Uptown Radio

Sasha Chavkin is a reporting fellow for the New York World, a new website that reports on city and state government from Columbia Journalism School. He says that there’s a lot riding on the drawing of the maps.

Host: Super Tuesday, the largest single day of voting in the Republican presidential race, came and went this week.

Former governor Mitt Romney has the most delegates by far, and his campaign claims his opponents are ignoring the “basic principles of math” by staying in the race—because they can’t earn enough delegates to win the party’s nomination.

Mathematically, that’s almost, but not quite, true. But Ben Bradford reports Romney’s opponents may be looking at another path to victory.

Bradford: Let’s do the math—quickly I promise: It takes 1,144 delegates to elect the Republican nominee, and so far former Senator Rick Santorum—in second place—has about 160. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has about 100. Mitt Romney has 404, more than double their amounts, combined.

With about 1400 delegates in the remaining contests, it’s an uphill climb for non-Romney candidates to reach the magic number of 1,144. Political scientist and statistician Ken Jillson explains what it would take.

Jillson: They would have to win about two-thirds of the delegates that remain available and it’s sufficiently difficult that it’s nearly impossible, but it’s not mathematically impossible.

Bradford: In races so far, winning candidates have generally earned 35 or 40 percent of a state’s delegates, so two-thirds is a tall order, or as Jillson says, nearly impossible. But the candidates have shown no sign they see it that way. Here’s Gingrich in Georgia on Super Tuesday, after winning only that state:

Gingrich: We’re going on to Alabama. [Cheers] We’re going on to Mississippi. [Cheers] We’re going on to Kansas.

Bradford: Gingrich probably can’t win, but he can also not lose. If current voting patterns hold, Romney won’t get to 1,044 for months. If successfully slowed down, he might never reach the winning number.

Helping this strategy, elections next week in Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri favor the more conservative candidates. That will provide an opportunity for Gingrich and Santorum to peel away support from Romney.

Santorum is in better position than Gingrich, with a higher delegate count and more state wins under his belt.

Santorum: I’m asking for your help and support on Tuesday, you do that, you deliver us a victory on Tuesday. We will make this a two-person race, and once it’s a two person race, the conservative will be the nominee.

Bradford: That’s Santorum speaking yesterday in Alabama. He wants to stop Gingrich from winning anymore, from keeping any momentum, and to drop out. Then, in an ideal scenario for Santorum, Jillson explains:

Jillson: All of that anti-Romney vote could consolidate around him and give him a chance to beat Romney and go into the convention with a number of delegates, perhaps still less than Romney but hold Romney under a majority and then fight it out at the convention.

Bradford: The Republican convention is usually a formality for the candidate who has already won. But in this scenario, the decision would occur at the convention. It would also be chaos. Quin Monson at the Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy says in that kind of convention anyone could be nominated—Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, or even someone who isn’t running, like New Jersey governor Chris Christie or former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Monson says the effect will be to hurt the eventual nominee’s chances, whoever he is—probably Romney.

Monson: If I’m a true-blue Republican, I want Romney to get the nomination and I want him to wrap it up quickly. I want Santorum and Gingrich to bow out gracefully and to endorse Romney and to be nice [laughs].

Bradford: Like all of these scenarios, the chances of that happening look slim. Not impossible, but slim.

Ben Bradford, Columbia Radio News

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BY RACHEL ROGERS

On Super Tuesday, the New York Young Republicans gathered to celebrate at a bar on the East Side. In this “Voices of New York” postcard, we dropped by to check out the scene.

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BY MACKENZIE ISSLER

HOST: The Jewish holiday of Purim ended yesterday. To mark the playful holiday, the KJ Synagogue on the Upper East Side hosted a hamantaschen eating contest. Competitors had to devour as many of the slightly dry, fruit filled triangular pastries as they could in five minutes. Mackenzie Issler reports.
(Ambi under all narrations)

The first contestants started to arrive around 11:45 a.m. There were the amateurs, like real estate broker Robbie Wizenberg.  It was his first eating contest and he had his worries.

WIZENBERG: I am mostly afraid of the big guy over there … if he runs out out of hamantaschen I hope he doesn’t start looking for mine. (

The big guy that Wizenberg was pointing out was Will “The Champ” Millender – the only professional eater at the competition. He wore a white t-shirt that said “Champ” on it and had a silver wrestling belt draped over his shoulders. He has eaten an array of foods in competitions. But, before Thursday, he had never tried hamantaschen, but he said they turned out okay.

