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Passaic River pollution dredging starts in '10

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 8:32 AM

Dredging of the most polluted portion of the Passaic River will begin in 2010, federal environmental officials said Wednesday, according to a report in the Record.

The report said the Environmental Protection Agency offered more details about the project on Wednesday, including a plan to drive metal sheets into the riverbed near the former Diamond Alkali plant in Newark to contain any sediment that might come loose during dredging. The 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment to be removed represents about half of the dioxins that pollute the lower Passaic River from Newark Bay to Dundee Dam in Garfield.

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Stocks are set to fall as economic outlook worsens

by The Star-Ledger Business Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 7:22 AM

Stocks were set to fall again this morning, as concerns about the global economy continued to reverberate from market to market.

Wall Street remains rattled after Wednesday's session, which saw the Dow Jones industrial average fall below 8,000 after the Federal Reserve gave a markedly downbeat outlook for the economy and employment. The performance of U.S. stocks helped push down shares around the world.

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Appeals court limits state beach regulation

by The Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 7:14 AM

New Jersey's Environmental Protection Department overstepped its bounds in managing beaches, an appeals court ruled.

Avalon in 2007 challenged beach-access rules and other requirements for bathrooms and parking. Avalon argued the rules were potentially dangerous and could have cost it millions to purchase land for parking and bathrooms.

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Ledger Live: Robot submarine in Sandy Hook Bay; Wayne Bryant vs. Lane Bryant

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 6:50 AM

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Two Princeton U. grads get White House jobs

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 6:20 AM

President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday selected two Princeton University alumni for his White House staff -- Lisa Brown '82 will serve as staff secretary, while Christopher Lu '88 will serve as cabinet secretary, according to a report in the Daily Princetonian.

The report said as cabinet secretary, Lu will manage the White House's relationship with other government agencies. Brown was legal counsel to Vice President Al Gore from 1999 until 2001 and was executive director of the American Constitution Society until joining the Obama transition team.

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Rutgers' student newspaper supporters dodge funding threat

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 6:13 AM

A proposal to make fees that support the Rutgers University's student newspaper optional for students will not go forward, according to a report in the Record.

The report said the plan to allow students to opt out of a $9.75 per-semester fee for the Daily Targum was to be considered Friday during a meeting of the University Senate, but it will be removed from a list of recommendations. Targum supporters organized an e-mail campaign and set up a page on Facebook.com, a social networking website, to voice their opposition.

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N.J. officials removed man from crime database before deadly Philly crash

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 6:04 AM

A man whose speeding car slammed slammed into a police cruiser killing a police officer in Philadelphia Monday had his name erroneously removed national fugitive database by New Jersey officials, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inqurier.

The report said New Jersey officials said Wednesday that they had removed William Allan Foster's name from a national fugitive database because he was in custody in Bucks County and they believed - mistakenly, it turned out - that he would be sent back across the river when Pennsylvania courts were finished with him. New Jersey officials said they were never told that Foster, 41, posted bail in Bucks County on a theft charge and was released Aug. 11.

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Report says Rutgers failed to properly oversee athletics department

by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin/The Star-Ledger

Thursday November 20, 2008, 6:00 AM

The Rutgers athletic department was allowed to become a virtually independent operation within the school - bending rules, answering to no one and spending freely.

Those findings were contained in a much anticipated report released late Wednesday by the university. The 35-page internal review said the athletic department veered out of control because Rutgers president Richard L. McCormick and the school's board of governors failed to monitor Athletic Director Robert E. Mulcahy in the drive to bring athletic success to Rutgers.

The overall conclusion from a panel of business leaders, judges, lawyers and Rutgers officials was that the state university was ill-prepared to handle its push into big-time football.

"The university operated with inadequate internal controls, insufficient inter-departmental...communications, an uninformed board on some specific important issues and limited presidential leadership," the report said.

The report found no wrongdoing on Mulcahy's part.

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerRutgers Athletic Director Robert E. Mulcahy.

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300 fugitives turn themselves in at Camden event

by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

Thursday November 20, 2008, 5:57 AM

About 300 people had turned themselves Wednesday in safe-surrender event at a Camden church for nonviolent fugitives, according to a report in the Courier Post.

The report said Jerome Scott, a senior investigator with the state Department of Corrections, said the event netted more bigger-than-expected turnout at the Antioch Baptist Church in the city's Centerville section.

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Corzine talks to town leaders about spending less

by The Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 5:11 AM

Squeezed government finance is expected to be the major theme of an address today to municipal officials by New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

About 900 local government leaders will be in the audience as Corzine delivers the keynote address at the annual League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City.

