The Star-Ledger News

Local NJ politics, crime & Statehouse coverage from The Star-Ledger

• Both candidates want to see Uncle Sam in the classroom
When it comes to schools and presidential politics, it wasn't too many elections ago when candidates argued whether to even have a federal Department of Education.

• BIRTH OF THE BURBS
When construction began in 1958, there were 4,900 acres of hill and dale -- orchards and farms with roots that could be traced back as far as 1688, when Quaker settlers established the Constabulary of Wellingborrow.

• Bryant's trial lifts a curtain on Trenton
In the midst of a global economic crisis and a hotly contested presidential election, New Jersey lawmakers proved last week they can still grab a piece of the spotlight and do it in stereotypical Garden State fashion -- through scandal.

• Youngest voters see a chance to shape their own future
Wilson Munoz, 18, is voting in his first presidential election because he wants "even the hope of a job when I graduate."

• Registration deadline is Tuesday
Tuesday is the deadline for New Jersey residents to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election for president, U.S. Senate and House and various county and local offices.

• Teen reaches out to help prevent suicide
Sophia Ganguzza was prepared for a dose of adult reality when she entered high school. She expected some kids would drink too much. And some did. She knew some kids would use drugs. Some did that, too.

• Dual needs of developmentally disabled
Private hospitals and community agencies that serve people with autism and other developmental disabilities also must be prepared to deal with mental illness, which affects more than one- third of their patients and clients, according to a report released yesterday.

• Senior shoots wife to death in hospital
An 88-year-old Ocean County man walked into Community Medical Center in Toms River yesterday and shot his 87-year-old wife to death before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

• BRIGHT BEACON TO ALL
Her cane at her side, Maria DaCuhna sat on the park bench outside the Barnegat Lighthouse recently waiting for her husband to descend, when a Maryland couple introduced themselves.

• Ex-high school coach is indicted in sex case
The former baseball coach at a Catholic high school in Belmar has been indicted on charges he engaged in sexual misconduct with a dozen players over six years, badgering the students to perform sexual acts on themselves and to report back to him with the details, authorities said yesterday.

• Governor following script on toll hikes
The scaled-back plan for toll increases that the Turnpike Authority is expected to approve today closely follows the advice Gov. Jon Corzine received from a confidential poll he commissioned to prepare for his re-election bid.

• GAS PRICES PROVIDE GOOD NEWS
Just two days ago, a gallon of regular was selling for $3.09 at the Sunoco station on Route 22 in Union Township. "It was dead here," co-owner Asha Rani recalled.

• How to get happy? Thinking positive is a good start
Of the myriad things we wish for in life, from the perfect meal to a financial windfall, all are merely means to a single, intangible end called "happiness."

• Closings for the Columbus Day holiday
Monday is Columbus Day. It is a federal and state holiday. Post offices will be closed; there will be no regular mail delivery. State and local government offices and courts will be closed. Financial markets and stock markets will be open. Banks are closed. Public schools have the option to close. NJ Transit trains and light rail systems will operate on regular weekday schedules. Bus schedules vary, depending on route. For de tails, refer to timetables or check the agency's website (njtran sit.com) or call (973) 275-5555.

• Nobel glow of jellyfish
Two scientists with ties to New Jersey and another from New York were named winners of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry yesterday for research on a glowing jellyfish protein widely used in modern bioscience.

• High schools' realignment aims to level playing field
A sweeping realignment of sports leagues and conferences will affect more than 200 high schools in Central and North Jersey.

• Pop singer's tuneful hit drowned out by gunshots and innuendo
You might have heard the catchy pop song "Paper Planes," an unexpected hit with indecipherable lyrics punctuated by gunshots and the ka-ching! of a cash register.

• Many cheers but few snarls at GOP ticket's rally
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Dan Cannon came dressed for what he expected to be a real red-meat attack on Barack Obama. His head was shaved, leather boots laced up to mid-calf, just below the hem of his olive drab kilt.

• Closings to the Columbus Day holiday
HOLIDAY CLOSINGS Monday is Columbus Day. It is a federal and state holiday. Post offices will be closed; there will be no regular mail delivery. State and local government offices and courts will be closed. Financial markets and stock markets will be open. Banks are closed. Public schools have the option to close. NJ Transit trains and light-rail systems will operate on regular weekday schedules. Bus schedules vary, depending on route. For de tails, refer to timetables or check the agency's website (njtran sit.com) or call (973) 275-5555.

• Wrestling over economy
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Barack Obama and John McCain clashed repeatedly last night over the causes and cures for the worst economic crisis in 80 years, in a debate in which Republican McCain called for a sweeping $300 billion program to shield homeowners from mortgage foreclosure.

• A tie would go to the Democrat
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A week is a lifetime in politics, according to a well-worn cliché, and as Sen. John McCain found going into last night's second presidential debate, it's painfully true.

