Readers care more about deer than slain Paterson girl

The owner of this former Shell gas station property on Cedar Lane and River Road will be receiving a Teaneck Township Council commendation for maintaining an eyesore longer than many others. But The Record's local editors have warned their reporters not to waste their time writing about Cedar Lane or other struggling downtowns in North Jersey. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record goes tabloid today with a Page 1 story on the slaying of a 12-year-old Hispanic girl on the violent streets of Paterson.

But you know he ran the story against the advice of his local editors, who urged him to play up the divisions in wealthy Allendale over 45 deer that are terrorizing residents (L-1).

The account of Genesis Rincon's death "just after sunset on Saturday" doesn't explain why the story wasn't on Page 1 of Sunday's paper.

Where are cops?

And there is a lot missing, including background on Governor Christie's state aid cuts to Paterson and other poor cities and whether police were laid off as a result. 

In fact, there is no mention of what a poor job the Police Department is doing to protect residents of the 4th Ward, which accounted for nearly half of the city's 31 reported shootings in the first four months of this year (A-1).

In 2013, there were 19 gun-related homicides in Paterson, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, compared to 28 murders on the island of Montreal, which has a population of 1.9 million (A-6).

Today's column on Christie's visit to Paterson -- by clueless Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin -- doesn't even mention whether the GOP bully's aid cuts accelerated gun violence in the Silk City (A-9).

Venison for poor

Meanwhile, in Allendale, residents and officials are divided over a proposal to allow bow hunting in the Celery Farm Natural Area to stop "marauding deer" (L-1).

Why not round up gunmen in Paterson, take them to the Celery Farm and kill the deer to provide food to hungry Paterson residents?

Second look

I hope commuters who read Sunday's front-page Road Warrior column didn't  jump into their cars this morning and start looking for hitchhikers in Fort Lee, hoping to save $6 for carpooling across the George Washington Bridge.

The addled John Cichowski left out a good deal of information on getting the carpool discount, which is far from automatic, even if you have the required two passengers.

First, you have to register your E-ZPass with the agency that issued it, and before you cross the bridge, you have to stop in a CASH/E-ZPass lane and ask for the discount so the toll taker can verify there are three people in your vehicle (dummies and dead bodies might work, too).

You save 24/7

One you have complied with those requirements, the carpool discount is available at any time 24/7, not just during the rush hour.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers for the full rundown on Cichowski's retread:

Beware worthless advice from the Road Warrior

Columnist gets into pissing match with readers

Packed NJ Transit buses and trains, and increasing traffic congestion, are commuting nightmares The Record's editors and reporters do their best to avoid exposing -- in favor of creating controversies over obscure transportation-related problems that affect few readers. Above, the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

NJ Transit passengers rushing for a train in Manhattan's Penn Station. Readers who want to complain about service problems must write letters to The Record's editor, as Leslie A. Kruegel of Oakland did (A-10).

Another bad morning at the Lincoln Tunnel.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

(Updated at 7:06 p.m.)

Road Warrior John Cichowski lashes back at an Englewood reader who questioned the intelligence of drivers without E-ZPass whom the columnist claims are confused by GWB toll lanes marked "E-ZPass" and "All Others."

In fact, thousands of readers wondered why Cichowski was making such a fuss about a nearly 10-year-old, no-cash policy after 11 p.m. on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge or why Editor Marty Gottlieb put the July 9 column on Page 1.

Blaming the reader

The Englewood reader is identified in today's Road Warrior column as "D.T." 

"What kind of blithering idiot is confused by the signage? ... I dub these buffoons Generation S for stupid," the reader said (L-5). 

Amen.

He refers to The Record as the "Bergen Evening Record" decades after the masthead was changed and the paper switched to morning publication -- not uncommon among long-time readers, who also call it "The Bergen Record."

Columnist hits back

But Cichowski bristled. He is accustomed to never being challenged by his editors or anyone else, as demonstrated by the hundreds of inaccurate columns he has written ince he took over the beat in September 2003.

The columnist fired back at the reader: 

"Your assessment is much too harsh," says Cichowski.

