EXCLUSIVE: LaGuardia Finally Opens Interfaith Chapel for Travelers - The Tablet
The new chapel in Terminal C in the renovated LaGuardia Airport is now officially open for prayer.
Analytical and engaging, William (Bill) Miller is a go-to journalist for investigative projects and breaking news reports on the most pressing issues of our time, from COVID to immigration, religion, mental health, crime, race, politics, gun violence, and the environment.
His award-winning accomplishments include multiple projects, with an extensive background in online and print platforms, as a senior reporter and editor and as a freelance magazine and book manuscript editor.
He is also an accomplished copywriter with a track record of developing engaging content to help drive web traffic and mold brands into industry thought leaders. In this role, he guides special projects and content strategy decisions to identify and capitalize on market penetration and audience growth opportunities.
The new chapel in Terminal C in the renovated LaGuardia Airport is now officially open for prayer.
Marlin and Josibel knew the 5,000-mile hike from their homes in Venezuela to the United States would be tough, especially traveling with children. But the most difficult part was crossing a deadly stretch of Panama's jungle - the Darién Gap.
Father Marcel Uwineza recalls he was 14 in April 1994 when a fearful pall "like an evil spirit" draped his hometown in the East African nation of Rwanda.
Realizing the need for a tougher crackdown on shops dealing illegal marijuana, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams last month unveiled a unified front to thwart the proliferation of unlicensed cannabis retailers across the city and state.
Claudia Salazar of Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens has no doubt her staff will soon encounter people hooked on drugs cut with the animal tranquilizer, xylazine - street name, "tranq."
At 95, retired master seamstress Maria Pulsone of Flushing says she's nothing special, although there is a life-size statue of her in Italian American Museum. Titled "Good Night, Maria," it is one of three new exhibits at the museum. But for decades, its whereabouts were a mystery, and some family members forget it ever existed.
Police request the public's help to catch a man who reportedly bluffed his way into American Martyrs Parish Sunday, March 3, and took $900 in cash.
n the fall of 1984, Msgr. John Vesey was a Maryknoll missionary working with the indigenous people of southwestern Guatemala, but he became deathly ill with pneumonia. While bedridden, he slipped in and out of consciousness. In moments of lucidity he saw, standing over him, Sister Alba Estela Orellana and her fellow Carmelite nuns.
A lawsuit alleging that New York City's property tax system unfairly burdens low-income residents was dismissed by a high court a few years ago, but it now has new life. Tax Equity Now New York, or TENNY, brought the suit in 2017 against the city and the state, claiming NYC's property tax system is inequitable, opaque, and forces some people to pay an uneven share of the state's tax revenues.
News and Features 2023
First Place — Best Coverage-Immigration. Judges: "The context of US cities struggle tied with current world crises brings a macro and micro view to a turbulent issue. The tone and style makes this content easily digestible." (Co-winner with Paula Katinas, entry "Migrant Crisis Brings Scrutiny to NY’s Status as ‘Sanctuary City,’ Ukrainians Hit With RedTape Nightmare in U.S. After Fleeing War"]
Second Place — Best Personality Profile. Judges: This is a highly educational piece of work that I very much enjoyed reading. The subject is significant in addition to being interesting, and the context of his life also is significant. The various components of the article make it digestible and engaging. This would be a great article to present to history or literature students, providing information and context.
Third Place — Best News Writing on a Local Event. Judges: Very enjoyable story based on a simple premise - the need for light in our lives. Reporter takes a topic that may not seem all that newsworthy - the need for outside lighting at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James - and turning it in to a wonderful piece about how a simple light can be transformative in so many ways.
Third Place — Best Reporting on Social Justice Issues. Judges: "This poignant tribute to the young women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 honors specific victims and survivors of the tragedy, and emphasizes the vital importance of safety regulations."
Father Francis Duffy's legacy as an influential New Yorker began with his service as the chaplain of the 69th New York Infantry Regiment - the celebrated "Fighting 69th" - during World War I.
Catholics are commanded by canon law not to purchase relics of saints. Still, the internet yields countless sacred items for auction or direct sale.
2024 Catholic Media Association Awards
2023 Catholic Media Association Awards
First Place — Best Investigative News Writing. Judges: "A well-organized piece that gives context and an important call to action."
Third Place — Best News Writing on a Local or Regional Event. Judges: "This is just a cool read — and the writer 100% makes it all that it is."
Honorable Mention — Best News Writing on a Local or Regional Event.
Third Place: Best Multimedia Package — Violence in our Communities (shared with Currents News).
Third Place: Best News Writing Series — International Event (Shared by John Lavenburg and Bill Miller). Judges: "No reader walks away from this piece unmoved."
