You have to read Page 1 from the bottom up

To vote against the well-honed political machine that has dominated Hackensack for decades, residents will have to go to Line 11 at the bottom of the May 14 ballot, below, to elect independent City Council candidate Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record and Do You Really Know What You're Eating?  Readers of The Record also have to employ this bottoms-up strategy.

After 7 straight days of front-page, sky-is-falling coverage of the Boston marathon bombing, local readers have learned to unfold Page 1 of The Record to find news that hits closer to home.

Editor Marty Gottlieb, who is walking around the Woodland Park newsroom humming "April in Paris," devotes most of the front page to the "big story" of the day, throwing crumbs to local-news readers.

Below the fold

Today, readers who look below the fold will find a story on the continuing decline of Catholic schools in Hackensack and other communities, and a report on towns investing in lightning-detection systems (A-1).

On A-2 today, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes acknowledges an error in the Dean's List she uses as filler in place of local news.

User unfriendly

On Sykes' Local section front, an interesting story on Fair Trade coffee farmers in Guatemala omits the address of the Teaneck General Store or any other place North Jersey readers can buy the coffee (L-1).

On L-2, a story on a proposal to limit comments by Englewood City Council members to 10 minutes doesn't say how much time residents have to comment or whether other municipal councils also impose a ceiling on their members.

In Hackensack, residents have a 5-minute limit, even though only a handful of people show up for the meetings.

Anyway, City Council members have been ignoring what they say for decades.


Better Living

The "Contact Us" box in Sunday's Better Living section continues to list Susan Leigh Sherrill as food editor, despite rumors she is leaving the job.

Sherrill has kept her Twitter handle as @susanlsherrill, but on the site she appears as Susan L. Axelrod, using her photographer husband's last name.

The Better Living editor is now Marc Schwarz, replacing Stephanie Rivers, who was hired in September 2011 to replace Barbara Jaeger.

Younger Borg makes a pitch to the rich

Image by toyohara via Flickr

A July 2008 front page from the Khaleej Times, which is partially government owned.

Stephanie Rivers is the new director of features for The Record and Herald News, replacing Barbara Jaeger, a feared and despised editor who left or was pushed out around July 1, 2011.


On her LinkedIn page, Rivers says she has "extensive experience in graphics design and fashion."


Rivers work will be most visible in Better Living, the daily features section created by Publisher Stephen A. Borg to replace separate sections for Food and other subjects.


It's unclear whether Borg hired Rivers, whose last job was as editor of Indulge magazine, a publication of an English language newspaper, the Khaleej Times, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 


The magazine's mission recalls Borgs' pet project, (201) magazine:

"Luxury magazines come and go, especially in these times of economic woe. But a luxury magazine that strikes the right journalistic chord, resonates with its intended audience, and evokes a passion, if you will, begins a beautiful, satisfying relationship. The reader looks to the magazine to take them on a hedonistic journey filled with items of their desire; the low down on what’s haute and provide them the visual wanderlust that fills a lazy afternoon. Such is the mission of INDULGE magazine. We want to make you lust after the latest accessories, be filled with the desire to travel to distant and not-so -distant lands, be in the know about the efficacy of your purchases on the environment; and anticipate what the next page may unfold. Oxford defines luxury as “the state of great comfort and extravagant living,” and we here at INDULGE define luxury as an “understated yearning for the ‘best-of-the-best’ life. Do join us on our quarterly trek and discover new places to visit, new faces to know, and new treasures to fill your fashionable heart’s desire."