I've always hated flying United Airlines, but in New Orleans, not flying is the ordeal

Passengers on United Airlines' Flight 711 to Newark board the aircraft at Gate D9 of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Editor's note: This post desperately needed a new headline to replace the tortured syntax of the original, so here it is.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

KENNER, LA. -- United Airlines' Flight 711 to Newark appears cursed.

Every time we've taken it at the end of a vacation in New Orleans, we've experienced delays.

On Friday, we waited at Louis Armstrong International Airport's Gate D9 for more than 4 hours after the scheduled 3:10 p.m departure before we were allowed to board the flight.

First, we were told our departure had been rolled back to 5 p.m., then to a little after 8 p.m.

Our 737-700 aircraft and the crew also sat there all that time.

What storms?

We were told thunderstorms in northern New Jersey would prevent the plane from landing.

At Newark Liberty International Airport, the Air Brook driver who picked us up on Friday night after 11 said there had been scattered rain, but nothing he'd describe as a thunderstorm.

The phantom thunderstorms also prevented the departure of New Orleans flights to La Guardia Airport in New York and to Washington, D.C.

By arriving late at Newark airport, I also incurred a $15 night rate surcharge on our Air Brook ride home.

2017 vacation

After we attended the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans in 2017, our flight to Newark was delayed 2 hours.

The explanation: Too few air traffic controllers had reported to work.

I've always hated flying United. Now, I hate it for delays that have me not flying the airline.

On Friday, I was able to get earphones from one of the cabin attendants to watch a free movie, "Widows."

But the Economy Plus seat I paid extra for was so narrow, it was difficult to prevent my forearm from hitting the entertainment controls on the armrest, and blacking out the video or switching to another channel.

Instead of making do with a small bag of salty pretzels United Airlines serves on Flight 711, I stopped on the way to the airport for takeout from Banh Mi Boys in Metairie, La. I ordered a 10-inch Po Boy Sandwich stuffed with fried oysters and fried shrimp, dressed Vietnamese style with fresh cilantro, cucumbers, shredded carrots, sriracha sauce and other ingredients, above and below. 

Conveniently, Banh Mi Boys is part of a gas station, where I was able to fill up our rental car before returning it, instead of making a second stop. The sandwich shop is about 5 miles away from the airport.

Our first stop on the way to the airport was Manchu Food Store, a Vietnamese-owned business that lays claim to serving the best chicken wings in New Orleans, above and below. Tip: Order the regular fried wings to avoid what my wife said is excessive salt in the BBQ wings. The tasty side of fried rice contains small shrimp.

Humans dress up as lobsters but real thing takes a powder at Littoral Society's 5K Run

COLORFUL CRUSTACEANS: Runners who completed the 4th annual American Littoral Society Lobster Run on Saturday in Asbury Park were dressed colorfully, above and below.

CARE FOR THE COAST: The 5K Run/Walk was a fundraiser to support the Highlands-based Littoral Society's efforts to protect and preserve the ocean and coast.

HUMAN LOBSTER: Although runners dressed as lobsters, the real thing wasn't served in the buffet at the Langosta Lounge, a boardwalk restaurant I feel is a poor choice for the event. I eat there once a year only to support the Littoral Society.

PILING ON: For $45, my Lobster 5K Walk Ticket included the meal and some of the ugliest oysters I have ever seen, above. We were expected to pile all of the food, including fruit, granola and flavored yogurt, on one smallish disposable oval plate. You may not be able to find the Lobster Mac and Cheese (with hardly any lobster). Last year, each meal ticket included a chilled half Maine lobster from The Lusty Lobster in Highlands. That wasn't repeated on Saturday, unfortunately.

BACON, TOO: Not all of the food was healthy. Sausage and bacon also were served. When the restaurant ran out of disposable plates before the food ran out, two employees didn't budge to bring out real ones. In 2018, there was plenty of lobster in the mac and cheese, plus a half chilled Maine Lobster. See link and photos from last year's event below.

Read: In 2018, I headed straight for the buffet

    

 -- VICTOR E. SASSON

Opponents say Hoffman, running mates are 'using our cold kids as political pawns'

A flier sent to Hackensack homes this week shows an elementary school student trying to keep warm. The illustration dramatizes the loss of heat at the Fanny Hillers Elementary School, where "kids and teachers had to bundle up in coats, hats and gloves during some classes" this past winter.

