Update: Apathy of voters and the Zisas are the real stories in all Hackensack elections

Incumbent Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse celebrating a clean sweep in May's municipal election, when his City Council slate defeated the Zisa-backed Hackensack United for Progress and a third slate.

Only 341 registered voters needed

to OK $81.2M school tax levy

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

You'll find the real story about Hackensack elections -- voter apathy -- buried in the last two paragraphs of The Record's Page 1 story on how much the winning slate spent.

But you won't find any mention of the Zisa family political machine, which ran the city for decades before reformers won the City Council election in May 2013.

The Zisas, including disgraced Police Chief Ken Zisa, attempted a comeback in May, backing the so-called Hackensack United for Progress slate.

It's just plain weird for Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon not to mention the Zisas in today's story.

On May 5, three days before the election, Torrejon finally broke his silence on the involvement of the Zisas and "their network of political donors," associates and friends:

Attention Hackensack: Stop the Zisas

Record clueless on attempted comeback

Mayor John Labrosse's City Council slate spent $272,672 to win the five contested seats, and Hackensack United (Zisa family) spent $196,672, according to The Record.

A third slate, incumbent Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis' Hackensack Strong, spent about $14,000, and finished third (1A and 7A).

Low turnout

"In spite of the amount of money spent and the Labrosse Team's platform of city redevelopment, voter turnout in the city was low," Torrejon says.

"The city has an estimated population of 45,000 and only 18 percent of more than 21,000 [registered] voters cast ballots," he reports (7A).

But turnout in Hackensack has always been low due to apathy sown by decades of rule by one family; elections held in April and May, not November; and weak or non-existent coverage by The Record, once the hometown paper.

More voters in '17

Today, Torrejon quotes Keeling-Geddis, the former councilwoman, as saying all the money spent "didn't really garner that much more votes."

Well, not exactly.

Both the May 2017 and May 2013 elections were hotly contested between reformers led by Labrosse and a slate allied with the Zisas, but turnout was higher this year: 

In May, there were 4,143 total voters compared to 3,513 in 2013 -- a difference of 630, according to the Hackensack City Clerk's Office.

Real apathy

For real voter apathy in Hackensack, you only have to look at the school board and school budget election every April.

After their defeat in the 2013 municipal election, the Zisas consolidated their power on the Board of Education and in the city schools.

The school budget has been rising despite falling enrollment, but few city residents go to the polls and vote "yes" or "no" on the proposed spending plan.

That is the case even though school taxes account for about 44 percent of their total property tax bill.

Maybe, most residents don't know they can vote to accept or reject the school board's proposed budget.

A "no" vote would allow the City Council to examine the budget and recommend cuts, and any disputes between school and city officials would be mediated by state officials.

You'd think senior citizens who live in all of those Prospect Avenue high-rises would vote overwhelmingly against the school budget to reduce their taxes.

341 decide budget

In the April 25 school election, only 642 ballots were cast -- for a turnout of 3 percent in a city with 21,397 registered voters. 

And it took the votes of only 341 residents, including those who sent in mail-in ballots, to approve the $81.2 million tax levy (to support a $109 million budget).

Turnout in prior school elections: 1,133 in 2015, 864 in 2014 and 1,929 in 2013.

Crappy reporting feeds voter apathy

The official campaign photo of the Labrosse Team in 2017.

Elite pilots reject extra work to continue their noisy flights over poor Hackensack

This sleek but noisy business jet flew low over the Fanny Meyer Hillers Elementary School in Hackensack in April 2016 -- just one of the many hundreds of private jets that are destroying the quality of life in towns near Teterboro Airport, which caters to celebrities, CEOs and other members of the 1%.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Hackensack officials and residents know that many aspects of their daily lives are out of their control.

Property tax bills would be lower, if the county seat didn't host such enormous tax-exempt entities as Bergen County, Hackensack University Medical Center and Fairleigh Dickinson University -- none of which "give back" to city residents.

The quality of life would be so much better, if the city and neighboring towns weren't under the noisy flight paths of both Teterboro and Newark Liberty International airports.

And after a City Hall hearing on the abandonment of a quieter flight path for private jets heading to Teterboro, city residents also realize a decline in the quality of local reporting at The Record of Woodland Park appears irrevocable.

