Free Republic

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey's health department is escalating the battle against the bulge by starting a new Office of Nutrition and Fitness to better coordinate programs aimed at preventing obesity. The agency is particularly needed in New Jersey — possibly the first state to create such a government body. The Garden State has the highest percentage of overweight and obese children under age 5, at 17.7 percent, according to a 2004 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Jersey also has many black and Latino youth, who are more likely to be overweight than white...

What does it take to change light bulbs on the 75-foot rotunda ceiling of the massive Secaucus rail station? First, crack a hole in the roof big enough to drive a crane through. Then, hoist a crane onto the roof using, well, another crane. Build a ramp, widen a doorway and protect the interior floor with some plywood. Then you can start thinking about unscrewing a light bulb. The $700 million Secaucus Junction station was built with no easy way to change the bulbs that surround the rotunda skylight. And as more and more lights have grown dim over the...

A wonderland of waste washed up on beaches in 2006 Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/27/07 What do a plunger, a playpen, a jockstrap, fake plastic breasts, a pregnancy test and five pairs of underwear have in common? They were among nearly 260,000 items of sometimes bizarre trash that either was left or washed up on New Jersey's beaches last year. The total: about 40 tons. With Clean Ocean Action set to launch a new wave of beach cleanups on Saturday, the coastal environmental group released its tallies on the wretched refuse plucked from its teeming shores last...

JerseyPride.com: A site for Shore eyes By KELLY HEYBOER Jeff Kauflin, 25, who runs the Web site JerseyPride.com. (Photo by George McNish) NEWARK, N.J. _ Jeff Kauflin was in his first year of college in Vermont when it hit him: People don't think good things about New Jersey. The mere mention of where he was from elicited chuckles from Kauflin's New England classmates at Middlebury College. Then came the ``What exit?'' jokes and references to the mob, big hair, toxic waste dumps and that smell along the Turnpike.``It wasn't really until I got to college that I realized the bad...

N.J. warns: Don't eat squirrel near dump Thu Jan 25, 5:36 PM ET TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey has warned squirrel hunters near a toxic waste dump about consuming the critters because they could be contaminated with lead. It is the first time the state has cautioned Ringwood residents _ many who are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe who hunt and fish in the area _ about their squirrel intake, said Tom Slater, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Senior Services. A lead-contaminated squirrel was found in the area two months ago, prompting the agency, along...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey has warned squirrel hunters near a toxic waste dump about consuming the critters because they could be contaminated with lead. It is the first time the state has cautioned Ringwood residents - many who are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe who hunt and fish in the area - about their squirrel intake, said Tom Slater, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Senior Services. A lead-contaminated squirrel was found in the area two months ago, prompting the agency, along with the state Department of Environmental Protection, to send out letters advising...

When Cy Thannikary left India to come work at the UN in Manhattan, he settled in Flushing, Queens, and loved the excitement of living in the city. After starting a family, though, he traded New York’s hubbub for Freehold, New Jersey, a quiet suburb with lower taxes and affordable housing. That was 25 years ago. These days, Thannikary sometimes feels like he’s back in Gotham as he watches his taxes soar and hears neighbors grumble. He has started a new group, Citizens for Property Tax Reform, to fight the special interests that have turned both state and local government into...

Who cut the cheese? New Jersey, apparently. Across the length and breadth of Manhattan, people were asking, "What's that smell?" after a pungent odor like natural gas or rotten eggs blanketed the borough and northern New Jersey for three hours yesterday morning. By evening, the answer seemed to be a stinky gas emitted by a New Jersey swamp or marsh. "That's where our noses and instruments tell us" the smell was coming from, said Charles Sturcken, a spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Protection.

Bloomberg's Car Stolen, Aide Beaten By Thieves (AP) NEW YORK A personal employee of Mayor Michael Bloomberg was beaten by thieves who then carjacked the billionaire's car Wednesday morning in New Jersey, authorities said. The employee was driving the 2001 Lexus in Hackensack, N.J., on an errand for the mayor shortly before 9 a.m. when he was approached by a woman who came to the window to ask for money, police said. As he declined and began to roll up the window, a man got into the passenger seat and punched him in the face. "They force him out and...

A municipal prosecutor may ask a judge to cite former Attorney General Zulima Farber for contempt of court after she failed to appear yesterday as a witness in a traffic case against her boyfriend, Hamlet Goore. The case stems from the now- infamous Memorial Day weekend traffic stop in Bergen County in which Farber went to the aid of Goore after he was ticketed for driving on a suspended license. The incident ultimately led to Farber's resignation last month when a special prosecutor found she had violated state ethics rules by going to the scene. At the time of her...

