PA to commuters: Wait 20 years for better bus, rail service

This cartoon from Mike Lukovich equates GOP repeal of the Affordable Care Act with terrorism against the American people.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer Paul Berger of The Record has been so busy chronicling the transportation war between New York and New Jersey he buried the lead today on funding of a new bus terminal in Manhattan.

Deep in his Page 1 report on Thursday's meeting of Port Authority commissioners, Berger quotes the board chairman as saying a new midtown bus terminal may take as long as 20 years to complete (6A).

Yikes! Does that mean the 230,000 bus commuters who pour into Manhattan every day, most of them from New Jersey, won't see any relief until then?

And does that also mean they'll be fighting over rush hour seats for another 20 years, because The Record isn't prodding Port Authority officials to expand service immediately by adding more exclusive bus lanes into and out of the Lincoln Tunnel?

The bi-state agency's capital plan also includes billions to double rail capacity between New Jersey and Manhattan, but Berger provides no estimate of when those tunnels will be finished.

And as I understand it, when the new Gateway tunnels are finished, the old ones, or at least one of them, will be shut down for repairs, so service might not "double" for another 20 years.

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz of The Record.

Food crawl

When Friday rolls around at the Gannett-owned Record, it's time for another "food crawl" (Better Living).

This one focuses on only four of the many great food businesses in Englewood, but the author is none other than Food Editor Esther Davidowitz, who warns readers "this is not your low-cal, low-carb, low-fat, sugar-free crawl" (10BL and 11BL). 

Well, it could have been, if Davidowitz didn't completely miss the restaurant-quality Meals To Go at Jerry's Gourmet & More, her fourth and last stop on the South Dean Street crawl.

These take-out dinners -- with seafood, chicken, pork or beef, plus pasta or potatoes and vegetables -- are at $7.99 a sane alternative to Jerry's $12-a-pound stuffed eggplant or $17 a pound poached salmon.

Fish, linguine with white clam sauce, and broccoli were just three of the items in one of Jerry's Meals To Go -- complete, restaurant-quality take-out dinners for $7.99, below.

If the freshly prepared store-made dinners aren't sold out at 4 p.m., they are marked down to $5.99.

Impeachment would be too good for evil Christie, Trump

"Twitter tirades" from cartoonist Adam Zyglis lampoons President-elect Donald J. Trump's 3 a.m. tweets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is trying to buy off the Democrats who control the state Legislature so he can profit from a book deal before he leaves office in 2018, according to the front page of The Record's Sunday edition.

Don't expect a cut for taxpayers who were fleeced by a law firm that got more than $10 million to whitewash the GOP bully's role in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Since Christie took office in January 2010, he's executed more than 500 vetoes to thwart the will of the Democratic majority in Trenton.

Christie vetoed a phased-in hike in the minimum wage to $15 (1O), a tax surcharge on millionaires, stronger gun control and hundreds of other bills.

When the Bridgegate scandal derailed his White House campaign last February, Christie threw his support behind wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

That led The Star-Ledger and six Gannett-owned dailies in New Jersey to call for his resignation, but The Record of Woodland Park was the exception.

Now, even impeachment would be too good for the GOP bully, who somehow escaped being charged in the Bridgegate scandal.

Three of his former aides or associates were convicted.

Trump election

The same could be said for Trump, whose Electoral College victory sparked unprecedented protests after Nov. 8, and set the stage for a Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21, the day after the billionaire businessman is to be inaugurated.

California, Massachusetts and other states, as well as such big cities as New York and Chicago, are expected to file numerous lawsuits to stop Trump from changing policies on such issues as immigration, health care, climate change, abortion rights and gun control (11A).

Commentary

The Record hasn't commented on what many are calling Trump's illegitimate election, with Democrat Hillary Clinton receiving about 2.5 million more votes nationwide.

