Christie's budget hits middle class, spares millionaires

First Student school-bus drivers taking a break this morning in the outlying parking lots of Bergen Town Center in Paramus, above and below. On Tuesday morning, a heavy set woman appeared to be sleeping in the driver's seat of one of the buses, her arms folded across her chest, her head down and her eyes closed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You've got to love the Trenton press corps, including The Record's reporters, for never challenging Governor Christie on balancing yet another state budget on the backs of the middle class (A-1).

The Woodland Park daily's lead story today delivers more bad news for long-suffering property tax payers as the GOP bully scrambles to balance a budget without asking millionaires to pay a little more.

And there is no sign Christie is cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks wasted on wealthy business owners who don't create jobs in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

No reporter at Christie's news conference on Wednesday asked whether he will now agree to a tax surcharge to raise an estimated $1 billion from millionaires.

In fact, judging from The Record's story, no reporter challenged Christie on anything he said; they merely regurgitated his cockeyed reasoning for cutting state employee pension contributions by $1.57 billion, and postponing the small property tax rebate.

Maybe, none of these so-called journalists own a home in New Jersey or they see their role as stenographers.

Instead of any hard questioning, The Record brings us another long, boring Charles Stile column on the "politics" of Christie's decision to nominate Chief Justice Stuart Rabner for tenure (A-1).

A banana peel and what appeared to be part of a baked potato were left behind in a locker at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus. As an indication of how poorly the gym is run, they were still inside the locker, with the door open, more than 30 minutes after an employee was informed.

Hospital news

In Local today, the lead story on The Valley Hospital in Ridgwood is more evidence of how The Record screwed Hackensack residents who objected to the many expansions of Hackensack University Medical Center, which owns hundreds of millions of dollars in tax exempt property.

In contrast to numerous stories on the Ridgewood hospital's plan to expand within the boundaries of its campus -- 

first unveiled in 2006 -- there were many fewer stories about HUMC's uncontrolled expansion in Hackensack.

Today's Local section contains two stories from Paterson (L-2); two large filler photos of minor accidents in Wyckoff (L-6) and Englewood (L-3), with captions that supply little real information, but nothing from Hackensack.

I didn't even see a reporter for The Record at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

Deirdre Sykes must be back and running the local assignment desk again after a long absence.

Second look

Road Warrior John Cichowski's Sunday column on major construction projects contained the usual errors, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

For example, Cichowski confused the cost of repaving the New Jersey section of the Palisades Interstate Parkway in 1996 and this year ($7 million and $14.5 million, respectively).

He said it cost $14.5 million in 1996.

He also gave the wrong location for a new service road in Woodland Park. See:

Confused Road Warrior makes more errors

Editor Marty Gottlieb has defended Cichowski, despite these and hundreds of other errors the reporter has committed in the past decade, trying to fill the shoes of Jeff Page, the original commuting columnist.

These are the kinds of errors that would never be tolerated at a serious newspaper or go uncorrected, especially at The New York Times, where Gottlieb worked for many years.

His tolerance of repeated errors by the Road Warrior and the news and copy editors under six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton may go a long way toward explaining why Gottlieb is no longer at The Times.

Here comes Chris(t) Christie, our savior

Is mounting gun violence in Paterson and other cities linked to Governor Christie's cuts in state aid? Above, the Great Falls of the Passaic River. © 2004 Matthew Trump (Wikipedia)

More than 1,000 people battered by Superstorm Sandy waited on line in the rain on Wednesday for a chance to personally ask Governor Christie for help, The Record reports today.

Page 1 coverage like this obliterates his many policy failures -- from job creation to a mounting budget deficit -- but the editors seem intent on ignoring that as they promote his candidacy for another term as the state's Sandy Savior.

Gun control

A second front-page story reports New Jersey "has some of the strictest firearms restrictions in the nation."  

That's little comfort to the families of innocent people who are cut down by gun violence in Paterson, which was forced to lay off cops after Christie reduced state aid to cities.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Obama have moved decisively to strengthen gun control, but ex-prosecutor Christie has done noting. 

Hackensack news

Since the appointment of a new Hackensack reporter, Hannan Adely, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, seem to be paying more attention to city news.

