Hennessey to Become Professor

CBS 2 reporter Sean Hennessey will leave the station along with the broadcasting business to become a college professor.  FishbowlNY reports he's going to Boston College, from which he received his B.A. as well as a graduate degree.

Hennessy joined CBS 2 as a reporter on March 19, 2007, then served as co-anchor of the weekend morning newscast for a few months until the summer.  He previously served as a reporter at WHDH in Boston.

Lots of Breaking News: Ferry Crash and Crane Collapse

It was a busy day for breaking news in New York.

CBS 2 broke in after a commuter ferry crashed into Pier 11 at South Street Seaport at around 8:45 a.m..  Mary Calvi handled the early coverage and was soon joined by Rob Morrison.  Jim Smith reported from above the scene in Chopper 2 and, because of a chopper sharing agreement with Fox 5, Smith was also heard reporting "in SkyFox."

John Slattery reported from the pier via Mobile 2 signal by 10:22.  At 10:51, Sean Hennessey was live at New York Downtown Hospital, where around 20 of the injured had been taken, and the camera showed very close-up images of patients being loaded off ambulances.  Dr. Max Gomez later joined the coverage from the desk with analysis on what types of injuries might have been suffered.

As if often the case during special report situations lately, WLNY switched to airing CBS network programming, so viewers looking for "Let's Make a Deal" and "The Price is Right" didn't miss their shows if they knew where to look.  CBS 2 ended their special report at 11:30 and included more coverage during the regular noon newscast with reports from Slattery, Hennessey, Gomez as well as Tony Aiello in the newsroom and Steve Langford at the scene.

CBS 2 News interrupted regular programming again just before 3:00 with news of a 380-foot crane collapse in Long Island City, Queens.  Dana Tyler handled the brief special report with Chopper 2 coverage from Joe Biermann.  The station switched to "Dr. Phil" at 3:04.

CBS 2 broke in once again at 4:15 to carry an NTSB press conference with coverage anchored by Maurice DuBois until 4:30.

CBS 2 News Covers Deadly Upper East Side Crane Collapse

CBS 2 News broke in at 8:25 during its regular cut-in during "The Early Show" to report news of a crane collapsing on a 20-story building on 354 East 91st Street by 1st Avenue at around 8:00 (watch the initial report here on wcbstv.com). Maurice DuBois and Kate Sullivan handled the breaking news coverage, which lasted for the rest of the morning into the noon news. Initial reports said that two people were dead but that was later revised at 9:27 to at least one dead with several others injured. WCBSTV.com's breaking news text message alert was sent at 8:20 while the website streamed the live coverage.

Most of the pictures came from Reggie Harrison (a former NYPD cop) and Chopper 2. Sean Hennessey began reporting from the ground via phone but was later seen on camera at around 9:13 interviewing many witnesses of the collapse. Jay Dow also reported via his phone at around that time and was first seen on camera at East 91st and 2nd at 9:53. At 9:37, the first video from the scene was fed in as DuBois explained to viewers that it was difficult to get a live truck any closer. Katie McGee came on several times to talk about the traffic conditions and the bus detours. At 10:14, Chris Wragge reported from the 92nd and 2nd began interviewing witnesses and later spoke with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Magee Hickey, who said it took her and her crew nearly an hour to get from another story in Brooklyn, joined the live coverage from the ground at 10:56. Additional reporting was sourced to Tony Aiello and John Slattery.

As is often the case during breaking news coverage, the anchors spoke with politicians, experts and witnesses via the phone. Among the phone interviews were: Councilman Tony Avella, Buildings Committe - NYC Council; Jessica Lappin, (D) NYC Council - Manhattan; Bo Dietl, retired NYPD detective; Ann Marie Kross, 60 Minutes producer/witness; James Pritchett, crane collapse expert in Mobile, AL; Phillip Shiffman, lives in building/witness; Erik Dilan, Chairman of Buildings Committee - NYC Council; Mary Jo Gillis, who lives nearby and was woken up by the sound of the crash; and Ira Goldman, Red Cross spokesperson. Audio and then video of Mayor Michael Bloomberg calling the accident "unacceptable" on his weekly WOR radio show ran a few times.

At 9:51, pictures that viewer Victoria Pericon e-mailed in to wcbstv.com came on the screen. The series of three shots showed the crane as it fell.