Two of the paper's columnists also have shifted gear:

Veteran Trenton reporter Charles Stile, one of Christie's biggest apologists before revelations in the Bridgegate trial, is now focusing on the November 2017 gubernatorial election (1A).

Staff Writer Mike Kelly wrote columns during the presidential campaign filled with interviews of laid-off factory workers, who were said to be among Trump's biggest supporters.

Kelly also continued to take pot shots at President Obama, even though he saved hundreds of thousands of auto industry jobs and brought the country back from the brink of a second Great Depression.

Today, Kelly inexplicably devotes his Sunday Opinion front column to David Wildstein, the Christie crony who was the chief government witness at the Bridgegate trial (1O).

Twitter, on the other hand, is filled day after day with attacks on Trump being unfit to take office:

"Trump hasn't drained the swamp," says filmmaker Michael Moore. "He IS the swamp."

"The Strongman" from cartoonist Adam Bagley.

Growing diversity

The major Page 1 story on North Jersey's growing diversity is saddled with an incomplete, hard-to-understand graphic (1A).

Looking at the front page, readers might be puzzled about why the graphic shows Bergen and Passaic counties, but the huge photo with the piece was taken in a Hudson County town, Secaucus.

Only when they turn to the continuation page (6A), do they see another graphic for Hudson and Morris counties.

Local news?

Gannett editors continue to trivialize local news, putting town coverage largely in the hands of reporters for North Jersey Media Group's weekly newspapers.

They are younger, less experienced and get lower pay than staffers for NJMG's dailies. Here are a few headlines from today's Local section:

"Developments to add students in Upper Saddle River"

"Carlstadt wants to limit
kitten and puppy sales"

"New assistant principal to join Cresskill district"

Best restaurants?

The Better Living cover story -- "Best Restaurants of 2016" -- reprints appraisals under the byline of Food Editor Esther Davidowitz.

But I don't see any credit given former critic Elisa Ung, who left the paper last month after nine years as a food writer and weekly restaurant reviewer (1BL).

The idiotic sub-headline: 

"This was a good year for eating out"

As you can tell from reading Ung's reviews, her twin obsessions with meat and dessert often blinded her to whether the food she recommended was naturally raised or grown, which might justify in part the outrageous prices many fine-dining restaurants charge.

Ung started a monthly review of informal, less expensive restaurants in 2015, but that likely was driven by then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg trying to cut her expense account, and disguising it as a service to readers. 

Her last weekly restaurant review ran in November, and she hasn't been replaced by another critic.

The Record has been running a series of "food crawl" pieces in place of weekly reviews. 

On Friday, Staff Writer Sophia F. Gottfried also took a look at fine dining and other options at Newark Liberty International Airport. 

Cubans live longer, don't worry about guns, crime or drugs

Pope Francis and Fidel Castro meeting on Sept. 20, 2015, during the pontiff's trip to Cuba (Credit: Alex Castro-AP).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's news, feature and travel editors and columnists are trying to keep readers from learning a dirty little secret about Cuba.

The island has long been the safest major tourist destination in the Caribbean.

Cuba doesn't have crime, gun or drug problems, making it a paradise on earth for its 11 million residents, and a great place to vacation.

In fact, the life expectancy on the biggest island in the Caribbean is 80, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on Saturday.

That's quite a feat for a country that is often portrayed in the news media as one of the poorest in the world, especially when you realize the life expectancy in the United States is 79.

In reporting the death of Fidel Castro, the Sunday edition of The Record is filled with negatives about the Cuban revolutionary, communism and life on the island -- a former U.S. colony (1A, 9A, 10A, 11A).

The headline over the huge black-and-white photo of Castro in 1970 reads:

"DEFIANT LEADER DIES"

Castro handed over the presidency to his younger brother, Raul, in 2008 and was in declining health for several years, so he really wasn't the "leader" of Cuba on his death.

