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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 senior reporter/editor at Patch.com where they report on accountability and statehouse issues in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. 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, Gothamist 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 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.

Patch •

Job Cuts, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes, Sports Nixed: NJ Schools Face Budget Woes

By eliminating 368 staff positions and pushing class sizes up to 60 or more students, according to Toms River Regional School District Superintendent Michael Citta. The school district of roughly 14,500 pupils already reached an agreement to sell 17 acres of land to Toms River Township to help fill a hole in the district's budget last year, though Citta warned the district would face a far worse problem in 2024-25.

"It has been a rough couple of weeks," Citta told the district's Board of Educat
Patch •

Campus Protest 'Agitators' Remain Elusive, Despite Outsider Arrests

Nearly half of protesters — 134 people of 282 total — arrested in the Tuesday night crackdowns didn't go to either school, according to reports, citing unnamed NYPD sources.

But outlets, notably the New York Daily News, pointed out the figures lacked many details, including on where exactly people were arrested. Others pointed out CUNY's campus was publicly accessible before the crackdowns.

Students or outsiders, some of the 282 protesters arrested Tuesday night remain in custody despite a lo
Patch •

NYC Nightclub The Box Settles Sex Harassment, Unpaid Wages Lawsuit

Read more: Sex, Drugs Forced On Women Employees At Exclusive NYC Nightclub: Lawsuit A former bottle server received an undisclosed amount in a settlement over her claims that the Lower East Side club's management allowed "customers to sexually harass and abuse her" and pressured her "to lure male customers to The Box so that they could be sexually serviced by others," according to court documents filed this week.

Male customers would be "serviced with sexual acts, sexual intercourse, drugs, and
Patch •

Lady Gaga Scraps Event At The Box Amid NYC Club's Sex Harassment Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — Pop superstar Lady Gaga has pulled out of hosting her sister’s bachelorette party at infamous downtown club The Box later after Patch first reported on a lawsuit accusing the nightclub’s management of allowing male clients to sexually assault waitresses and instructing female employees to engage in sex, excessive alcohol consumption and drug use, all under the threat of punishment or termination.

The nightclub, which opened in 2007, has long been known for its racy cabaret perfo
Patch •

Wages Fall In More Than Half Of NJ Counties, New Data Shows

NEW JERSEY — While New Jersey remains near the top of the list of U.S. states with the highest average salaries, residents in 13 of the 15 largest counties in the state saw wages drop last year, according to new federal data.

The latest figures, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month, report as much as a 3 percent decline in average wages from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023 in some parts of the state. Monmouth County saw the largest average wage loss at 2.
Patch •

Kids’ Summer Curfew With $250 Fine May Be Coming To NJ Shore City

The 10 p.m. curfew, which passed unanimously on its first reading, will begin May 15 for those under 18. Children supervised by parents, traveling to or from work or participating a school, religious or recreational activity will be exempt, the ordinance reads. Parents who knowingly let their kids violate the curfew will face a $250 fine.

North Wildwood Police Chief John Stevenson said police officers will not stop young people who aren’t “creating problems” or causing disturbances, but the ord
Patch •

Mayor Pitches Tent Conspiracy Theory Over NYC Campus Protest Camps

But where are these so-called "agitators" getting their bulk shipments of protest tents? The same place a New York City college student would: Amazon or Five Below, for as low as $15 a pop, according to a Patch review of tents spotted at multiple campus demonstrations.

"Students on campus were telling us about how the folks outside campus (not students) were where a lot of the vitriol we are seeing is starting," a City Hall spokesperson told Patch in response to a question about the mayor's rem
Patch •

Columbia, NYU Antiwar Protests Yield 230 Arrests, Finger-Pointing

Cops cuffed 120 students and faculty at NYU late Monday, in addition to more than 100 in the past week on Columbia's campus, officials said. All but a handful received a trespassing summons — a ticket that won't go on criminal records, an NYPD spokesperson told Patch.

The crackdowns may legally be a slap on the wrist, but the actions by the NYPD — and university administrators at both schools who called cops onto their campuses — have been seen by protesters as an indefensible escalation. "NYU
Patch •

4 Day School Week Possible In PA Under New Law

The legislation, inked by Gov. Josh Shapiro in December, amended the Pennsylvania School Code to eliminate the required 180 school day minimum and establish a more flexible framework for school districts in the Keystone State. From the current school year onward, Pennsylvania public school districts now have the option to provide 180 school days or roughly 900 hours of annual instruction at the elementary level and 990 hours of annual instruction at the secondary level (districts were previously
Patch •

Were NJ Bridges Inspected After 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake?

But how quickly were bridges in the state inspected in the aftermath? The New Jersey Department of Transportation's in-house inspection teams were sent into the field “immediately” to inspect NJDOT’s bridges near the earthquake epicenter in Hunterdon County following the April 5 quake, NJDOT press manager Steve Schapiro told Patch.

The teams were instructed to inspect all the bridges along interstate and state highways, working systematically outward from the epicenter. Operations staff inspect
Patch •

Dozens Arrested In Columbia Protests As NYPD Moves On Campus

University President Minouche Shafik made the call to clear the campus earlier on Thursday, according to a letter posted to Columbia's website. "I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances," Shafik wrote. "The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations."


The unfolding chaos prompted predictably polarized reactio
Patch •

Free Tree Program Nixed By NJ Officials In 2024: Here’s Why

NEW JERSEY - Two annual tree reforestation programs helmed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — including a free seedling program for young residents — won’t be offered in 2024 due to inventory issues, Patch has learned.