A new conference with Mayor Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson and Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri began at 11:21. They provided some new information, including the fact that the one fatality and the two seriously injured were construction workers, and took questions from reporters.

Sullivan and DuBois signed off at the top of the hour as Don Dahler anchored CBS 2 News at Noon from the ground. He tossed to Hickey, Dow, Slattery, Wragge, Harrison in Chopper 2, and McGee in the studio with traffic updates. The station took its first break in almost four hours at 12:18. When Dahler returned 90 seconds later, he tossed to Sullivan in the studio with a brief look at the other stories making news before turning to John Elliott with the weather. Sullivan then tossed back to Dahler and then Harrison with some final comments before saying goodbye and closing just before 12:28.

Here are some snapshots of the coverage:


























Updated news on this story is available at wcbstv.com.

Update: CBS 2 News broke in again at 3:00. Don Dahler, reporting from the scene, reported the news that a second victim had passed away. He also provided the identities of the two fatalities. The special report lasted just over 90 seconds. Dahler returned at 4:00 with a quick update and said that one of the victims who had died was in the taxi cab that the crane fell onto.

CBS 2 News Helps Identify Missing Man

Last night at 5:30, Sean Hennessey reported on an unidentified man who had been treated at a Queens hospital for two months. His family happened to be watching. Tonight at 6:00, Scott Rapoport shared the happy reunion. It turns out that 71-year-old man is from El Salvador and was on Long Island visiting his family.

CBS 2 News Covers Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. Arrival

Pope Benedict XVI's airplane arrived at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base a few minutes ahead of schedule, pushing up CBS 2's coverage. Originally planned to start at 4:00 p.m., CBS 2's special report kicked off at 3:52, making it the first local station on the air (the others started at the top of the hour).

Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson anchored the report and spoke over live video of the pope's arrival ceremony. They were joined at the desk by Father Joseph Chapel of Seton Hall University's Immaculate Conception Seminary. Mary Calvi reported live from Washington, D.C. in front of the Catholic University and spoke with Father Mike Russo, a professor at St. Mary's College. She was later joined by the Catholic University's Frank Persico. John Slattery also reported from Washington and Tony Aiello was live at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, where the pope will visit Friday afternoon. The lower-third graphic during the live coverage provided all sorts of biographical and historical information but also reported that Pope Benedict XVI plays the piano, listens to Mozart and Beethoven, and is the first pope to own an iPod.

CBS 2 News at 5:00 began at its usual time (4:58) with a special pope-related opening. Calvi, Slattery and Aiello returned to provide live reports and Sean Hennessey also reported live from the Flatiron District with how the city's subways are stepping up security. Pablo Guzman, Jennifer McLogan and Scott Rapoport contributed packages related to the pope's New York visit. Lonnie Quinn came on in the third block of the newscast with an abbreviated weather forecast. After a recap of the papal top stories, the 5:30 half-hour covered the rest of the day's news. Lonnie Quinn's forecast at 5:50 included "Weather for Papal Visit," a summary of the weather for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

At 6:00, Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield continued with more coverage of the pope. Calvi, Slattery and Hennessey were back with live reports and Hazel Sanchez, live at St. Patrick's Cathedral, joined the team. Rosenfield reported on the first time a pope visited the United States back in 1965, with appearances by Bill Plante and Harry Reasoner. It was the first time in recent memory that an entire black-and-white package has aired on CBS 2 News. The 6:00 newscast returned to the rest of the news in the second block.

Hennessey Begins Reporting Monday

We've known about this for a month but CBS 2 announced within the hour that Sean Hennessey is joining the station as a general assignment reporter. He starts Monday.

President and GM Peter Dunn had this to say: "Sean has incredible experience reporting on both a local and national scale. In addition to being a top-notch professional, he truly enjoys reporting the news that we deem valuable to our viewers."

Hennessey comes from WHDH in Boston, where he's been a general assignment reporter since 1996.

Sean Hennessey to Join CBS 2 News

Brian sends in this from the Boston Herald: WHDH Boston reporter Sean Hennessey will join CBS 2 News next month. No word on what his assignment will be.

Interestingly, WCBS is described as "the No. 1 TV station in the Big Apple."