Of course, covering the city well now won't make up for many years of neglect -- accelerated by the paper's abandonment of Hackensack in 2009.  

Today, investigative reporter Jeff Pillets says Joseph Mellone, a Zisa family ally who heads the city's code-enforcement office, has been suspended without pay (L-3).

Newsroom layoffs

On L-8, news that The Star-Ledger of Newark plans to lay off 34 employees is probably roiling The Record newsroom in Woodland Park.

In 2008, about 150 newsroom employees at The Star-Ledger,  the state's largest newsaper, agreed to buyouts.

The Record newsroom experienced a much more modest downsizing in 2008 -- several months after Publisher Stephen A. Borg received a $3.65 million company mortgage to buy a McMansion in Tenafly. 

For peckerwoods

In Better Living, the Starters feature promotes the opening of Burgerwood by three teenagers, one of whom is the son of multimillonaire restaurateur and commercial landlord Michel Bittan (BL-1).

The Record says the create-your-own burgers restaurant in Englewood is "riding the wave of one of the hottest food trends."

The restaurant's name -- Burgerwood -- suggests the meat contains sawdust, though that might be more palatable than what is actually in there -- harmful animal antibiotics and growth hormones.
 

Paper, prosecutor diss dead man's family

A miscarriage of justice was compounded today by a miscarriage of journalism in The Record's report on the long-delayed grand jury probe into the death of Malik Williams.

Why did the editors allow a major error to appear in a headline and in the first paragraph of the lead, front-page story in The Record today?

This whopper exaggerates the actions of Malik Williams, 19, of Garfield -- making him seem a lot more threatening -- before he was shot and killed by two police officers last Dec. 10.

Both the sub-headline on Page 1 and the first paragraph use the word "charging" to describe Williams before he was hit five times by police bullets, suggesting he was running toward the two officers with a hammer and a 16-inch saw.

Misquoting official

The long sub-headline says, "Prosecutor says teen was charging with hammer, saw."

But Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli's statement never uses that word.

Who is responsible for this screw-up, Editor Marty Gottlieb, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Deputy Assistant Assignment Editor Dan Sforza or Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the news copy desk, where the inaccurate sub-headline was written? 

Doesn't the word "charging" justify the actions of the two police officers, who were cleared by a grand jury on Wednesday? 

Web site is wrong, too

The word appears twice in the paper, as well as on NorthJersey.com, without quotation marks, meaning it didn't come from the statement issued by Molinelli, who said Williams "advanced towards" the officers -- a lot different and a lot less menacing than "charging."

In fact, the word "charging" appears  nowhere in Molinelli's statement -- only "advanced towards" and other variations of the word "advanced."

There is a lot more wrong with today's coverage of the Williams case, especially unanswered questions.

Why didn't Molinelli hold a news conference and answer questions from the media? Why did the investigation take more than six months? 

Editors napping again

Why did it take Malik Williams' mother, Shirley, to seek out and try to question the prosecutor at an unrelated meeting on Wednesday? 

Where were the editors and reporters from The Record -- taking their usual midday nap? Why didn't any of them question the prosecutor?

The local-news editors botched the Williams grand jury story, but the Woodland Park daily salvages something with an editorial asking "why two trained officers needed to use deadly force against a hammer and a handsaw" (A-10)?

That is one of the questions the local-news editors should have been asking Molinelli.   


Christie blame game

Also on Page 1 today, the editors continue to humor Governor Christie, who is back to playing his blame game when he doesn't get his way (A-1, A-3 and A-4).

After Christie's "Jersey Comeback" fizzled, because of the state's stumbling economy, the GOP bully is claiming Democrats are holding his income-tax cut hostage.

Hackensack screwed again

Sykes and Sforza had Hackensack reporter Stephanie Akin helping out on the Malik Williams story, so, of course, there is no Hackensack news today -- or anything from Englewood, Teaneck and many other towns.

For the seventh day in a row, Staff Writer John Brennan has a story about the lawsuit against the American Dream entertainment and retail complex, which is eagerly awaited by the state's shopaholics (L-1).

