We're stuck with cronies, corruption, patronage, home rule

This 2012 photo from NJ.com focuses on the natural beauty of the Meadowlands.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today -- dominated by two articles on the 40th anniversary of the Meadowlands Sports Complex -- is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

A story on the pivotal role of young voters in the Nov. 8 presidential election completely ignores the real problem -- apathetic voters of all ages (A-1).

And Staff Writer Pat Alex repeats a common theme in media coverage of the presidential race -- that wacko racist Donald J. Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton "are among the most unpopular candidates in the history of modern polling."

The media adore polls -- unreliable indicators that allow Alex and other reporters to portray the contest between Trump and Clinton as a horse race.

And such coverage surely contributes to apathy among readers and voters, because The Record and other media refuse to focus on such issues as gender equality, a higher minimum wage and taxing the wealthy.

Local news?

Law & Order coverage is dominating local news again, as readers can see from today's lead story on Paterson's 11th homicide in 2016 (L-1).

And in recent days, the local editors have needed a long Dean's List to fill holes in news coverage (L-3).

L-3 also carries the Monthly News Quiz, which asks readers, "How well do you know what happened in N.J. and beyond?"

That's a question readers want to ask the editors and reporters who put out the pathetically thin Sunday edition and its Local section.

Margulies

Let's hope Margulies' cartoon on O-2 today doesn't become reality, though you never know with Governor Christie.

"Have you heard about Christie's Motor Vehicle Commission efficiency plan," a wife asks her husband.

"To automatically get a gun license when you renew a driver's license?"

Saturday's paper

Staff Writer Jeff Pillets could have gone deeper in his review of more than a decade of "missed deadlines and broken budgets" on publicly financed projects (A-1 on Saturday).

He shows how Trenton has left "the public on the hook for helping to fund failed or stalled projects," but doesn't explore a system of local and state government that thrives on cronyism, political patronage and corruption.

So, the story played next to it was no surprise:

To help his campaign, Trump tapped Bill Stepien, a former Christie crony "whose ascent in Republican politics was shot down by the politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge."

Rudy Van Gelder

Editor Deirdre Sykes probably has run more animal stories on Page 1 then the obituaries of prominent local residents.

But below the fold on Friday, she ran a story about a starving pit bull from Paterson next to the obituary for Hackensack native Rudy Van Gelder, who died on Thursday at 91.

Staff Writer Jay Levin and Carla Baranauckas, an assignment editor, called him "perhaps the most influential recording engineer in the jazz genre, who brought to life the sounds of such legendary artists as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard."

The dog got better play, though.

And the Van Gelder obit erred on where he recorded Monk's "Hackensack" and other jazz classics.

The Van Gelder family home in Hackensack was on Prospect Avenue, not "Prospect Street." 

Schnitzel+

Kosher restaurants usually are more expensive, but do customers get food of higher quality than at non-kosher places?

In Friday's Informal Dining Review, Staff Writer Elisa Ung doesn't bother answering the question.

As is usually the case in her reviews, she doesn't say whether the kosher chicken and turkey served at Schnitzel+ in Teaneck are naturally raised.

And a photo of what she describes as a "huge platter" shows five falafel, a single pocket bread cut into four piece and some hummus. 

The price is an inflated $11.95.

I hate being baited by news media going easy on Trump, 1%

A moving memorial to police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks on America is hard to find. It is visible only to commuters heading for the 9th Avenue exit of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When is a reporter going to tell wacko GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump he has no concept of what the word "sacrifice" means?

And why did Staff Writer Jeff Pillets of The Record allow Bay Head property owner Thatcher Brown to get away with a ridiculous argument in a Page 1 story about protecting the shore?

Does it have anything to do with Trump and this guy Thatcher being members of the 1% (A-1, A-4 and A-6)?

It is no longer enough for TV and print reporters to act as conduits for moronic comments from Muslim hater Trump -- and bait readers in the process.

And The Record shouldn't quote a filthy rich summer resident of Bay Head slamming the state government, because if you turn to the continuation page, you find out the guy actually calls Pennsylvania home (A-6).

