Free Republic

'Capitalist' dogs casino about link to bad luck - ATLANTIC CITY - Al Garrett, who has spent more than three years fighting a statue, thinks he has finally hit on a way to win his cold war. The statue is of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the communist founder of the Soviet Union. Lenin stands outside the front door of Red Square, the hipper-than-thou, Russian-themed restaurant and bar in The Quarter, the highly capitalistic dining and retail section of Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort. And Garrett has objected to the architect of one of history's brutal dictatorships being part of a...

Former Atlantic City Mayor Pleads Guilty To Lying To Get BenefitsThe former mayor of Atlantic City pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to enhance his veterans benefits, a crime that played a role in his bizarre three-week disappearance earlier this fall. Making his first public appearance since leaving office Oct. 10, Robert Levy admitted to falsely claiming to have been awarded two military medals and embellishing his military record in order to receive more money in disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Levy admitted fabricating stories that as a soldier in Vietnam, he had been left in the...

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - The former mayor of Atlantic City, who resigned three weeks ago amid a federal investigation, will appear in court to enter an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, his lawyer said Wednesday. The lawyer, Ed Jacobs, would not say if Robert Levy's agreement on Thursday would be a guilty plea to a crime, the kind of agreement people often make with prosecutors. "We're going to get it over with in one day of bad publicity," Jacobs said. Levy did not return a call seeking comment from The Associated Press. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The mayor of this gambling resort resigned Wednesday after a two-week absence from office during which he checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic. Robert Levy's disappearance came amid a federal investigation for embellishing his Army service in Vietnam. "Mr. Levy has concluded that public confidence is so eroded by these circumstances that the only responsible action is to step down," his attorney, Edwin Jacobs, said. "He does so with great regret and with apologies to his supporters, to the people of Atlantic City, and to his family and friends." The president of the seaside city's council...

He was in rehab for unknown reasons. Looks like the city is moving forward with plans on coping without him. It’s slim pickings, though: Since then, officials have said he is in an undisclosed hospital receiving unspecified treatments. They have refused to disclose more, citing federal health privacy laws that experts said have been misapplied. Levy vanished amidst resignation rumors tied to an ongoing federal investigation into his military records. In November, Levy admitted to The Press of Atlantic City that he had never served in the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, despite years of claims that included his 2005 campaign....

The mayor of Atlantic City whose mysterious absence sparked political chaos and national intrigue was at a rehabilitation facility in Somerset County, his attorney said today. Robert Levy spent the start of his 13-day disappearance from public life at the Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead, his attorney told the Press of Atlantic City for a report on its Web site. Attorney Edwin J. Jacobs said Levy checked into the clinic on Sept. 26 or 27, and returned to Atlantic City last week, the newspaper reported. The 60-year-old mayor has been convalescing in his Venice Park home since Thursday, Jacobs told...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Under federal investigation for embellishing his Army service in Vietnam, a groggy-sounding Mayor Robert Levy called in sick at City Hall, climbed into his city-issued Dodge Durango and seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth. The mystery and the gathering scandal over Levy’s military record have worried civic leaders in this seaside casino resort, which has a long history of corruption, with four of the last eight mayors busted on graft charges and one-third of last year’s nine-member City Council in prison or under house arrest.

ATLANTIC CITY — A troubled doctor’s expected purchase of a shuttered city abortion clinic has raised the ire of anti-abortion activists, who picketed in front of the facility Monday afternoon, demanding the state not approve the deal. Signs insisting the state block any sale of the clinic to Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, whose incidents of botched abortions and unorthodox methods led to the termination of his license in New York and Florida, lined the sidewalk in front of the Pacific Avenue clinic. “Our main focus is to block this Brigham sale,” said Chris Slattery, president of Expectant Mother Care, a...

The area's sole abortion clinic was shut down late last week by state officials after inspectors discovered several violations within the facility, including problems with infection control, a state health department spokesman confirmed Monday. State inspectors returned to the Alternatives clinic Monday to conduct a full survey of the facility after discovering the violations Friday. Investigators were led to the Pacific Avenue clinic by an anonymous complaint to the state concerning “change of ownership issues,” said Tom Slater, spokesman for the state's Department of Health and Human Services. Slater could not give any more information about the complaint, except to...