MILLENDER: I was worried about like a chewy cookie or the middle but it seems like it will break down pretty easily and I will have a good eat.

Amateur eater Robbie Wizenberg loves the crumbly pastries, but he had another concern.

WIZENBERG:: And, I a am also afraid of throwing up on my shirt because I have to go back to work after this.

But, that’s exactly what exactly 9 year-old spectator Elan Agus said he was most excited to see.

ELAN: To see somebody throw up.

At noon, Todd  “The Hungry Genius Greenwald”, the MC of the event asked for a countdown.

AMBI/GREENWALD: Five, four, three, two, one, Go! And they are off and they are eating …. Will “The Champ” Millender, at the center of the table,  is setting the pace is setting the pace.

Seven of the eight men sat in front of two heaping plates of the kosher pastries. Will “The Champ Millender” stood, shoveling the pastries into his mouth, while he body bounced up and down. The audience was almost silent as they watched in awe, but the event’s MC, Todd “The Hungry Genius,” knew the other competitors needed some support from the audience.

AMBI/GREENWALD: Ladies and gentleman of the crowd, it is very silent, what I need you to need is to cheer for the eater that you want to win … the more noise you make, the faster these eaters will be eating the hamantaschen … cheering … rabbi, rabbi …. (:23) (fade another next narration)

The crowd favorite was Rabbi Elie Weinstout, who presides over the synagogue the hosted the event. As the final minute approached, the crowd really started to shower him with adoration.

AMBI/GREENWALD/CROWD: Rabbi Weinstout … 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 2, 1 …… cheers

Everyone swallowed their last bites and the cookie crumbs settled.  To no one’s surprise, Will The Champ Millender took top honors, eating 25 pastries. Robbie Wizenberg came in first place among the amateurs, after he ate 14 pastries. Wizenberg won a free ticket to Israel frm El Al Israel Airlines, which hosted the event. Rabbi Weinstout came in second.

Wizenberg said there was one downside to his victory.

WIZENBERG: The taste of a hamantaschen which I love so much actually started to gross me out. But I had to power through it. I am actually going to a Purim thing later today and I am definitely not going to have any hamantaschen.

Wizenberg hopes he’ll be able to enjoy the pastry by next Purim.

Mackenzie Issler, Columbia Radio News.

BY LEANNA ORR

HOST INTRO: Thin Mints, Samoas and Do-si-dos hit the New York market on Monday when the city’s Girl Scouts begin selling cookies. But the annual sale doesn’t work the same way here as it does in the rest of the country. Leanna Orr reports.

–

On a glorious Saturday in suburban Stamford, Troop 50060 is doing is brisk business. The members are set up outside a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Stop & Stop, siphoning off customers as they come and go.

SCOUT: Four dollars a box!
CUSTOMER: OK, can I do four actually five boxes of the Tagalongs and two of the Thin Mints?

SOUND: Tinkling of coins into box (0:03), fade to black under narration

Inventory dwindles as girls make frequent runs to the SUV parked out front for extra stock. The trunk and table are bare after just a couple hours.

OLIVIA: We sold a hundred and sixty boxes. And how many did you come here with? A hundred and sixty.

Troop 50060 knows how to cater to Stamford suburbanites, so the girls almost always sell outside grocery stores and coffee shops. One mother who was there had gone to a country music concert and saw a New Jersey troop with a different approach.

MOTHERS: We’re pulling into the parking lot and a mother was out there selling at the concert– Oh I betcha she did well there, that would be a good place to sell–Oh yeah, tailgatin’.

SOUND: Fade remaining conversation under narration (0:08), crossfade with ambi

Across America Girl Scouts depend on tried and true strategies: door-to-door sales, community events and booths outside the supermarket. But most of these just don’t work in New York City. It’s tough to go door-to-door when you have to get past security and up an elevator. Many troop moms don’t even have a tailgate. Plus, subway turnstiles are a real pain with an armload of inventory. So the New York scouting community gets creative.

RABINER: We have what we call ‘pop-up shops’ opening across the city.

Dina Rabiner is the director of marketing and communications for the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. She’s in charge of spreading the word about these five temporary stores. They’ll operate like normal retailers, with some paid staff and large inventories. You can even find them with your smartphone. The Cookie Locator app pinpoints the closest Do-si-do or Trefoil vendor from any Android device, iPhone or iPad. More than thirty thousand New Yorkers downloaded it last year. Rabner expects to double that number with some high-profile promotions.