You'd think Brennan, a former sports reporter, is being slipped large quantities of money by the Giants and Jets, who filed the frivolous action.

Buried on L-7 today is a report on a cushy job for another Christie crony, former Bergen County Freeholder Todd Caliguire, a Republican lawyer.

Chris Christie -- warts and all

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Jerry DeMarco calls Governor Christie "Chrispie" and "Bully from the 'Burbs."

Jerry DeMarco has seen Chris Christie as an unabashed Bruce Springsteen fan, as a corruption-busting U.S. attorney and in the Editorial Board room. 

He's been especially keen in noticing how the editors of The Record have reacted to our Republican bully of a governor.

The Woodland Park daily's editors and reporters appeared to speak with one voice in unified praise of  Christie in the first year of his administration, even when he balanced the state budget on the backs of the middle and working classes, and gave a break to millionaires, many of whom support him.

But lately, there has been some push back -- even from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin -- as the effects of his deep budget cuts on education and other areas become clearer. 

Now, DeMarco, the former Breaking News Editor of northjersey.com, is watching Governor Christie from his perch at Cliffview Pilot.com.

Here are DeMarco's latest comments:

I suspect this is just the beginning of “Chrispie” bashing from the middle floors of the Sixties-era high-rise fast by Route 80 [1 Garret Mountain Plaza in Woodland Park, headquarters of North Jersey Media Group]. And I can’t help but wonder if it’s personal, not business.

One thing I noticed about management at NJMF [stet], and that includes Alfred Dandy, is the belief that touting a horse in a race will secure insider access later on. Hey, it worked with Loretta Weinberg. If not for her, they wouldn’t have been on Joe Ferriero’s tail, or braved a three-year witch hunt of a former lawman more accomplished than they could ever hope to be.

Christie’s a different barrel o’ fish, though [stet 2].

Methinks His Primness Mr. Doblin isn’t taking kindly to standing behind the velvet rope. He folds his arms, taps his wing-tipped foot, purses his lips -- miffed that others are waltzing in while, day after day, he seeks merely a wee bit o’ coffee tawk with the Bully from the ‘Burbs.

No surprise to those who know me that I find most newspaper editors sycophants who care little about the “real people” they promise to serve and more about trying to stroke their own fragile egos.

(Just look at Scandale: Every other week, he “comes up with” another story idea after yet another dinner party chatting up the lawyerly friends of his barrister wife. More than once he responded to my push-back with: “Just find out for me, will ya?”)

Then there are true journalists, with integrity, intelligence -- and stones. If you haven’t heard, Greta Van Susteren blogged this week about promises Christie made -- to her face -- to do an “ON THE RECORD” cable show. Instead, she said, she was given run-around, twice.

“I have gotten that before from politicians and I sure don't take it personally,” Van Susteren wrote.

But she said Christie went out of his way one night to hand her a card with what he said was his personal cellphone number after he stiffed her the first time. Turned out to be his office number.

“It is a bit weird that he tracked me down to give me his number to book him and then avoids me,” she wrote. “Whatever.…”

Read more: http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews..com/whats-up-with-governor-chris-christie-and-behind-the-scenes/#ixzz1AJrbo1Cc

My point: If Christie is going to treat GVS that way, what chance does the man with Dick Cavett’s voice stand?

I used to call Chris my friend. I remember a night he walked into a huge room full of people waiting just for him and made a beeline for me. People were probably looking at me wondering, "Who the hell is THIS guy?" Chris wanted to tell me he thought a review I wrote in The Record about a Springsteen concert was “awesome.”

Besides his flair for flesh-pressing, Chris has a particular genius: He can look at a case file 5 minutes before court opens and get a jury to convict before lunch -- not through expert analysis of the evidence but by chatting up you, and me, like we’re all knockin‘ back Heinees at a barbecue.

I watched the ENTIRE Record editorial board eat from his hand while Chris was still U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. They asked so many times whether he was running for governor -- like rookie reporters thinking they could worm out the big scoop -- it eventually became embarrassing..

By the time we were through, he all but took their wallets, keys and watches. Yet, as he walked from the Hackensack corporate wing with Michele Brown (you remember her: she of the personal loan), the frigs and Frank were thrilled -- almost giggly -- from the experience.