Much of today's coverage reflects The Record's relentless focus on politics -- the same filter used to report on Governor Christie, the racially inspired congressional gridlock during the Obama presidency and the nasty White House campaign that ended with the election of wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

In 2000, on one of my visits to Havana, Cuba, I took a photo of three teenagers. They reflected the diversity of an island that until the 1959 revolution had been strictly divided between whites and blacks.

I made seven trips to Cuba between 1997 and 2004, and stayed with a family in Havana on most of my vacations. I rented cars to explore such eco-tourism as bird watching and scuba diving. Here, I saw a group of friends gathering at the Bay of Pigs on a hot January afternoon.

Redesign

Gannett editors launched a major redesign of The Record with the edition of Nov. 16, a Wednesday.

When you compare today's Sunday edition to the Sunday paper of Nov. 13 -- before the redesign -- the differences become clearer.

The redesign appears to use more white space and smaller type, especially in photo captions, but the type used for text is not as dark as before.

So, pages with big blocks of type make the paper appear grayer.

Headlines and captions were far from perfect before Gannett bought the Woodland Park daily in July, but now even more errors appear:

In the Page 1 caption on the death of Castro, his full name is used twice -- usually a no-no.

Last week, in a front-page promotion of a column on rehabilitation of Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel, the headline, caption and sub-headline all repeated the subject of the story.

From the website Mike Kelly Writer.

Columnists

The redesign also uses updated thumbnail photos for most columnists, such as the one that appears with two Mike Kelly columns today (1A and 1O).

The old photo, in use for nearly a decade, showed an annoying shit-eating grin.

Although Kelly's own website shows he has a lot of gray hair, the new photo makes him appear to have colored his hair, and he looks like he is holding up his head with his right hand.

Local news?

Although readers today won't find any news from the vast majority of the 90 or so towns in the circulation area, the Local front carries a long story about a single parking spot in Ridgewood (1L).

The Record has devoted move coverage to the village's downtown parking woes and solutions than to the entire school system in Hackensack. 

Restaurants

Many readers rejoiced at the departure of Elisa Ung, who was the paper's beef-and-dessert obsessed restaurant reviewer for more than nine years.

Ung consumed obscene quantities of mystery beef and other artery clogging food, all on an expense account, and showed extreme deference to celebrity chefs.

Still, Gannett hasn't replaced her.

On Friday, in place of the usual weekly restaurant appraisal, readers found a list of Theater District restaurants taste tested by Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and Robert Feldberg, the theater critic.

The week before, Better Living editors listed expensive North Jersey restaurants that were serving Thanksgiving dinner.

Editors: America is under attack! America is under attack!

An image from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Facebook page shows the garbage pail torn apart by an explosive device that discharged before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity race on Saturday in Seaside Park to benefit Marines and sailors.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The potential for many injuries and deaths from weekend bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey can't be denied.

But the overwrought coverage in The Record since Sunday exaggerates the danger of the lone suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, and feeds into the demonization of Muslims by wacko racist Donald J. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

Today's front page is dominated by a photo of the bearded Elizabeth man, who "fought violently with a family member, had a court battle over child custody and support, and struggled with joblessness," according to the melodramatic lead paragraph.

That could also describe thousands of people living in the metropolitan area.

On Tuesday, Record Staff Writer Mike Kelly wrung his hands and gnashed his teeth over law enforcement being powerless to detect "the enemy disguised as neighbor and friend," as the headline over his column put it.

Kelly was too quick to compare the killing of 49 people in an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in which nearly 3,000 died. 

I haven't seen any Kelly columns on how, summer after summer, Paterson police have been powerless to stop the gang violence that results in the killing of innocent bystanders.

Fort Lee favors

In Bridgegate trial testimony on Tuesday, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, described many enticements from Republican Governor Christie, but testified he ultimately refused to endorse him for reelection in November 2013.

And the borough's police chief said that he recommended relatives of anyone who died as the result of the September 2013 traffic jams caused by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge sue the bridge owner and operator, the Port Authority.

Two of the governor's former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are accused of causing the traffic jams for five days to punish Sokolich.

