Where is the news judgment?

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Flooding and power outages are what you'd expect after a fierce rain storm, but why would the editors bury the full story of how two Orthodox Jewish neighbors were killed by a falling tree as they returned home from services Saturday evening in Teaneck (map)?

Does The Record of Woodland Park have to run a picture of flooding in Wayne on Page 1 after every major storm? Doesn't Wayne always flood? Just what is the man in the photo doing? The caption doesn't help. In the story, quotes from residents sound like reporters have them stored on save/get keys.

Was the storm a nor'easter, as the paper reported yesterday? A sidebar on A-7 is the only story today that refers to a nor'easter. Also, there is nothing to put this storm in context. Was it worse than previous rain storms?

Maybe the story about the devout Jews didn't make the front page because it was poorly done by Staff Writer Joseph Ax.

Most of it was devoted to telling readers what great guys they were, but it remains unclear whether one of the men was an Ashkenazi Jew who didn't make the longer walk to his usual synagogue because of the bad weather and attended his Sephardic friend's synagogue across the street, exposing both to the falling tree on the walk home.

The story has background information on Sephardic Jews, yet omits any description of the seven-day mourning period all Jews observe -- wives and children sitting on cushions on the floor in clothing torn to show their grief, as they greet a steady stream of mourners. Also, it is likely the men were buried Sunday evening; again, the story is silent on that point.

In Local, a Leonia schools story appears on L-2, written by Staff Writer Giovanna Fabiano, who also covers Englewood. Except for one interview with the Englewood superintendent, she has virtually ignored the city's schools since taking over the beat in the summer of 2008.