A kid you never heard of gets better A-1 play than Obama

WHY OUR TAXES ARE SO HIGH: On Wednesday afternoon, an incident involving a school bus near the monument in Englewood drew a large response, including an ambulance from Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, above; a rescue unit from the city's Fire Department, hospital paramedics and at least three police cars to close streets, below. The police cars are not shown.

In the past two decades, The Record's local editors have been derelict in failing to report on the wasteful duplication of services in home-rule towns. Meanwhile, the editorial page should be calling for a salary cap on police chiefs, and much more cooperation among towns to save money and lessen the impact on property tax payers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Deirdre Sykes is only the second woman to hold the top editing job at The Record, but she is proving to be no different than her sports-obsessed male predecessors.

Can you imagine the discussion at Wednesday afternoon's news meeting, where editors from news, sports, business and features sit down and decide story placement and play, including what should appear on today's front page, the most important in the paper?

The news editors promote President Obama's historic visit to a mosque amid all the hate speech against Muslims, including Syrian refugees who want to settle in North Jersey, but the sports editor is itching to be heard: 

"OK. I have a better story. There's this black kid, Rashan Gary, a high school student we like to call 'North Jersey's football titan ....'"

Collectively, the other editors in the room say, "Who?"   

Yet, today's front page is dominated by "Who?"

And Obama ends up at the bottom of Page 1, under a bunch of Hasidic Jews who rescued a George Washington Bridge jumper. 

Ignoring readers

Is there anything else in today's paper to interest the majority of readers?

Why run a Page 1 follow-up on "dismal" test scores?

At least Sykes had the good sense to run Governor Christie's campaign crap from New Hampshire on A-3, instead of A-1, but that means the continuing crisis over New Jersey transportation funding is buried today (A-4).

Local news?

The Local front resembles a police blotter again, one of Sykes' specialties when she was head assignment editor.

There are an astounding 14 Law & Order stories in the thin-local news section.

And why is a long story from Washington on proposals to ease the burden of college loans and provide two years of free community college buried deep in Local (L-6)?

That would have fit well on A-3, and to hell with the governor who has said to hell with New Jersey.

Uber alles?

On the first Business page, another staff-written story on Uber continues to hide the exploitation of drivers (L-7).

Staff Writer Richard Newman simply regurgitates the company line:

"Uber promises to pay a gross fare of $15 an hour during slow periods or $20 an hour in busy periods, not including Uber's commission...."

Why not mention the size of the commission (Uber gets at least 20% of the fare), that tips are included in the fare; and that drivers use their own cars, and pay for gas, insurance and maintenance?

Traveling light

A Jill Schensul column offering a guide to travelers on the Zika virus appears on the Better Living front today.

Contrast that with the travel editor's usually frivolous column in her own section, which offers little practical advice on getting the best bang out of your travel dollars.

Food critic 'transported' to Spain should have stayed there

How robust is the state's economy? In Hackensack, thousands of new and used Toyotas stretch from River Street to the Hackensack River. Today, The Record reports the unemployment rate of 6.5% in May is a full percentage point above the national rate.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Restaurant critic Elisa Ung of the The Record tries hard to persuade readers that dishes served at Sangria restaurant in Mahwah "transported" her to Spain.

But her lukewarm, 2-star review in Better Living likely will have many steering clear of the place, which actually put out a hilarious sign reading:

"Modern Spaniard Cuisine"

Ung found "soggy paella, "greasy steak and ... disappointing sangria" (BL-18).

And she hated three of the four desserts she sampled, claiming the bread pudding contained "undercooked chunks of bread."

Off to Spain

Still, she says, a platter of ham, cheese and nuts, and another dessert transported her to Spain, where the owner's father was born.

Why didn't she just stay there, and try the rabo de toro at a Madrid restaurant not far from the bullring?

My advice for the owner: 

Change your stupid sign to "Modern Cuisine of Spain," even though you have Cuban and other dishes on the menu.

My advice for Ung:

Your job is to weed out disappointing restaurants, and when you find one, a few paragraphs of warning would suffice.

Doom and gloom

Why comment on the weekly restaurant review, which is buried deep in the paper?

Look at today's sensational front page, which is soaked in blood, if you will (A-1).

And almost the entire front of the Local section is Law & Order news, including a spectacular photo of a burning, overturned vehicle (L-1).

Errors 'r' us

But the errors keep on piling up, as demonstrated by the four detailed corrections on A-2 today.

Other errors in Thursday's paper aren't even acknowledged, some are repeated and new errors appear today.

Staff Writer Deena Yellin continues to send mixed messages on the death of a 13-year-old Cresskill boy who was riding his bicycle to school on Wednesday morning, just as she did in her story on Thursday. 

Her first paragraph reports Young Rok Lee was "struck and killed ... by a tractor-trailer" (L-1).

But her second paragraph says Lee "collided" with the back of the tractor-trailer, suggesting he rode into it.

Can't get town right

Also on L-1, the caption with the photo of the burning vehicle reports "three Englewood police officers and the deputy chief" were involved in the rescue of the driver.

But when readers turn to the story on L-5, they learn the officers and deputy chief were from Englewood Cliffs, not Englewood.

Readers never learn whether the unidentified woman whose vehicle hit a utility pole was speeding, texting or putting on her makeup before she lost control.

Law & Order edition is nothing special

Which judge and sheriff's officer slipped on water in the century old Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack and fell -- to the delight of Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes?

If you're a fan of the police blotter, today's Law & Order edition of The Record might fool you into thinking you're holding a sensational tabloid in your hands.

Besides two major police stories on Page 1, municipal news is almost completely displaced in Local by cop or court news -- there's a total of 13 such stories or stand-alone photos in the six-page section.

The main element on L-1 today is the slapstick account of a judge and a sheriff's officer who slipped on water flooding the 100-year-old Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, and presumably fell on their asses.

No names, please

Three reporters worked on the story, but failed to get the identity of the judge or sheriff's officer or the name of the hospital that treated the jurist.

That's expected on the lazy assignment desk under Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza. 

The former could be heard shrieking in the Woodland Park newsroom, "Hey, the copy desk should use 'Laughter in the court' as a headline on this. It's hilarious."

Taxing views

Also on Page 1 today, a so-called ANALYSIS comparing the tax positions of Governor Christie and President Obama fails to mention the GOP bully's proposed state income-tax cut would benefit the wealthy most of all.

Monday's paper

Another so-called ANALYSIS on Monday's Page 1 concludes New Jersey won't be able to build or widen enough roads to end massive traffic congestion.

But the story mentions NJ Transit only once, and doesn't blame Christie for killing a major expansion of rail capacity.

A rare story on Hackensack schools also appeared on A-1 on Monday -- a welcome profile of Detective Kenneth Martin, the state's first school resource officer.

More age bias

Monday's Local section includes an unusual amount of news about the elderly, the disabled and the incontinent (L-1 and L-6).

Columnist Mike Kelly had another long piece on Susanna Reinhardt, the Rochelle Park "battle ax" he wrote about at length on Jan. 24, 2010 (L-1). 

Is there really that much more to say about the 86-year-old woman?

Major omission

On Monday's L-6, a story on a Latino festival mentions Teaneck has a "thriving" Hispanic community, "as do ... Bergenfield, Hackensack, Leonia and Ridgefield Park."

What about all the Latinos who live in neighboring Englewood? Are they just so much picadillo?