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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 | Trendy NYC thrift stores fear US tariffs could obliterate business: ‘No small business can survive’

This could really take a bite out of the Big Apple.


The secondhand apparel industry may be dodging duties on imported goods – but the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on thrift shops may still bring a wrecking ball to businesses across the city, resellers told The Post.


“There’s a lot of rhetoric that everybody’s going to turn to second-hand [clothing] when wallets tighten,” said Alexis Krase, owner of plus-size secondhand store Plus BKLYN in Greenpoint.


“But overall, I think that...
New York Post •

Exclusive | NYC confiscates 140 pounds of banned rat poison as expert warns ‘genuinely scary’ product can kill when inhaled

The city has confiscated 140 pounds of banned rat poison this month but street vendors keep selling the stuff – as one expert warned the black market could have deadly consequences.


Local medical professionals are bracing to handle more patients exposed to the effects of the poisons with one popular but “genuinely scary” ingredient blamed for the tragic death of four kids in Texas, said Adam Blumenberg, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.


“A lot...
New York Post •

Columbia University quad was never public — can close anytime despite local outrage, NYC says

The Big Apple is backing Columbia University in its war to keep its gates shut.


Attorneys for the city said the Ivy League school should be allowed to block the public from a beloved community space on its Morningside Heights campus — after outraged locals sued to get access.


“This has always been private property,” Rachel Moston, senior counsel for the city Law Department, argued in court this week.


At the heart of the legal battle is College Walk, a once bustling footpath on West 116t...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Brooklyn pet store owner accused of kidnapping NYC pigeons, selling them as live shooting targets

An alleged pigeon pirate is ruffling feathers in the concrete jungle.


A longtime Brooklyn pet store owner is coming under fire after allegations resurfaced that he kidnaps pigeons from public parks and illegally sells them to hunters to be used as live shooting targets, The Post has learned – but his brother claims activists have pigeonholed the wrong guy.


Michael Scott, co-owner of Broadway Pigeon & Pet Supplies in Bushwick, has been accused of purloining pigeons for decades, according to...
New York Post •

Execs on NYC’s Roosevelt Island spent $170K in taxpayer cash to launch anti-tourist smear campaign: probe

Roosevelt Island officials launched a smear campaign to blame tourists — and not mismanagement — for repeated problems with the island’s famed Tramway, a scathing state report reveals.


Well-paid former members of the Roosevelt Island Operation Corporation paid a PR firm nearly $170,000 in taxpayer dollars to manipulate local media outlets and plant posts online claiming a glut of visitors were behind the mishaps, the state Office of the Inspector General said in the 23-page report. 


In fac...
New York Post •

New bill would trash NYC ticketing over garbage during Jewish Sabbath

City sanitation workers would be banned from issuing trash-related fines to New Yorkers during some weekend hours — including during the Jewish Sabbath — under a new proposed state bill.


The bill, introduced by Assembly member Simcha Eichenstein on Monday, seeks to change the Sanitation Department’s “discriminatory” evening curbside garbage drop-off rules, which have resulted in $50 to $300 fines for Orthodox Jewish residents who are prohibited from handling trash during the religious observa...
New York Post •

Bird flu sickens thousands of chickens at NYC poultry markets despite temporary statewide shutdown

Bird flu is continuing to spread in New York City despite the state’s temporary live market shut down in February — and activists want a total closure of the slaughter houses.


At least 4,180 Big Apple birds intended to be sold were found to be infected with the highly contagious virus since March 1, according to data from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.


The outbreaks were found in live markets with over 1,000 birds in the Bronx and Queens, as well as smaller flocks in Brook...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Trendy West Village eatery blames congestion pricing for impending closure: ‘We’re just open to pay bills’

This vegan joint just can’t beet congestion pricing.


West Village plant-based French eatery Delice & Sarrasin claims the controversial e-tolling program has led to delivery surcharges from distributors that are so high they are facing the prospect of going out of business.


“We’re at this point now when we’re just open to pay bills,” owner Christophe Caron told The Post, estimating the 12-year-old eatery has just three to six months left before it goes under.


Two of Caron’s restaurant s...
New York Post •

Exclusive | 100-year-old NYC cabaret singer shares her secret to longevity: ‘Everything about her is an inspiration’

She’s still kicking after all these years.


