In The Record, the Trump of eye doctors; Hackensack school plan soars to $109M

These photos of a buff Barack Obama and an out-of-shape -- dare I say fat -- President Trump have appeared on Twitter and elsewhere as the debate over the GOP's proposed American Health Care Act intensifies.

Obama's health care law was called the Affordable Care Act, but the GOP plan doesn't appear to be promising affordable health insurance to the vast majority of Americans.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In her opening statement, a federal prosecutor told a Florida jury that defendant Salomon Melgen "lied to Medicare for money."

Melgen -- a prominent eye doctor tied to the alleged corruption of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. -- is on trial on charges he stole millions of dollars from Medicare between 2008 and 2013.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bell said Melgen lied about his patient's diagnoses, the tests he ran and their prognoses to enrich himself to the tune of $72,000 per patient annually, according to a story in The Record today (3A).

Referring to Melgen, Bell used the word "lied" or a variation about two dozen times, The Associated Press reported, reminding many Record readers of President Trump's 2016 campaign and his first months in office.

Shocking news

Meanwhile, NorthJersey.com is reporting the Hackensack Board of Education has proposed a $109 million sending plan for the 2017-18 school year -- about $5 million more than last year.

"The district's spending plan is up about 7.5 percent," Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon reported. "The budget is supported by an $81.2 million [tax] levy, which is up about $2 million, or 2.5 percent, from last year."

"The budget was approved without comment during a special meeting Tuesday night," Torrejon wrote on Wednesday, but he didn't mention voters will get their chance to says "yes" or "no" to the tax levy at the April 25 school election.

More than 44% of each Hackensack resident's property taxes go to support the schools, and this would be the second significant increase in the school budget in the last two years.

Nor did the reporter mention board Vice President Lara Rodriguez is a candidate for City Council on a slate backed by former four-term mayor Jack Zisa and former Police Chief and state Assemblyman Ken Zisa.

The municipal election will be held on May 9, and if the Zisa-backed Rodriguez slate wins, taxpayers might be seeing the same kind of hikes in municipal taxes instead of the tax cuts delivered by the current City Council.

See: Hackensack United for Zisa on Facebook