RABINER: There’s not many councils out there that can advertise on 42nd Street and Times Square.

She thinks the ad will raise awareness about city scouts in general.

RABINER: People don’t always associate New York City with Girl Scouts, for some people Girl Scouts is a suburban activity.

Troops here might not be as visible, but they have one advantage over scouts in the suburbs. There are a lot of rich people here, and four dollars seems like a bargain to most of the city’s residents. Twelve-year-old Nicole belongs to Manhattan Troop 3175 on the Upper East Side. She’s learned that when it comes to customers, it’s quality, not quantity, that counts.

NICOLE: So I went to my mom’s office to sell cookies.–What office is that?–Merrill Lynch, the World Financial Center. And we were selling, and someone bought 125 boxes of cookies.

That’s $500 worth of cookies, and the buyer donated them all to American troops overseas. Cookies are available in the pop-up shops from March 12 and until April 3.

Leanna Orr, Columbia Radio News.

–

HOST BACKANNOUNCE: You can find a link to the Cookie Locator app on Uptownradio.org.

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BY JASON SLOTKIN

The Hepatitis C virus attacks the liver much the way HIV attacks the immune system, and the two viruses are spread in the same ways. A recent study published in the journal The Annals of Internal Medicinesays more Americans now die from Hepatitis C than from HIV. It’s estimated that one percent of all Americans are infected with Hepatitis C. And of those people, 1 in 4 don’t know they have it.In New York, the rate is slightly higher — between 200,000 and 300,000 people infected. For some time now, health organizations in the city have been stepping up efforts to get the disease under control.

Host Intro: A recent study says more Americans now die from Hepatitis C than from HIV/AIDS. It’s estimated that one percent of all Americans are infected with Hepatitis C. And of those people, 1 in 4 don’t know they have it. In New York, the rate is slightly higher–between 200,000 and 300,000 people infected. Jason Slotkin reports on the stepped up efforts to get the disease under control (:20)

In takes Charlotte Fauntleroy an hour by shuttle to get from her Canarsie home to the Mt. Sinai Medical Center on the Upper East Side. She’s here for an update on her treatment

FAUNTLEROY APPOINTMENT

Listen. Listen to me. Is it going to go up? (;05)

Fauntleroy was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1993 and it’s given her cirrhosis . Nurse practitioner Alicia Stivala is talks her through changes in her treatment and dosage.

STIVALA APPOINTMENT

Given that you had 8 weeks under your bel, we should be in good shape. The studies show that reducing the Ribavirin after 8 weeks of treatment, do not have a big response (:13)

Ribavirin is just one of three drugs Fauntleroy is on. They have side effects including anemia and she’s needed a blood transfusion because of it. But the virus is waning and its on its way to what doctors call undetectable. Fauntleroy is incredibly relieved and says the side effects are just an annoyance. Today, it’s a painful rash on her hands.

FAUNTLEROY

You get a little fatigue. You get a little rash. But when they tell you, you’re undetectable that puts a smile on your face. (:14)

In about 25 percent of cases, the body can rid itself of the Hepatitis C virus within months of infection. That’s not the case with HIV.

There’s also something called co-infection where people have both viruses. Studies show that significant numbers of HIV patients now die of liver-related illnesses, like ones cause by the Hepatitis C– also called HCV.

Nurse Practitioner Stivala says doctors realized they to had to consider both viruses when treating co-infected patients.

STIVALA

A lot of energy has gone into proper treatment of HIV. But now we’re realizing that its not the HIV that’s going to kill them in many cases, it’s the Hep C. (:12)

There are now drugs that attack the virus instead of just bolstering the body’s immune system like previous ones did. Charlotte Fauntleroy takes one of them called Telaprevir. 
The FDA has yet to approve it for use by co-infected patients—Mt. Sinai prescribes it anyway. 
But, Jeff Weiss, a clinical Psychologist at MT. Sinai, says people need to be prepared for all the effects of Hepatitis C treatments

WEISS
They can lead to depression, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, and this is again in a patient population that already be having some of these symptoms. (:12)

Many New Yorkers start the road to Hep C treatment at public health centers, like this one,

SOUNDS OF WAITING ROOM

The Aids Service Center in the East Village.

Volunteers and staff regularly work with patients at risk for infection including drug users and prostitutes.

Many of these peer educators, like Frank Barker, are co-infected themselves.

Most of his fellow volunteers show up in sweats and jeans. But, Barker takes more care of his appearance often showing up on pinstripes and silk ties.