Flash forward to now, as a bully out of his depth shouts down the good people of our state, then posts it on YouTube for God-knows-what-just-reason. Earlier this week, he yelled at photogs as he walked to his car, saying they were only waiting for him to slip and fall. And he wasn‘t kidding around.

Not for anything, but he's looking less the statesman and more the Kingpin every day.

After seeing a 3D-like photo of Chris standing tall, looking straight into the camera from behind what looked like a bay window in a suit jacket, the lone clasped button straining to stay tethered, I wrote a piece about the man‘s size.

I‘m reluctant to pull the trigger: I don't want to offend people with weight trouble. But there’s this: To lecture that we need to better discipline ourselves is difficult to take from someone who can't control his weight -- or ego. Seems the next time he actually listens to someone since he became governor will be the first.

“His ‘inner circle’ is getting larger, and folks are being pushed further and further to arm's length, including staunch supporters,” one of my best inside sources told me this week.  “There's a serious lack of communication, and I'm still not sure if it's due to the man himself shutting everyone out or his Trenton minions being so convinced of their own importance that they're closing ranks and insulating their guy to the point of absurdity.

“Either way, the result is that things are happening, decisions are being made, and folks who should be given a heads' up are actually the last to know.  There have been grumblings about this from others, so I know it's not just an isolated incident here and there.”

If he’s doing this to his own people, where does that leave Francis “Laughing Boy” Scandale, not to mention the sly Charles Stile and the diminutive Skull Cap in Suspenders?

I suspect these initial critical forays will, in the end, prove just the preliminaries. As the swelling tide of public opinion turns on Christie, and The Record finds itself more adrift from its garrulous friend, I’ll bet all kinds of arrows start flying from the building hard by the interstate.
 

See previous post, Money, money, money

Our tax-cutter is finally here

The Record of Woodland Park today is asking us to believe we finally have a governor who will cut property taxes, which are largely controlled by county and municipal governments. On Page 1 and two inside pages, the paper provides flattering coverage of Chris Christie, who couldn't stop using the magic word "change" during his inauguration yesterday.

I've lived in New Jersey for more than 30 years, and I cannot recall any governor who was able to lower  property taxes, now the highest in the nation. You've got to wonder how Christie is going to do it, especially in view of his vow to cut aid to municipalities. Are we to believe all these towns are suddenly going to merge services with their neighbors to save money and cut property taxes?

Of course, as the editorial on Page A-10 notes, Christie provided few details on how he would bring about the changes he promises. In the news coverage, I question how inaugural guests were served "Jersey blueberries" in January. Is this the first lie from the new administration?

On Page A-7, a grand total of 10 North Jersey residents -- one an actor from the "The Sopranos" -- are interviewed, and most give Christie the benefit of the doubt. Does this seem comprehensive?

Image via Wikipedia

But eight days after the quake hit, The Record still cannot muster any editorial outrage for the shameful performance of the U.S. and other wealthy nations in helping victims in Haiti. TV is doing a far better job of covering the disaster. Last night, a Dominican doctor across the road from the airport told a reporter for PBS he was running out of medicine and other supplies, and could not get any of the stuff he needs from the tons piling up on the tarmac.

On the front of the Local section, take a look at another ridiculous column, based on e-mails, from Road Warrior John Cichowski, who apparently only leaves the office to go home. Also on the front, in what country do people speak Urdu, the language of the Paramus convenience store owner being targeted by vandals? Is it in the story? Let's see, his name is Syad Ahmed. Could he be from .....?

Haiti relief efforts in North Jersey, court and crime news are all local readers in Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood get today.

Englewood reporter Givoanna Fabiano gives us another story on the Acadamies@Englewood -- the attempt to integrate Dwight Morrow High School -- while continuing to ignore segregated elementary and middle schools. On Page L-3, you'll search in vain for the address of a pizzeria at the center of a lawsuit against Hackensack Police Chief Charles Zisa, as if this was a story about Chicago.