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Poll finds Jerseyans gloomy about their finances

by The Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 5:08 AM

Fifty-nine percent of New Jerseyans say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, and most don't expect their personal finances to get any better in the year ahead.

That's according to a poll released Thursday by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

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Oil price falls to less than $53 a barrel in Asia

by The Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 5:07 AM

Oil prices fell below $53 to almost a two-year low today in Asia as investors, egged on by plummeting stock markets, priced in lower crude demand from a global economic downturn that's shaping up as the worst in decades.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down 92 cents to $52.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract Wednesday fell 77 cents to settle at $53.62, the lowest since January 2007.

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World stock markets follow U.S. lower

by The Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 5:04 AM

World stock markets tumbled today, with benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul losing almost 7 percent each, after recession fears sent Wall Street plunging and Japan suffered its biggest drop in exports in seven years.

The slide in Asian and European shares extended a global sell-off that accelerated overnight amid lowered projections for U.S. economic activity next year from the Federal Reserve and worries over the fate of America's Big Three automakers, which are pleading for emergency loans from Washington.

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Corzine to let municipalities defer some pension payments

by Claire Heininger/The Star-Ledger

Thursday November 20, 2008, 12:05 AM

In a move aimed at avoiding big property tax increases during the economic downturn, Gov. Jon Corzine today will offer municipalities a half-billion-dollar break on their required payments into the state pension system.

Local governments would be able to defer half of the amount they were scheduled to pay in April, and pay it back gradually over the next three years, according to a plan Corzine will present to the state League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City at noon. The proposal would require approval by the Legislature.

Corzine will also stress that towns should consider consolidation and sharing services as a way to cut costs during tough economic times, according to a senior administration official familiar with his plans. The official spoke anonymously to avoid upstaging Corzine in advance of his speech to the annual gathering of local officials.

Governor's Office/Tim LarsenGov. Jon Corzine and New York Gov. David Patterson at the New York Mercantile Exchange in New York in September.

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Vehicle hits two pedestrians in front of hospital in Neptune

by George Berkin/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:30 PM

Two pedestrians were hit by a vehicle on Route 33 in front of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune tonight, police said.

The accident occurred about 7:15 p.m. and the highway remained closed in both directions two hours after the accident, police spokesman Lt. William Monroe said. Traffic to the hospital was rerouted.

Both of the injured people were taken to Jersey Shore, but Monroe declined to comment on their conditions. He also declined to release their names.

The motorist who struck the pedestrians remained at the scene, the lieutenant said.

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Route 18 crash in East Brunswick kills one

by Christopher Dela Cruz/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 7:59 PM

One person was killed tonight in a multivehicle crash on Route 18 in East Brunswick, police said.

The accident occurred around 6 p.m. on the highway's northbound side, just north of Naricon Place and west of Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike.

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Hundreds in Bergen County town protest suspension of 2 cops

by The Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 7:56 PM

Hundreds of North Jersey police officers marched through Cresskill in Bergen County today to protest the suspension of two police officers who responded to a crash in nearby New Milford in which a 10-year-old was killed by the driver of a stolen car.

Officers Matthew Banta and Brad Levitzki have been suspended with pay since Oct. 22.

Police Chief Stephen Lillis has declined to comment on the suspensions, but Levitzki's lawyer said the chief has proposed a six-month suspension without pay. Attorney Albert Wunsch said both officers plan to reject the offer and will seek a public hearing instead.

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Three counties still under advisory to boil water

by Jennifer Golson/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 7:51 PM

In the aftermath of a 60-inch water main break in Franklin Township, water yesterday was flowing again to customers in Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties -- but they still were urged to boil it before drinking.

The problem started about 11 a.m. Tuesday, when a major line ruptured on Weston Canal Road and water gushed into the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

Repairs are ongoing, and Weston Canal Road, between School House Road and Apgar Drive, will remain closed until at least tomorrow night, said Sgt. Philip Rizzo, Franklin's deputy emergency-management coordinator.

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Princeton students, state prison inmates face off in chess challenge

by Brian T. Murray/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 7:36 PM

Thirty minutes before the final moves were made, the outcome was already certain.

"It's over," whispered convicted killer Carl Gooding, grinning as he looked confidently over the remaining pieces on the chess board.

The 41-year-old prison inmate had a rook, a knight and six well-placed pawns. Atanas Petkov, 19, a Princeton University economics major from Bulgaria, was struggling to regain his posture with one rook and a somewhat bunched and useless assembly of six pawns.

John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerPrinceton University student Sudeep Doshi (only hand in photo) makes a move during a chess match with inmate Amir Winn at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

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