Six-month experiment

The Teterboro flight-path trial began on April 4, 2o16, and ran for six months, until last October, in an effort to cut noise for hospital patients, Prospect Avenue high-rise residents and elementary school children.

But the headline on The Record's story on Friday indicated the trial just ended:

"Relief from

air traffic

stalls for

Hackensack"

A much better headline ran on Thursday's report from the online Hackensack Daily Voice, which quoted airport and Federal Aviation Administration officials:

"Quiet Flight Path 

Was Too Much Work For Pilots"  

The lead paragraph:

"HACKENSACK, N.J. -- An air traffic control manager at Teterboro Airport said the trial flight path for incoming planes -- originally implemented to diminish aircraft noise and avoid Hackensack University Medical Center -- was too much work for pilots and thus abandoned."

The Record's lead paragraph on Wednesday's hearing talked about the six-month flight-path trial as if it just ended, and noted "there were few answers about steps to take next."

'Far less work'

Daily Voice reporter Cecilia Levine said:

"Testing began April 4, 2016, and ran for a continuous six-month period. Simultaneously, pilots had the option of utilizing the flight path that they were accustomed to -- RWY 19, which flies directly over Hackensack Medical Center [and] Prospect Avenue, the most densely populated street in Bergen County -- and other residential neighborhoods.

"That flight path utilizes an instrument landing system, the most common approach utilized by pilots which requires far less work than the quiet visual approach, officials said.

"Over the course of the six-month trial period, only 234 planes utilized the quiet visual approach.... Officials said the manual entry of landing waypoints increases the workload for pilots and requires a lot of 'heads down' time when they are supposed to be flying."

Levine also reported that in answer to a question from Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, "FAA officials said that both flight paths could work with instrument-landing systems."

Mayor John Labrosse's wife, a teacher at Hillers Elementary School in Hackensack, said on hot days, the windows must be kept closed so students can hear teacher's instructions without noise from business jets and other aircraft that pass over the school.

Filled with jargon

Record Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon quoted a lot of aviation jargon from Gary Palm, Teterboro air traffic control manager, for why most pilots refused to use the quieter flight path:

"One of the reasons given for pilots opting not to use the test flight path was waypoints.

"... A charting company removed the coding for waypoints depicted as visual reference points from aircrafts' flight-management system. This made it so pilots would have to input the coding manually mid-flight, causing safety and time concerns....

"The coding was removed due to pilots flying waypoint to waypoint instead of over Route 17."

Neither reporter defined "waypoint," which in air navigation is an intermediate point on a route.

New flight path didn't end noisy takeoffs

Was new flight path delayed or ignored?

Food coverage

The Better Living section on Friday and on June 9 was missing both restaurant inspections and dining-out coverage.

Since the weekly restaurant reviews ended last November, The Record has been running "food crawls," and articles recommending or ordering readers to try certain dishes and restaurants.

Trump presidency has reached crossroads, but no hint on front page of The Record

In this cartoon, freelancer Trevor Irvin quotes President Trump saying, "I have No Problem Testi-Lying Under Oath" about his conversations with James Comey before he fired the FBI director.

Cartoonist Randall Enos pits Comey against "Over Comby."

 -- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Last week's top story is what the national news media are calling President Trump's pushing back against the damning testimony of fired FBI Director James Comey.

But on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today, there's no mention that Comey's account of his interactions with Trump "could present a prosecutable case of obstruction of justice," as The New York Times puts it.

Record Editor Richard A. Green, the Gannett Co. hatchet man who has dispatched 350 employees so far, had only three main elements to play with on the front of the Sunday edition.

Selling out

So, many readers question the Page 1 play for a multi-million dollar makeover of a mall that is one of the paper's biggest advertisers (1A).

Staff Writer Joan Verdon, who has covered the retailing beat for more than a decade, notes that construction doesn't begin until the mall closes at 9 p.m.

Of course, Verdon can't describe The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack -- with Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and other ultra-high end retailers -- as the ghost town it is during the week.

Instead, she notes, "the floors are polished to a shine, the storefront windows are gleaming, and the mood is quiet and serene" (1A).

Jeff Sessions

But back on Page 4A today, an Associated Press story reports Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to appear before the same Senate intelligence panel that heard Comey on Thursday -- as tens of millions of Americans watched on TV.

Sessions was forced to recuse himself in March from the Justice Department probe of Russian meddling in the election after lying about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign.

