the coarsening of es, collected documents and used shoe of the Last of the Bowery Flophouses” the culture. Roth’s father, meanwhile, is leather to come up with this extraordi- Merit Award: “Hard Knocks: by Alex Vadukul for The New York a billionaire real estate investor who is nary exposé. It chronicles the horror of Lacrosse and Brain Trauma” by Jim Times. a close friend and supporter of Trump, the distressing and widening pattern of Baumbach for Newsday. He is known to all as Sir Shadow, which makes for an interesting family non-lethal strangulation as a tool for Researchers at the New York Institute this strange creative man who is one dynamic. controlling youths with special needs in of Technology in Old Westbury, Long of the last remaining residents of one New York State institutions. The stories Island, tracked 10 players through the of the last remaining flophouses that ARTS AND CULTURE detail how state officials charged with school’s 18-game lacrosse season last once lined New York’s Bowery. He is a REPORTING: protecting the vulnerable derailed an spring to monitor how their brain func- 70-year-old poet and artist of singular Newspapers, news services, magazines attempt to mitigate potentially lethal tions may have changed because of re- talent, an elegant fellow in a fedora who and online. abuse because of concern that a focus peated hits to the head, raising questions has been living in the Whitehouse Hotel Medallion: “Welcome to Brighton on strangulation assault could bring about the impact of such blows even if a at 340 Bowery since the mid-1990s and Beach, Brooklyn” by Yelena Akh- unwanted attention. Continued on Page 6 PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2019 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 5 choice to be the winner in the feature player isn’t diagnosed with a concussion. photography category, but Andre Wag- The school agreed to share the results of ner’s poignant black-and-white portraits Excerpt from “Through the ceived as a great New York City the study with Newsday, and the paper’s of New Yorkers who earn inadequate Looking Glass,” Kevin Arm- basketball player after I left Christ investigative and enterprise reporter incomes despite working multiple jobs strong’s six-month tour of bas- the King,” Odom says before turn- for sports, Jim Baumbach, deftly wrote movingly illustrated the series of photo ketball’s underbelly for the Daily ing his attention to Charles. “My about the subtle declines in memory and essays titled “The Shrinking Middle News, a deep dive into an FBI in- AAU coach is here. You can ask slower cognitive reactions of the players. Class: Tales from New York City.” The vestigation of chicanery involving him questions about that.” magazine is commended for reaching elite high school prospects, sneaker Charles, 58, is known as “Short BREAKING NEWS outside its usual realm of coverage to companies and college coaches, the Riley.” He no longer works in PHOTOGRAPHY: focus on the plight of an often-overlooked Medallion winner in the Sports Re- systems programming for Bank Newspapers, news services, magazines segment of the American workforce. porting and Commentary category. of New York, but still wields in- and online. fluence as a power broker on the Medallion: “Class Trip Turns Dead- Merit Award: “Mermaids of Long One night in October, Lamar grassroots basketball scene. He ly” by staff photographer Bob Karp, Island” by Thomas A. Ferrara for Odom stands up, straightens his guffaws at the finger pointing. On for The Record /North Jersey.com. Newsday. 6-foot-10 frame and strides to a the dais, Odom outlines his path: a Bob Karp was the first photographer Newsday’s Thomas A. Ferrara pro- podium inside Bryant Park Grill father addicted to heroin, a mother on the scene on May 17, 2018, when vides us with imaginative glimpses be- on W. 40th St. Dressed in a much-anticipated class adventure to hind the scenes and under the waters of a black suit and tie with a historic park became a nightmarish, the Long Island Mermaid Pod, a group white polka dots, Odom is deadly ride for Paramus, New Jersey of Land-Lubbers that transforms itself sober, two years removed fifth graders. Their school bus, one of – through costumes, practice and perfor- from a cocaine binge at a three heading to Waterloo Village, and mance – from mere mortals into mythical, Nevada brothel that left a dump truck collided on Route 80 in magical denizens of the deep. him in a coma and breath- western Morris County. The crash killed ing through a ventilator. 