Then, the reporter belittles him or her as being among readers who misread "the name of their favorite morning newspaper while pecking on their laptops."

Of course, the reader misread nothing. And how does Cichowski know the reader has a laptop?

More arguing

The columnist also argues with another reader, Will Nelson of Wayne, who pointed out Cichowski was wrong in a Sunday column on so-called road hogs when he said passing on the right "is a violation."

He was wrong, as the statute Cichowski cites in his answer shows, but the columnist won't just admit it and the paper didn't bother to run a correction.

Today's Road Warrior column actually provides useful information about "physical and cognitive tests to assess driving fitness," as well as road tests, available to the elderly and disabled (L-1).

But his advice comes years too late. 

A favorite tool of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes is to fill Local with accident photos, including those that show the death and damage caused by seniors who mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal.

Facebook page

Cichowski is likely the only columnist who has inspired a Facebook page to expose his "bloopers."

See: Read all about the latest Road Warrior screw-up

A concerned reader has e-mailed top managers and editors on numerous occasions, asking for corrections of Cichowski's repeated errors and erroneous advice, but The Record's reaction is to circle the wagons.

His column has become known as "Driving Lite."

Money talks

You can count on The Record's editors to concentrate almost exclusively on how much money a candidate has raised and not on the issues voters want to read about.

Today's front-page account of how much celebrity cash is flowing to Newark Mayor Cory Booker sounds just like all the stories about how much money Governor Christie has raised in his bid for a second term (A-1).

Of course, if The Record reminded readers of how regressive Christie's policies are, how he broke his promise to lower property taxes and how he's mismanaged the state's economy, it wouldn't be much of a race.

What scandal?

Another front-page story today reports that Christie isn't troubled at all about The Record's expose concerning Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who is being paid by two companies now doing millions of dollars with the university (A-1).

Better living?

North Jersey cardiac wards were put on alert after the paper was delivered today, complete with another unhealthy, artery clogging recipe from Kate Morgan Jackson, a clueless food blogger from Upper Saddle River (S'mores with Bacon, BL-1).

Hackensack news

The big Hackensack news today is a water main break on Main Street, near the YMCA (L-3).

I had hoped Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely would have done a follow to her L-1 story on Tuesday about the removal of school trustee Kevon Larkins.

Was Larkins removed by the other school board members because he "moved out of the district" or because he tried to oust administrators who were perceived to be allies of the Zisa family, onetime rulers of Hackensack?

Tuesday's story contains a lot of he said/she said on the question.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes had other fish to fry -- a follow-up to the huge controversy over 65-foot telephone polls in wealthy Ridgewoood (L-2).

More road noise

The Road Warrior column on Sunday began this way:

"Kathleen Catlett was treated last week to an outdoor concert in Lyndhurst that she didn't attend. The Catletts live in Rutherford way across busy Route 3 from Lyndhurst, yet music and crowd noise easily reached their Lincoln Avenue home."

"It seemed as if my neighbors were having a party," she said. "This never used to happen." 

A concerned reader says, "It still never happened and [it] defies the laws of nature and physics."

In effect, Cichowski fabricated the noise problem out of whole cloth. Here is why, according to the concerned reader:

"Her home is blocked by more than half a dozen houses and a large number of trees that greatly isolate any noise coming across Route 3 from a Lyndhurst concert, which was more than half a mile away.

"Concert noise from Lyndhurst is blocked by an elevated earth berm for trains right next to the Lyndhurst park, plus almost a half a mile houses and trees in Lyndhurst.

"Noise is also further blocked by full length sound barrier walls on the south side of Route 3."

Editors encourage abuse of law-abiding drivers

Friday evening's soggy commute on the New Jersey Turnpike south, near Newark Liberty International Airport, dramatizes mounting traffic congestion in North Jersey -- an issue that bores editors of The Record and Staff Writer John Cichowski. When traffic isn't backed up, speeding is epidemic.



By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

In columns on Friday and Wednesday, Staff Writer John Cichowski allowed dangerously aggressive drivers to vent about those who obey the speed limit, but don't stay to the right, a minor annoyance to most others.