• Taking a closer look at candidates' claims
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain stretched facts, sometimes past the breaking point, as they addressed the financial crisis and misrepresented each other's position on health care during their second presidential debate.

• Rebuilding lives along a fault line
BALAKOT, Pakistan -- This is a town that sits in a bucolic alpine river valley, about 60 miles north of Islamabad. Generations of families have built homes, started businesses and raised children here.

• TSA calls Newark screener a one-person crime wave
As a screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, Pythias Brown was supposed to keep deadly objects off airplanes. But for the past year, authorities allege, Brown has been swiping electronic equipment from luggage of the passengers he was supposed to protect.

• WORLDWIDE WORRIES
It was crunch time for David Dietze as he bent over to do his sit-ups while watching the business news channels at around 5 a.m.

• New Jerseyans, young and old, wonder how long they'll get by
By the time the Dow Jones industrial average had skidded 500 points yesterday, Mary Taylor and her husband had had enough.

• Out of quake's rubble, health centers emerge
CHARAK PURA, Pakistan -- Zohab Kazmi slowly inhales mist from a nebulizer to treat his asthma.

• Debates: Online, anytime for all time
A record 73 million people watched Sarah Palin and Joe Biden debate last week -- just a few million shy of the number who saw the final episode of "Seinfeld" in 1998.

• Pick 6 Lotto jackpot grows to $4.75 million
There was no top prize winner in last night's Pick 6 Lotto drawing, New Jersey Lottery officials said.

• eBay makes bid to oppose limits on online sales
Internet auction colossus eBay is trying to pull back the covers on a bid by major retailers to convince Congress that new restrictions should be placed on the relationship between online auction sites and their users.

• Learning the hard way
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- The eight sprawling tents lining the campus of the Ali Akbar Awan Boys' School make the place look more like a refugee camp than an academic institution.

• In Kashmir, 3 years waiting to rebuild
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- On Oct.8, 2005, a life-shattering earthquake ripped across a swath of 11,600 square miles in northern Pakistan, killing more than 75,000 people and leaving scores of survivors with nothing more than their lives. The 7.6 magnitude quake damaged or destroyed 600,000 homes and left an estimated 3.5 million people homeless.

• N.J. questions health plans of candidates
Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama sound remarkably alike when they talk about health care for all.

• THE END OF THE ROAD
After more than 66 years on Belleville's main street, Bigelow Motors, a landmark in the community, shut it doors Friday, a victim of the tightening credit markets.

• THE END OF THE ROAD
Joseph Pfeffer, who has owned Bigelow Motors since the Belleville car dealership opened more than 66 years ago, has weathered many storms.

• Foot soldiers for McCain, Obama deployed
On a rain-soaked Sunday, in a nondescript Maplewood rec room with a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, Barack Obama boosters sold hot dogs and cupcakes and handed out fliers packed with talking points.

• Lautenberg (the 3-D version) fires back
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) gave a rousing pro-labor speech yesterday to a union of stagehands in Weehawken and never mentioned his opponent in next month's election, former Republican congressman Dick Zimmer.

• Is that lie '1 Pinocchio' or a 'pants on fire'?
Was Gov. Sarah Palin telling the truth at the vice presidential debate on Thursday when she said Sen. Barack Obama's health plan would be "government run"?

• President enacts $700B economic lifeline for the economy
WASHINGTON -- Confronted by growing numbers of mortgage defaults, panicky global financial markets and rising unemployment, the House yesterday passed a massive $700 billion rescue package in hopes of preventing an economic collapse. President Bush quickly signed the bill.

• A fiscal founding father moves one lawmaker to change vote
For Rep. Bill Pascrell, a pithy aphorism invoked by Alexander Hamilton at the nation's founding proved the tipping point.

• AN AIRSHIP'S DOWN-TO-EARTH CREW
Clark native Tim Lichardus hasn't had a place to call home for the last 12 years -- no apartment, no house, no timeshare. His job as a blimp crewman requires him to live out of a suitcase 11 months of the year.

• 'Senior burglar' preyed on peers, investigators say
Police dubbed him the "Senior Burglar" because he struck age-restricted communities from Middlesex to Ocean counties.

• Jersey wind farm plan hailed as cutting edge
A joint venture of the state's largest public utility and a wind energy developer was chosen yesterday to build New Jersey's first offshore wind farm -- with some towering turbines 16 miles off the coast of Atlantic County.

• Ground is broken on new hospital
The economy may be faltering, but officials of University Medical Center at Princeton spoke of a bright new day for the region's health care yesterday as they broke ground on a $441 million hospital in Plainsboro -- the centerpiece of a 160-acre campus that will also see job creation and housing.