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — A powerful southern New Jersey politician was paid for a no-work job at a scandal-ridden state university while helping the school garner millions of dollars in new state funding, according to a report released Monday. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey paid state Sen. Wayne Bryant, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, $35,000 a year "to lobby himself in his capacity of state senator," according to the report of a federal monitor who had investigated the school's finances. The report said all Bryant appeared to do at the university's School of Osteopathic Medicine...

Cipel: McGreevey assaulted me The onetime aide said he wanted to clear the record: The former governor made an advance he rejected. By John Shiffman Inquirer Staff Writer In his new book, Jim McGreevey vividly recalls his first, magical kiss with Golan Cipel. Cipel does not remember the 2001 encounter so fondly. The former aide calls it a failed sexual assault that followed shots of Jagermeister. After he pushed New Jersey's governor away, Cipel said, he asked McGreevey why he assumed he was gay. "And McGreevey said, 'Everybody is a little gay,' " Cipel recalled yesterday in his first extended...

Web Site Editor subpoenaed in civil case by attorney for the City of Jersey City Press Release www.GETNJ.com FOR RELEASE: Immediate September 14, 2006 CONTACT: Anthony Olszewski Email: info@getnj.com Phone: 201-798-2292 Fax: 201-798-2085 Yesterday evening, Anthony Olszewski received a subpoena in a civil case commanding him to appear at the offices of Scarinci and Hollenbeck, LLC. The City of Jersey City is the defendant. Mr. Olszewski is being asked to testify about material posted on the Hudson County Politics Message Board at www.GETNJ.com There is a history to the Hudson County political establishment's displeasure concerning information distributed via GET NJ....

A federal investigation has been launched into the financial dealings of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and a nonprofit agency he has helped over the years, sources said. The U.S. attorney's office has subpoenaed the agency's records pertaining to a house once owned by then-congressman Menendez, sources told NewsChannel 4's Brian Thompson. Menendez, a Democrat, has denied there was anything wrong with his renting the house to the North Hudson Community Action Corp. for more than $3,000 a month, even as he was working to obtain millions of dollars in federal grant money while he was a congressman

Senator took in at least $300,000 from nonprofit in Union City Federal investigators have subpoenaed records of a rental deal between U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and a nonprofit agency in Union City, launching a criminal investigation that is sure to rock New Jersey's hotly contested Senate race. Authorities delivered the subpoena to the North Hudson Community Action Corp. earlier this week, according to four sources familiar with the move who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The action comes two weeks after The Star-Ledger reported that Menendez collected more than $300,000 from the organization over a nine-year period while...

New Jersey's reputation as a tax hell just got worse. The $1.9 billion worth of tax increases in the state's new budget represents a 5 percent increase over last year, far outpacing any other state, according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislators. New Jersey now has the highest state sales tax, tied with three other states, at 7 percent. Its cigarette tax now leads in the nation. And, of course, this all comes on top of the nation's highest average property taxes. It's no wonder people like Donley Kuendel are thinking of leaving. "The quality of...

Email: Insha Allah, September 15, 2006, is the "Great Muslim Adventure Day" at Six Flags, NJ. The park will be open from 10 AM to 11 PM. Come, join 15,000 Muslims for a day featuring Jummah prayers, quality ethnic Halal food, Islamic bazaar and much more! All this is, of course, in addition to the regular thrills Six Flags Great Adventure is known for, including what is claimed to be the largest safari outside Africa. In addition to the drive-thru safari, tiger and dolphin shows, there will be special shows for children! Special fireworks show is also arranged! Special Discounted...

<p>TRENTON, N.J. — Six New Jersey state treasury workers were indicted Thursday on suspicion of accepting dinners, entertainment, golf outings and spa treatments from a company hired to collect back taxes.</p> <p>The state taxation director and his deputy were among those charged, the attorney general's office said.</p>

NEWARK, N.J. -- Six police officers from northern New Jersey were indicted Tuesday, accused of protecting targets of a drug ring by tipping them off about imminent raids in return for some of the drugs. What began as a "social relationship" between the officers and their young contemporaries, who would use small amount of drugs together, soon spiraled out of control, authorities said. "Several of the officers were engaging in some partying," said Passaic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jay McCann. "It wasn't really a drug distribution for profit. It was more of a social relationship between the officers and the...

NUTLEY, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- State and federal authorities were investigating a small explosion Friday that damaged a car but did not injure anyone. The blast occurred around 1:30 p.m. in a parking lot between a single-family home and an apartment building, authorities said, but neither structure sustained much damage. Lt. Steven Rogers, a Nutley police spokesman, said federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials believe the bomb was a small, homemade device made up of household chemicals in a glass bottle. Rogers said his department received several 911 calls from residents who heard the explosion and saw a...