Comey raised additional questions at Thursday's Capitol Hill hearing, "saying that the FBI expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he actually did," the AP reports, adding Comey declined to elaborate in open session. 

Hole in one

Below that story, USA Today reports Ed Russo, Bedminster's Planning Board chairman, "lectured Trump about the thickets of regulations designed to make it almost impossible to build a golf course" on the 500-acre estate once owned by automaker John DeLorean (4A).

"I'm worth 6 billion dollars and no little town ... is going to tell me what to do," Russo remembers Trump roaring back at the meeting nearly 20 years ago.

The president is playing golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster this weekend -- the equivalent of fiddling while Washington, D.C., burns.

Opinion columns

Today's Record does carry two opinion columns about Comey (Opinion section).

Columnist Mike Kelly says Comey wasn't "Captain Courageous" in his conversations with Trump.

Comey testified the president directed him to drop the probe of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's contact with Russian officials, and sought assurances he wasn't personally under investigation.

"He was Willy Loman -- the ordinary guy who just tried to plod ahead in the face of problems," Kelly says of Comey (1O).

I'm sure readers overwhelmed Google with "who is Captain Courageous and Willy Loman?"

However, editorial writer Bruce Lowry said in his column, "Comey came across as decent, intelligent, and most of all, credible" (2O).

"Indeed, the more I watched, the more I listened, the more I wished it was Comey occupying the White House, and Trump the one on the outside looking in."

Expanded obituaries

Fully half of Page 3A today is devoted to Adam West, who played Batman on TV in the 1960s.

In addition to running his obituary from USA Today, the editors asked Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon, normally assigned to cover Hackensack, to contact fans and comic book lovers for reaction to West's death at 88.

The deaths of prominent North Jersey residents were once accorded this kind of attention, but only a couple of those expanded obituaries have appeared since Staff Writer Jay Levin was laid off in March.

He wrote those expanded local obituaries for more than a decade.  In the months before he was laid off, Levin also began writing tributes to residents who have remained active into their 90s.

Local news?

The front of the Local news section today is dominated by a story on "wonder dogs" and "all things canine" at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus (1L).

Although there are nearly 90 towns in the circulation area, only eight are mentioned in other stories.

Five of those stories are from Bergen County, which has 70 towns and the vast majority of the paper's readers.  

Tens of millions wonder: Short of cutting off his head, how do we get rid of Trump?

"Real Estate President and Climate Change" is from Dutch cartoonist Arend Van Dam, who is reacting to President Trump's string of lies on why the United States is pulling out of the Paris climate accord, joining only Syria and Nicaragua on the sidelines.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The Record's editors, columnist and reporters knock themselves out today telling voters Tuesday's primary to replace Governor Christie is "predictable" and "uninspiring" (1A, 8A, 9A, 1O).

Massive voter apathy is cited in the election of New York billionaire Donald J. Trump as president, and bored so-called journalists like the ones at the Woodland Park daily are responsible for inspiring it in elections big and small.

Even though the election to replace Christie -- a GOP thug who has brought New Jersey to its knees -- is being overshadowed by the mayhem in Washington, D.C., that's no reason to dismiss it, as The Record does today.

As an aside, an apparent production error means Democratic front-runner Phil Murphy is the only candidate whose full name doesn't appear in bold type in the so-called Voter Guide to issues at stake in the election (8A). 

'Elections matter'

In Tuesday's Democratic and Republican primaries, as in the 2015-16 presidential campaign, the news media failed to hammer home the message that "elections matter and voting counts," as President Obama noted after Trump's shocking Electoral College victory.

Now, days after President Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord, citing bogus economic data, tens of millions of Americans are wondering how they can get rid of him -- without actually wishing, along with comedian Kathy Griffin, that someone cut off his head.

The surest way to get rid of him -- assuming he isn't impeached before 2020 -- is to vote. That's it. Couldn't be clearer.

About 35% of registered Democrats didn't vote in the 2016 presidential election, and 42% of those who stayed on the sidelines were black, Hispanic or a member of another minority group, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.

How The Record screwed older readers

From Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. For more political cartoons about Trump and others, see The Cagle Post.

Hackensack cops

A front-page story today reports the Hackensack City Council "voted to force" five police officers into retirement, and that all had been involved in shootings (1A). 


But on Wednesday, the day after the vote, the same reporter, Rodrigo Torrejon, said the action was proposed initially for seven officers, not five, and that most were "involved in shootings and fatal accidents" (Wednesday's Local news front).