The irresponsible Road Warrior quoted a couple of the morons who e-mail him endlessly, hoping to see their names in print, as calling drivers who stay in the left lane "selfish swine" and "brain-dead idiots."

But it is the reporter who is brain dead for blaming fatal accidents on so-called road hogs -- when everyone knows it is the aggressive drivers who trigger the crashes by tailgating and cutting off slower cars.

Speeding, tailgating and other aggressive driving is epidemic on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Route 80 and other roads.

These drivers love to thumb their nose at the state police, whose smaller numbers have led to a dramatic decline in enforcement -- a story the lazy Cichowski hasn't told.

Today's paper

The lead story on Page 1 today explains how Michael McMorrow, the deputy police chief in Englewood Cliffs, is legally holding up residents, who have to fork over $103,295 for his unpaid comp time (A-1).

The Local front carries another story about Hackensack, this one on the planned completion of a senior center on First Street (L-1).

The Record seems to be paying more attention to the city where it was founded and where it prospered for more than 110 years since June 24.

That's when North Jersey Media Group announced it is selling about 20 acres along River Street to a developer who plans to build high-end apartments, stores and, possibly, a hotel.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg didn't say how much NJMG will receive for the land or whether he will use part of the money to buy an ever bigger mansion.

Many of the stories have been about the reform City Council slate that was sworn in on July 1.

Mailing it in

In his wildly exaggerated Page 1 column on July 9, Cichowski suggested a GWB toll both be marked "CASH CUSTOMERS BILLED BY MAIL," but forgot to say that if a driver without an E-ZPass doesn't stop for an envelope, a $50 fine would be assessed.

There were numerous other problems, according to a concerned reader, who e-mailed the editors and management about another deeply flawed column. 

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

More bad advice from the Road Warrior

Incompetent reporter embarrasses paper again

When I came out of the gym in Paramus this morning, I saw a woman reading a newspaper in her Honda Pilot with handicap plates, the engine running, above. A couple of minutes later, the lavishly tattooed woman got out of her car and walked into the gym, below. She was at least 50 pounds overweight, but walked normally and I could see nothing else wrong with her. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Are any of the drivers who run afoul of the late-night, no-cash-toll rule on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee even from New Jersey?

Indeed, why do any of these morons -- who refuse to get E-ZPass and don't enjoy the toll discounts that come with the electronic payment system -- deserve coverage in The Record, let alone on Page 1 today?

This is not the first time Sedan Swami John Cichowski has written a Road Warrior column about these confused insomniacs since the Port Authority stopped staffing the lower-level booths nearly 10 years ago.

What are they doing on the roads after 11 p.m., casing North Jersey neighborhoods? Bergen County isn't exactly known for its night life.

Broken record

Cichowski desperately needs to write and rewrite the same stale news,  because he has completely undermined the mission of the column to deal with commuting problems and the region's traffic paralysis.

Just look at how he rambles in his first paragraph, which is an embarrassment to the paper and his supervising editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

The veteran reporter throws "adrenaline rush you got from Fourth of July fireworks" and "a midnight ride to the bridge named for the father of our country" into the same paragraph with "high-wire act that rarely fails to raise the blood pressure of drivers who don't use E-ZPass."

There is no other way to say: Cichowski has lost it.

The Port Authority could solve the problem easily by putting the words "MAIL-IN TOLL" over the lane for drivers without E-ZPass, and Cichowski could then retire to an assisted-living facility.

More confusion

Can anyone understand from reading the first few, long paragraphs on Page 1 today just what the state Supreme Court ruled in the case of residents with oceanfront properties and the sand dunes the federal government wants to build?

The headline doesn't help: "Court overturns award in dune case"

What "award"? Where are the copy editors and Production Editor Liz Houlton? Asleep?

Contrast the lead paragraph of the news story with the clearly written first paragraph of an editorial on the ruling (A-8).

Word confusion?

Sykes and Sforza continue to rely on more accident-photo filler as they scramble to find legitimate news for the Local section.

Both photo captions (L-1 and L-2) use "rolled over" or "overturned," but in both cases the vehicles are shown on their side.

The big local news today is a tree falling and slicing into a Westwood house (L-1). Gee-whiz.