Opponents blame Vice President Timothy J. Hoffman, who is seeking a new 3-year term on the Board of Education, for failing to include $1.7 million in the proposed school budget for a new boiler at the Hillers School to avoid a repeat of what happened this winter.

Smart Schools team allege board VP

lied about budgeting for new boiler

VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Opponents of Board of Education Vice President Timothy J. Hoffman in Tuesday's election say he still is angry "his prized $170 million referendum was crushed by voters in January."

The Smarts Schools team led by board President Lara Rodriguez want to take $1.7 million from "new school construction funds" in the proposed budget, and use it to buy a new boiler for the Fanny Hillers Elementary School "in time for next winter."

But they claim the Hoffman team "flat out lied and said money for the new boiler was in the budget, then ... admitted that it's not."

6 candidates, 3 seats

Rodriguez, Michael Scott James-Vickery and Ira Goodman are running under the banner of Hackensack Smart Schools, the residents group that allied with the City Council to defeat the grandiose $170 million school construction and renovation plan, which was on a special election ballot Jan. 22.

To pay for the work, taxpayers would have been hit with a tax hike of $308 to $650 and more a year for 30 years.

Hoffman's running mates are Yvette Washington Irving and Basim Assad. 

Voters can choose 3 candidates to serve 3-year terms on the 9-member board.

Reject $126.5M budget

Residents also will be able to vote "yes" or "no" on the proposed $84.5 million tax levy to support a budget of $126.5 million for the 2019-20 school year.

If the budget is rejected, the City Council can make cuts in the plan.

About 45% of every property tax bill in Hackensack goes to support the schools.

Polls will be open on Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Read: Taxpayers can reject $126.5 budget plan

Board of Education President Lara Rodriguez, left; Michael Scott James-Vickery, center, and Ira Goodman are running under the banner of Hackensack Smart Schools, a group of residents that mobilized to defeat a $170 million school construction and renovation proposal in January. See their ballot positions, below. 

Lara Rodriguez, president of the Board of Education, is at the top of the column of candidates, and her running mates are at the bottom. Voters also can vote "yes" or "no" on the proposed $84.5 million tax levy to support the proposed $126.5 million budget. That portion of the ballot isn't shown.

Attention Hackensack taxpayers, you can reject a proposed $126.5M school budget

In next Tuesday's election, the City Council is backing Board of Education President Lara Rodriguez, Michael Scott James-Vickery and Ira G. Goodman. James-Vickery and Goodman are members of Hackensack Smart Schools, the taxpayers group that defeated the irresponsible $170 million school construction and renovation plan (and 30-year tax hike needed to pay for it) that were on the ballot in January.

Next Tuesday, voters also can fill

 3 seats on the Board of Education

Editor's note: I corrected the name of the Hackensack school where the boiler stopped working this winter.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- In next Tuesday's school election, Mayor John Labrosse and other members of the City Council are hoping to take control of the Board of Education and cut the bloated $126.5 million school budget plan.

Voters can say "no" to the proposed $84.5 million tax levy to support the 2019-20 school budget, sending the plan to the council for cuts.

But sadly, legions of Hackensack residents don't know that, and in past April elections, the budget has been approved by a margin of a few hundred voters.

More than 23,000 residents are registered to vote in Hackensack, and about 45% of every property tax bill goes to support the schools.

Whether through ignorance, apathy or laziness, residents have allowed the Zisa family political dynasty to control their schools, which are known for high salaries and low test scores.

In the 2018 school election, the proposed tax levy proposition was approved 695-447.

Read: School board challengers elected,

 budget approved

Candidates

"We don't agree on everything, but we do agree on the most important issues," Board of Education President Lara Rodriguez was quoted as saying about her running mates, Michael Scott James-Vickery and Ira G. Goodman.

"We know that our schools are in need of major physical and technology upgrades. We know that our children deserve better ... in a manner that has the least impact on taxpayers," she told TAPIntoHackensack.

Rodriguez, Michael Scott James-Vickery and Ira G. Goodman are running under the banner of Hackensack Smart Schools, a taxpayers group that mobilized to defeat the all-or-nothing $170 million school referendum in January.

