Free Republic

In the vein of a true David versus Goliath story, the new documentary "You've Been Trumped" takes a fresh look at just what constitutes progress in the modern world. In an era where the conspicuously wealthy have been anointed the new aristocracy, what happens when ordinary citizens dare to take a stand against the profit machine? That's just what Anthony Baxter's entertaining film examines. In a case that became an international news story, local Scottish residents put everything on the line to try to prevent Donald Trump from destroying their countryside with a luxury golfing resort. And if ever a...

In naming an emergency manager for Atlantic City on Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie left the door open for the seaside gambling resort to file for bankruptcy if it can’t get its finances under control. The Republican governor and likely presidential candidate appointed a corporate turnaround specialist as the city’s emergency manager, and tabbed the man who led Detroit through its municipal bankruptcy as his assistant. Corporate finance consultant Kevin Lavin will have broad powers over Atlantic City’s finances and operations. Kevyn Orr, who helped lead Detroit through a financial crisis, will serve as special counsel to Lavin. Christie...

Thirty years ago, disgraced Atlantic City Mayor Michael Matthews stood in front of a federal judge and pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe from an FBI agent posing as a mobster. It was 1984. Atlantic City was a boomtown then, just six years into the casino gambling era that was going to remake the shabby resort town that I was assigned to cover as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Every day, I watched as buses from up and down the East Coast dumped thousands of slot machine mavens and roulette table hopefuls at the eight gambling palaces that had...

Three premier Atlantic City casinos will be closing in the next two weeks with the lost of almost 6,000 jobs. Another casino closed earlier this year, making the total job loss close to 8,000 - one quarter of casino employment in the city.Over the last few years, tax revenue from casinos has fallen precipitously which have led to massive budget problems for the city. The recession is to blame, but Atlantic City's problems go deeper than it being a one industry town. Philly.com: The closing of three casinos, starting with Showboat and Revel this weekend followed by Trump Plaza two...

They’ve turned to politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and union reps to try to save their jobs at three Atlantic City casinos scheduled to close soon. Now, hundreds of soon-to-be unemployed dealers, cocktail servers and hotel workers are turning to what many say could be their last, best chance. “We’re praying for God to open new doors to them,” said Rev Eric McCoy, president of the Atlantic City Fellowship of Churches. Clergy members and the main casino workers union organized a rally and prayer service Wednesday night for the nearly 8,000 workers who will be jobless when Revel, the Showboat and Trump...

ATLANTIC CITY - The list of casinos closing or expected to close here just keeps growing. Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino will likely shut its doors for good in mid-September. Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press that it expects the casino to close its doors Sept. 16. No final decision has been made, the company said, but it “expects that it will terminate the operations of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on or shortly after September 16, 2014.”

In a stunning confrontation caught on video, a man was apparently knocked out cold after aggressively going after a man, who appeared to be a vendor, and his cart on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. While it’s unclear what sparked the exchange, a man in cargo shorts is seen on video trying to knock over the apparent vendor’s cart. When that doesn’t work, he aggressively approaches the man, who tries to retreat. After exchanging a few words that were inaudible on video, the suspected “bully” is seen taking a swing at the vendor.

For years, economists and analysts talked in theoretical terms about "casino saturation" in the northeastern United States. But there's nothing theoretical about what's happening in Atlantic City now. The Atlantic Club is dead, taken down by two rivals. Revel says it will close if a buyer can't be found, and Caesars Entertainment, which says there are too many casinos in New Jersey, plans to shutter one of its four, the Showboat, on Aug. 31. Mayor Don Guardian, who could see a quarter of his city's casinos close during his first year in office, said Atlantic City is in the midst...

The first Congregation Beth Israel building, what may have been the oldest synagogue in Atlantic City, was honored with a spot on the state Register of Historic Places in 1992 — supposedly protecting it forever from local encroachment. If you want to see it, though, it’s too late — it was torn down last year anyway, in an apparent violation of state law. All that is left is a vacant lot. (snip) The circa 1891-93 building, at 34 S. Pennsylvania Ave., was built shortly after Beth Israel was incorporated in 1890 by some of the earliest Jewish leaders of the...