BARKER

Even though you may see me in my suit and I look healthy, I live with these disease too. There are times I’m tired too, times I feel fatigue, don’t feel like getting out of bed. (:11)

Barker , a young looking forty something, is an Emory graduate who knew he had both viruses by 2008. Barker had a career in marketing. but later became a heavy drug user. He thinks got Hepatitis C from a crack pipe.

Barker delayed starting treatment because he wasn’t sure of how the Hepatitis C drugs would interact with his HIV meds. But he’s talking with his doctor about it.

Diane Williams is the volunteer coordinator at Aids Service Center. She says a lot of patients don’t ever get that far for one reason.

WILLIAMS

Fear. Fear period. Just the fear of the medicines. Fear of the treatment not knowing the outcome.(:05)

Fear may be a barrier to Hepatitis C treatment, the AIDs Service Center is looking to cross it. That day, the waiting room was full. Jason Slotkin. Columbia Radio News.

Host: You’ve seen them. You’ve dodged them. And chances are, you’ve been stung by them. But bees are more complex and less dangerous than we might think. A recent study finds that these busy little creatures make decisions much as our brains do.

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HOST INTRO: It’s been one year since New York City restaurants have had to post health inspection grades in their windows. Recent polls show that the public likes knowing which restaurants are safe and which are unsanitary. But this week the restaurant industry fought back, claiming that the grading system is far too cumbersome. Andrew Parsons reports.

***

At the Hungarian Pastry Shop on Broadway and 111th steet, customers crowd the entrance way as they stroll past the big green B rating in the window.

SOUND: Fade in sound of coffee shop with woman asking about sugar, fade under.

Manager Wendy Binioris’s son owns the shop. She says the rating system is inconsistent.

BINIORIS 1 (:09): It’s always a different inspector, never the same one who gets to know you and what your business is. And it becomes very arbitrary that way.

SOUND: Cash register and coffee shop sounds, fade under narration

Binioris says the rating reflects a moment in time. If one inspector sees something minor during a rush, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way the restaurant usually operates.

BINORIS 2 (:13): They have to know, oh well you’re in the middle of a rush of 40 tourists on top of a full restaurant inside and outside. And you have three bakers in the kitchen working with flour and there will be flour on the floor because we’re making the dough.

SOUND: Fade restaurant sounds under narration and out

And Binioris isn’t the only one complaining. On Wednesday restaurant owners and city council members testified against the grading system, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

QUINN 1 (:07): I really think there are inconsistencies in this system that we can fix to make it fairer and make it better.

Fairness isn’t the only problem says attorney Robert Bookman who represents hundreds of restaurants. He says that the system hurts those who have B and C ratings as well as those with As.

BOOKMAN 1 (:17): They are spending a huge amount of money hiring generally ex-health department inspectors as consultants to try and walk them through this complicated 1300 point system, preparing for the test.

Bookman says customers don’t know whether a B rating represents major violations or minor infractions. A minor thing would be flour falling from the counter at the Hungarian Pastry Shop during rush hour. Bookman says a major violation is having food above or below required temperature.

BOOKMAN 2 (:16) : If that’s your only violation, you still have an A. You can have another restaurant that has four or five minor violations, like a leaky faucet. Yet that person can get a B based on the adding up of a number of points in New York. The A restaurant was less safe that day than the B restaurant was.

Owners also complain about fines. They’ve gone up 5 fold since 2003. The day before the hearings, Mayor Bloomberg said holding restaurants accountable is an important part of making them safer.

BLOOMBERG 1 (:08) : We put fines in to discourage certain kinds of behavior. That’s the reason there’s fines. If we get revenue from it, it helps with our budget.

Wendy Binioris at the Hungarian Pastry Shop says fines have been going up for years and she always factor them into the restaurant’s bottom line. She says that her shop is doing well overall and doesn’t think her B rating has hurt it.

SOUND PASTRY SHOP 2 (:04) : People chatting, up and under

Near the door, Jerry Dinken sits with a group of regulars. They say they’ve been coming here for around 7 years to talk politics. Dinken says he loves the pastry shop regardless of the rating.

DINKEN 1 (:02) If it was an F we’d still come here.

While Binioris says that she’d rather go back to the pass-fail system, she’d be satisfied with reforms to make the process more consistent and clearer. Says she’ll keep making the same cakes for loyal customers, no matter what.