'I work very ... hard'

Compared to the sacrifice of a Muslim-American couple who lost their soldier son to a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004, Trump doesn't even know the meaning of the word.

The New York businessman claims he works "very, very hard," hired workers to put up "great structures" and presumably made millions in profits on them. 

How is that "sacrifice"?

Yet, not a single reporter has confronted the New York businessman with that simple question.

He's all wet

Now, let's turn to Thatcher Brown, a property owner who is fighting a state plan to erect 25-foot-high dunes to protect a 14-mile stretch of Ocean County shore from the kind of damage inflicted by Superstorm Sandy.

"Why should I sign my property over to a government that can't even find the money to make basic road and bridge repairs," Brown told Pillets, and the reporter put the quote on today's front page.

That's a total non-sequitur -- one has absolutely nothing to do with the other -- and Pillets knows it.

First of all, New Jersey can and has found the money to fix roads and bridges from a tax on gasoline, but in recent years, Governor Christie and his predecessors have diverted a lot of that revenue to pay other expenses.

And now, Christie and Democrats in the state Legislature are at an impasse on enacting a package of tax cuts to ease the impact of raising the gas tax 23 cents a gallon.

Lawyers always win

And why is today's lead story focusing on the $4 million in legal fees the state has spent to battle recalcitrant homeowners?

Is there a suggestion fighting selfish homeowners like Brown to protect thousands of shore residents is worth only $2 million or $3 million in fees?

Pillets is a veteran reporter who knows the lawyers always win, so it's not clear why he is indulging in such cheap sensationalism. 

Piling on decades-long tradition of demonizing mass transit

On Boulevard East in West New York, passengers boarding a local NJ Transit bus to Manhattan on a weekday morning in late March found standing room only.

An NJ Transit train pulling into the Anderson Street station, one of two rail stations in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

At least The Record has been consistent in decades of negative reporting about bus and train service to Manhattan from northern New Jersey.

It began more than 20 years ago with two front-page stories on "highways of the future" by a transportation reporter who ignored screeching brakes and noisy engines on NJ Transit commuter buses.

Then, the editors went on the warpath against extension of NJ Transit's pollution-free light-rail service to Englewood and Tenafly.

And in the last year or so, the paper's transportation reporters don't seem to be reporting anything but how many "billions of dollars" will have to be spent to replace the antiquated mid-Manhattan bus station and expand rail service to the city.

Page 1 stories today and Saturday also emphasize how transportation spending is mired in politics.

Sadly, readers haven't seen anything about the tremendous societal benefits of taking commuters out of their cars -- from less traffic congestion to fewer deaths from auto emissions to greater worker productivity.

Today's so-called analysis of NJ Transit's "problems" is especially bad, because Staff Writer Christopher Maag again ignores Governor Christie's war on commuters, and his deep cuts in state operating subsidies -- cuts that forced the agency to raise fares (A-1). 

The headline uses "NJT" for NJ Transit, eve though that has never been recognized as an acronym for the state mass-transit agency.

Bridgegate probe

Staff Writer Jeff Pillets was once of the first reporters to understand that the George Washington Bridge scandal would be as damaging to Christie's reputation as Watergate was to President Richard Nixon, who was hounded out of office (A-1 and O-1).

But no reporter has been able to show that Christie at least knew about the Bridgegate conspiracy during his successful 2013 campaign for a second term.

Deep in today's front-page story, Pillets and reporter Dustin Racioppi report that Christie aide Regina Egea and the governor are "believed" to have deleted text messages they exchanged as Port Authority officials testified to a legislative committee looking into the lane closings (A-4).

Local news?

The Local section delivered to Bergen County readers today includes stories from West Milford, Wanaque, Woodland Park, Pequannock and Ringwood (L-1 to L-7).

The Borgs and North Jersey Media Group save money on newsprint by printing only one section, but cheat Bergen readers out of the local news they deserve.

Meanwhile, The Record continues to chronicle the violent death of every animal in North Jersey. 

Today, eight paragraphs are devoted to a Morris County golfer who killed a goose (L-3).

Road Warrior John Cichowski today reports on "better training" for motorcyclists, not a ticket blitz to penalize them for disturbing the peace (L-1).