James-Vickery brought his family to Hackensack seven years ago from Mississippi, where he taught for 10 years. A strong advocate of special education, he has 3 children in city schools.

Goodman is a 17-year resident with a strong technology background.

The mail-in ballot I received shows candidates for three open seats on the Board of Education, and the budget proposition that $84,522,752 in property taxes be used to support an overall school budget of $126.5 million, above and below. Every voter can say "yes" or "no" to the budget.

A "no" vote on the school tax levy next Tuesday would send the proposed budget to the City Council, which can cut the plan or leave it intact. In addition to property taxes, the schools are supported by tuition from other districts, aid and grants.

High salaries, low scores

Zisa-backed Board of Education members have rewarded administrators and teachers handsomely, but test scores have lagged at the majority of the city's schools.

The average salary for an administrator is about $169,000 a year, highest in the state, City Councilman Leo Battaglia said.

The average salary for a teacher is about $83,000, among the highest in the state, and the school board spends $18,700 to educate each student, he said.

More than 160 students weren't able to provide proof of residency, but city officials believe the number attending Hackensack schools from out of the district is well over 200.

Old schools

The average age of city schools is 100 years, board officials said when they proposed the $170 million renovation and building plan, which included a new junior high school and parking garage on the high school campus.

This winter, the boiler stopped working at the Fanny Meyer Hillers Elementary School, and teachers and students had to wear their coats and gloves in the classroom.

Read: Zisas' Team Hackensack

 controlled school board

Read: Hackensack taxpayers

 soundly defeat $170M plan

Release of the Mueller Report would likely lead House Democrats to impeach Trump

President Trump just manages to cover his undersized junk with Attorney General William Barr's suspicious 4-page summary of the Mueller Report, according to this cartoon by R.J. Matson of Roll Call. You can find more cartoons on PoliticalCartoons.com and at The Cagle Post.

Last week's top read in The New York Times was a story reporting the special counsel's report was more damaging for Trump than first indicated.

A cartoon from Joe Heller, who was the political cartoonist for the Green Bay Press Gazette in Wisconsin from 1985 to 2013, when he was laid off by the Gannett Co. "My hands are clean," Trump says weakly.

The special counsel's investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, but the office didn't ask AG William Barr to release them.

Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer lampooning the conclusion of Attorney General William Barr, who essentially reduced the nearly 400-page Mueller Report to two words, "Not guilty."

The full report is believed to examine President Trump's attempts to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has Attorney General William Barr muting the report: "Exzzzzonerate."

After Robert Mueller made no judgment on obstruction, Barr stepped in to declare that he himself had cleared Trump of wrongdoing.

Cartoonist Jeff Darcy imagines the Mueller Team's summary of Barr's 4-page summary.

From shit to ritz, are these really the 'best' hamburgers in all of Bergen County, N.J.?

LESS IS MORE: A Pacific Salmon Burger and a Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger, both from Costco Wholesale, are all the burger I need. I slipped them into a warm Syrian pocket bread with a slice of reduced fat Swiss Cheese, organic greens, pesto and Dijon mustard, and had Costco's Ultimate Fish Stick and a Campari tomato on the side.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- With few exceptions, newspapers, magazines, morning TV shows and other media have done a great job of hiding the secrets of how food is churned out on America's industrial farms.

One of the darkest chapters involves beef, according to Consumer Reports, The New York Times and a few others.

But that doesn't stop The Record of Woodland Park, its affiliated (201) magazine and others from grinding out article after article on the 5, 10, 15 "best" burgers and hot dogs, usually made with mystery meat raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones.

I recall the shock I felt when Consumer Reports magazine reported in 2015:

Unlike grass-fed cattle, "in the feedlot, corn and soy are the primary foods, but conventional cows also may be fed candy, chicken-coop waste [including feces], and the slaughterhouse remains of pigs and chickens."

"They also may be given plastic pellets, which are used as a substitute for the fiber they'd normally get from grazing on grass," the magazine said.

Harmful antibiotics

Why should you be concerned whether the 100% beef hamburger you love came from an industrial farm?

"Many factory farms use and abuse antibiotics," according to Consumers Union, the policy and action division of Consumer Reports magazine.

"Here is why this is so dangerous: 70 percent of the most important antibiotics -- the ones we need to survive deadly illnesses -- are used on animals instead of people in the U.S.