Andrew Parsons, Columbia Radio News

SOUND PASTRY SHOP 3 (:04) : Coffee shop chatter, fade out

Baseball spring training started last Saturday. It’s really just a tease of what the regular season will bring. But before that, the Mets’ owners are going to trial. A federal judge ruled on Monday they must pay as much as $83.3 million to the trustee managing the losses in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Tyler Kepner is the national baseball writer for the New York Times. The Yankees are troubled with injuries, the Mets’ financial problems are getting worse, but Kepner says, baseball is safe.

This week, Banana Republic launches its spring line, inspired by the fashions of the hit TV show, Mad Men. The collection draws heavily on the 1950s – all pretty florals, demure necklines and swinging skirts. While mainstream fashion is embracing a more establishment kind of retro, a few New Yorkers are keeping the other side of mid-century fashion alive.

Host: Charles Dickens would have turned 200 years old in February. He’s still being celebrated everywhere, from Westminster Abbey to Google’s homepage. In New York, there have been a series of lectures and exhibitions and the Bronx Museum of the Arts has just started a Dickens education program. But this week marks another Dickens anniversary. 170 years ago the author left New York, dismayed by his first visit.

In a drab conference room in Gramercy’s Epiphany Library, Friends of Dickens New York is hosting a meeting. It’s a kind of Dickens anonymous, where strangers talk about their mutual friend, Charles. “He’s just still the superstar that he was, I mean, in his day he was Elvis, he was the Beatles, he was Marilyn Monroe, he was everybody rolled into one,” says Jennifer Emerson, who performs a one woman show about Dickens.

These devotees get together in other places too. Sometimes they throw costume parties, says James Armstrong, who went one year as Joe the sweeper boy from Bleak House. He dressed in rags and smudged chocolate over his face.

Bleak House happens to be this year’s novel of choice. They discuss chapters over monthly meetings.

But this isn’t New York’s only Dickens fan club. Rose Roberts is the 90-year-old president of the Dickens Fellowship of New York. The fellowship was established in 1902 and has branches all over the globe.

Roberts is a self-professed Dickensian. She collects Victorian recipes and owns a sweater with Dickens’s face knitted into it.

She’s got no time for that other English writer. “Shakespeare wrote a few plays,” she says. “Dickens is an icon in how he writes his descriptions. You can almost feel that you’re in the room the way he describes it.”

But Roberts admits Dickens’s description of her own city is pretty unsparing.

He and his wife arrived here in February of 1842. He’d come to challenge American publishers, who were bootlegging his novels. He was already so popular in the States, he was mobbed by fans wherever he went.

Dickens repaid the country’s devotion with the book American Notes for General Circulation.

In it, he describes New York’s grimmest spots, including The Tombs prison.

Dickens would have found Lower Manhattan quite different these days. Now a pretty average-looking office block on the corner of Broadway and Leonard Street, 170 years ago, it was the luxurious Carlton House Hotel, where Dickens spent three weeks.

John Galazin, also of the Dickens fellowship, says the city always caught Dickens off balance. “The ladies of New York were singularly beautiful he thought. But he also had problems with many things that he saw in New York on the streets. Including pigs running wild. And the spitting just appalled him,” he says.

Dickens was even more horrified by his trip to Roosevelt Island – known then as Blackwell’s. He went there to snoop around its lunatic asylum.

Inmates rowed him there across the East River. But now, you just swipe your Metrocard, take the tram and glide above the Queensboro Bridge.

The asylum, called the Octagon has since burned down and been rebuilt as apartments. Judith Berdy, of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, says the inmates Dickens encountered were convicted of petty crimes, like shoplifting or drunkenness. “He probably would have seen people in the halls, as he would say, lounging listlessly,” she says. “And heard the screams and the unpleasant odors. Shall we say the plumbing wasn’t the best.”

Dickens didn’t stay on the island for long. On Valentine’s Day 1842, he attended the Boz Ball at the swanky Park Theater. The location is now known to New Yorkers as the J&R music and computer world. But at the ball 2,000 of New York’s wealthiest paid two dollars for a ticket. Scalpers were trying to sell them outside for $100; a price probably worth it for the food alone, says John Galazin.  43000 oysters, 50 hams, 50 turkeys, 50 sets of chickens and 10,000 sandwiches were served.

The evening was so lucrative, organizers tried to repeat it the next night.  Dickens said no. He left New York with a sore throat, shocked by a city that rivaled the bleakest parts of Victorian London.

But Dickens returned to America in 1867 for a reading tour. By then, New York had forgiven him for the vitriol of American Notes. The pigs, however, were still there.