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Nicole Rosenthal

Nicole Rosenthal (they/them) is an award-winning journalist covering news, culture and investigations from their home base in Brooklyn, N.Y. They are currently a New York City reporter at the New York Post. They are also a freelance reporter open for paid commissions and a guest lecturer available for class visits.

Nicole's work has appeared in NBC News, The Real Deal, Documented, Observer, Patch, amNew York and more. Their high-impact reporting has shed critical light on inequities and injustices in health care, housing, labor and immigration.

Nicole's 2021 collaborative investigation for Patch.com revealed a local political candidate's hidden criminal history and resulted in the candidate's departure from the race. In addition, their 2024 investigation into sex trafficking allegations at a luxury nightclub in Manhattan prompted Lady Gaga to pull her longtime support from the venue.

Nicole's work has been featured on MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian Reports and in ProPublica's 2020 Electionland project, POLITICO's NJ Playbook, Hell Gate, Gothamist, Real Clear Investigations and the National Immigration Forum newsletter. They hold a dual bachelor's degree in journalism and psychology from NYU and a master's degree in investigative journalism from the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University.

Nicole is a member of the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Trans Journalists Association. They are a proud recipient of the 2022 NLGJA Facebook Journalism Project Scholarship.

New York Post •

Exclusive | Inside the only Manhattan voting district that favored Trump in the 2024 presidential election: ‘It used to be a safe city’

This slice of Gotham is seeing red.


Just one district in Manhattan chose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in last week’s election — becoming the first in the borough to vote for a Republican presidential candidate in at least a decade.


The sole pro-Trump district in Manhattan is composed of just one apartment complex, Knickerbocker Village, a majority Chinese-American affordable housing development in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side, which voted roughly 51% Trump to Harris’ 4...
New York Post •

LGBTQ groups finally invited to march in Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade — ending NYC event’s decades-long anti-gay ban

LGBTQ groups will be allowed to march in Staten Island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time ever this year, organizers announced Tuesday — ending a long-running controversy over the annual event’s anti-gay stance.


The announcement followed years of boycotts from local pols over LGBTQ groups being banned from marching in the borough’s annual Irish heritage parade.


“The Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee wishes to announce that the Staten Island Pride Center has bee...
New York Post •

Empire State Building won’t light up for Polish Independence Day — and critics aren’t taking the snub lightly

The Empire State Building won’t light up to honor Polish Independence Day on Tuesday — and charged-up critics aren’t taking the snub lightly.


Several City Council members told The Post they’ve pushed for the tribute but they’ve been met with multiple denials from the organization that decides on the lighting schedule for the famous Manhattan skyscraper.


“The Polish-American community is one of the largest ethnic communities in New York, and they have made significant contributions to our c...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Saks Fifth Avenue cancels famed holiday lights show in apparent cost-cutting measure: ‘Challenging year’

It’s lights out for a beloved holiday tradition in Manhattan.


Saks Fifth Avenue’s annual holiday light show at its flagship location has been canceled after nearly two decades of yuletide spectacle — apparently because of cost-cutting, The Post has learned.


“For many years, the holidays at Saks Fifth Avenue included a light show at our flagship store, and for some time, we have contemplated changing our approach,” a Saks Fifth Avenue rep told The Post on Monday.


Now, instead of the glow...
New York Post •

Crumbling Brooklyn basketball court ‘overdue for an upgrade’ gets NY Liberty-themed makeover after championship win

The New York Liberty isn’t done painting the town seafoam green just yet.


The newly-minted WNBA champs’ home borough of Brooklyn received a much-needed upgrade to a dilapidated basketball court in East New York last month, all thanks to an assist from the team’s co-owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai.


“By upgrading the basketball courts here at Breukelen Ballfields, we’re ensuring that New Yorkers of all ages, and particularly young people, have an engaging space to connect with their neighb...
New York Post •

MTA says social media companies are ‘mostly compliant’ in removing subway-surfing content — despite no data showing removals

Well, this doesn’t track.


The Metropolitan Transportation Authority claims it has pushed social media companies to take down viral videos of subway surfers — but it can’t say how many clips have actually been removed.


The authority said it has flagged more than 10,900 social media posts showing the boneheaded and sometimes deadly trend since last June, but it’s not clear how many actually ended up deleted or if anyone — including the social media companies — is even tracking those numbers....
New York Post •

NYC liquor stores were ‘crazy’ busy on election night — with workers revealing one bizarre trend among customers

The only places that might’ve been busier than the polls on Election Day in the Big Apple were the liquor stores.


New Yorkers eager to celebrate or mourn their presidential candidate Tuesday night raided booze shops across the five boroughs, according to several store employees — many of whom told The Post they noticed one bizarre trend among clientele.