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and beloved TELEVISION Odom, 38, looks around teacher Jennifer Williamson-Kennedy BREAKING NEWS: the room. The occasion is and injured 43 others. Karp’s photos Medallion: “November Snow the New York City Basket- and videos from the scene – taken while Storm” by the Eyewitness News team ball Hall of Fame Dinner, balancing on the railing of an overpass for WABC News. and he is about to be in- while a reporter held him steady – were The 11 pm coverage by WABC News ducted. To his right is Tom as incredible as they were heartbreaking. of last year’s November snowstorm “Satch” Sanders, a retired showed the power of authoritative local Celtic in a bow tie. To his Merit Award: “Blizzard Blaze” by news at its best. The news team’s whip- left is “Jumpin’” Jackie Thomas A. Ferrara for Newsday. around reporting from New Jersey, New Jackson, an old Boys High On a snow-filled night in March 2018, York and Connecticut combined with sol- Kangaroo who used to hand out lost to colon cancer when he was veteran Newsday photographer Thomas id weather and government stories gave business cards with four words on 12 and his attendance at three A. Ferrara responded to a report of a car viewers a complete picture of what was them: “Have Converse,Will Jump.” schools in two states as a high on fire on the Long Island Expressway. happening and what was coming next. Sneaker laces remain the ties that school senior in search of aca- His dramatic photo caught members of bind many in the city game. In the demic eligibility. His recruitment the Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Fire Department TELEVISION back sits Gary Charles, a 5-foot-5 is in the record books for having as they braved a driving snowstorm to FEATURE NEWS: businessman who wears a black triggered three college investi- battle a car fire. Medallion: “Concussion Coverup” three-piece suit and matching gations that landed two NCAA by Walt Kane for News 12 New Jersey. fedora. Charles coached Odom programs on probation in his FEATURE Until Walt Kane’s reports appeared, with the Long Island Panthers, an wake. Famous since 16, Odom, PHOTOGRAPHY: few people knew that roller coaster rides AAU program sponsored by Adi- a southpaw from South Jamaica, Newspapers, news services, magazines can cause concussions and even fewer das, when Odom was the nation’s recalls coaches, sneaker company and online. people would have guessed that once the top prospect with Christ the King operatives and runners for agents Medallion: “The Shrinking Middle coverage began the state would try to help High in 1996. Odom leans in to the circling the scene. Class of New York City” by Andre amusement park operators disguise the microphone. “I learned the game,” he says. Wagner for Fortune risk of riding. “I never thought I would be re- “I learned life.” Fortune magazine may be a surprising Continued on Page 7

Dennis Duggan Award Winner: Rachel Rippetoe Continued from Page 1 Duggan award, says Rippetoe exempli- Freedman House, to host the festival. never happened. wanted to do it fulltime, but I wanted to fies the spirit of Dennis Duggan, the late But almost immediately, social media “Especially reporting in the Bronx, go to a bigger city.” She returned to Ten- Newsday columnist who put his heart into blew up, denouncing Shalma as a tool people are scared of displacement. They nessee for an internship sponsored by the shoe-leather local reporting for five New of developers and an exploiter of artists are fighting to keep the neighborhood Dow Jones News Fund at the Nashville York newspapers. and triggering a protest of more than 70 how it is. There is a dynamic between Business Journal, before enrolling in the Rippetoe tells The Silurian News that people in front of Union Crossing. The the artists, the preservationists and the masters program at the Craig Newmark she has learned a lot being on the street. Freedman House also backed out. people who want to make the Bronx hip- School of Journalism at CUNY. “I recently did a story that was pretty “He was under a tremendous amount per, richer, more upscale,” says Rippetoe. Now in her second semester at CUNY, controversial about a guy who put on a of pressure. People were protesting him. Her insight: “One thing I have realized: Rippetoe, 23, writes for the Mott Haven music festival in the Bronx that got can- We called him up and asked him one Always go to the person who is being Herald and the Hunts Point Express, two celled,” she says. question about the protestors and he attacked first.” community newspapers in the South The man was Marco Shalma, a began screaming at us,” recalls Rippe- Rippetoe prefers print and is enrolled Bronx underwritten by Newmark. Guided South-African born concert promoter toe. Shalma asked if Rippetoe and her in the urban reporting concentration by Joe Hirsch, who edits the newspapers, who had convinced 30 musicians and reporting partner were recording the where one of her teachers is Errol Lewis, Rippetoe covers housing, gentrification, 40 local artists to participate for free in a conversation and they said yes. Then he the New York 1 political reporter/anchor sanitation and crime. She has written festival called “It’s The Bronx.” His plan said: ‘You guys are not even doing your who spoke to the Silurians last year. The about Bronx tenants battling with their was to stage the festival on three floors job. You are not even trying to meet me urban concentration, she says, “covers landlord, private sanitation workers fight- inside Union Crossing, an eight-story in person.’ ” government, community and crime, ev- ing for back pay after their employer shut building that originally had been a bakery Of course, Rippetoe responded that erything I am interested in.” down and the troubles facing sanitation for A&P supermarkets. they would love to meet with him. “So So what does Rippetoe like best about workers forced to work long hours. Shalma, creator of a recurring summer he kind of backed himself into a corner.” journalism? “Talking to people and “Rachel is an extremely dedicated re- food & music event called “Bronx Night She remembers he replied: “Well, I guess learning things I did not know before. porter who very quickly understood why Market,” had convinced Madison Realty I can make time tomorrow.” The writing is fun too, but what I like the neighborhoods that we serve needed Capital, developers of Union Crossing, to “We ended up meeting with him and the most is talking to people who maybe dedicated reporting,” says Hirsch. “From donate the space for the festival, sched- talking to him for an hour and a half. It didn’t want to talk to me at first.” Yes, an the time that she started, she covered all uled for March. But after selling nearly built into a good story, so it worked out.” ideal answer from a young reporter hon- the bases. She never settled for the eas- 500 tickets it became apparent that the The in-person interview gave Rippetoe ored by the Silurians to carry on Dennis iest approach to a story, and was always Union Crossing Building would not be a much better perspective about the man Duggan’s legacy. intrigued to go deeper. She understood finished in time. So Shalma convinced and his project, a more-in-depth story what our readers wanted.” another Bronx institution, a Grand and a good lesson in the importance of Frank is a past Silurian president and Hirsch, who nominated her for the Concourse art hall called the Andrew meeting people face-to-face. The concert a member of the Board of Governors. MAY 2019 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7 Welcome to Брайтон Бич, Brooklyn The winner in the Arts and Culture category of the Silurians Excellence in Journalism awards is a photo essay done for The New York Times in December by photographer Alexey Yurenev and writer Yelena Akhtiorskaya. Here is an excerpt from Akhtiorskaya’s charming essay— she is a native of Odessa—and a couple of Yurenev’s delightful photos. “ he current state of Brighton Beach,” writes Akhtiorskaya, T“can be traced directly to the year 1979, when the first spate of Russian Jews came sputtering out of a hole in the Iron Curtain. The leak was patched up for a little while but opened more delib- erately by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late ’80s and early ’90s. This was when my family came. We were part of the Odessa diaspora, unable to resist the allure of the water, so reminiscent of our beloved Black Sea home… “New Yorkers tend to discover Brigh- ton Beach by accident. They set off for Coney Island, but through train mishaps or sheer excitement at the first sight of the sea, they get off at the wrong stop and are confronted with its grumpy next-door neighbor instead. If they do make it to Coney Island, they might stroll down the shore, until the sea turns to vodka and the newspapers turn Cyrillic. Regardless of how they get there, they seem to peregri- nate in a fog, for which they can hardly The American Association of Invalids and Veterans of World War II from the Former U.S.S.R. honors Anastasia be blamed: In Brighton Beach, questions Guildina, third from right, a veteran and Holocaust survivor, on her 93rd birthday. are deeply frowned upon, then ignored. “But no one’s coming to Brighton it down to a science, and braving the Beach for clarity. A dose of local ex- dour ladies in paper hats who dole out oticism is the best they can hope for. the delicacies the land has on offer, the And after wandering up and down the visitors will sigh contentedly, as after a boardwalk, marveling at the decked-out battle won, and say that they’re going INSIDE MS-13 seniors — the ladies in fur coats with back to Brooklyn. Victor Manuel Ramos’s gripping story him in the hallways, cafeteria and locker radioactively purple hair and men in “A slip of the tongue, perhaps, but it for Newsday about a Salvadoran immi- rooms at Turtle Hook Middle School in track suits playing backgammon as if means something. And what it means is grant boy on Long Island who joined the Uniondale. their lives depended on it, which they that Brighton Beach is a universe unto Mara Salvatrucha gang, better known They called him names, pushed him quite possibly did in the Siberian prisons itself, with its own time, its own language, as MS-13, won a Merit Award for Re- and pinned him against walls and, when — after devouring the warm piroshki its own customs, for which it makes no porting on Minority Issues. The young no adults were around, punched him. (flying saucers of fried dough), tanning apologies. If you don’t get it, it’s your man, Edwin, admitted to committing Even though they were immigrants too, alongside the master tanners who’ve got loss.” crimes against the gang’s enemies. The they used expletives to berate him as an story had a rare happy ending when immigrant, mocked his inability to speak