"Overabusing antibiotics accelerates the process of antibiotic resistance. Already, more than 23,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs," Consumers Union said in 2017.

FREAKY: Blake Horton, described as an "intermittent faster," is the cover model for (201) magazine's April 2019 issue. He was photographed at an Englewood restaurant after he "hadn't eaten in 18 hours." That's weird.

(201) magazine

On more than a dozen pages in the April 2019 issue of (201) magazine, Esther Davidowitz and Rebecca King engage in the hard sell on "BERGEN'S BEST BURGERS" (Page 50).

Davidowitz is the food editor and King a food writer at The Record, my local daily newspaper, and on North Jersey.com, and their constant nagging may have something to do with why readership has plummeted since Gannett Co. took over in 2016.

On Pages 50-58 of the magazine, readers find close-up photos of the 15 so-called best burgers and the places that serve them, including a double cheeseburger from White Manna in Hackensack I don't hesitate to call shit.

I read and searched, but could find no mention of whether any of the 15 are made with grass-fed beef raised without harmful antibiotics and other nasty stuff.

Veggie burgers, more

But just when you think that's all there is, Davidowitz throws a few morsels to people like me who don't eat meat with photos and descriptions of three veggie burgers.

Then, to really confuse matters, that's followed with a two-page feature on "the man behind North Jersey's best burger," Steve Chrisomalis Jr., owner of Steve's Burgers in Garfield.

His burger was shown among the original 15 on Pages 50-58, but not identified as best of the best.

There's more

If you don't have enough heartburn, that's followed by another feature on Chef Peter Loria, identified as the man who makes "Bergen's most gourmet burger," The Matisse Burger (with sirloin, short rib and brisket).

Let's call it the ritz. Still, that burger is omitted on the pages describing the original 15.

And that's not all.

On Pages 92-93, in Travel, Davidowitz describes a baker's dozen of burgers she claims are "worth the drive ... calories ...and grease stains" -- available as close as Hawthorne and as far away as Morristown.

One served in Manhattan is made with sirloin stuffed with foie gras and truffles for $35.

All I can say is I'm glad I long ago stopped eating beef and poultry, and now focus on a diet of wild seafood, whole grains, vegetables and fruit.

I got agita just looking at all that beef, bacon, full-fat cheese and greasy fries.

The Record and NorthJersey.com lose even more readers in 2018, Gannett says

The Record of Woodland Park and the Hackensack Chronicle, a free weekly that no longer has its own staff, and reprints stories and photos from the daily newspaper. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Readers are fleeing The Record of Woodland Park and NorthJersey.com as if they were a sinking ship.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, daily circulation of The Record was 68,630, compared to 91,032 at the end of 2017.

The numbers include visitors to The Record's digital news site, NorthJersey.com, Gannett said in its 2018 Annual Report.

Sunday readership was 90,352, including visitors to NorthJersey.com, compared to 97,149 at the end of 2017.

That's a loss of 22,402 readers daily and 6,797 readers on Sunday in 2018.

'Bergen, N.J.'

The Record is listed 8th among Gannett's "major publications and their affiliated digital platforms." 

That means the once-great local daily newspaper published in Hackensack is ahead (in daily readers) of only The Des Moines Register and the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., but behind both in Sunday circulation.

The annual report lists the location of The Record as "Bergen, New Jersey."

Under bylines in the print edition, The Record is referred to as "North Jersey Record."

End of 2016

At the end of 2016, readership of The Record and NorthJersey.com was 235,681 daily and 147,609 on Sundays, according to the 2016 Annual Report issued by Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain.

Gannett bought North Jersey Media Group from the Borg family in July 2016 for $39.3 million in cash.

NJMG published The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, North Jersey.com and about 50 weeklies.

Layoffs

More than 350 NJMG employees were laid off eventually.

Retaining such veteran columnists as Mike Kelly, Charles Stile and John Cichowski apparently had no effect on keeping readers.

The error-prone Cichowski retired this year after writing the Road Warrior column for more than 15 years. 

Meanwhile, platforms for local news, including TAPIntoHackensack, may be drawing readers away from The Record and NorthJersey.com, which have cut municipal news drastically.

Read: Gannett admits circulation

 dropped dramatically after 2016 takeover

Read: What the Borgs started at The Record

 Gannett finishes with a vengeance