Hackensack readers will have to drive up and down River Street to see if they can find the building "controlled by the chief," and while they are it, they can wonder when The Record's Monsy Alvarado will report the status of luxury apartments that were under construction behind the old Hackensack Ford dealer or the town houses that were approved for a parcel near Route 80. But I was relieved to learn Greenwood Lake boat owners will start paying fees in 2011 to maintain water quality.

In the well-edited and well-proofed Better Living section, the address and telephone number of a tea parlor in Leonia was omitted.

Parting shots at Governor Corzine

Image by lesliepear via Flickr

In what is apparently its last story on Governor Corzine, The Record of Woodland Park doesn't hide its long-held bias against the outgoing Democrat by reporting in a Page 1 story today that "improvements he says his administration made" include education policy and school funding, the child welfare system and expansion of health care.

That's how State House Bureau  reporter John Reitmeyer (or in this case, Wrong-meyer) makes it clear to readers the paper thinks this is only Corzine spin -- in other words, the governor accomplished nothing in office. Reitmeyer also focuses on the weird notion that the wealthy Corzine should have used his money to build homeless shelters and schools. Has The Record ever asked any other politician to build a school or homeless shelter?


Indeed, in another Page 1 story today, about the inauguration of Republican Chris Christie as governor, there is no suggestion he should build a homeless shelter or school with his money. But political Columnist Charles Stile says the "organizing principle" of Christie's administration will be a battle against public school teachers. (The Record has long blamed the "high salaries" of teachers and police officers for towns' financial woes and high property taxes.) Some of Stile's purple prose suggests he hates the teachers union even more than Christie. Why is Stile being assigned to the Christie story in place of a supposedly objective reporter?

Does Christie really care about public school children? I don't see anything in the Christie story about the new governor attacking the obesity epidemic by making sure public schools give children the right food to eat.

The continuing bad news from Haiti occupies the bottom of the front page today, but fashion-plate Editorial Page Alfred P. Doblin has yet to complain in the week since the quake hit about the slow, heart-breaking pace of getting food, water and medical care to survivors, the turf battle over the single airport runway, the breakdown of law and order or any other issue raised by the glacial pace of recovery.

In the editorial today on Christie, The Record says he takes "office at a time of national discontent with government." Really? Didn't the banks bring the economy to the brink of ruin? It's government that is trying to fix the mess caused by their greed. It's government that is trying to extend health care to 30 million Americans without it, while employers like The Record cut employee and retiree health-care benefits. What about discontent with The Record, which has turned its back on readers in Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, which has segregated elementary and middle schools?

In the Local section today, there are stories from Pompton Lakes (two), Paterson (two), Passaic County, Woodland Park and Ringwood, but nothing but police news from Hackensack and Teaneck. Englewood reporter Giovanna Fabiano covers Haiti relief efforts in her town, but, except for the swearing-in of the new mayor, she hasn't written an Englewood story for about a month. Where is head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Laughs A Lot Sykes" and the rest of the lazy, incompetent editors who are supposed to be supervising Fabiano?

By relying on the Chicago Tribune rather than doing it himself, food and recipe editor Bill Pitcher offers readers an unhealthy recipe to increase their intake of cabbage, one of the most nutritious vegetables around.

Image via Wikipedia

 He's too lazy to call a restaurant in North Jersey for one of their great cabbage recipes -- such as Jamaican cabbage and salted codfish or Korean soft-tofu stew with cabbage kimchi -- so you get a recipe for cabbage and sausage, packed full of mystery meat and preservatives; and told the meal should include buttered potatoes and ice cream. Now that's a healthy meal. Way to go, Pitcher.

Isn't anyone talking about home rule?

Image via Wikipedia

Since the November election, the state's growing financial problems have bounced onto and off of the front page at The Record of Woodland Park  with the regularity of  desperate, incompetent editors grasping at any bit of sensational news to sell more papers.

Now, two days before Chris Christie takes office as governor, the potential $10 billion budget deficit and what he plans to do about it is all over Page 1, with a huge photo that casts him in the role of "The Thinker." Let's hope he is not just dreaming of his next meal. (Photos: Christie and Governor Corzine, below.)