Hackensack news

Also on the Local front, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports the new City Council has hired an insurance brokerage firm headed by Gary Taffet, a former McGreevey aide with a troubled past, including insider-trading allegations (L-1).

Reliance Insurance Group replaces a firm that used broker Jack Zisa, a former mayor and member of the ruling family that brought Hackensack to its knees.

Defending speeders, criminals and adulterers

These motorists didn't need a sign to tell them they were going nowhere during the rush hour on the Garden State Parkway north, which narrows to three lanes from five.

The Road Warrior column on Wednesday raised the possibility of electronic ticketing, using data from individual E-ZPass tags and global-positioning systems, and called it "Big Brother."

Well, for the vast majority of sane, law-abiding drivers, such a system couldn't come fast enough, given the dramatic decline in the enforcement of traffic laws.

The Record's John Cichowski gives voice to drivers who believe Dynamic Message Signs are "an invasion of privacy."

Rich Pederson of sleepy Bloomingdale (the town, not the store), is quoted as saying, "This information had best not be stored in a database somewhere."

E-ZPass account information has been used to impeach the testimony of a criminal defendant who claims to have been home watching TV at the time of a crime.

And I'm sure E-ZPass information has been used in divorce cases.

The rest of us have nothing to worry about, especially Cichowski, who has mastered the art of using reader e-mails as the basis of numerous columns written from the comfort of his desk.

For another take on Wednesday's Road Warrior laugh-fest, consider the comments of a reader concerned about all of the inaccuracies in the column:

"The Road Warrior embellishes reporting around inane questions, discredited conspiracy theories, and comments that defy common sense and facts in his Jan. 23 column about Dynamic Message Signs, which display updated driving times to points down a highway.

"The Record does NOT appear to care about its integrity or have oversight to stop publishing unsubstantiated and unqualified feedback that does not belong in a Road Warrior column. 

"Please direct these people & their feedback to one of The Record blogs.

"Road Warrior also repeatedly likes to scare readers with his unsubstantiated "dark conspiracy" theories.

"Most drivers understand the benefits and reject any fears about Dynamic Message Signs."

See the full e-mail sent to management at:

Road Warrior paranoia runs rampant 

 

Originally posted from my iPhone at the Riviera Bakery in Newark's Ironbound.

The bullshit artist breaks his silence

Image via CrunchBase

Francis "Frank" Scandale

Former Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale, who was fired on Halloween, is up to his old tricks as he attempts to find a new job.


Scandale, 54, of Glen Rock, has updated his LinkedIn profile -- complete with corporate jargon, typos and at least one misspelling.


He tells potential employers he was "decorated in major markets," refers to the "9/11 era" and "Columbine era," and discusses his "vision for relevant, objective coverage of the world's events" and his "core journalistic and managerial competencies."


News gathering comes out "new gathering," and he misspells crystallized.


Look at this atrocious sentence:

"Behind my vision for relevant, objective coverage of the world's events amid the evolution of the new gathering and delivery processes itself are core journalistic and managerial competencies." 

He crows about his bi-monthly columns, but doesn't say they haven't run for years or that they were poorly written and filled with cliches.


Of course, he doesn't mention his lackluster personality, uninspiring leadership, flawed news judgment, obsession with running sports on Page 1, the precipitous drop in both local news and circulation during his 10-plus years as editor or that he was fired by Publisher Stephen A. Borg.


Nor does discuss how he turned his back on older newsroom employees, especially members of the hard-working news copy desk. 


Here are excerpts from LinkedIn:


Frank Scandale's Summary


Senior news executive with 30+ years multi-platform editorial leadership. As a Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, my tenure at two prominent daily print/digital breaking news operations is proven and decorated in major markets, among them New York/Northern New Jersey during the 9/11 era, and Denver, Colorado, during the Columbine era. Behind my vision for relevant, objective coverage of the world's events amid the evolution of the new gathering and delivery processes itself are core journalistic and managerial competencies. As challenges arise, news professionals must be educated, motivated and inspired from their leadership in order to reach and build audiences. My skill set is uniquely positioned to accomplish exactly that, with an eye on the big picture and the ability to balance corporate directives with the mission of an authentic news gathering operations.