Local news?

The local editors' fascination with photos of cars that flip or roll over continues (L-3).

A rare story about Hackensack, the biggest community in Bergen County, appears on L-6 today.

Staff Writer John Seasly reports the city has dropped plans to privatize sanitation pickups, citing "minimal savings," according to a press release from Mayor John Labrosse, whose name is misspelled "Lacrosse" throughout the story.

The last name of City Manager David Troast is misspelled "Toast," and the last name of Chief Financial Officer James Mangin is misspelled "Margin."

Seasly, who was assigned to cover Hackensack in February, spells only one of the names correctly, that of Bergen County NAACP President Anthony Cureton, who denounced the plan because most of the sanitation workers are black and Hispanic.

Since Seasly took over the beat, he has covered only the City Council, Police Department and downtown redevelopment.

As far as readers know, he hasn't covered a single Board of Education meeting. Nor did he cover the campaign of nine candidates for three seats in the April school election.

The school budget, which was approved by a tiny minority of registered voters, accounts for 44% of the property tax bill in Hackensack.

Unhealthy recipes

If I didn't know better, I'd accuse Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River of trying to kill older readers with recipes that use sugar, butter or full-fat cheese, none of which is good for your heart (BL-2).

Today, the clueless Jackson promotes a Brown Sugar Poundcake with 2 whole sticks of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar and 4 whole eggs.

Yuck!

In unending Ken Zisa saga, lawyers are the biggest winners

In this February photo from the Bergen Dispatch, defense attorney Patricia Prezioso is asking a Superior Court judge to throw out an official misconduct charge against former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, right.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 headline in The Record today -- "Zisa can pursue return to force in Hackensack" -- set off panic attacks in thousands of residents.

But if they bothered to read the entire story about Ken Zisa -- especially the last four paragraphs -- they'd learn the disgraced former police chief must first "face a disciplinary hearing for his conduct," City Attorney Alexander Carver says (A-7).

"Another roadblock for Zisa," Staff Writer John Seasly reports, "is ... that the city eliminated the position of police chief following his arrest."

Today's story focuses on Superior Court Judge Susan Steele dismissing the single remaining criminal charge against Zisa, citing misconduct by the prosecutor (A-1).

Seasly quotes defense attorney Patricia Prezioso saying "Mr. Zisa will begin the impossible task of reconstructing his life."

Reviving 'Zisaville'

But nowhere does The Record mention residents' anger and resentment toward the Zisa family political dynasty that transformed the city into a North Jersey laughing stock called "Zisaville."

Nor has Seasly reported that Zisa; his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa have launched Team Hackensack in their bid to wrest control from a reform City Council elected in 2013.

In fact, Team Hackensack already succeeded in putting three candidates on the Board of Education this year, and the organization is expected to challenge the council in next May's municipal election.

$8M in legal fees

After Ken Zisa was indicted in 2010, about two dozen police officers sued him and the city, alleging corruption and intimidation.

"Most of the lawsuits stemmed from a bitterly contentious relationship between Zisa and police officers who accused him of engaging in campaigns of retribution and harassment as paybacks for their refusal to go along with his political demands [as a Democratic state assemblyman]," The Record has reported.

The city racked up $8 million in legal fees defending against those allegations, and insurers paid out many millions more to settle the cases, minus the deductible.

See: Zisa nearly broke Hackensack

Pay to play

If you live in New Jersey -- where "pay to play" seems to have been invented -- you have to laugh at Republican charges that many of the people who met with Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state gave money to the Clinton Foundation (A-1).

Pay to play is ingrained in New Jersey's home rule communities -- political donations often lead to an appointment as auditor, engineer and so forth -- as well as in Trenton and in the nation's capitol.

In Washington, congressional lobbyists are actually writing bills to protect the biggest, wealthiest corporations from regulation.

At least in the case of the Clinton Foundation, the money went to good causes -- not to corrupt our law-making process.

