Official incompetence gets a pass

Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, a city of haves and have-nots. When did The Record last publish a story on the high school's desegregation effort?

 
The Record today winks at official incompetence -- just as Editor Marty Gottlieb ignores the stubborn incompetence of all of the sub-editors he inherited at the end of January.

The front of the Business section is filled with a glowing profile of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and her supposedly key role in Governor Christie's "business-friendly" push (A-1 and B-1).

What a joke. The state's unemployment rate is above 9% -- the highest in decades and higher than the nation's.

Maybe Guadagno should start sleeping with wealthy CEOs and small-business owners to get them to hire more workers.

Business Editor Bill Donnellon and Staff Writer Juliet Fletcher have already prostituted themselves with this ridiculous Guadagno story.

Christie's bribes -- in the form of hundreds of millions in business tax breaks and freedom from an income-tax surcharge -- have been miserable failures.

Crime on A-1

Gottlieb leads Page 1 of today's Sunday edition with a crime story, and another follow-up on a plan to "radically alter the landscape of Garret Mountain" -- The Record's home since 2009.

The third, major front-page story today only serves to remind readers of the paper's largely negative coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement a year ago (A-1).

Little local news

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, do their usual poor job with the Local news section.

The big news from Englewood is "fancy" Belgian block curbs replacing concrete -- not further strides in desegregating Dwight Morrow High School (L-3).

Sykes and Sforza couldn't find any Hackensack or Teaneck news today.

Road Warrior John Cichowski again ignores the needs of commuters with his flattering portrait of the Fort Lee Municipal Court judge (L-1).

The only mass transit news in the paper is on L-3 -- a photo and story relating how a train destroyed a gas-guzzling, polluting SUV.

The driver should get a public service award.

Back to Business

A consumer column on the Business front today quotes a trade association executive explaining the downsizing of food products as giving it to "demand ... for smaller packages."

Then, how does Food Institute President Brian Todd and Columnist Kevin DeMarrais explain the wild popularity of big sizes at Costco Wholesale, where you can still buy a 64-ounce half-gallon of Tropicana orange juice?

Despite a monthly trip "to check out prices and trends in North Jersey supermarkets," DeMarrais also continues to ignore organic food and naturally raised meat and poultry.

On a sugar high

On the Better Living front today, you'll find a rambling column from Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, who refers to Utah and California in describing the experience of dining out in North Jersey (BL-1).

After at least three long front-page stories last week on the identification of Patricia Viola, who disappeared in 2001, couldn't Columnist Mike Kelly find anything else to write about (O-1)? 

He should disappear.

Mile High journalism

Did anybody read the cover story on Denver by klutzy Travel Editor Jill Schensul (T-1)?

Former newsroom staffers took one look and put the section in the recycling bin -- to avoid painful reminders of how Denver newspaper veteran Francis "Frank" Scandale screwed up The Record in his 11-plus years as editor.