Edwin found religion and was permitted English, commented on his unfashionable to leave MS-13. Following are the lede clothes and dubbed him “primo”— lit- paragraphs of Ramos’s story: erally “cousin,” which he said was a demeaning term for a “hick.” Edwin recalled the afternoon in 2005 Edwin, who asked to not be identified when he decided to join the MS-13 gang by his full or street names, had been leav- as a personal low point. He was 14, re- ing school in a rush to avoid his assailants, cently arrived on Long Island, and hating but that day about 10 of them waited on his life. A group of boys who belonged his path. One called him out to fight. He to the SWP gang had been harassing Continued on Page 8 Celebrating the Best Continued from Page 6 Trump was advancing the interests of ca- RADIO FEATURE NEWS: sino magnate Sheldon Adelson in Japan. Medallion: “Trump Inc.” by the With these podcasts, WNYC and Pro- WNYC/ProPublica Investigative team Publica have created a new template for for WNYC/ProPublica. collaborative journalism in an age when In the age of Trump, WNYC and authorities are broadly arrayed against ProPublica combined their investigative fact-finding and truth-telling. staffs to produce “Trump Inc.”, an ongo- ing series of podcasts that has uncovered JUDGES: Linda Amster, David A. wrongdoing and conflicts of interests in Andelman, Joseph Berger, Bill Diehl, the Trump business empire. They de- Allan Dodds Frank, Tony Guida, Clyde tailed how Trump and his children mis- Haberman, Herbert Hadad, Fred Herzog, led investors and profited as real estate Aileen Jacobson, Myron Kandel, Bernard projects failed, learned that some of the Kirsch, Valerie S. Komor, Carol Lawson, money raised for Trump’s inauguration Anthony Mancini, David Margolick, went to the Trump International Hotel in Kevin Noblet, Ben Patrusky, Michael Washington, D.C., and reported that an Serrill, Mort Sheinman. inauguration official expressed concern Editorial Research about being overcharged and worried and Tech Support: Ben Long Semyon Krasilschikov, who served in the Great Patriotic War, celebrating his about what would happen “when this 100th birthday in Brighton Beach. is audited.” They also uncovered how Awards Chairman: Jack Deacy PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2019

MS-13 members frequently cover their My Snafu with Andre bodies with tatoos. By Roberta Hershenson n 1992 I was a freelance reporter covering the arts for The New York ITimes. My territory was Westches- ter County, where I lived, and where a good number of well-known performing artists lived their private lives amid the tall hedges and spacious gardens of the suburbs. I was knowledgeable about classical music and was carving out a space for myself interviewing conductors like Andre Previn and Kurt Masur, composers like David Diamond and David Amram, and opera singers like Roberta Peters and Renata Scotto. As long as they lived in Westchester they were fair game. There was plenty to cover north of the city, and I pursued this beat for several decades, writing also for other sections of the Times as well as for magazines like Opera News and Classical Singer. ANDRE PREVIN As an English major who did not study journalism, I learned on the job, and I’m I had written. “They called your activities still wondering if a journalism degree ‘fruitless’ rather than ‘effortless,’” I said, would have averted the snafu caused by placing my head in the lion’s mouth. my second Previn feature in the Times. “I’m sorry.” Previn’s recent death has brought the in- “WELL, FIX IT!” he bellowed into INSIDE MS-13 cident to mind in all its red-faced clarity. the phone. Continued from Page 7 while he was in the depths of sadness Back then we filed our stories orally A quick call to the editor, Silurian said he couldn’t turn around without and depression enabled him to escape with the Recording Room, noting every Wendy Sclight, and a correction was looking like a coward. They got down this life and replace it with something comma and “new graph” and enunciating arranged for the following Sunday. (Un- to it, and when Edwin landed punches, better. … as though our lives depended on it. Errors fortunately, the archived edition of the the other boys jumped him. They were Simple protection …is what Edwin were corrected in later editions—and 3/22/92 article, “Previn Coaches Players punching and kicking him senseless and says drew him to the gang toward the in the case of the Sunday Westchester in His First Love, Chamber Music,” still he thought he was going to die. end of his first school year. He said he section, where the Previn feature ran, contains the word “fruitless.”) Then, something of a miracle hap- wanted to emulate the mysterious figure corrections ran the following week. It wasn’t like mistaking Mozart for pened. He remembers seeing a souped- who rescued him. He hadn’t been ex- Though I focused on his musical career Hadyn, or stating that Previn specialized up Toyota 4Runner SUV pull up out of posed to gangs in El Salvador because in the interview, his life in Westchester— in Early Music, one of the few musical nowhere and