First Place for The Tablet, Third Place for Nuesta Voz (Team Efforts).
2022 Catholic Media Association Awards
Best Investigative News Writing, First Place. Judges: "Solid reporting and strong, descriptive writing capture the essence of this issue for the reader."
Best Investigative News Writing Second Place Judges: "A lot of good background detail with a 'real world' lede. Good reporting and writing overall."
TWO AWARDS 1. Best Investigative News Writing, Third Place Judges: "Strong reporting with good background details of a long-standing quest." 2. The Gerard E. Sherry Award (First Place) For Best Analysis/ Background/Round-Up News Writing Judges: "The author does double duty, clearly explaining and investigating the issue while showing how the main source has also tried to conduct his own investigation. The writer cites many varied sources to give a thorough and clear analysis."
Best Multimedia Package — Violence In Our Communities, Second Place Judges: "Dramatic and powerful communication product, provided invaluable insight and commentary on an important modern crisis in the U.S. Solid media product."
Best Reporting Of Social Justice Issues, Second Place Judges: "A beautifully written and inspirational piece of journalism."
Best Coverage — Racial Inequities, Second Place Judges: "This entry stands out for its integration of profiles of historical figures committed to racial justice with modern efforts to promote justice in their name. Catholic legacy is firmly entwined with modern activism."
News and Features 2022
FLATLANDS - Growing up in an African-American family, Dr. Steven Craig Wilder was taught that his hometown, Brooklyn, had been a bastion of famous abolitionists. Based on what he learned in school, Wilder assumed slavery was largely a Southern institution, the opposite of what was believed about Northern states, including New York.
Ancestors of slaves owned and sold by Jesuit priests in the early 1800s say modern-day Jesuits have fallen behind on their promise to raise money for reparations. A near-term pledge of $100 million was pledged to help fund racial-healing programs and scholarships for the slaves' descendants.
Money from the 1838 sale of 272 slaves by Jesuit priests in Maryland helped finance the expansion of the Church in states to the west and north, researchers say. The Jesuits are addressing that history, but some researchers say other institutions, such as colleges and universities, should do likewise.
Preventing suicides among former service members is a top priority of the chaplains working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Sharing that mission are Father Ivan Tyhovych (left) and Father Andrew Sioleti, chief of chaplains, at the VA's New York Harbor Health System in Manhattan.
EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was fatally stabbed Thursday on an Astoria street corner while getting lunch. Her attacker is believed to be mentally ill. She served with the FDNY for 25 years, and was among first responders to the 9/11 terror attacks.
It took four months for Jennifer to journey from her home in Venezuela to New York City to flee the economic and social turmoil in that troubled nation. The final leg was a bus trip up from the southern border with Mexico.
Diocesan News BREEZY POINT - Waves of seawater swept like whitewater rapids across the Rockaway Peninsula as Hurricane Sandy viciously stabbed western Long Island on its path to Manhattan on Oct. 29, 2012. Despite orders to evacuate, volunteer firefighters stayed in this land's end community and readied themselves for high-water rescues.
Plans for a long-desired interfaith chapel at LaGuardia Airport have grown 560 square feet, with high ceilings and a wall of glass windows, according to architectural renderings. Also, two stained-glass windows from the original Lady of the Skies Chapel at JFK International Airport have been offered to the LaGuardia project.
It may look pretty, but the spotted lanternfly is blamed for millions of dollars in crop losses each year in Pennsylvania. Now, New York's grape farmers in the Finger Lakes region are on high alert, including O-Neh-Da Vineyard, the only dedicated sacramental wine producer in the U.S.
New York Department of Sanitation issued 1,000 citations and conducted other tasks to curb illegal dumping in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Father Ed Mason, pastor of Mary Mother of the Church Parish, praised the city's efforts, but urged continued vigilance.
CHELSEA - Since 1996, the Church of St. Francis Xavier has kept a memorial bearing 200 names of people who died of complications of AIDS - but in early December, it gained 580 more. The parish, located on West 16th Street in Chelsea, redesigned its AIDS memorial to accept the additional name plaques that comprised a much larger memorial in the choir loft of St.
News and Features 2021
The adult Anthony is 46, lives in Queens, is happily married, is the father of a 12-year-old daughter, and runs his own plumbing company. Then there is Anthony the little boy from a poor family in Brooklyn. He was sexually abused in separate contacts with people he trusted - a public school teacher and a priest.
Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish's annual summertime feast returns this year July 7-18. Now, as most restrictions have eased, preparations for the famed event - an annual Brooklyn tradition since at least 1903 - have moved forward.