Charlie Birnbaum’s parents were Holocaust survivors whose patch of the American Dream was a modest Atlantic City home near the ocean. Their son has held on to it — through hurricanes, economic slumps and even his mother’s murder. Today, it may be taken away when the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority asks a state court to give it Charlie’s property. The CRDA basically argues it has the right to take whatever properties it wants and do with them whatever it wants to reshape Atlantic City whatever way it wants. Traditionally, to seize someone’s property through eminent domain, you had to show...

Don Guardian was sworn in to office today, becoming the first Republican to lead the city in 23 years.

With the closure of the recent Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, rumors of the bankrupt Revel being sold to Hard Rock, Las Vegas real estate prices remaining depressed, casinos opening up all around the country and online gambling legislation underway in various states, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City and Las Vegas are in serious jeopardy. Beginning in the late 1940s, Las Vegas became known as the 'adult playground of the world.' Celebrities knew they made the big time when their names graced the billboards of ‘Sin City.’ Gamblers hoping to make money would...

We’ve seen so many police abuse lawsuits settled before making it to trial where cops admit no wrongdoing while guiltily dishing out thousands of taxpayer dollars that it’s surprising to see one actually make it to trial.And it’s absolutely flabbergasting to see it result in a cop ordered personably liable.The cop is none other than Sterling Wheaton of the Atlantic City Police Department, whom we became familiar with back in September when he drove up to a group of five fellow officers beating on a suspect and sicced his dog on him in an incident caught on surveillance video.Then we...

The Atlantic City, New Jersey police department appears to have a very bad apple in their force. Officer Sterling Wheaten has been the subject of two lawsuits in the past month, at least eight lawsuits in the last three years, and, according to an attorney in one of those lawsuits, 21 internal-affairs complaints from 2008 to 2011. None of those complaints were sustained. Perhaps the most notable case of extreme brutality inflicted by Wheaten is one that occurred last June and involved the beating of college student David Connor Castellani. Castellani was kicked out of a casino for being...

Nearly 10 percent of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns retired from their job or were sacked in Tuesday’s elections, including the organization’s two leaders: Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Some 95 key members of the group that targets and criticizes lawmakers backed by the National Rifle Association are losing their title of “mayor.” According to an election review of Bloomberg's membership list of about 1,000, three quit the group, 69 retired from their jobs, and 23 were rejected by voters.On the retirement list: Bloomberg and Menino.Among the defeated members of Mayors Against Illegal...

ATLANTIC CITY — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cory Booker once again linked Republican opponent Steve Lonegan to the federal government shutdown today, suggesting some Republicans are playing politics with public safety. Booker, the mayor of Newark, stopped in Atlantic City where 51 firefighters will be laid off at the end of November due to local budget cuts. The city is hoping a federal grant may avert some of those layoffs, but its application is not being processed during the shutdown, according to union officials. “It could mean that some of the people behind me — or who are represented by...

Link Only https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh25I6Br9qU&feature=youtube_gdata_player This is a chapter entitled "The Municipal Organ" from the documentary film "The Senator's Masterpiece" about the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ. For more information about The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ please visit http://www.ACCHOS.org. For more information on the preservation of America's historic pipe organs please visit http://www.organsociety.org. For more information about the filmmaker please visit http://www.VicFerrerProductions.com © 2006 Vic Ferrer Productions http://www.BoardwalkPipes.com http://www.ExpositionOrgan.org

They could've used a bigger boat. A pair of fishermen spotted, and videotaped a great white shark circling their boat off the coast of Atlantic City on Sunday, NBC Philadelphia reported. The shark, which fisherman Rob Pompilio told NBC was half the length of his 28-foot vessel, circled the boat for 10 minutes before losing interest and swimming away, NBC said. He and his friend had departed from Little Egg Harbor that afternoon in search of more manageable catches, NBC said.

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. “Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes. Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued. The latest blow was Tuesday’s...

Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she took $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation to pay for her addiction to video poker — and lost $1 billion wagering over the course of a decade. O’Connor, the mayor of California’s second largest city from 1986 to 1992, pleaded not guilty to money laundering as part of a deal with prosecutors that will defer the charges for two years as she attempts to repay the debt. An attorney for O’Connor, Eugene Iredale, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client had severe health problems,...