stop. His attackers ran. A he grew up more than two hours from specifically in Bedford Hills, where he genres not his bailiwick. And he didn’t tough-looking guy in his 30s told him in the gritty neighborhoods in the capital had settled—was also relevant. Readers hold a grudge; I spoke to him often after Spanish “Súbete” — to hop in the car. of San Salvador that serve as their well- would feel they were getting an inside that for the weekly arts news column, “To this day I don’t know who he was,” springs. But after his encounters with the look at the famous, multi-faceted musi- Footlights, I wrote for the Westchester Edwin said. The man revealed that he Uniondale boys he decided he couldn’t cian who lived among them. section. was an MS-13 member in Hempstead. go it alone. “I thought this is the solution So I asked questions about how Previn The “fruitless” fiasco was not really He delivered him to safety. so I can be protected in school,” he said. and his fourth wife, Heather Sneddon my fault. But I began to hold my breath Thus began Edwin’s devotion to Edwin went home, logged onto (who somewhat resembled his third wife, whenever a new article appeared in print, an organization that largely bypasses MySpace, and started searching. He Mia Farrow), liked living in the commu- lest someone discover a mistake. One the sustaining criminal rackets of oth- found a profile for an MS-13 clique in nity. Previn, who had begun a six- year time I confused Moss Hart with Lorenz er gangs for a loyalty built on crude nearby Westbury and chatted with the stint as Artistic Advisor at Caramoor, in Hart, and Kitty Carlisle Hart herself violence, with a lure so potent it has person running it. He soon knew all he nearby Katonah, where he also coached called to sweetly set me straight. By enabled it to regroup despite decades of needed to know. If he joined, the gang young chamber musicians, said he often then we had entered the digital age, and crackdowns. Only a turn toward religion would have his back. lent his name to local events. My lede the error was corrected right away. The referred to such gestures as neighborly, incident stung, but not as much as when though “relatively effortless.” the esteemed Andre Previn yelled at me When the article appeared, the word to “fix it!” Society of the Silurians Officers 2018-2019 “effortless” appeared as “fruitless.” The Recording Room had heard me wrong. President Committee DAVID A. ANDELMAN It was a Friday, when advance copies Roberta Hershenson wrote for The Chairpersons: of the Sunday regionals landed on door- New York Times from 1983 to 2009. First Vice-President MICHAEL S. SERRILL Awards: steps along with the daily paper. I quickly She currently tutors adults in ESL and JACK DEACY called Previn, explaining that what he writing, guides a memoir workshop, and Second Vice-President was going to read about him was not what writes for NYCityWoman.com. JOSEPH BERGER Constitution and Bylaws: ALLAN DODDS FRANK Secretary LINDA AMSTER Awards Dinner: AILEEN JACOBSON Treasurer Welcome New Members KAREN BEDROSIAN Futures: RICHARDSON ALLAN DODDS FRANK Karen Feld has been a freelance Newspaper Columnists. He’s reported writer, editor and broadcaster since from Africa, Northern Ireland, the Mid- Board of Governors: Membership: 1969. She was Washington editor of dle East, Israel, Iraq, Malaysia, and the BETSY ASHTON MORT SHEINMAN JACK DEACY the Shuttle Sheet, a Delta Airlines in- George Washington Bridge. He is also BILL DIEHL Nominating: flight magazine; a syndicated gossip the author of three non-fiction books, ALLAN DODDS FRANK BEN PATRUSKY columnist with stints at the Washington the most recent of which is The Bus on TONY GUIDA Times and the Washington Examiner; Jaffa Road, a chronicle of a single act CLYDE HABERMAN Silurian News MYRON KANDEL MICHAEL S. SERRILL, Editor and she has written on a variety of of terrorism and its effect on the victims BERNARD KIRSCH subjects for such publications as as they tried to seek justice. VALERIE S. KOMOR Website: Parade, People, Time, Newsday, AILEEN JACOBSON BEN PATRUSKY, CAROL LAWSON MORT SHEINMAN, Co-editors Money and Vogue. Patricia Jo Matson is a former DAVID MARGOLICK senior vice president at ABC Televi- BEN PATRUSKY MYRON RUSHETZKY Webmaster: Mike Kelly is an award-winning col- sion and a current communications FRED HERZOG umnist at the Bergen Record, where he consultant at The Walt Disney Co. She MORT SHEINMAN SCOTTI WILLISTON has been employed for more than 40 was at ABC from 1979 to 2001 and Social Media: years. He has written about events for- has been working with Disney since Governors Emeriti: BILL DIEHL eign and domestic, was named “Jour- that time. During the Gerald Ford ad- GERALD ESKENAZI nalist of the Year” in 2001 by the New ministration, she worked in the White GARY PAUL GATES Jersey Press Association and “best House as assistant press secretary to HERBERT HADAD Silurian Contingency Fund general interest columnist in America” First Lady Betty Ford and was one of LINDA GOETZ HOLMES Board of Trustees: in 2004 by the National Association of her speechwriters. ROBERT D. McFADDEN STEVEN MARCUS, PRESIDENT