This is disturning on many levels - LAX passenger hides objects in his body; bomb squad called His plane was diverted but deemed safe. The Iraqi national, a legal U.S. resident, said he was trying to ease stress. He is turned over to ICE. By Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer March 7, 2007 Authorities called in the bomb squad early Tuesday and diverted a flight to Las Vegas after Los Angeles International Airport security screeners found hidden wires and other objects in a body cavity of a Philadelphia-bound passenger. Fadhel Al-Maliki, a 35-year-old Iraqi national living in Atlantic City, N.J.,...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A Bergen County woman was charged with driving under the influence after police said she mistook the landmark Boardwalk for a road. Captain Bill McKnight said he was on patrol when the vehicle sped by him Wednesday night. McKnight gave chase with lights and siren, when he said the vehicle made a U-turn and nearly hit his patrol car. McKnight broke off the chase when speeds reached 40 mph because he feared for the safety of the few pedestrians who were on the wood

New Jersey has the fifth highest number of AIDS cases in America, and yesterday became the last state to allow intravenous drug users to get clean needles, hoping it will slow the spread of the deadly virus. Gov. Jon Corzine ended a 13-year stalemate by signing a law to permit six communities to host needle exchange sites, where clean syringes and referrals to drug treatment will be available. The bill includes $10 million for drug treatment and counseling programs. "This is an historic day for public health," Corzine said, calling the law "a potential bridge to hope for addicts." After...

Philadelphia Park opened southeastern Pennsylvania's first slot-machine parlor and the second statewide yesterday, attracting gamblers who said they were happy for a local alternative to the casinos in Atlantic City. Hundreds of people poured in when the doors opened shortly after 11:30 a.m. and began stuffing bills into the machines, and the ca sino enjoyed a brisk business in its first hours of operation. Ines Beiez, 47, a North Philadelphia woman who was one of the first to sit down at a machine, said Philadelphia Park would become her gambling destination of choice. Although she was a frequent patron of...

Today we're checking out people whose passions keep them working from midnight to morning. Their labor of love can sometimes even bring about a spiritual awakening in themselves and others. If you think the Today we're checking out people whose passions keep them working from midnight to morning. Their labor of love can sometimes even bring about a spiritual awakening in themselves and others. If you think the daily routine for a priest ends when services are over and the sun goes down, wait 'til you meet Father Stephen Siniari. He's a Christian Orthodox priest who spends his nights searching...

Two women walking behind the Golden Key Motel on Monday afternoon stumbled upon the body of a dead woman. When police arrived at approximately 3:00 p.m. they discovered three more dead women laying face down in a few inches of water in a drainage ditch. The investigation of the deaths stretched far into the night . Police cordoned off the area and flood lights were set up as investigators worked to uncover clues from the crime scene. Tall fragmities grass obscured the work area, but at least one body bag was observed being carried near the white Atlantic County...

ATLANTIC CITY ? Mayor Bob Levy has knowingly misrepresented his military record to family, friends, reporters and the public for decades.As an Atlantic City lifeguard and as a candidate for mayor last year, Levy claimed he had served during the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army?s elite Special Forces, more familiarly known as the Green Berets. In campaign literature distributed last year, he claimed he had won medals as a Green Beret. None of that was true. Levy ? who has an otherwise distinguished military service record ? was never a member of the Army?s Green Berets, he told The...

ATLANTIC CITY A mob-linked construction company - accused of lying about dealings with ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik - must stop doing work for Atlantic City casinos....the Casino Control Commission suspended the licenses of Interstate Industrial Corp.......owners pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to a grand jury.....denying they secretly paid for the bulk of an extensive makeover of Kerik's apartment when he was in charge of city jails.

UL. 5 8:54 A.M. ET New Jersey's casinos ushered the last of the gamblers away from slot machines and tables Wednesday, and janitors locked the doors behind them as a state government shutdown claimed its latest victims. In the first mass closure in the 28-year history of Atlantic City's legalized gambling trade, all 12 casinos were under state orders to lock up. Atlantic City's casinos are lucrative for New Jersey. They have a $1.1 billion payroll, and the state takes an 8 percent cut -- an estimated $1.3 million a day. But as a stalemate over the state budget entered...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - New Jersey's casinos ushered the last of the gamblers away from slot machines and tables Wednesday, and janitors locked the doors behind them as a state government shutdown claimed its latest victims. In the first mass closure in the 28-year history of Atlantic City's legalized gambling trade, all 12 casinos were dark. Gov. Jon S. Corzine addressed the Legislature at the Statehouse Wednesday morning, defending his position as a stalemate over the state budget entered its fifth day with no deal in sight. Corzine wants to raise the state sale tax from 6 percent to 7...

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey's state government was all but shut down Monday, with state lawmakers and the governor unable to agree on a state budget. The two sides met for nearly four hours Sunday night but couldn't cut a deal. As part of the dispute, Atlantic City's casinos have been ordered to close Wednesday. The shutdown, now in its third day, is a result of the New Jersey Legislature's failure to adopt a budget by its July 1 deadline. The head of the Casino Control Commission ordered gaming in Atlantic City to cease at 8 a.m. Wednesday if New...