Oscar leaving N.J.

In another Page 1 story today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn again gives Governor Christie a pass for refusing to set up a New Jersey marketplace for buying coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Christie isn't even mentioned in her story about another insurer, Oscar Health Insurance, withdrawing next year.

But an editorial slams Christie for peddling an "unfair school funding plan" (A-8).

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin calls the proposal "Jersey Wrong," a play on the governor's "Jersey Strong" message after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

That fortifies the impression Doblin can't write an editorial or opinion column about Christie or anything else unless he can find a play on words or a movie, play, book or song to compare it to.

Scallops and steak

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz apparently thinks those extraordinary wild-caught sea scallops are so weird she has to sell them to readers by comparing them to "a good piece of steak" (BL-2).

Better she should advise readers to look for "dry" scallops -- the ones that are sold in fish markets without a liquid preservative.

Orlando massacre comments show racist Trump's insanity

Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, with his big sister, U.S. District Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who is on a federal appeals court in Philadelphia. We haven't heard her take on Trump claiming another federal judge can't be impartial in a class-action suit against Trump University, because he is "Mexican" and the racist candidate wants to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"I was right," wacko racist Donald J. Trump declared after the massacre inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

According to his bizarre reasoning, if the Afghan-born parents of Omar Mateen were barred from entering the United States -- Trump's plan for all Muslims -- the killings wouldn't have happened.

Never mind that the presumptive GOP presidential candidate also described Mateen as "Afghan-born" and condemned "radical Islam," even though the news media have reported the shooter is from Queens, the same borough where Trump was born.

Now, The Record and other media are reporting Mateen may have been a regular at Pulse nightclub who was "living a secret life as a gay man" (A-1).

"Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay, but said if he had been in the nightclub, he may have been 'scouting the place'" (A-8).

So, the focus on the killer committing a hate crime against gays is shifting away from terrorism in the name of ISIS as a motive -- in another instance of how the news media are more interested in getting it first then in getting it right.

One example is the front-page Mike Kelly column on Tuesday, comparing the slaughter inside the dance club on Sunday to the far more horrific 9/11 attacks on America, claiming both were acts of terrorism.

Obama on Trump

Meanwhile, President Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton "conducted an extraordinary joint attack" on Trump, with the president accusing the billionaire of "doing the terrorists' work for them" (A-4).

Clinton noted that one day after the attack, Trump went on TV and "suggested President Obama is on the side of the terrorists."

Clinton also tore into "Trump's history as a leader of the birther movement, which alleged Obama was not born in America, even though he was" (A-4).

Republican Mitt Romney, who lost the 2o12 election to Obama, noted a Trump presidency would mean "trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry and trickle-down misogyny."

Last Friday, one panelist on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" labeled Trump a "sociopath" -- a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior, and a lack of conscience.

'Face of Pulse'

Editor Deirdre Sykes deserves credit for publishing the photos of 41 of the 49 victims on Page 1 today, but loses points for not finding room in the paper for "stories about the lives of those killed" in the gay dance club.

Readers are referred to northjersey.com/orlando

Sadly, a very large number of older readers don't use computers or smart phones, so what are they supposed to do? Go to the library, call up a friend who does?

Christie's vetoes

An op-ed column today reveals Governor Christie, Trump's transition chief, has vetoed legislation that would have released funds for Green Acres, and farmland and historic preservation (A-11).

That means the GOP bully found a way to thwart the will of New Jersey voters, who "overwhelmingly approved" a 2014 measure dedicating a portion of the Corporate Business Tax for open-space preservation.

The Record's Trenton Bureau has done a poor job of tracking Christie's vetoes, which are believed to top 500, certainly a record for any New Jersey governor.

When drivers stack up behind a turning vehicle on a street without a turn lane, it aggravates air pollution, traffic congestion and the frustration level of negotiating Bergen County's antiquated road network.