Longtime New York cabaret singer Lynne Charnay marked her 100th birthday Tuesday night by paying homage to her decades-long history in New York theater  – which has taken her from Manhattan piano bars to the small screen to Broadway’s Palace Theatre.


The newly-minted centenarian, who celebrated the milestone crooning to a sold-out crowd at a piano bar in Manhattan, says her performances help to keep her young at heart.


“It’s very satisfying to...
New York Post •

Brooklyn residents fight plan to chop down 78 healthy trees in Fort Greene Park, saying it’ll create a ‘summer frying pan’

Leaf these trees alone.


Plant-loving locals are looking to block the city from chopping down 78 trees in Fort Greene Park – a move they say would turn the greenspace into a “summer frying pan.”


A group of residents in Brooklyn’s trendy Fort Greene is suing the city and fighting with the parks conservancy over a plan for a pedestrian plaza despite officials pledging to replace the healthy trees with 300 saplings.


“The environmental concerns are important to all of us involved and for the...
New York Post •

NYPD reviewing $734K contract with horse veterinarian who has decades-long history of violations: ‘Not a criminal’

The NYPD is reviewing its $734,000 contract with a veterinarian overseeing the agency’s mounted horse unit after his history of violating racehorse care rules surfaced, The Post has learned.


Camilo Bravo Sierra, of Northport, New York, who has been a contract veterinarian with the Department of Health since 2019, was fined at least seven times and suspended twice while working as a horse racing veterinarian at Queens’ Aqueduct Race Track, according to state data first reported by Gothamist....
New York Post •

Peek inside the plan for a gorgeous NYC park that would reshape the Midtown waterfront

This casino plan calls for all kinds of green.


A massive public waterfront park – roughly the size of Bryant Park – may be coming to Midtown East if a developer gets its Mohegan-backed casino proposal OK’d later this year, The Post has learned.


Freedom Plaza, a now-vacant 4.7-acre green space between First Avenue and the waterfront, would tout an outdoor amphitheater, river promenade, playground and even a museum should the state dole out one of three coveted downstate casino licenses to t...
New York Post •

Site of century-old synagogue to be torn down – and hundreds of historic NYC landmarks face same risk: advocates

This vintage house of worship doesn’t have a prayer.


The site of a former century-old synagogue for Ukrainian immigrants in the East Village is set to be torn down to make room for six trendy condos — prompting activists to complain that a piece of history will be lost to make way for a generic new apartment for hipsters.


“Pieces of the building will survive, but none of the facade,” Village Preservation executive director Andrew Berman told The Post.


“There is this memory of, and con...
New York Post •

Beloved 121-year-old NYC Italian restaurant Ferdinando’s Focacceria finds new owner — one month after sudden closure: ‘It’s an honor’

The red sauce will keep flowing at Ferdinando’s.


Ferdinando’s Focacceria in Carroll Gardens will reopen under a new owner — a familiar face in the neighborhood food scene — after the 121-year-old Sicilian restaurant abruptly closed its doors last month, The Post has learned.


Owner Frank Buffa selected Sal Lamboglia, who helms Brooklyn spots Cafe Spaghetti, Swoony’s and Sal Tang’s, to take over the old-school eatery on Union Street, a rep for Lamboglia said. The lease was signed late last w...
New York Post •

First-ever NYC SeltzerFest draws sold-out crowd of fizzy fans, celebrating Big Apple’s quirky century-old tradition

These seltzer fans are bubbling with excitement.


The first-ever Brooklyn SeltzerFest honoring the carbonated drink’s history in the five boroughs – featuring tastings, antique syphons and a national egg cream competition – sold out in Brooklyn on Sunday, with over 600 attendees coming together to celebrate the pop-ular drink.


“Seltzer’s impact on New York City is more than just industrial, it’s more than just cultural: it has been worked into the life blood of who we are as a city – but it...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Egg, poultry ‘price gouging’ reports in NY up more than 840% amid bird flu outbreak

It’s time to crack down.


Complaints of illegal egg and poultry price gouging in New York state are up more than 840% in 2025 amid the recent bird flu outbreak, compared to just 16 similar reports made last year, The Post has learned.


The New York Attorney General’s Office was hit with 151 complaints about ripoff egg prices between Jan. 1 and March 10, a rep from the office told The Post — with some of the problematic price tags advertising eggs at between $11.99 and $15.99 per dozen.


