Monday’s Headlines: ‘And The Nominees Are’ Edition

Streetsblog is back on the awards circuit after receiving two nominations on Friday for the 2025 Deadline Club awards from the New York City Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

We’re proud to be honored with nominations for “Newspaper or Digital Featuring Reporting” for Sophia Lebowitz and Gersh Kuntzman’s “Fake Chaplains, Faithless Scam” investigation (with Naftuli Moster of Shtetl), and for “Digital Video Reporting” for the news video operation Streetsblog Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein launched when she joined our team last June.

Emily put it perfectly on X: Adapting our reporting to meet the demands of a constantly changing media and internet landscape has been a “huge undertaking,” but we’re succeeding — and learning along the way — thanks to “the power of a small newsroom powered by collaboration.” We’re honored to be nominated alongside so many of our local news colleagues and several national outlets based in the New York region.

Watch the three video shorts we submitted for the video reporting award:

‘You Can Walk Faster Than This NYC Bus’ by Emily Lipstein and Dave Colon

‘NYPD’s Illegal Parking Has Cops In Trouble With the Feds’ by David Meyer and Emily Lipstein

‘Instacart Shoppers Aren’t Covered by Minimum Wage Law’ by Sophia Lebowitz and Emily Lipstein

“Fake Chaplains,” meanwhile, exposed the fake parking permit hustle of the so-called “New York State Chaplain Group,” an unofficial, not-state-sanctioned organization of supposed chaplains that advertises members with the tagling, “Park like an animal, but with a hechsher.” Our Editor-in-Chief Gersh Kuntzman actually paid the $750 fee (bounty) to join the group, take a one-hour virtual training course and nab a badge and an illegal parking placard.

Each of our nominees are up against two other finalists in each category. The winners will be announced at the Deadline Club dinner on May 15 (the Harvard Club doesn’t know what it’s in for).

In other news:

• Compare Saturday’s rally for Queensboro Bridge pedestrian access to Sunday’s offering from the opponents of the 31st Street protected bike lane. (r/MicromobilityNYC)
• Who do Kathryn Garcia’s 2021 mayoral voters back in 2025? (NY Times)
• Andrew Cuomo’s campaign used ChatGPT to write its housing plan — which says the former governor “does not favor further zoning changes” in “low density neighborhoods” outside of “transit-oriented development” for the time being so recent “City of Yes” zoning changes can be “absorbed.” (Okay, maybe that does feel like AI gibberish.) (Hell Gate, Daily News)
• The Post declined to do much reporting and the MTA refused to answer its questions about mid-platform guardrails installed in 2023.
• Eric Adams’s mayoralty marks a low point for government transparency. (Hell Gate)
• Transportation Chair Selvena Brooks-Power lost her spot on the City Council’s budget negotiations team after she endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor. (City and State)
• The helicopter company involved in last week’s deadly Hudson River crash has shut down, after the NTSB said the falling chopper lacked flight data or cockpit voice recorders. (Gothamist, NBC New York)