Our terrible roads

North Jersey drivers have been bitching and moaning about the condition of streets, roads and highways for years.

Many have focused on Bergen County's antiquated road network, and the widespread shortage of turn lanes.

Now, Road Warrior John Cichowski devotes his column to our "shoddy roads," but only because a report was released on Tuesday that rated "New Jersey the 10th least favorable state for driving" (L-1).

Unhealthy salmon

Leave it Esther Davidowitz, the clueless food editor, to promote a recipe for fresh wild sockeye salmon that is actually bad for you (BL-2).

Chefs like Terrell Wilson use heavy cream, full-fat cheese and butter with abandon, because they know those artery clogging ingredients will make a dish taste incredible.

That doesn't mean you should order it or try to make it at home, if you're watching your cholesterol and weight, and especially if you want to avoid a dish that could be described as a heart-attack on a plate.

In his recipe for 1.5 pounds of heart-healthy sockeye salmon, Terrell uses a whopping 1.5 cups of heavy cream and a full cup of full-fat cheddar cheese.

Look out.

To sell house without driveway, reporter exaggerates its size

Paterson's South Paterson neighborhood of Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries and coffee houses continues to show signs of renewal, including a mobile telephone store and a three-story commercial building under construction at Main and Gould streets. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 story in The Record today raises troubling questions about an error-prone reporter who has blurred the lines between journalism and real estate promotion.

And in Local, the Woodland Park daily reports for the first time that a Hackensack University Medical Center doctor played a key role in landing a Fox News interview with the mother of the first New Jersey-born baby affected by the Zika virus.

After the interview was aired and The Record's reckless editors published a Page 1 photo of the deformed baby, the woman is asking for privacy (L-2).

Property grows

In today's follow-up to his first front-page column, error-prone reporter John Cichowski grossly inflates the size of a Midland Park property that has proven to be a hard sell, because it has no driveway and overnight parking is supposedly "banned."

On A-8 today, Cichowski, also known as the Road Warrior, reports town officials "appeared unmoved when [owner Ken] Klabouch noted his 12,000-square-foot property was the only lot in the borough too small to accommodate a driveway" (italics added).

That's four times the size Chichowski cited in his original column on Tuesday, when he reported Klabouch's lot "measures slightly less than 3,000 feet."

The house itself is "1,200 square feet," he said on Tuesday.

Six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton completely missed today's wild exaggeration, as did all of the news, layout and copy editors under her supervision.

The embarrassing "12,000-square-foot" screw-up also appears on North Jersey.com, The Record's Web site.

Provide plate number

More troubling is that Cichowski has ignored the custom and practice in most towns, where residents and renters can call police with the license-plate number of a guest, and get permission for overnight street parking.

I called Midland Park police on Wednesday and confirmed this also is the practice in the borough -- for guests as well as homeowners who park on the street overnight.

Zika baby

On L-2 today, The Record reports Dr. Manny Alvarez played a pivotal role in landing an interview at the bedside of a Honduran woman who contracted the Zika virus and gave birth to a deformed girl on Wednesday at Hackensack University Medical Center.

But for the first time, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reports the woman is Alvarez' patient. 

The doctor is "chairman of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive health" at the medical center, as well as "senior managing editor" at Fox Health News.

In today's story, Editor Deirdre Sykes appears to justify why The Record invaded the unnamed baby's privacy by publishing her photo on Thursday's front page.

"Labeled an 'exclusive,' it [the Fox News interview] included a video of the baby in a hospital bassinet" (L-2).

Heart-attack food

Readers are wondering why Elisa Ung's review of American Cut Bar and Grill is far more subdued than two elaborately promotional articles The Record published in the months before the expensive steakhouse opened in Englewood Cliffs.

Today, Ung says the service reminds her of  "a family chain," not "a fine-dining restaurant" (BL-14).

She gives the steakhouse -- which advertises in Friday's Better Living tabloid -- 2.5 stars out of a possible 4 stars.