On Dec. 13, 1862, a brigade of Union infantrymen, many of them Irish Catholic immigrants who had settled in Brooklyn and Queens, attacked a fortified Confederate position along the high ground south of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The so-called "Irish Brigade" comprised five regiments, three from New York City: the 63rd, 69th, and 88th.
Raymond Smith, 18, became missing in action during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in December 1950. He is home now, after military forensic experts used DNA to identify his remains. His sister's son said she was heartbroken for several decades over the loss, but now has closure.
News and Features 2018-2019
An SMU study finds that most arts and culture groups operate with scant cash on hand.
The "shot heard round the world" at Concord, Mass. would've meant nothing if not for a lead ball fired two years later at Saratoga, NY.
The 2018 mid-term election showed signs of a Democratic rebirth in Texas. “There is a purple Texas on the horizon,” an SMU professor said.
Despite a U.S. decline, clergy see opportunities as Dallas grows.
Spencer Stone, U.S. Air Force photo
Etiquette is not for snobbery. It's about kindness. So "Throw kindness like confetti," urges this international etiquette expert trained at Buckingham Palace.
"Solo" does not mean "going it alone" in an old neighborhood near Dallas Love Field where builders and realtors are developing the next luxury home-buying destination. It's dubbed "SOLO," meaning "south of Lovers (Lane)."
Dallas entrepreneur inherits her mother's love for pretty packages.
A Preston Hollow mansion billed as an architectural "masterpiece" went to auction in February, but this was no "fire sale." Known as the Grady Vaughn home, 5350 S. Dentwood Drive, it is among high-end Dallas properties with sellers sidestepping traditional listings and going straight to auction.
News and Features 2013-2017
Dave Eubank, a humanitarian aid worker, rescued this girl from ISIS violence in Iraq. Eubank, former U.S. Army Special Forces, is the founder of the aid group, Free Burma Rangers. Photo via Free Burma Rangers' Twitter page.
Houston Police Officer John Calhoun was shot while tangling with a suspect, but his vest stopped the slug, leaving only a bad welt (left). Calhoun is shown (right) with his partner, Officer Andrea Munoz. Photo By Houston Police
It's every parent's worst nightmare. Natalee Holloway joined friends on a graduation trip to Aruba, but she disappeared forever.
Elizabeth Short sought stardom in the 1940s, but this "Black Dahlia" became the victim in one of the nation's most gruesome unsolved cases. Public Domain Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Amanda Lizzio, 21, of Grapevine, died in November 2013 of a head injury suffered in a chain of collisions in north Dallas. But the man suspected of being drunk and causing the wreck fled to his native El Salvador and the existing extradition treaty can't touch him. Photo By Geolina163 - Own work, via Wikimedia Commons http://bit.ly/2vVBHba
Photo By Titus Tscharntke http://bit.ly/2wZBXKe
The 10-year-old Somali boy was jolted awake by a set of fangs driving into his face. A snake, estimated to be about 12 feet long, struck Mohamed Abdulle, a war refugee, as he slept out in the open near Somalia's border with Kenya. The boy wrestled with the creature and tried to scream.
Photo By Cpl. Damien Gutierrez via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37925731
Photo by Ingfbruno via Wikimedia Commons.
Brand Journalism, B2B and B2C Content, Product Reviews 2014-2018
Hanging by a Thread: When disaster struck, it was a phone case that prevented tragedy
By Bill Miller A hunter relies on the physiological mechanics of his heart, lungs, and muscles to find elusive big game animals in rugged backcountry. Before lacing up his boots for early season elk or mule deer, the smart hunter hits the gym to work out.
With so much output, the P7.2, a LED light by Ledlenser, is true to the task.
Photo by Eden Miller
News and Features 2002-2012
FORT WORTH -- From the pulpit of a Methodist church and standing near a rabbi, a Muslim imam expressed sadness Thursday night that families of slain children in Newtown, Conn., will be deprived of the joy of Christmas morning. Photo By VOA - http://bit.ly/2eXm5xd, Public Domain, http://bit.ly/2ws3eAs
Zachary Boyd, US Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry (far left) opens fire at Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP
Photo By Danazar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, http://bit.ly/2y1ddyb
NOT A SNACK: A white-tailed buck in South Texas browses on spiny hackberry—one of the hardy woody plants credited for helping deer survive during the harshest drought on record. Photo by Tim Fulbright
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
Encounters with two hairless canines last week in northeast Hood County are stirring speculation that goat-sucking "chupacabras" have expanded into North Texas.
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Photo by Commander Zulu via Wikimedia Commons.
Photojournalism, Videography
Details to come.
Details to come.
Details to come.
Details to come.
Details to come.