Even editor is tired of exploiting insane Trump campaign

A mural in downtown Hackensack has been given a face lift by artist Stephanie O'Connor, owner of The Artistic Giraffe Art Studio Gallery at 193 Main St. The historical plaque in the sidewalk lists names for Main Street and State Street in the 1700s and 1800s, below. The passageway connects Main Street to the city owned Atlantic Street paring garage.

Main Street was once called King's Highway and later Front Street. State Street was called Back Street -- "to the west were farms and pasture land," according to the plaque.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A front page dominated by Law & Order news is a sure sign Editor Deirdre Sykes is desperate to avoid having The Record labeled as just a partisan political rag.

Still, she is not ready to give up politics altogether, as readers can see from A-1 stories on the insane presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump and the continuing stalemate over New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund.

Transportation reporter Christopher Maag continues to disappoint, focusing on well-to-do construction workers and contractors who were thrown out of work by Governor Christie -- instead of on how the impasse affects drivers and the environment.

On the continuation page -- if you ever get there -- you'll learn the gasoline tax has paid for road, bridge and rail improvements since 1988, but that the fund now owes $30 billion in principal and interest (A-8).

A proposed 23-cent hike in the gas tax would still allow New Jersey to have lower pump prices than New York and Pennsyvania, but is not expected to slow the sale of gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks.

Local news?

The front of the local-news section carries a banner headline with a word you haven't seen lately, "Mafia" (L-1).

Declaring the Mafia "alive and well," federal prosecutors and a grand jury charged 46 people with "a multitude of crimes up and down the East Coast."

Sykes and the local-news editors are so desperate they continue to run gee-whiz drive-by photos without bothering to identify drivers or say whether summonses were issued (L-1 and L-8).

And today, they need another long Dean's List to fill columns that should be devoted to local news (L-5).

Cheating readers

Today's Informal Dining review cheats readers who may want to know how the beef at Steve's Burgers in Garfield was raised (BL-14).

As it is, Staff Writer Elisa Ung's silence can only mean the fare at the roadside stand -- burgers "made simply from a ground beef blend" -- is just a step above the low-quality stuff served in fast-food restaurants.

The hot dogs? Don't ask.