The affected Tree Seedling Catalog and 3rd Grade Free Tree programs distribute hundreds of thousands of seedlings annually via the New Jersey Forest Service Nursery in Jackson (Monmouth County), state officials said. But “unforeseen circumstances,” includi
Patch •

Sex, Drugs Forced On Women Employees At Exclusive NYC Nightclub: Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — Bosses at exclusive New York City nightclub The Box had a directive for what a former waitress should do for clients: "ANYthing they wanted."

The ex-bottle server contends in a recently filed federal lawsuit that she was physically, verbal and sexually harassed by a management team who not only allowed "customers to sexually harass and abuse her," but pressured her "to lure male customers to The Box so that they could be sexually serviced by others."

After recruiting male clie
Patch •

40 Quake Aftershocks And Counting: See Where NJ Is Still Rumbling

NEW JERSEY - More than three dozen earthquake aftershocks have been reported around the Garden State since Friday morning’s 4.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The strongest aftershock occurred near Gladstone at 3.8 magnitude about 6 p.m. on Friday, the USGS said. The most recent aftershock was recorded Sunday evening at 1.3 magnitude near Califon. More aftershocks are likely to follow, USGS officials warn.

"According to our forecast, there is a 1% chance of one
Patch •

4.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks NJ, PA, NYC

The initial magnitude 4.8 earthquake was detected about 10:23 a.m. with an epicenter near Lebanon, New Jersey, according to the United States Geological Survey, which monitors earthquakes. A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was detected about seven miles west of Bedminster, New Jersey at noon. Read more: Second Earthquake Hits NJ New Jersey's State Emergency Operations Center has been activated, which will allow for 24-hour agency staffing to coordinate response and recovery operations, Gov. Phil Murphy
Patch •

17K NYC Construction Worker Safety Cards Invalidated After Issuer Indictment

The mass deactivation stems from a a criminal indictment filed in Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 28 against Valor’s senior executives and employees, which accuses the Coney Island-headquartered company of selling construction safety training identification cards to laborers without providing any actual training. “Effective immediately, any SST cards that have been issued as a result of training certificates issued by Valor have been deactivated, and construction workers with these SST cards wi

Misinformation 'Superspreader' Dr. Mercola Owns Veterinarian's Popular Blog.

Bestselling “Forever Dog” author and veterinarian Karen Shaw Becker describes herself as the “most followed veterinarian in the world” on her website. But dog owners who read Dr. Becker’s blog may never know that the pet-focused website, “Bark & Whiskers”, is listed by Mercola as one of “six different product brands” of “Mercola Market” — and that Mercola’s founder is Joseph Mercola, ​​dubbed the “most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online” by The New York Times in 2021.

The
Patch •

Central Park Fest Caused $205K+ In Damages Before 2023 Mayhem: Records

Records obtained by Patch show the Global Citizen Festival — the marquee event of the nonprofit advocacy organization Global Poverty Project — has repeatedly been issued damage fees dating back to at least 2018 over "failure to perform its restoration obligations" in accordance with agreements with the city. The recurring damage, capped by the September 2023 festival's unusually high damage bill, has prompted the Central Park Conservancy — the nonprofit that oversees the park — to discourage sim
Patch •

How Segregated Is Your NJ School? See District Breakdown

NEW JERSEY - More than 130 of about 700 Garden State K-12 school districts are considered segregated with at least 80 percent of students of one race, and 41 school districts with at least 90 percent of students of one race, according to a Patch analysis.

The school districts span from Bergen to Cape May counties and consist of 103 majority-white schools, 15 majority-Black schools and 25 majority-Hispanic schools, according to 2022-23 enrollment data released by the New Jersey Department of Edu
Patch •

2.6K Bias Incidents Fueled NJ's Largest Hate Crime Surge to Date: AG

Over 2,699 bias incidents reported in the state last year marks the highest annual total on record since the state began tracking them in 1994, according to preliminary data released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office this week. Findings show dramatic increases in incidents targeting Black individuals, with 1,101 incidents making up more than 34 percent of all bias incident reports last year (a 10.5 percent increase from 2022's reports). 497 bias incidents in 2023 were motivated by anti
Patch •

New NJ Bill Would Protect Librarians Amid U.S. Book Ban Push

Dubbed the “Freedom to Read Act,” S2421 was introduced last month by primary sponsors Sens. Andrew Swicker (NJ-16) and Teresa Ruiz (NJ-29). The bill would require school and public library boards to create policies regarding which books should be in school libraries and how books may be removed, as well as prohibit dissenters from suing librarians over the reading options made available in accordance with those policies. The guidelines will be based upon a model policy drafted by the State Libra
Patch •

BK Cyclist, 67, Dies After Losing Control Of E-Bike: NYPD

Medics found Jundi Hu of Bay Ridge laying in the roadway with “severe body trauma” at the intersection of 53 Street and 6 Avenue just after 4 p.m., police said. Hu was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

No other vehicles appeared to have played a role in the crash, per police. The investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD Highway District's Collision Investigation Squad. Hu lived about a mile, or less than a ten minute bicycle ride, from the
Patch •

‘Broken’ NJ Parole System Denies Over 50% Of Cases: New Report

NEW JERSEY - A "broken" parole system that grants applicants release less than half of the time must be reformed by ensuring eligible applicants have access to a lawyer and confidential documents that influence parole decisions, according to a new report released by state officials this month.

The report, published Feb. 2 by the Office of the Public Defender’s Parole Project, found that in 2017, 2018 and 2019, more than half of parole applicants were denied release; 2020, which saw a 52.7% rele
Patch •

PA Election Security Task Force Unveiled By Gov. Shapiro

Dubbed The Election Threats Task Force, the coalition will involve officials from various agencies including state police, homeland security, information technology and election administration and will be helmed by Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt. “Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy, and we are working to continue defending Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms and ensure we have a free, fair, safe, secure election this November," Shapiro said in a Feb. 29 statement.

“
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