But despite all this flattering coverage, I could not find any mention of home rule, the archaic system of small-town government that keeps property taxes high and gives birth to the legions of politicians with their hands out. Will Christie order towns to consolidate or regionalize services as a way of cutting the incredibly expensive duplication in 566 town governments and hundreds of boards of education?

It doesn't look like it from what is reported today in The Record, which has been a staunch defender of the home-rule system. In fact, the paper says Christie may make cuts in the Department of Environmental Protection, which, he claims, harms the economy with permit delays and fines. This is a scary reminder of the DEP cuts made by one of his Republican predecessors, Christie Whitman.

The stories do say municipal governments and school boards will "face new pressure from Christie to cut spending" and that the new governor will call "on different levels of government to seriously consider sharing redundant services as an opportunity for property tax relief." But if you are familiar with the baby steps towns in Bergen County have taken to share services, you know Christie is sure to fail unless the state orders these changes.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

And will the new governor be the first in a long time to raise the gasoline tax to fund bridge repair and expand mass transit or will he succumb to the opposition of selfish drivers and the knee-jerk reaction of every newspaper columnist eager to write his political obituary?

This will come back to haunt us

The inconsistent news treatment of the state's growing budget deficit in The Record of Woodland Park will haunt taxpayers in 2010, because editors desperate for more sensational coverage likely don't have readers' best interests at heart.

The lead headline in the former Hackensack daily today says, "More budget cuts on way" -- the first time in a while state finances have made the front page. The deepening deficit was apparent right after Chris Christie was elected in early November, but the story has jumped onto and off of Page 1 since then, usually displaced by crime news, pathos and endless stories about the new Meadowlands sports stadium.

Today, a good third of A-1 and two-thirds of an inside page are devoted to a 1973 murder case and the spot in a New York State park where the body of a 7-year-old girl was found. Earlier this year, there were a series of stories about the convicted murderer's latest parole bid. Isn't there any other "news" worthy of Page 1 today? Couldn't this story have been done with a single photograph inside the Local section? What's the point of revisiting this case?

The rest of A-1 is given to Paterson offering free gun locks to avoid a repeat of the slaying of a 5-year-old boy by a 6-year-old who found an illegal handgun in his home.

In the Local section, finally, there is a Hackensack story for a change by Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado, who now apparently  is free of  the nearly three-year, failed investigation of moonlighting by Michael Mordaga, the former chief of county detectives. It seems the city is buying a building for a new arts center. Hooray. Desperate for local news, an Englewood chimney fire that didn't cause any injuries gets big play. Don't the lazy, incompetent assignment editors know readers can see right through this?

Maybe John Cichowski is burnt out by having to write three columns a week, plus covering transportation news on occasion. What else can you conclude from his Road Warrior column today, chastising readers yet again over clearing snow from the roofs of their vehicles. John, you are a nice guy and journalist, but please get out of that Garret Mountain newsroom you have made your second home and ride some trains and buses to familiarize yourself with the woes of commuters who leave their cars at home, if they even own one.

I winced at the headline on Page F-3 in Better Living over a story about three veteran French chefs in Bergen County. I'm sure these accomplished seniors, who are in their 60s, love being called a "dying breed."

Giving Whitman free reign

The Record today carried another opinion column by former Gov. Christie Whitman, but the editors made no attempt to ensure it was complete or accurate.

In giving fiscal advice to Governor-elect Chris Christie (The Other Christie), Whitman slammed the Democrats for allegedly doubling state debt after she left office in January 2001. But she conveniently fails to mention how she plundered state pension funds and borrowed heavily to make ends meet after she became governor in 1994.

In the same way, The Record has rarely, if ever, mentioned in writing about former Gov. Jim Florio that Tom Kean Sr., his predecessor, hid a massive deficit from the incoming Democrat, forcing Florio to raise taxes. He was driven from office after one term.

I recall that The Record's coverage of Whitman as governor amounted to a love fest, under the direction of News Editor Deirdre Sykes, now head of the local assignment desk. It was only after Whitman gutted the Department of Environmental Protection (in what I believe was her second term) that the paper took notice, putting together a series of critical articles.

Note: If  The Record's owners, editors or reporters take issue with anything that appears in "Eye on The Record,"  they are free to comment, and they can do so anonymously by clicking on the word "comments" at the end of each post.