My experience traveling throughout the world has crystalized the need for conveying information beyond the geographic borders a company may have. With professional and personal contacts throughout Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia and the United States, I understand the potential reach organizations must embrace as they attempt to extend their reach.

Frank Scandale's Experience

Editor/Vice President

North Jersey Media Group

Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Publishing industry

January 2001 – November 2011 (10 years 11 months) New Jersey

Responsible for overall print and web operations of major metropolitan news organization. Oversaw the founding of Northjersey Media Group's Breaking News Operation (2005) and migrated web group into an 18/7 operation. Engaged the public with an open door policy and regular speaking engagements with Law Enforcement, Education, Community and Civic Organizations, the growing ethnic communities and the general public. Met or exceeded corporate directives over two distinct corporate leadership administrations, restored Environmental Reporting to its important place it deserves in the region, culminating in the first ever Grantham Prize for environmental reporting for the groundbreaking multi-platform Toxic Legacy.com effort, and the recent sequel Toxic Landscape. Ushered in the first all-color newspaper in the region, forged strategic ties with competitors in the era of sharing content, and created new, electronic partners such as Fox TV and Fios. Created new content and sections based on marketing data, oversaw financial budgets, wrote bi-monthly columns explaining the news business and celebrating the achievements of employees. Formed a mentorship program with the 50-newspaper weekly division to develop talent and personally took several journalists under my guidance.

As the evidence mounted that digital was the future, I retooled the newsroom into a resource pool to feed the demands of the digital group - photographers make daily videos, photo galleries (proven traffic driver)and contribute to the blogs. Graphic artists create interactive maps to bring in more users with relevant information about their world. First to employ Twitter in the newsroom to set the example needed to reach multiple potential users.
We began blogging high-profile trials, broke news first online and set up regular webinars to establish digital-first thinking throughout the newsroom.
Traffic has doubled to our website - www.northjersey.com - under my command to 2010 from 2009.

Scandale also discusses his previous jobs at The Denver Post, the now-defunct Elizabeth (N.J.) Daily Journal and Reuters. Here is a link to his profile:

Read all of Frank's bullshit here

Today's rag

John Brennan, perhaps the most inept reporter at the Woodland Park daily, somehow still manages to get most of his stories on Page 1, such as today's celebration of a proposed amusement park at the former Xanadu retail complex in the Meadowlands.

His lead paragraph is a prime example of an anti-news story, telling readers how many people attended a hearing instead of reporting what happened there.

Putting out a fire

A second front-page story today amounts to little more than damage control by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- in reaction to Tuesday's expose.

Significantly, a new executive director says the bi-state agency will "do better," but never promises to end hidden executive pay of up to $70,000 a year.

Executive Director Pat Foye is being paid more than $289,000 a year -- compared to $175,000 for Governor Christie. He laid out his vision at a commissioners meeting on Tuesday and apparently said nothing about improving mass transit.

No easy reading

For one of the most confusing pieces on E-ZPass in recent memory, see Road Warrior John Cichowski's column on L-1 today.

Hackensack readers may live in the Bergen County seat, as well as its most populous community, but they will search in vain for any news of their city today.

Maybe it's just a question of what head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes considers to be news. 

According to a reliable source, Hackensack City Clerk Debbie Heck stormed out of her office on Thursday, prompting the city manager to send an e-mail to City Council members, but she was back at her desk on Monday at noon. 

Heck, who also is secretary to the governing body, reportedly has had a tough time getting along with City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono.

Is that Hackensack news? I guess Sykes and her lazy minions don't think so.

Related post

• Good riddance to bad rubbish (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

NJMG pension plan loses value

Image via Wikipedia

Breaking news: The Holland Tunnel was closed for hours two days ago.

The total assets of North Jersey Media Group's pension plan stand at $62.9 million -- a decline of almost $15 million since 2008, the company says.

In its annual funding notice to employees, former employees and retirees, the company said last week it needs $84 million "to pay for promised benefits under the plan."