"Six of the seven applications were approved by the council, with one tabled," Torrejon reported on Wednesday.

The Record's crappy local reporting helps feed voter apathy in two spring elections

The sample ballot sent to the homes of registered voters before Tuesday's non-partisan City Council election in Hackensack. Today, the Record's Local news section greatly exaggerates the number of votes cast for candidates on three competing slates.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: This post has been updated with the total number of voters on Tuesday, and the total vote for each of 15 candidates, including mail-in and provisional ballots. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

In two major articles on voter apathy, The Record of Woodland Park today refuses to examine its own role in low turnout for spring school and municipal contests (Page 1 and Local news front). 

And Hackensack reporter Rodrigo Torrejon greatly exaggerates the number of votes cast for three slates of candidates in Tuesday's Hackensack City Council race (1L).

"He doesn't know what he's doing," one city official said of Torrejon.

Less coverage

In the past 20 years, The Record's editors have streamlined coverage of school elections to the point where the paper rarely discusses issues or reports details of the proposed budget.

Nor does the paper explain to readers that thousands of dollars in property taxes go to support education, whether you have kids in school or not.

Torrejon's predecessor on the Hackensack beat, reporter John Seasly, didn't even bother to cover the 2016 school election in Hackensack, where nine candidates vied for three board seats and 44% of each resident's property taxes go to support the schools.

This year, Torrejon failed to report on the issues in the April 25 school election or discuss any details of the proposed school budget and tax levy.

He also didn't go beyond listing the four candidates' names, providing no biographical details.

Nor did he report that the Zisas were backing Team Hackensack, whose three candidates prevailed, just as they did in 2016.

Only 341 residents, including those who sent mail-in ballots, approved the $81.2 million tax levy on April 25 (to support a $109 million budget).

The vote against was 209, including 25 mail-in ballots. 

In reporting the results, The Record told readers for the first time the owner of a Hackensack home assessed at $241,342 -- the city average -- will pay $5,109.69 in school taxes.

Council election

Two major articles on Hackensack's non-partisan municipal election appeared last Saturday, three days before the vote.

Basically, Torrejon listed the two challenging slates' charges, exaggerations and lies about the incumbents' record, and then printed the Labrosse Team's response.

He actually quoted one opponent calling the city's ambitious downtown redevelopment plan "irresponsible."

Saturday's coverage also was the first to reveal the role of the Zisa family in supporting one of the slates, even though they signaled their bid to once again turn Hackensack into Zisaville more than a year ago.

On Tuesday, only 3,861 voters went to the polls in Hackensack, where 22,732 people are registered to vote, according to the county superintendent of elections.

Mail-in ballots were sent in by 267 voters and 15 provisional ballots were counted -- for a grand total of 4,143 voters, according to the City Clerk's office.

In a non-partisan election, candidates don't run under party labels.

Each voter picked 5

Each voter was allowed to pick five candidates from among the 15 on the ballot, so the highest vote-getter was Mayor John Labrosse with 1,944 votes, including 110 mail-in and 6 provisional ballots.

He led his team -- Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, Councilmen David Sims and Leo Battaglia, and planner Stephanie Von Rudenborg -- to victory.

The other candidates' vote totals (with mail-in and provisional votes in parentheses) were:

Canestrino, 1,852 (including 108 and 6); Sims, 1,933 (109 and 7); Battaglia, 1,757 (92 and 6), and Von Rudenborg, 1,779 (101 and 7).

All will be sworn to four-year terms on July 1.

The Record's Torrejon reports "unofficial results, not including provisional votes, show that the Labrosse Team ... received 9,233 votes total" (1L and 3L).

Although that may be accurate, Torrejon is including up to five ballots cast by each voter, and he does the same for the two other slates.

Losing slates

Former Councilman Jason Some was the top vote-getter on the Hackensack United for Progress slate, backed by the Zisa family political machine, with 1,365 ballots, including 111 mail-in and 5 provisional votes.

The head of the Zisa ticket, school board Vice President Lara L. Rodriguez, got a total of 1,313 votes, including 113 mail-in and 3 provisional ballots.

Their running mates' totals are:

Michael Williams, 1,267 (including 102 mail-in ballots and 4 provisional votes); Carlos Merino, 1,222 (101 and 4); and Rommy Buttafuoco, 1,195 (102 and 4).

