Screwing of commuters is complete

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Commuters may emulate Gen. George Washington, standing in boat, to avoid higher tolls on the bridge named after him, as well as on other Port Authority crossings.

Will readers ever learn whether the $1.50 toll hike "compromise" heralded on the front page of The Record today is, in fact, another back-room deal by the bloated, free-spending Port Authority and the governors of New York and New Jersey?


Staff Writer Shawn Boburg, who wrote the A-1 lead, has already reported Governor Christie had been briefed before the toll-and-fare hike proposal was made public, only to feign surprise. 


Now, let' s hope Editor Francis Scandale has told the reporter to follow through.


Boburg provides no details today on how car-pool and other discounts will be affected when the first hike goes into effect next month.


Nor does he report whether the toll hikes would have been even lower if Christie didn't grab $1.8 billion in PA funds to repair New Jersey roads -- so he could squirm out of raising the state's low gas tax to pay for those projects.


Finger pointing


Liz Houlton's news copy desk leaves readers in the lurch again with the photo caption for the Page 1 Wall Street story. The photo shows two traders pointing their fingers, but the caption says:


"Philip Finale, left, directing trades on the floor" of the stock exchange. So what's the finger-pointing  guy on the right doing, also directing trades, blaming Finale or what?


Road to nowhere


Can anyone figure out what Road Warrior John Cichowski is trying to say about the toll-and-fare hikes in his L-1 column today?


The columnist, who is supposed to be writing about commuting, waited until today -- the day of the vote on the proposal -- to say something serious about a plan first unveiled on Aug. 6. 


The big local story is the trial of a former Rockland County police officer on a firearms possession charge (L-1).


Bruised and beaten


The big Hackensack story today is yet another renovation at Hackensack University Medical Center, which threatens to swallow the neighborhood whole (L-2).


Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado didn't bother to get any comment from beleaguered residents.


She works for Editor Deirdre Sykes, who runs the laziest assignment desk in the United States and Canada, including the North Pole.


HUMC gets more ink in The Record than any other hospital in the world. Does that have anything to do with Vice President/General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg, a former member of the hospital board?


Another broken photo caption is on L-6, where the copy editor basically echoes what he had written in the headline over the obituary of George Turrell, rather than telling readers something new.


Dumplings or dump?


On Page 19 of Better Living, the health inspections column reports the closing of Petite Soo Chow, a Chinese restaurant in Cliffside Park, for the second time since Staff Writer Elisa Ung gave it a rave review in September 2008.