The number of participants is 1,978: 555 active participants; 682 retired or "separated from service" and receiving benefits; and 741 entitled to future benefits.

The plan has 96% of its money in mutual funds and 4% in cash.

Today's paper

The big Hackensack news actually is an ad wrap for a Main Street hearing-aid center that obscures nearly half of Page 1 in The Record of Woodland Park.

Not that there's much real news to hide.

Editor Francis Scandale must have been really desperate to put a two-day-old Holland Tunnel shooting on A-1.

Brain damage

Road Warrior John Cichowski's follow-up to today's column on speed bumps (L-1) will explore the history of double-yellow lines and list paints that are visible from the moon.

Did anybody read Columnist Mike Kelly's lame attempts at satire on O-1 today? Gee, the so-called journalist must have left his balls at home, failing to label Donald Trump's antics as racism.

For that, you have to read a letter from Carl M. Losito of River Edge on O-3.

Lots of baggage

Travel Editor Jill Schensul is much more effective when she writes about travelers' rights -- as she does today in her cover story (T-1) -- than when she gushes over a free Disney cruise.

But is the male model in that amateurish illustration really representative of readers who travel?

Today's paper carries three pieces on Manhattan building anniversaries (A-2, F-1 and F-4).


Here and there

An Eye on The Record post discussing Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's evaluation of Grissini in Englewood Cliffs was picked up by a Web site called New York Living: http://www.newyorkliving.info/blogs/The-Fat-Of-The-Land.html

An Eye on The Record reader had this to say about the Turnpike Authority trying to cut E-ZPass discounts to grab another $16 million from drivers (L-2):

"Following up on your Saturday column about Christie giving commuters the shaft, check out today's article, "N.J. seeks opinions on limiting E-ZPass discount," where Christie want to eliminate the off peak E-ZPass discount for all E-Z Pass users that are not signed up with NJ E-ZPass in order to steal another estimated $16 million from unsuspecting E-ZPass drivers, the majority of whom have not been stupid enough to sign up for NJ E-ZPass and their monthly bilking scheme. Let the E- Pass wars begin! All E-ZPass authorities in other jurisdictions and states should start charging NJ E-ZPass users double for tolls on their roads and bridges, including those into N.Y."

Did anyone read past the front page?

Image via Wikipedia

New Jersey's major toll roads. The Record has another "expose" on Page 1 today.

The three North Jersey stories on Page 1 today are so ho-hum, even the reporters who wrote them seem bored. How bored? As bored and boring as Editor Francis Scandale, who chose these dogs for A-1.

The lead story reports "general support" for teacher evaluation and pay changes being pushed by Governor Christie -- one prong of his war on public-employee unions -- and as always they are called "reforms."

There's a second story on the same subject -- from the viewpoint of educators -- on A-4, and an editorial on O-2, but I can't find anything on how teachers can be held accountable for the test scores of students who may spend several hours playing video games every night and refuse to do any extra reading. 

Mass-transit news takes a back seat once again to yet another story on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway -- the main element on Page 1 -- where toll collections seem to come up short by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. 

How does that affect you, if you use the roads only once in a while and pay with E-ZPass? Beats me.

Working with limited space and with the lead paragraph below the fold, the news copy desk sabotaged the toll story with a drop headline that is an instant turn-off: 

Toll collection errors amount to thousands

Thousands [of dollars]? Why is this on the front page?

The real loss is only four-one-hundredths of 1 percent. That's in the second paragraph.  (A 40-cent loss on every $1,000.) 

Why did Scandale, an assistant assignment editor and Staff Writer Karen Rouse, brought here from Denver, put this tripe on Page 1? Properly, it's a brief in "Around New Jersey."

Finally, the third A-1 story on pollution in Wallington is written as a feature, focusing on "2,000 old containers filled with chemicals." Local, county, state and federal officials aren't put on the spot for why a cleanup has dragged on since 1990. 

Local yokels

In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local:

There's no explanation for why a business story on a Web site is leading the local-news report, or why Road Warrior John Cichowski is devoting an entire column to an accident that closed the Lincoln Tunnel 10 days ago and was all over radio and TV news that morning.

