Editors, reporters get lost in La La Land

As further evidence of haphazard snow removal in Hackensack, high school hurdlers may use a blockaded crosswalk across the street from City Hall on State Street for their workouts, above. At the post office, below, there is only one opening to the sidewalk for drivers parked at the four meters.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Today's paper carries better coverage of the Oscars than many local stories.

The Record's big Page 1 photo shows a beaming Lupita Nyong'o, a Kenyan, accepting the award for best supporting actress on Sunday night.

More photos from the Los Angeles ceremonies appear on the front of Better Living, which includes a surprisingly harsh assessment of host Ellen DeGeneres' performance (B-3).

Does anybody but Staff Writer Virginia Rohan feel sorry for the hideous Liza Minnelli or klutzy actress Jennifer Lawrence, who were the targets of DeGeneres' "mean" jokes?

All of this coverage overlooked one thing:

Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave") is probably the first actress without breast augmentation to win an award in a couple of decades.

Snow jobs

I'm still waiting for The Record's editors to send out reporters to speak to ordinary residents about how their lives were disrupted in small and big ways by a seemingly endless series of snowstorms this winter.

On Sunday, the Business front carried a story on how the storms affected the bottom line, but the human element has been missing from much the coverage since early January.

Today, residents of Bergen County awoke to barely a dusting from the latest storm.

But in Hackensack and other towns, haphazard snow removal has left obstacles that continue to block crosswalks, bus stops and the view of oncoming traffic on streets and highways.

And drivers still have to dodge potholes that haven't been repaired in the past few weeks.

What are officials waiting for? Are they really blameless, as Sunday's lame editorial claims?