What about better training for elderly drivers like Cichowski who too often mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal? 

Split personality

On Fridays, Staff Writer Elisa Ung's reviews are supposed to take a critical look at new restaurants.

But on Sundays, her uncritical Corner Table column does little more than promote chefs and restaurants, as in her glowing profile of Fortunato Nicotra of Paramus (BL-1).

Those Sunday columns are a disservice to reader who want more -- not less -- information about how the food they eat was raised or grown.

On BL-2 today, the First Course feature pushes za'atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend, that costs the equivalent of $80 a pound when purchased online.

That same mixture is available at Fattal's and other stores in the bustling South Paterson neighborhood of Paterson for about $8 a pound. 

Christie is boss and we are his faceless mob

Part of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack before it was patched a couple of months ago. City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said today that contrary to recent press reports, all 5 blocks of Euclid, between Main Street and Summit Avenue, will be paved with proceeds from a bond. Bids for the work came in lower than expected, he added.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Wilting under the endless coverage of actor James Gandolfini's untimely demise, readers got some good news in The Record today.

A story on A-3 reports his body will be flown back to the United States for services on Thursday.

If he's buried on Thursday, how much longer can Editor Marty Gottlieb keep the story of Gandolfini and mob boss Tony Soprano going?

Mobbed up

Everybody at the Woodland Park daily is getting into the act.

Today, a column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin claims Governor Christie "has gone one step too far and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff" to mark Gandolfini's death last Wednesday at 51 (A-11).

Is this really worth a column?

Why hasn't Doblin raised a bigger stink over all of the mean-spirited vetoes Christie is known for -- from shooting down a hike in the minimum wage to killing a tax surcharge on millionaires?

And today's short-sighted editorial, also on A-11, opposes dedicating a portion of sales tax revenue to the preservation of open space.

Give us a break

It was a real stretch on Sunday, when the Better Living cover story compared Christie to Tony Soprano, calling the GOP bully "a governor with a style, theatricality and swagger that Tony would have no doubt appreciated."

OK. Let's get something straight. Someone who is obese can't "swagger;" it's all flab. And Christie doesn't have "theatricality" or "style."

He's a conservative, veto-happy Republican who treats the middle and working classes with contempt, and in less than 4 years, he's proven to be the worst governor New Jersey ever had.

Journalists like Doblin and Bill Ervolino love him, but that tells you everything about the sad state of newspapering at The Record, where editors and reporters fall all over themselves trying to stay in Christie's good graces.

Second look

Although I didn't care for the dated subject, Staff Writer Jeff Pillets turned in a beautifully written story on Sunday's front page: "Not the same old Jersey mob."

But that couldn't save the paper from wallowing in mediocrity by publishing more crap from Columnists Mike Kelly and John Cichowski.

In trying to pillory Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones for traveling to India in search of investors, Kelly offended readers and all Asian Indians:

"Can we all say 'Huh' -- in Hindi?" Kelly wrote on O-1.

Bad writing is one thing. But bad reporting is unforgivable, especially from a columnist who has been at this game for so long.

Kelly blames Jones for the layoff of 125 police officers 2 years ago -- roughly 25 percent of the force -- conveniently forgetting that it was Christie's cuts in state aide to Paterson and other poor cities that forced the layoffs.

Just hang it up

As for Cichowski, his exaggerated Sunday column was full of sloppy reporting on a bill that would allow police to check a driver's cellphone after an accident, according to a concerned reader:

"In his June 23 column, the Road Warrior leads readers astray with false worries about a preliminary bill, laws and potential limitations for cellphone activities and voice-to-text technologies.

"Road Warrior is frequently unable to comprehend most state statutes since he provides information that contradicts, misrepresents, or exaggerates issues related to bills or approved laws. 

"He repeated these types of mistakes with a bill under preliminary consideration to allow police to review a driver's hand-held cellphone call records at the scene of an accident, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect a violation of cellphone law.

"He incorrectly reported that hand-held and hands-free cell phones could be subject to this bill. He reported new driving points and higher fines would be imposed on all cellphone violations when it would only be applicable for texting.