“People were buying sparkling wine and a bottle of liquor for both [outcomes],” said Sebastian, an employee at the Juice Box in Brooklyn’s...
New York Post •

Barista reveals alleged food-safety problems at viral NYC coffee spot’s new eatery: ‘Someone’s about to get seriously ill’

A barista at a buzzy West Village coffee spot has spilled the beans on his employer’s alleged revolting food-safety faux pas.


Food handlers at Fellini Cucina, Fellini Coffee’s new restaurant in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood, are preparing food on top of garbage containers and storing meat and dairy at temperatures upwards of 45 degrees Fahrenheit, disgruntled barista Corey Kiser claimed in a now-viral TikTok video posted Sunday afternoon.


“The management, all they care about is show an...
New York Post •

Queens residents spar over proposed 16-mile waterfront bike path: ‘No place to put this fantasy’

A major fight is brewing in Queens over a massive biking path critics say will reshape a suburban section of the borough into another bustling urban district – and might serve as a new frontier for scooter-riding bandits.


The outrage reached a fever-pitch at a Department of Transportation public workshop last month about the 16-mile Queens Waterfront Greenway project, which descended into chaos as verbal and physical spats erupted between advocates and naysayers.


“We’re not Williamsburg, w...
New York Post •

Elizabeth Street Garden eviction pause may end as soon as this week – as activists await appeals court decision

They’re planting their feet in the ground.


The fate of the beloved 20,000-square-foot Elizabeth Street Garden in Nolita — where the city is vying to build 123 affordable housing units — may be sealed in the coming days as activists await a decision regarding whether its eviction will be paused as they fight their appeal in housing court, an attorney for the greenspace told The Post.


A decision on the garden’s motion to pause the eviction and demolition until the case — an appeal of a May c...
New York Post •

NYC’s ‘confetti king’ has retired after two decades— here’s who will be powering Liberty’s ticker-tape parade

He’s passed the torch.


The New York Liberty’s ticker-tape parade on Thursday will be among the first without the longtime “Confetti King” shepherding the festivities along Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes.


Joe Timpone, who procured paper shreds for more than a dozen parades in his 20 years with the Downtown Alliance, retired in 2015 – and a new fleet of confetti connoisseurs has assumed his responsibilities.


“While no one could ever take the mantle of ‘Confetti King,’ Joe passed the torch t...
New York Post •

Another Duane Reade set to close on UES as NYC pharmacies grapple with crime — and surviving drug store is ‘robbed about once an hour’

It’s a hard pill to swallow.


Yet another Duane Reade is set to close on the Upper East Side next month — part of a string of closures affecting big-box pharmacies grappling with rampant crime.


The closure of at least five other big-box pharmacies in the neighborhood over the last year has stoked residents’ fears over organized shoplifting — as they also face longer lines and extended travel times to get their prescriptions.


“My local Duane Reade, which is the only surviving nearby drug...
New York Post •

Beloved NYC sculpture garden holds off eviction for now as locals fight to block affordable housing development

The Elizabeth Street Garden got a last-minute legal win against the city to temporarily block its eviction – delaying a plan to pave it over with affordable housing, activists said Wednesday.


An appellate court issued a temporary stay on the eviction as garden organizers appeal a May eviction decision and continue the fight to keep the 20,000-square foot sculpture garden open in the Nolita neighborhood.


The garden was served a move-out notice earlier this month as Mayor Eric Adams’ adminis...
New York Post •

Port Authority bus terminal replacement OK’d by city planners – but ‘long overdue’ makeover could take a decade

The Port Authority bus terminal in Midtown finally got the greenlight for a $10 billion “eyesore to eye-popping” transformation Wednesday – but it could take a decade to see major changes.


The City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the revamp – which would turn the blighted 1950s-era intrastate stop into a spacious, bright transit hub.


“Even with multiple renovations, the 74-year-old terminal is too old and outmoded to continue effectively serving commuters,” commission Chai...
New York Post •

NYC pushed to ban Central Park music festival after $620K in damages last year: ‘I have never been a fan’

New York City should ban an annual charity concert in Central Park after last year’s festivities caused more than $620,000 worth of damages to the greenspace, one local politician said.


City Council member Gale Brewer isn’t feeling the beat of the Global Citizen Festival, asking Mayor Eric Adams to tell organizers of the one-day event they’re no longer welcome on the park’s Great Lawn because of annual damages and closures.


Brewer wrote in a letter to Adams on Thursday that the event “inva...
New York Post •

Mandatory composting begins for all five NYC boroughs next week

Most city residents are supposed to start separating compostable food and garden scraps from their trash in all five boroughs Oct. 6 — but if their recycling track record is any indication, it may be an uphill battle.