Only two municipal stories appear in the eight-page section, one from Englewood and another from Hackensack, where City Council action from Tuesday is finally being reported.

Scamming readers

In Business, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais returns to his core mission of alerting readers to scams and rip-offs after last week's article on a woman who sold best friends Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, the former publisher, and real estate mogul Jon Hanson a private jet that cost more than $10 million. 

In Better Living, a cover story on "healthful ethnic eating" includes a large photo of a sushi roll made with tuna, which is high in harmful mercury, and no discussion of poultry raised with unhealthy antibiotics, meat pumped full of growth hormones or artificially colored farmed salmon.

Image via Wikipedia

And the article slams Chipotle Mexican Grill, a fast-food chain that serves organic vegetables and poultry and meat free of antibiotics, hormones and animal by-products. See:

Chipotle Mexican Grill earns bragging rights 

The Real Estate section, which seems designed to promote real estate agents and banks, has a useful article today on trying to trim your property tax bill by appealing your assessment.

Christie coverage lacks objectivity

Image via Wikipedia

Say the magic words "car pool" anytime and pay only $2 to cross the George Washington Bridge.

Editor Francis Scandale worked with two reporters to give Governor Christie the upper hand on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today. 

Instead of leading the major element on Page 1 with the claims of police and firefighters at a protest in front of the State House on Thursday, Staff Writers John Reitmeyer and John P. McAlipin use the first five paragraphs to lay out Christie's up-yours, in-your-face response.

"They're choosing their own greed over the betterment of the public," the Republican bully said of public-safety workers.

It's only when you get to the continuation page -- if you even read that far -- that you find the unions' claim that layoffs of police officers in Paterson and other communities have led to more crime.

Image via Wikipedia

Copy editors don't help 

The news copy desk's confused handling of headlines and captions doesn't help.

The main head is a nice play on cops' and first responders' uniforms, "Uniform anger," but the over line is a room-clearer:

DUELING ATTACKS IN CHRISTIE'S FIGHT WITH PUBLIC UNIONS

"Dueling attacks"? How clunky can you get? Shouldn't it be "dueling claims"? The copy editors are supposed to be word people, not "turd" people.

And the caption under the main A-1 photo says the protest is over "cuts they say will hurt public safety [my italics]," when cops were laid off in Camden, Newark and Paterson weeks or months ago.

Doing P.R. for Christie

Christie has tried hard to convince the public only deep cuts in public-employee benefits will allow him to balance the budget, and he's offered property tax rebates, a modest restoration of the education aid he slashed and other sweeteners to everyone else -- thus pitting resident against resident.

The Record has been complicit in this effort, with editors, columnists and editorial writers praising the governor's style, even as they occasionally take exception to his budget cuts affecting middle- and working-class New Jerseyans.

And they allow Christie to define news coverage, as they do today, and keep the focus off his poor financial record: 

Refusing to tax millionaires or raise the low gasoline tax; blowing $400 million in federal education aid; and pulling the plug on the Hudson River rail tunnels after the state had already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a sorely needed mass-transit project.

Editors and reporters have never asked Christie at meetings with the paper's Editorial Board why he hasn't capped the salaries of police chiefs, or why he collects his full $175,000, instead of the $1 a year Jon Corzine took home to Hoboken. So who is greedy?

Office-loving columnist

Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski writes today about the addition of more E-ZPass lanes on the turnpike (L-1), but I haven't seen a word from him on the new buses that are being phased in to replace some of the white elephants on NJ Transit's local routes.

If he wants to write exclusively about issues affecting drivers, he should at least tell readers they are entitled to an unpublicized $2 "car-pool" toll at the George Washington Bridge and other Hudson River crossings at any time of the day, if they have three people in their car, and urge them to call their E-Z Pass provider and register for the discount.

The normal Port Authority tolls are $8, $6 off-peak and $4 for hybrid cars.

Elsewhere in head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado covers a Board of Education meeting for the first time in many months and produces two stories -- one on school cuts (L-3), the other on the superintendent's early retirement (L-7).

I understand that after all that unusual effort, Alvarado received oxygen therapy at Hackensack University Medical Center. Two stories in one day? The poor woman.