"He failed  to mention current law, which imposes imprisonment up to 10 years or fines up to $150,000, depending on whether it was a fatality or serious injury, due to a crash caused by a cellphone violation.

"That information could persuade drivers to restrict their cellphone use."

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

Does anyone check the Road Warrior?

Low-rise reporting

Basically repeating an earlier Road Warrior column quoting hysterical readers, a Star-Ledger story published on A-3 of The Record today exaggerates the impact of an apartment building going up near Route 495 to and from the Lincoln Tunnel.

The building will only partially block the Manhattan skyline, but leave plenty of unobstructed views. 

Most of the view is already blocked by rocks, trees and other natural phenomena. 

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.
 

Tragic Titanic story never gets old

A seaman from Hawthorne saved others and then went down with the Titanic.

A moving homage to a North Jersey seaman who went down with the Titanic after saving passengers 100 years ago today is the only story you really must read on the front page of The Record.


Staff Writer Jay Levin employed old-fashioned leg work to find postcards and letters seaman William Cahoone Johnson Jr. wrote to his sister in Hawthorne, including one sent only 10 days before the ship hit an iceberg.


'Met death like a hero' is the headline over the photo-and-text package that dominates Page 1 today. A sidebar on Titanic's chief baker, who survived and lived in Paterson, appears on A-8.


Page A-8 is also where you'll find a paragraph that explains why the Titanic story is so much more compelling than today's other A-1 stories on politics and corruption -- themes editors overplay day after day.


People stories


" ... The sinking of an 'unsinkable' passenger ship [and] the terrorist destruction of twin skyscrapers are really a collection of intensely personal tragedies," Levin wrote.


They're stories about people who put others above themselves, who exemplify the best of the human spirit, not the worst.


Corruption isn't news


You'll find the worst of the human spirit in Staff Writer Jeff Pillets A-1 account of a federal audit of the Hudson River rail tunnels, which Governor Christie killed in October 2010.


I have a great deal of respect for Pillets, but he leaves unanswered several major questions, including:

1. Why should commuters be penalized with loss of the tunnels -- forcing them to stand in the aisles of crowded trains and buses for the next decade -- because of cost overruns, including tens of millions paid to greedy landowners, lawyers and real estate consultants?
2. What other public projects of the same scale were built without delays and cost overruns?

Road-rage victim


It's hard to believe what one 60-year-old Leonia woman went through at the hands of a maniac with a license (L-1).


The Road Warrior column describes the ultimately unsuccessful prosecution of an enraged pickup-truck driver, who was charged with reckless driving.


But Staff Writer John Cichowski doesn't put the blame where it belongs: an abysmal lack of enforcement.


Maniacs rule roads 


Where are the cops? Why are the maniacs getting away with speeding 20 mph to 30 mph over the speed limit, tailgating at high speeds and cutting off other drivers?


Cichowski should spend more time on the highway and less time on his padded rear-end in front of the computer. 


And when he gets only 1 out of 50 columns right, does The Record really need him at all?


News for yokels


Also on L-1 today, The Record continues its rabidly anti-Castro news coverage, which is so out of sync with the moderating views of an increasing number of Cuban-Americans.


Don't look for any Hackensack news today from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who also spends an excessive amount of time on her well-padded derriere.


Sin of omission


In Business, consumer Columnist Kevin DeMarrais writes about a Consumer Reports poll on supermarkets.


He notes good finishes for Trader Joe's, Costco Wholesale and Whole Foods Market, all of which sell a lot of organic and naturally raised or grown items (B-1).


But DeMarrais doesn't explain why The Record's own monthly Marketbasket Survey -- which he compiles -- has never listed any organic food.


Senior moments


The Better Living editors rely on a cover story filled with mindless T&A to attract readers (F-1).


In Travel, Editor Jill Schensul suffers her own senior moments with her cover story on lists and a sidebar on Austin (T-1).


She forgets to mention in the list story that one reason people make lists is so they won't forget to do or buy something.


And in her Austin story, Schensul forgets to mention the Texas city is joining the international Formula 1 circuit in November with a race on the new Circuit of the Americas.

