Pope resigns, millions of Jews and Muslims shrug

Monday around 4 p.m., Euclid and Grand avenues, Hackensack: An NJ Transit driver strayed several blocks from his route, parked this bus near his apartment and went up for a cup of tea. When he returned munching on a crumpet, he started up the bus and drove to Prospect Avenue, where he turned left, presumably to reach Passaic Street.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a big story for the media, and The Record today devotes much of the front page, three inside pages and an editorial to it (A-1, A-6, A-7, A-8 and A-9).

But the vast majority of readers couldn't care less.

Still -- like the 2014 Super Bowl and the recovery from Superstorm Sandy -- this story will allow The Record's local-news editors to continue to shirk their duty to readers of Hackensack and many other towns in North Jersey.

Trustee's arrest

On head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local front today, a story explores whether a Hackensack school board member will lose his seat, if convicted of an assault charge, but ignores all other aspects of Monday's Board of Education meeting (L-1).

Avalon, a 226-unit luxury apartment complex on Hackensack Avenue, will start renting apartments in May, and could add an unknown number of children to Hackensack's overburdened school system.

The Record has completely ignored the story. 

Corny demands filler 

There is so little local news today, layout editor Jim "Corny" Cornelius was forced to call upon the fender-bender photo staff for fillers.

Staff Photographer Tariq "Rollover" Zehawi was on ambulance-chasing duty in Hasbrouck Heights, and captured a non-fatal crash of a single SUV that landed on its roof (L-3).

Gee-whiz. Would you look at that. 

The copy editor needed to lengthen the photo overline, and called it a "morning rollover." Is that like "morning sex"?

Tailgate party

Cornelius was grateful for Zehawi's enterprise, and got another filler for L-7, a photo of a cop staring at the charred remains of the tractor portion of a tractor-trailer in Ridgefield.

The driver was practicing for 2014 Super Bowl tailgate parties by cooking hamburgers and ribs on the manifold of his idling engine, when the tractor caught fire.

Christie is in denial on the big issues

A luxury complex between two shopping centers in Hackensack will start renting some of its 226 studio to three-bedroom apartments in May. The Avalon development is opposite Continental Plaza, below, once talked about as a new home for The Record after the Borg family abandoned their landmark headquarters at 150 River St. in 2009.

 

Global warming. Reducing gun violence. Taxing millionaires. Expanding mass transit. The obesity epidemic.

How can Governor Christie be so out of step with other leaders on some of the biggest issues facing New Jersey and the nation, and still remain popular with the editors of The Record?

The lead Page 1 story today reports the GOP bully calls "esoteric" whether climate change caused Superstorm Sandy.

But The Record ignores what the governor said at a press conference about his weight, even though it was reported on the TV news last night. 

Christie brushed off a suggestion he should trim down or have bariatric surgery, saying he is 50 and healthy.

No member of the media dared remind him of his hospitalization two summers ago after an asthma attack linked to his tremendous weight, estimated to be 400 pounds and rising.

When he appeared on the David Letterman show on Monday, he seemed uncomfortable sitting down in a chair and pulled out a doughnut to eat. 

The Record reported the Court Street Bridge, shown on Tuesday, is scheduled to re-open at "mid-week" after Sandy related repairs. This alternate access to highways is expected to make the Borgs' 20 acres on River Street more attractive to retailers.

Columnist Mike Kelly is back on A-1 today, complete with a dated photo showing his shit-eating grin. Compare that photo with the one used on North Jersey.com.

Did anybody but the family read Kelly's long-winded, meandering story about a Purple Heart that was awarded on Tuesday, more than 67 years after the death of  sailor from Paterson?  

A correction on A-2 today fixes the misspelling of the name of a Hackensack City Council candidate.