Photos with her review show only heart-attack inducing food -- a steak burger, biscuits with cream cheese, hanger steak and a sundae -- but none of the fish and salads promised "for the ladies" by the celebrity chef owner in a December interview with Food Editor Esther Davidowitz.

Ung sampled the "prime dry-aged porterhouse for two" ($115), but doesn't tell readers whether the beef was naturally raised on grass.

"Prime" only tells readers its the fattiest cut of beef among USDA grades: Prime, Choice and Select.

After noting entrees cost up to $54, Ung says American Cut isn't appropriate for "anyone on a budget."

She must think her readers are dolts.

Page 1 focus on minorities recalls discrimination of the past

A poster on the shuttered New Jersey Naval Museum in Hackensack, above, and the beached gangway that once gave visitors access to the USS Ling, below. The World War II sub is stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River, and tied up to property owned by North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Positive images of Native Americans, Muslims and African-Americans in North Jersey appear on the front page of The Record today in a rare focus on minorities.

The stories recall past instances when the editors marginalized those groups.

Ford pollution

The Record's 2005 series -- "Toxic Legacy" -- won journalism awards, but did little to prove Ford Motor Co. waste -- first dumped in 1967 -- was sickening and killing members of the Ramapough Native American tribe in Ringwood.

And in 2010, The Record urged the Ramapoughs to settle their lawsuit against the automaker for $12.5 million, allowing the lawyers to grab the lion's share of the money, and pay 633 adults and children only $4,368 to $34,595 each.

Today, the Woodland Park daily reports borough residents want to hold a referendum to kill a plan to cap 166,000 tons of contaminated soil in favor of removing it (A-1).

Still, the first reference to the Ramapoughs on Page 1 today is a mean-spirited description of their "low-income neighborhood."

Crime stories

Less than a decade ago, an African-American would have to be charged with a serious crime to land on the front page, unless the editors were running Black History Month stories.

Today, the funeral and burial of Teaneck Mayor Lizette Parker, 44, is Page 1 news, including a moving tribute from a Muslim councilman who once was part of a coalition that spurned her (A-1).

Still, The Record continues to ignore the hard-working, God-fearing Jamaican-American community in Englewood, Teaneck and Hackensack unless one of them is involved in gun violence or drug dealing.

Silk City Syrians

After the November terrorist attacks in Paris, Governor Christie wanted to bar Syrian refugees, even children, from New Jersey.

The editors' response took more than a week, but they finally published a positive story about Syrian merchants in Paterson decrying the governor's stereotype.

Today, Muslim leaders in New Jersey are quoted as "reacting warily" to an FBI plan to "cut terrorism off at its roots," as the headline states (A-1).

Still, The Record is the only major daily in the state that failed to call for Christie's resignation after he endorsed GOP presidential front-runner, Muslim hater and racist Donald Trump.

The USS Ling in a photo taken a week ago.

Local news?

Just one look at today's Local section tells Bergen County readers they won't find much news about their towns today.

On L-1, they find an enormous weather-related photo, and another column on the test for a learner's permit.

On L-3, a "Monthly News Quiz" wastes an enormous amount of space, and four major stories in the section are from Passaic County (L-1, L-2 and L-3), further cheating Bergen readers.

Healthier eating

In today's Better Living profile, Susan Ungaro of River Vale says she want the James Beard Foundation "to help move the needle on important food policy issues" (BL-1).

Celebrity chefs "can teach America how to eat better and be healthier and be socially conscious about important issues," says Ungaro, president of the culinary arts foundation.

Sadly, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, the reporter who wrote the profile, and Record Food Editor Esther Davidowitz don't see any part for journalists in that mission.

What else can readers conclude from Ung rarely telling them whether the food she samples is naturally raised or grown, and her obsession with meat and artery clogging desserts?

Meanwhile, Davidowtiz fills her food pages with promotions of restaurants, bakeries and other businesses that advertise in The Record.