LEDGER LIVE

New Jersey's only local news webcast, live from The Star Ledger

Dawn patrol: I love my car insurer!

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Thursday November 20, 2008, 9:26 AM

I came home yesterday and found a
$163 check in the mail from my car insurer, New Jersey Manufacturers. This is not a commercial. But in all my years of dealing with public agencies, private companies, customer service outlets, retailers, bureaucracies, you name it, I have never seen a better run outfit than NJM.

My check was part of the company's tradition of paying dividends to policyholders in every year since 1918.

Here's a blurb from our business section earlier this week:

Approximately 405,000 personal auto policyholders in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will receive special dividend checks averaging about $149 each from mid-November through mid-December. Since 1994, when NJM began special dividend payments, the average check has been about $166 per year, the company said.- Star-Ledger wire services.

But it's not just the dividends. The other thing about NJM is, when you call them, you get a human on the phone, fast. When I've made claims, they've been processed quickly, and easily. Changes to my policy? Same thing. And another thing, I don't see them wasting my premium money on advertising. I don't want to pay a reptile to sell insurance. I want to pay a company to protect me.

So there you have it. My happy rant for the day. Some things in this state still work the way they're supposed to.

We'll have a new webcast posted at noon. Until then, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at ledgerlive@starledger.com.

Take it easy, Jersey.

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

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 11:58 AM

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Can Corzine pass Obama's 63 questions?

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Tuesday November 18, 2008, 11:55 AM

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Dawn patrol:63 questions for Jon Corzine

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Tuesday November 18, 2008, 11:01 AM

The transition team for President-elect Obama is subjecting applicants for high level posts and cabinet positions to some of the toughest background vetting ever. "No drama" Obama wants to avoid any scandal or any skeleton that could pop out of an appointee's closet down the road.

One of those appointees could be New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. He is reportedly among those being vetted as a possible treasury secretary. With Obama's 63-question questionnaire in hand, we'll take a hypothetical walk through the vetting process with our governor's prospects in mind.

Check it out at noon - or any time after. You won't want to miss it.

Until then..We want to hear from you. email us at ledgerlive@starledger.com or just give me a call at 973-392-1543.

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Chris Christie resigns; is the Rock putting coal in Newark's stockings?

by Brian Donohue

Monday November 17, 2008, 11:59 AM

Ledger Live Extra- More on Chris Christie

For more Ledger Live, including stories, links and videos from today's show, click on the "continue reading" link below.

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Dawn patrol: can lawmakers stop college drinking?

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Monday November 17, 2008, 8:32 AM

Legislators will be holding a hearing this morning to tackle the issue of binge drinking on college campuses. The effort is being led by Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex). It is largely a response to the Amethyst Initiative, which is an effort by college presidents to begin a debate over the wisdom of the 21-year-old drinking age. I interviewed Codey recently on the topic. He's pretty fired up over it.

I respect Codey's stance. But I have a lot of doubt over whether lawmakers should be delving into this issue at all and whether legislating personal behavior is ever effective or desirable. I have another question: can't colleges just go back to teaching knowledge and skills?

It seems like every time I turn around, colleges' roles have expanded. Their campuses are getting more glitzy. Students have more and more amenities. And tuition, of course, keeps rising at astronomical levels.

I'm thinking of a recent video we showed of new dorms at Rutgers University. They had full kitchens and all sorts of luxuries. I think of my trips back to my alma mater, Boston University, where I am awestruck at how the old cafeterias have become glitzy food courts and the old gym has become a huge athletic facility. And now, the same notion comes back to me as I watch legislators press college officials about what they're doing to protect grown adults from drinking themselves to death.

I think there's a market out there for a no-frills college. One that hires good professors and focuses just on academics. No athletics. No gyms. No parenting.

I'm not trying to say that asking colleges to fight binge drinking leading to tuition hikes. But it just seems that there's an expansion the idea of what a college is supposed to be. Shopping mall. Gourmet restaurant. Parent. Cop. Hotel.

As a student, I didn't need any of that. And now, as a parent, I don't want to pay for it.

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Rockefeller Center tree crosses the river; Jets win big

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Friday November 14, 2008, 12:00 PM

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