Editors are losing North Jersey focus

Image via Wikipedia
Assignment editors at The Record couldn't find directions to Fort Lee, above, and Palisades Park to get Korean-American reaction to the death of Kim Jong Il of North Korea.

Kim Jong Il, the madman who ruled North Korea, died a few days ago, but editors of The Record have done nothing to localize the story by interviewing some of thousands of Korean-Americans who have changed the face of North Jersey.


Instead, they ran wire-service boilerplate on Page 1 today and Monday -- basically duplicating all the mindless TV news coverage readers had to sit through.


The only story about Korean-Americans in the paper today is the sentencing of  a swindler from Palisades Park by the name of Chul-Hoe Choi (L-3).


The Kim Jong Il story ruins an otherwise strong North Jersey front page today, led by a classic pay-to-play expose from Staff Writer Jeff Pillets involving a Bergen County insurance agent, Joseph Bigica.


Of course, after umpteen similar stories over the years, why isn't The Record exposing the corrupt campaign-finance system locally and nationally and calling for the reforms that would forever put an end to play-to-play and special-interest legislation? 


Our own dictator


Instead of wasting precious A-1 space on Kim Jong Il, interim Editor Douglas Clancy should have played up the story he relegated to A-3, reporting the state's "first significant increase in revenue collections in three years." 


Will North Jersey see an end to Governor Christie's mean-spirited cuts in school aid and property tax relief -- part of his orchestrated campaign against the middle-class way of life in New Jersey?


That's a hell of a lot more important to North Jersey residents than "U.S. in the dark on North Korea moves," as today's A-1 headline states. There are four sidebars to the Kim story on A-9.


One of those sidebars is about "restaurateur and freelance diplomat Bobby Egan," owner of Cubby's barbecue restaurant on River Street in Hackensack, where he serves some of the worst food in North Jersey.


The only other Hackensack news residents will find in today's paper is a photo and caption on L-3 about a holiday lunch for seniors, served for the past 18 years by the Trobiano family.


For that, we can thank Clancy and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.


Little local news


How much local news is there in today's Local section, Sykes' pride and joy?


There is so little local news Sykes ran a photo of a minivan fire on her section front (L-1), even though no one was injured.


There is so little local news Sykes ran two photos of murder defendant Jenny Tran on the witness stand, when one would have been enough  (L-1 and L-6).


There is so little local news that a large part of the funeral Mass story on murder victim John Amendola is devoted to the man accused of killing him, former Police Officer Scott Smith (L-1 and L-6).


Most of the filler about Smith seems to have been taken verbatim from earlier news stories.


And buried in the back of Local is the obituary of Teaneck businesswoman and child star Susan Aviner, whose life is of far more interest to North Jersey readers than Kim Jong Il's (L-7).


Will the editors of the Woodland Park daily please remove their heads from their assholes.


Say cheese


For a real waste of space, see the Better Living cover story comparing fresh food to frozen and canned (F-1).


On F-3, a story listing cheese retailers omits Costco Wholesale, which stocks more than 50 cheeses at unbeatable prices.

How to get Christie to shut up

Image via Wikipedia

The Passaic River makes or breaks Paterson.

Francis Scandale -- The Record's all-seeing, all-knowing editor -- carefully omitted Governor Christie's snub of Paterson in coverage of the Republican's crocodile-tears flood tour last week.


But on Sunday, Christie was at the side of President Obama, who cheered up Silk City residents and promised them federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Irene.


The voluble governor doesn't appear in today's Page 1 photo, and the story by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson doesn't quote him. 


He didn't make a peep in any of the TV news clips I saw, either. A good thing. We've heard enough from the bully's big mouth.


Another huge error


Today's off-lead A-1 report on the grim jobless rate doesn't quote a single New Jersey resident -- what you'd expect when Scandale leaves such important stories to The Associated Press.


And at first glance, the headline on the continuation page seems ridiculous -- what you'd expect from Editor Liz Houlton's foot-in-mouth news copy desk:

Jobs: On average, 4.5 million people vie for each opening

But it's not only ridiculous, it's one of the biggest, bone-headed errors I've ever seen in the paper, because on A-6, the story clearly says "4.5 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each job opening," not "4.5 million."