“I...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Rat sightings up by 119% in this NYC nabe – as vermin-hating locals claim ‘every house has rats’

This neighborhood is totally rat-tled.


Rat sightings are trending down citywide but some neighborhoods are seeing massive spikes — with one area in Queens hit with a 119% increase in 311 complaints about the vermin last year.


“Every house has rats and nobody is doing anything about it,” said Shuvro Md, of Jamaica Hills, Queens. That neighborhood part of the borough’s Community Board 8 — alongside Briarwood, Hillcrest, Holliswood and more — which saw the whopping increase from 2023 to 2024....
New York Post •

Hundreds of birds in NYC infected by bird flu after poultry markets allowed to reopen

Hundreds of birds at a Queens live poultry market have succumbed to a new bird flu outbreak — less than two weeks after the shops were allowed to reopen as the virus runs rampant across the nation.


At least 150 birds were found on Monday to be infected with the extremely contagious and devastating virus, data from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service shows.


The sprawling infection marks the first at a live market in the Big Apple since early February, when 1,240 birds at Queens a...
New York Post •

Plan for massive NYC skateboard park riddled with issues like potential ‘organ-level impalement’: foes

The city’s plan to pave over part of a Brooklyn park to build a skateboarding complex could lead to injuries from falling acorns and twigs — not to mention “organ-level impalement” on a nearby fence, critics claim.


The local civic group Friends of Mount Prospect Park says it brought its serious concerns about the 40,000-square-foot, taxpayer-funded Brooklyn Skate Garden project — slated for Mount Prospect Park in Prospect Heights — to city officials, only to be ignored.


“We can see the dan...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Bodega cat ‘certification’ plan seeks vet care for four-legged deli workers: ‘Most of them are abused’

It’s a purr-fect plan.


New York’s iconic bodega cats could be getting some long-awaited protection from abuse under a new proposal to regulate their care by store owners.


Malnourished, sickly and even abandoned deli pets are far too common in the Big Apple, say advocates who are working to make it easier for delis to get their esteemed felines help. 


A new online effort by such pet lover proposes removing the current fines for keeping a cat in a food business — and putting in place both...
New York Post •

NYC dog trainer caught on video kicking, whipping pups still in business, neighbors say: ‘He’s fully abusing dogs’

A dog trainer running an illegal animal boarding outfit out of his Brooklyn apartment continues to operate even after graphic videos showing him allegedly abusing canines surfaced on social media, neighbors say.


More than 30 horrific animal abuse complaints, including two dozen calls to 311 this month alone, have been leveled against Corey Harden alleging the Flatbush-based dog trainer has pummeled several pups — even leaving some out in the freezing cold or extreme heat for lengthy periods o...
New York Post •

Exclusive | NYC restaurateurs frustrated as city issues only 40 outdoor dining permits with thousands still in limbo: ‘Extorted money from us’

There’s a backlog of more than 3,600 applications for outdoor dining sheds in the Big Apple — thanks to the city’s “cumbersome,” convoluted new approval process, The Post has learned.


The city has only issued permits for 40 dining spots as officials scramble to hand out temporary licenses and restaurant owners worry about the big investments they made ahead of the April 1 al fresco season.


“The city extorted money from us,” said Tom Avallone, manager of Nick’s Bistro in Forest Hills, Queen...
New York Post •

Exclusive | New allegations of horrific abuse and death — including a drowned mountain lion — at notorious ‘roadside zoo’ on Long Island

A notorious Long Island “roadside zoo’’ covered up the deaths of scores of horrifically abused animals in its care — including a mountain lion that drowned, according to an ex-government public-safety officer.


Meredith Tinsley, a former longtime Brookhaven officer whose duties included patrolling the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center, has joined other whistleblowers in slamming the center, adding her own morbid claims of stomach-churning animal neglect — as well allegations of a cover-up....
New York Post •

Exclusive | Elizabeth Street Garden is a ‘work of art,’ new federal lawsuit claims — in latest attempt to save beloved NYC park

Advocates seeking to save the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden filed a federal lawsuit against the city Tuesday — claiming the green space should be spared from demolition because it’s an irreplaceable “work of art” in the Big Apple.


The 20,000-square foot sculpture garden should be protected under the US Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), argues the complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court by ESG’s executive director, Joseph Reiver.


It seeks to stop the city from tearing down the Lower M...
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