'Ageism' determines news coverage

The Record today is a prime example of how "ageism" may determine what news is covered by the former Hackensack daily.

The front page is filled with a truck-car safety crackdown under the scary headline, "Drivers beware." But a far more troubling phenomenon is on Page L-1, where a story reports that a 77-year-old man woke up from a coma four days after ramming his car into a building.

In recent years, the paper has carried numerous individual stories, like this one, about elderly drivers hitting stores, other cars, even pedestrians, sometimes with fatal results. But The Record has never written a series of articles on the challenges facing older drivers and whether driver re-training or other state or private programs are available to help them.

Another example of apparent ageism is the newspaper's devotion in recent years to covering autism, giving hundreds of hours of staff time to articles that often run on Page 1. But has The Record made a similar effort in covering Alzheimer's disease?

The second big story on Page 1 today reports how conservatives are pinning their hopes to radically remake government on Governor-elect Chris Christie. "He has ... to be prepared to close government," one former mayor says. Close government? Is there some reason The Record didn't report this story before the election.

The Local section continues its boycott of municipal news from highly diverse Teaneck, Englewood and Hackensack. An annual story about white suburban high school students spending the night in boxes to get a firsthand look at homelessness doesn't explain why the newspaper has missed the apparent completion of a new homeless shelter in Hackensack, next to the county jail.

Better Living today has the usual single recipe for vegetarians to represent food coverage in a Monday paper, but there's also an item about a free pie-tasting in charming Chester. I wonder if restaurant reviewer Elisa Ung -- who has made no secret of her affection for dessert -- will claim her share?

Wasting the front page on sports

As has been the practice on too many days in recent years, a big part of  The Record's front page today is wasted on a sports story.

When I was still there, Editor Frank Scandale, at a staff meeting, shared the results of the latest reader survey. What has stuck in my mind is that readers listed sports in 12th spot among what they wanted to see most in the paper. But before and since, sports often dominates Page 1.

You can almost imagine Scandale and the other jocks among the male editors slapping each other on the ass at the end of the afternoon news meeting, which determines the "play" of stories.

Today's Page 1 story, which continues onto more than a half page inside, concerns a ticket stub from a 1923 World Series game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, Staff Writer John Brennan fails to say how much the ticket cost anywhere in this unusually long story. You have to squint at a photo to barely make out the price.

A story on A-4 reports that Governor Corzine again has outspent his opponents by a wide margin. This is news? As far as I know, The Record has never examined a system that bars everyone but the rich from running for county, statewide and nationwide office. In fact, it's lack of investigation on this issue is tantamount to supporting a system corrupted by money.

A letter to the editor on A-12 seems to draw a comparison between former Republican Gov. Christie Whitman and another (Chris) Christie, the lawyer and former prosecutor who is the Republican candidate running against Corzine. Have The Record's reporters drawn that parallel before?

Whitman defeated the incumbent, Democrat Jim Florio, by promising to cut taxes drastically, then had to loot the pension fund of state workers and borrow heavily, according to the letter, which warns readers to be wary of "politicians who yell about our high taxes."

On another aspect of the campaign, The Record has criticized the governor for mentioning Chris Christie's "weight." But the paper hasn't asked whether as governor, Christie would serve as a good example to both children and adults during the obesity epidemic (another subject the paper does its best to ignore).

The Local section contains no news of Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood, the three most diverse towns in the paper's circulation area. Or Ridgewood. Or Wayne.

In Better Living, on F-2, we read about an "authentic" Greek place that serves burgers, mozzarella sticks and Buffalo wings. I and many other North Jerseyans shop frequently at Korean markets, but an item about Korean black garlic lists no Korean store that stocks it.

These two food reports, an illustrated recipe and a story about wine ($12 a bottle and higher) are all the newspaper could muster on a Wednesday, when readers in the past could feast on an entire Food section.

The Food section was dropped by Publisher Stephen A. Borg, who promised readers food coverage "every day." Unfortunately, despite an occasional house ad touting "every day" food news, there is no food coverage on Thursdays and a vast majority of Saturdays. Monday's coverage usually consists of a single recipe for vegetarians.