Liz and Francis, aren't you embarrassed? How does this happen? You've failed to correct other major errors, but I hope you correct this one.


The third major element on the front page is another story in the 10th anniversary 9/11 series that began strongly with Staff Writer Leslie Brody's piece on the memorial to New Jersey victims, then sort of plotzed.

In his 9/11 piece on Sunday, Staff Writer Jeff Pillets explored the nation's "crisis of confidence."

But he fails to make the connection between our huge deficits, Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor does he ever say whether the wars made us safer.


I'm looking at Sunday's front page now, and just noticed the amateurish drop headline on Pillets' story: "The challenge of 9/2011."


Labored Day


Who would have thought an effete snob like Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin is the son of a proud union man, a typographer at the Daily News no less (A-13)?


Here it is Labor Day, but Doblin not only collects a paycheck from the rabidly anti-union Borgs, he's also defended Christie's assaults on unionized state employees, teachers and cops.


At least today's editorial puts the blame on businesses for rolling up huge profits and cash reserves, but refusing to hire new workers (A-13).


Edit me, please


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes leads her Local section with another column by Mike Kelly that cries out for editing, starting with the first paragraph:

"In the months after 9/11, cops, firefighters and others headed to Ground Zero to sort through the debris. Here in North Jersey, Peter Killeen sorted through another kind of rubble."

Another kind of rubble? What the f--- is he talking about? In the next paragraph, he tells us the "rubble" is composed of "cops needing to vent" and later, he says the rubble is the "broken souls of first responders."


What kind of strained, amateurish writing is this? Where is his assignment editor, in the bathroom?


The bottom of L-1 is devoted to a new math curriculum in Englewood -- a story that doesn't tell readers outside of that city students in the elementary and middle school are 99% minority.


The inside pages are padded with stories by reporters whose names aren't familiar to readers of the Woodland Park daily, meaning they likely came from   
a North Jersey Media Group weekly.

Christie is The Record's sacred cow

Image via Wikipedia

The Record today has a long, gripping tale on legal fees from a lawsuit against The Prudential Insurance Company of America.

Staff Writer Jeff Pillets is one of The Record's best reporters, so you have to wonder why he and his many bosses aren't looking into Governor Christie -- a former federal prosecutor -- failing to "reform" the outrageous pay and benefits of hundreds of police chiefs in the state (A-1).

In decades of reporting on air traffic over North Jersey, today's story on A-3 is the first time I have seen anyone quoted as saying the noise holds the "potential for a decrease in home values." Something to think about the next time you challenge your assessment.

Stupid headline 

Ten letters to the editor support, even cheer the placement of solar panels on utility poles (A-11), despite a March 27 story on the Local front that carried the idiotic headline, "Clean energy's ugly side."

You have to pity the 113 plaintiffs who have been barred from the latest lawsuit against DuPont in Pompton Lakes  -- a decades-long fiasco of corporate and government inaction.

 

But the story on L-1 today fails to explore whether they got bad legal advice or were lulled into a false sense of security by the polluter's assurances on remediation of cancer-causing solvents in contaminated groundwater. 

Image via Wikipedia

Reporter Kibret Markos can be found smoking outside the courthouse.

Past her bedtime

Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado writes about Saturday classes at the Middle and 5ive6ix schools (L-1) a few days after ignoring a Board of Education meeting that went past midnight as officials deliberated the budget and weighed record layoffs.

Bergen County Courthouse reporter Kibret Markos misses so many North Jersey stories, you have to wonder why he and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes are wasting readers' time with a long L-6 story on a dispute over legal fees involving a Baltimore lawyer, a North Carolina bank and The Prudential Insurance Co. 

Markos violates widely accepted standards of reporting in a second story today about a lawyer who stole nearly $540,000 of his clients' money (L-3). 

Sykes should be ashamed of herself for not striking the words "mentally ill" from a description of the lawyer's ex-wife, who has absolutely nothing to do with the thefts.

Where the hell is the copy desk?