USA Today Network reporters get national awards for work on Yonkers fire, asylum seekers

Sarah Taddeo and Gary Stern, USA TODAY NETWORK
·5 min read

USA Today Network journalists Peter Kramer, Robert Bell and Eduardo Cuevas have been honored by the 2024 Headliner Awards, a national journalism competition, for their work on a 20-year-old deadly fire in Yonkers and a project on asylum seekers at New York's Northern border.

Kramer, a journalist for The Journal News/lohud for 36 years, was recognized for his story on a fatal 2003 fire in the Nodine Hill section of Yonkers 20 years earlier. The story won first place in the Headliner contest's print/photo division, in the "Newspaper special or feature column on one subject" category.

The fire on March 13, 2003, would kill five members of the Velez family — parents Pedro and Julia Elena that night, sons Brian and Peter and Peter’s wife, Vanessa, of their burns later. But it spared the life of the tiniest Velez: 8-month-old Vaniya.

Overhead utility wires melted and fell as Yonkers firefighters fought the Oak Street fire on March 14, 2003.
Overhead utility wires melted and fell as Yonkers firefighters fought the Oak Street fire on March 14, 2003.

Kramer’s story took readers behind the Velez home on that horrible night:

“The Velez family huddles behind their building as the fire rages. Someone holds the baby. Looking at the back of their burning building, they have three escape options. None of them is good. ... They wrap little Vaniya in a blanket, Peter cradles her in his arms, and they brace themselves before racing through hell on earth.”

The story goes on to tell the untold story of what became of Vaniya Velez, and to speak with Yonkers firefighters who will never forget battling a wind-swept blaze that consumed houses on three streets.

Read the Nodine Hill fire story here 20 years ago, a girl survived a deadly Yonkers fire. Her story has gone untold until now.

In his career at The Journal News/lohud, Kramer has worked as a copy editor, page designer, entertainment editor, and reporter. He has covered everything from a visiting pontiff to high school musicals.

In February, he wrote a three-part series, "Bad Blood," on the battle of wills surrounding the investigation of an Orange County murder. That murder, the bludgeoning death of Megan McDonald, occurred on the exact same night as the Nodine Hill fire: March 13, 2003.

"I still can't get over that coincidence," he said. "That two stories that occupied years of my life should have happened on the very same night."

The gravestone for Pedro and Julia E. Velez is pictured at Oakland cemetery in Yonkers, Feb. 7, 2023.
The gravestone for Pedro and Julia E. Velez is pictured at Oakland cemetery in Yonkers, Feb. 7, 2023.

He called the Headliners Award “a remarkable honor, and a bit head-spinning."

“To have your work recognized alongside that of The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in a category that once honored the great Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, it’s pretty humbling,” he said.

These days, Kramer mainly works on enterprise and investigative projects for The Journal News/lohud.com and the USA Today Network.

“Pete’s always been committed to telling important stories that might not otherwise get told, and he does so with empathy and heart and by reporting the heck out of the story,” said Gary Stern, lohud’s senior editor for enterprise.

The Headliner Awards, founded in 1934 in New Jersey, is one of the oldest annual journalism competitions in the nation, awarding thousands of print, audio and broadcast reporters, visual journalists, graphic designers and newspapers, magazines and television/radio stations for their outstanding journalism.

Project revealed desperation, hope of a misunderstood population

Last summer, amid a wave of backlash to asylum seekers settling across New York, Bell and Cuevas' project shed light on their plight at New York's border with Canada, humanizing the faces behind the statistics and giving readers essential context to more fully understand the asylum seekers’ presence in New York.

A woman and child prepare to present themselves at the U.S/Canadian border, 20 minutes from the Mountain Mart in Plattsburgh, NY.
A woman and child prepare to present themselves at the U.S/Canadian border, 20 minutes from the Mountain Mart in Plattsburgh, NY.

The project took the two journalists to a remote mini mart near Plattsburgh last spring, which acted as a sort of waypoint for asylum seekers from Venezuela, Haiti, Uzbekistan and everywhere in between to strategize how to make it to Canada. Many of them had come to the U.S. looking for better opportunities, but felt the grindingly slow immigration process and lack of job prospects meant they should keep looking elsewhere.

Read the Northern Border project here: At NY's northern border, asylum seekers find hope in desperation at a rural mini mart

Around that time, the Canadian and U.S. governments had shut down Roxham Road, an unofficial border crossing in that area, forcing asylum seekers to seek entry at official crossings, stay in the U.S. or try Roxham Road anyway.

Cuevas and Bell spent weeks researching the story to identify spots like the mini mart where they could intercept asylum seekers to seek interviews and capture images of the oft misunderstood and stereotyped population.

The project revealed, in a raw way, the desperate plight of thousands of people who, under the radar of most everyday New Yorkers, spent their waking moments just trying to belong and put down roots in safety.

At 5 a.m., the children tried to get to sleep on pebbled rocks under Mountain Mart’s awning. It was in the low 40s and drizzling in Plattsburgh, a remote New York town a few miles from the Canadian border. They wore only pajamas and sandals with socks, huddling together under quilted blankets. A 9-month-old baby was tucked underneath. Yermain Piñango, 37, stood at the curb looking for a taxi driver.

"It was about a year ago when Eddie and I were in Plattsburgh reporting and the stories of those people and families still stick with me," Bell said. "I don't think either one of us do the work to win awards, but I hope some national recognition gets more eyes on our report and people can approach this issue with more empathy and a better understanding of the the plight of asylum seekers. Most of all, I wish the best for the sources who were brave enough to speak with us."

The project won second place in the Headliner contest's print and photo division, in the "local news beat coverage or continuing story not in a Top 20 media market" category.

"As journalists, part of our role is to help our readers gain perspective on diverse communities they may not be familiar with," USA Today Network's New York State Team Editor Sarah Taddeo said. "The dreams and struggles of asylum seekers are a mystery to many New Yorkers. Bell and Cuevas' project revealed, in a sensitive yet hard-hitting way, the humanity of these families who just wanted safety and a hope for the future."

Robert Bell is the Changing Neighborhoods and Cultural Trends Reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle, a Rochester-based USA Today Network newspaper. He has a background in videography and filmmaking.

Eduardo Cuevas, formerly of the New York State Team, covers breaking news for USA Today.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Yonkers fire, NY asylum seekers stories win USA Today Network awards