Gee whiz, you don't see that every day

Hackensack MayorJohn Labrosse is ditching the no-settlement lawsuit policy followed by the old City Council, The Record reports today. Joe Zisa Jr., who wasn't reappointed as city attorney on July 1, had claimed fighting lawsuits against cousin and then-Police Chief Ken Zisa was cheaper than settling. Joe Zisa should have been let go years ago, if for no other reason than his clear conflict of interest.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Wow. When was the last time you saw the crash photo of a huge passenger jet in the newspaper?

Well, thanks to Editor Marty Gottlieb, here it is on the front page of The Record today, with more photos on A-10.

OK. They are a hell of a lot more exciting than the ponderous stories on the rest of A-1, but readers looking for local news are prompted to ask once again: Is that all there is, Marty?

A real gamble

The byline of Staff  Writer John Brennan appears on an overlong, poorly written Page 1 story on Atlantic City's struggling casinos without a single mention of why many people never go to the shore resort:

Much higher hotel-room prices than in Las Vegas. Atlantic City's Revel bombed because of rooms priced at $400 a night.

If you need further evidence of Brennan's struggles  with English, check out the awkward phrase "money-paying customers" in his first paragraph.

Car-centric coverage

Automobile dealers are probably The Record's biggest advertisers, so it's no surprise this towering journalism enterprise rarely reports on their deceptive sales practices.

Instead, today's front page presents a who-cares story on surging automobile sales in Bergen County and New Jersey (A-1).

I scanned the story, but couldn't find an interview with a dealer or customer on Hackensack's Tin Alley, the auto row that was in the news a week ago on the 25th anniversary of the fire that killed 5 of the city's bravest.

Who's debating this?

The third main element on A-1 today presents a privacy debate only journalists are having about the nanny cam video that led to the quick arrest of a suspect known for his brutality.

The Record worships celebrity chefs and loves to promote new restaurants, but rarely thinks about the tremendous heat cooks endure in restaurant kitchens, as today's heat-wave story shows (Local front).

Head in pothole

Pothole Pundit John Cichowski unleashes more data on road repairs and related issues in today's Road Warrior column, though careful readers will likely find the usual errors (L-1).

Cichowski also manages to give Governor Christie a pass on his regressive no-tax policy to fund road and bridge repairs, and mass-transit improvements.

In his July 3 column on children who die of heat stroke in cars, Cichowski completely ignored a major cause -- children playing in unattended vehicles -- according to a concerned reader:

"He was negligent and failed  to mention that 30%, which was more than 160 deaths, were caused by kids playing in unattended cars, or any solutions for that problem.

"He failed to provide the Web site, which provides a lot more useful information from the San Francisco study that he cited.

"Perhaps, he did not want to be embarrassed or held accountable for his mistaken facts and false reasons, which contradict this study.

"Shame on John and The Record management for his dereliction of duty."

To read the full e-mail to management, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior endangers children


This is better?

An L-3 story on "improvements" at Englewood schools doesn't mention whether the school board will try to ease classroom segregation or even if trustees are concerned about the issue.