With a total of 1,094 ballots (including 64 mail-in and 4 provisional votes), the top vote-getter on the third slate, Hackensack Strong, was Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis, whose term ends on June 30.

Here are the totals for her running mates:

Rich Cerbo, son of a former mayor, 879 (including 58 mail-in and 5 provisional ballots); Angelica Carfi-Mendes, 864 (58 and 5); David Dungey, 826 (53 and 4); Rafael Del Rosario, 802 (56 and 3).

The Record's Page 1 story today also refers to school elections in Cliffside Park, Fairview, Garfield, Oakland, Passaic and Totowa.

Comment on The Record

A reader of The Sasson Report who is a lawyer and a Democrat had this to say about The Record's story on the Hackensack election:

"Victor -- some comments on the Hackensack election: 

"1.  What were the people who wrote and laid out the article in today's paper smoking?  

"First of all, they say that there was split opposition and that is why the Labrosse ticket won.  There is always the argument that in a three-way field that the two losing sides cancelled each other out, but this is not the case here. 

"The Labrosse slate got 45% and the other two split 55%, with about 35% to Zisa and 20% to the others. If Labrosse had gotten 10% of the other slates, he would have won. One would have to assume that the third slate was to a degree anti-Zisa.

"2. Why and for what reason is there a map of the Hackensack election districts in the paper today -- it only fills space? You cannot read it and it means nothing.  The council members were not elected from districts. 

"3.  I read the Democrats' letter and two points are evident:  

"a.  It is in violation of state election law. I believe that any political mailing must have a line saying "paid for" along with the name of the treasurer of the pending entity. There is nothing here. There is also no return address and I believe that that is also required.

"b.  I note that 10 of the signers are lawyers and they have 'Esq.' after there name. Why is a lawyer better or more knowledgeable than anyone else?  When I am involved in a charitable organization or activity I do not put 'Esq.' after my name. 

"Further, having someone identified as a lawyer in this letter does more harm than good. One can only assume that the people are supporting this ticket with the hopes of a payback or a job.  Some of them were. This is clearly not clear thinking."

He ended his comment this way: "The only thing accurate about the letter is the jackass at the top."

Attention Hackensack: Don't forget to vote in Tuesday's crucial City Council election

Vote Column 2 on Tuesday to reelect Mayor John Labrosse and his team to another 4-year term on the Hackensack City Council.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

When it comes to local elections -- held in April and May -- Hackensack is known for voter apathy.

But Tuesday's non-partisan election is as important as the one in 2013, when a City Council slate of reformers finally broke the decades-long stranglehold of the Zisa political machine on this city of 44,000 -- half of whom are registered to vote.

Mayor John Labrosse and his team of reformers are facing a challenge from two other slates, including one backed by former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa; his brother, disgraced former Police Chief Ken Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr.

Zisas stand for greed, nepotism and politics

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.  

In Column 2 on the ballot, the 5-member Labrosse Team includes the mayor, Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, incumbent Councilmen David Sims and Leonardo "Leo" Battaglia; and Planning Board member Stephanie Von Rudenborg.

They blame Zisa allies, like the ones running in Column 1, for a "city budget with a $31 million hole" and a "Main Street on life support."

Labrosse and other council members accelerated Hackensack's ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan, expanded recreation, and delivered the city's first tax-rate cut in a decade.

One of the apartment projects underway in downtown Hackensack is converting the former United Jersey Bank and Bank of America building, 210-214 Main St., into 127 luxury units and three duplex penthouses, which will be built on a new 11th floor.

The Labrosse Team campaign photo: From left, Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, David Sims, Mayor John Labrosse, Councilman Leonardo "Leo" Battaglia and Planning Board member Stephanie Von Rudenborg.

The Record

The Record's Local news section on Saturday amounted to a Hackensack municipal election edition, with two long stories about Tuesday's City Council candidates.

One explored "a network of political donors, professional and political associates and family friends" connecting the Zisas to the so-called Hackensack United slate -- exposed on one Facebook page as "Hackensack United for Zisa."

The other reported on challengers to the Labrosse Team, including Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis, who heads the third slate, Hackensack Strong.

Both stories were by Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon.

Today's paper

Did anyone read Staff Writer Abbott Koloff's first and second installments of "UNSOLVED," about the death of a woman whose body was found "on an Oklahoma mountaintop in 2009" (Sunday and today)?