The new composting measure, passed by the City Council last year, has been touted as a “key” part of the Big Apple’s war on rats, according to Gotham’s Department of Sanitation.


“Curbside composting fights rats and helps the planet,” Sanit Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a...
New York Post •

Bronx Zoo elephant Happy spotted in public for first time in weeks — with ‘significant damage’ to feet, activists say 

Whether she’s happy or not is apparently up for debate.


Happy, the famous Bronx Zoo Asian elephant, was recently spotted in public for the first time in nearly 10 weeks — and sparked concern from the activist group that monitors her well-being.


A photo posted to the Nonhuman Rights Project Instagram account on Wednesday showed the pachyderm laying down in a sand pit inside her enclosure — a pattern of behavior which “isn’t normal” for Happy — with “significant damage” to her feet, the post...
New York Post •

$10M in safety upgrades for Memorial Sloan Kettering construction — that could expose kids to asbestos — won’t curb air toxins: parents

Memorial Sloan Kettering is slated to spend millions of dollars to limit the amount of carcinogenic dust nearby students are exposed to during a massive UES construction project — but parents say the cancer hospital still isn’t doing enough to curb the toxins.


Parents like Yasmina Caleo say the $10 million the hospital will spend towards air quality monitoring equipment and playground upgrades is ineffective and could actually worsen air quality on the Upper East Side.


“That list of ‘bene...
New York Post •

Controversial high-rise plan near Brooklyn Botanic Garden set to get axed by developer — day after it was OK’d

The developer set to throw shade at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — and potentially kill off some of its exotic treasures — says it is backing off its plans because they had to be scaled down too much.


The city Planning Commission OK’d the proposed towering apartment project Monday — but only a version that involved 10 stories with 355 units instead of the developer’s sought-after 14 stories and 475 pads.


“As we told the Commission, these changes significantly impact our ability to deliver o...
New York Post •

NYC ex-litterers among volunteers for ‘Adopt Your Spot’ clean-ups: ‘Someone has to pick it up’

Down-and-dirty New Yorkers are bagging everything from beer bottles to strollers — to even the kitchen sink — as part of a volunteer “Adopt Your Spot’’ program to clean up trashy parts of the city.


Some of the best volunteer trash troops admit they are former litterers.


“I didn’t think much of it — it was a natural habit,” Queens native Joyce Xu, 29, recently told The Post of her littering — as she used a special gizmo to pluck up everything from Shake Shack wrappers, 7-Eleven cups and KFC...
New York Post •

NYC tenants put in tough position as cancerous vapor tests near Gowanus Canal need landlords’ permission

Residents living near Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal will be able to find out within weeks if their building is contaminated with cancer-causing vapors — but only if they can talk their landlord into letting the state come on their property and do tests, The Post has learned.


Building owners have the right to bar the Department of Environmental Conservation from entering their land to search for hazardous chemicals such as trichloroethylene — and so far, only one in five Gowanus owners have a...
New York Post •

NYC Council bill to force release of Sept. 11 air toxin reports, launch investigation into info city withheld from public

New York’s City Council is set to review a bill that would force city agencies to reveal what they knew about about air toxins after the Sept. 11 attacks and what was withheld from the public — despite the Adams administration’s efforts to keep the info quiet.


The resolution, which will be introduced Thursday by Council Member Gale Brewer, comes after Mayor Eric Adams balked at opening the two-decade-old books on 9/11 for fear that it could expose New York to massive liability.


“The remai...
New York Post •

Secrets behind mysterious century-old WWI memorial in trendy Williamsburg nabe — that’s now neglected and abandoned

A tiny green refuge in Brooklyn honoring locals who died fighting in World War I is tucked away in a 3,000-square-foot park — mysteriously padlocked most days and hidden beneath overgrown brush.


Few get to enjoy the city-owned Memorial Gore’s beauty since its biggest backers died, as the Williamsburg park remains in a state of neglect and indefinitely shuttered — save for special events like Armistice Day or Memorial Day.


When the park — anchored by a stone monument honoring 83 local soldi...
New York Post •

All-female Hasidic EMT corps expanding Brooklyn footprint with second ambulance

Brooklyn’s all-female EMT corps comprised of ultra-Orthodox Jewish women is expanding its reach in the Big Apple – providing life support services despite opposition from their male counterparts.


The Ezras Nashim – meaning “helping women” in Hebrew – estimates it has received 1,500 calls within a 2.7 square-mile-area in Borough Park, assisting with everything from pregnant women in labor to critical care transport since getting their ambulance license in 2020. 


The expansion comes after in...
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