• Arts groups wait for 'shoe to drop'
The credit meltdown is sending financial shockwaves from Wall Street to Main Street, and local arts organizations are feeling the pain.

• U.S. appeals ruling on Muslim cleric
Federal immigration officials are appealing the case of a Muslim leader from Paterson who won his fight to remain in the United States, a move the leader's spokesman says may damage hard-won trust between Muslims and law enforcement.

• Hearing focuses on inmates' claim
Three inmates at the Passaic County Jail claim Jonathan Zarate, who is accused of killing and dismembering a 16-year-old Randolph girl in 2005, sought their counsel on how to fake an insanity defense, according to discussions in court yesterday.

• Gang member gets life plus 50 for killing
Calling his crime "monstrous" and "depraved," an Essex County judge yesterday sentenced a Bloods gang member to life plus 50 years in prison for crimes that included the fatal shooting of a mother and the wounding of her 12-year-old son.

• Former teacher gets probation in sex relationship, texting case
A former substitute teacher and assistant football coach at Perth Amboy High School was placed on five years' probation yesterday for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student and sending inappropriate text messages to a 15-year-old girl.

• Deviate gets 30 years for child sex assault
A 65-year-old sadomasochist convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl he lived with from the 1980s through the mid-1990s was sentenced yesterday to 30 years behind bars.

• Pair charged in tot's death get deadline
A North Plainfield couple accused of leaving their newborn grandson submerged in a toilet have until next Friday to either ac cept a plea deal or start preparing for a March trial, their attorneys said yesterday.

• Two admit starting fire that killed dad of targeted teen
Two men pleaded guilty yesterday to setting a fire in Warren County last year that killed the father of a teenager they were target ing.

• Exec sentenced to prison for overbilling taxpayers
The president of a company that provides educational and vocational training to special needs students in as many as 60 New Jersey communities was sentenced yesterday to a three-year prison term for overbilling taxpayers more than $1.3 million.

• E. Brunswick woman gets 10-year term for theft
A woman from East Brunswick wiped tears from her eyes as she was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for stealing more than $75,000 from a travel agency where she worked.

• Running mates go to war
ST. LOUIS -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of voting against funding for U.S. troops in combat last night, in her much-anticipated debate with Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, whom she chastised for defending the move, "especially with your son in the National Guard" and headed for Iraq.

• GOPer shows a style (wink) all her own
It was the Sarah Palin show at last night's vice presidential debate, a critical test of her qualifications and of Sen. John McCain's judgment in choosing her as his running mate.

• New Ground Zero timetable stresses work on memorial
NEW YORK -- New -- and more realistic deadlines -- to transform the site of the destroyed World Trade Center into a bustling hub of commerce, culture and transportation were announced yesterday, dictated in part by a major push to complete a memorial there in time for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

• Job seekers face bleaker prospects
Nailesh Bhatt said his office is overwhelmed these days by résumés and telephone calls from folks in the pharmaceutical industry looking for work.

• Bad times put the brakes on illegal N.J. immigrants
Hard economic times across the U.S. may be driving undocumented immigrants south, according to two studies released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• Pick 6 Lotto jackpot grows to $4.5 million
There was no top prize winner in last night's Pick 6 Lotto drawing, New Jersey Lottery officials said.

• Free to celebrate
In August, Daryl Burton was sitting in a jail cell in Jefferson City, Mo., serving the 24th year of his sentence for the shooting death of a gas station attendant.

• 3 lawmen swept up in probe of manhunter
An ongoing state investigation of a flamboyant Jersey City bounty hunter yesterday ensnared the chief homicide detective in the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office as well as two former county sheriff's officers.

• Teachers say study of meltdown is opening teens' eyes across N.J.
Tauheedah Baker-Jones teaches world history at Newark's Science Park High School, but with America caught in its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, she figured maybe the Crusades could wait.

• FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE
Stephen Balsamo felt like his body was on an assembly line. He and his fellow recruits lined up back-to-belly at the Fort Dix clinic that day in 1973 and, as they filed by, the men were given a half-dozen shots in each arm with a device called a jet gun injector.

• MARKET COMES UNGLUED
It was early afternoon -- the middle of the trading day for stocks in the U.S. -- and the done deal in Congress had come undone.

• When smoke clears, bailout will have winners and losers
WASHINGTON -- The proposal to bail out U.S. financial markets to the tune of up to $700 billion creates a lot of potential short-term winners, as well as some losers.

• Dissecting $700B rescue plan

• Mets say goodbye to Shea with one last heartbreaking loss
NEW YORK -- Eight minutes.

• Wedding bell blues for two podcasters battling over ownership of idea
In 2006, veteran Essex County wedding videographer Robert Ehrlich and his wife ventured into the emerging world of podcasting, starting a website where newly engaged couples could download shows to their iPods about planning a wedding, choosing a dress, selecting a florist and planning a honeymoon.