I just had a mid-afternoon cup of coffee, but still can't stifle a yawn.

The only local tie is that the victim, Jody Rilee-Wilson, "grew up in Roxbury," a small Morris County town on the fringe of The Record's circulation area.

Koloff is among the survivors of Gannett's layoffs -- more than 350 employees of North Jersey Media Group were let go in November and March.

Surely, his time could be better spent on real North Jersey news.

Zisas back Iranian-American, incumbents in Hackensack's school board election

Last Tuesday morning, these pedestrians were in the crosswalk and had a walk sign, but had to wait to cross Forest Avenue at Spring Valley Avenue in Maywood, because the drivers of several turning vehicles refused to yield to them.

And Record columnist asks if you're  'dying' to know worst crosswalks

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The Record's coverage of elections has gone from bad to worse, especially if you live in Hackensack.

On Tuesday, polling places will be open from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the 2017 school election.

But for the second year in a row, the Woodland Park daily hasn't reported on the issues involved or provided any details of the proposed school budget of $109 million, an increase of $5 million.

The budget has increased in recent years even as public-school enrollment is declining.

Four candidates are competing for three three-year terms on the nine-member Board of Education, but readers haven't been told anything about them.

'Zisaville'

Three of them are backed by Team Hackensack, an organization created by the Zisa family political dynasty, which ruled the city for decades.

The Zisas were responsible for bringing Hackensack to its knees, and holding it up for statewide ridicule as a backwater called "Zisaville."

Residents also can vote "yes" or "no" on the $81.2 million tax levy that supports the proposed budget.

Homeowners and other property owners fork over 44% of their taxes to support the schools.

A "no" vote would allow the City Council to examine the budget, recommend cuts in expenditures or leave it as it is.

Proposed 2017-18 Hackensack school budget

Team Hackensack

A letter from Team Hackensack asks residents to vote for two incumbents, Robin E. Coles and Johanna Calle, and newcomer Leila T. Amirhamzeh, an Iranian-American who is director of development for New Jersey Citizens Action.

NJCA calls itself a grassroots group "fighting for social and economic justice."

The fourth candidate is Patrick C. Allagoa.

Allagoa, listed first on the ballot, is seen as a protest vote against the Zisas' continuing domination of the school board.

School board member Veronica Bolcik McKenna is not seeking re-election.

In a March 7 story listing school board candidates, Record Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon reported incorrectly the two incumbents, Coles and Calle, are running against Amirhamzeh and "Chimelozonam Patrick Allagoa."

A sample ballot for Tuesday's school board and budget election in Hackensack.

100 days

The Record is running a USA Today story on President Trump's first 100 days under a headline that ends in a question mark:

"A bumpy 100 days for Trump?

That calls into question what even Trump's supporters would agree have been three-plus months of legislative setbacks.

The story is a lot more unequivocal than the headline:

"The courts have blocked his signature immigration plan. Congress has balked at delivering on his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The FBI is investigating Russian meddling in the election" (1A).

Saturday marks the 100th day of his term.

The USA Today story warns, "Just wait for the 1,361 [days] to follow."

Road kill

Staff Writer John Cichowksi, The Record's so-called commuting columnist, continues to make light of pedestrian deaths and injuries:

"If you're dying to know which crowded intersections require the most caution, here's a little ... advice to keep you from joining the ranks of nameless pedestrians who typically are killed or injured ... in Bergen and Passaic counties each year" (1A).

Of course, the pedestrians who have been killed are far from "nameless" -- The Record has covered the crashes and their deaths, sometimes in great detail, and has identified them, even if Cichowski has shown little interest in seeking justice for them.

His Page 1 story includes a photo of the second-most injury prone intersection for pedestrians, Essex Street and Prospect Avenue in Hackensack (but pedestrians are shown crossing Prospect, not the more dangerous Essex).

More errors

On the continuation page, Cichowski reports "pedestrian crashes" began plummeting in the same year as the crosswalk law took effect requiring drivers to stop -- not just yield -- to pedestrians in marked crosswalks [2010].

But the only data he cites is from 2015.

On the Local front today, the name of a teen-ager who demonstrated in Paterson against Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad was misspelled in a photo caption.

She is Mariam Alzouabi, 15, not "Alzoubabi" (1L).