Happy Thursday! This week has been a real whirl with the holidays upon us and dashing around town handing out awards.
Thanks to all those who entered the Empire City Men’s Chorus sweepstake yesterday. Steven Avila and Savannah Wu were the lucky winners. If you didn’t make the cut — details, dates and tickets are available at ecmcsingers.org
We were guests at the Irish Arts Center last night as the new building opened on 11th Avenue with a ribbon-cutting on a “Poetry Staircase” and a musical performance by Camille O’Sullivan. More here…
After pressing send on yesterday’s newsletter, we dashed off to surprise Amy Scherber with an award. Amy’s Bread was voted Best Coffee Shop in the W42ST Best of Awards (sponsored by Wells Fargo and supported by HYHK Alliance and The Durst Organization). We sat down with Amy for an interview too. Read more and find out who were the runners up here…

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What we’ve been reading
Kaufman Army & Navy Store owner assaulted in mask dispute. (Patch)
The City now spends $556,539 to incarcerate one person for a full year — $1,525 per day. (NYC Comptroller)
Program to curb dangerous driving finally gets on the road. (Gothamist)
Justin Peck connects his West Side Story choreography through the years. (Esquire)
Is midtown becoming indie and hip? (New York Post)
Freeze Frame

One of the places we look to find story ideas and our daily “What We’ve Been Reading” is Reddit. This post caught our eye this morning. “Collage of New York Post front pages over the years disparaging outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio” was posted by @photoalbumguy2.
There were many amusing comments, but our favorite was by @El_Gato: “This is the perfect balance between fine art and a serial killer’s obsession. Well done!”
Happy birthday to Tom Blackie.