Judge to Christie: Drop dead!

Cover of Ja Rule

North Jersey rapper Ja Rule owes $1.1 million to the IRS.

Let's hope the state Supreme Court backs Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne in Hackensack on the inequity of Governor Christie's cutting $1.6 billion in state aid to schools in the last two years, and orders him to find new sources of revenue, such as a millionaires tax (A-1).

Turn to Page L-2 to read about the guilty plea by one of the millionaires Christie is protecting -- rapper Ja Rule of Saddle River -- who failed to file tax returns on gross income of $4.38 million, and to L-3 to read about another man who obtained his millions through mortgage fraud.

Waiting for spin

You won't find an editorial today on Doyne's ruling, because Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin needs more time to consult Christie's spin doctors on how they are going to squirm out of this one.

Did head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Projects Editor Tim Nostrand or other out-of-shape editors have something to do with the preposterous A-1 brief, "Sex, exercise could trigger heart attack"?

Someone should tell them sex also has been known to trigger an orgasm.

A front-page caption tells readers the photo of the former Freedom Tower in Manhattan was taken "from New Jersey," but not how many stories it will be when completed (104 stories).

Road to ruin

Why are the Borgs paying Road Warrior John Cichowski $70,000, $80,000 or whatever he makes a year for throwing together yet another column based on e-mails from readers (L-1)?

For that matter, why pay Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill anything, if she doesn't contribute much more than a single recipe a week to the paper's woefully inadequate food coverage (F-1)?

The dramatic story and photo in the center of L-1 demonstrates that enterprising Staff Writer Denisa R. Superville is everything the office-loving Cichowski isn't.

Health alert

You'll find two stories about River Edge in Sykes' Local section today (L-1 and L-2), but none about Hackensack from Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado, who is scooped consistently by Mark J. Bonamo of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle. 

Alvarado must be under the mistaken belief that covering Hackensack can trigger a heart attack.

Hackensack readers continue to get the shaft -- years after the spoiled Borg siblings moved the newsroom and headquarters of North Jersey Media Group to Woodland Park. 

Witness two long stories about the borough today (L-6 and L-8), and recall all the photos taken near the Garret Mountain building the paper now calls home.

Let's hope actor James Gandolfini's contract doesn't require him to actually eat at Cubby's barbecue restaurant in Hackensack, if he decides to portray owner and freelance diplomat Bobby Egan in a new HBO movie (L-1).

Otherwise, Tony Soprano and actor Robert De Niro, who supposedly would produce the film, are in for mega-doses of agita.