Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Geocaching as a way to get the kids out and moving
The countdown started at around 300 feet and grew louder as we walked closer. My eldest child, holding a GPS device, shouted ever-lowering numbers as we walked closer to our destination a mile deep into the woods at Shark River Park. “Two hundred,’’ she said. “One hundred feet! We’re almost there!” My other two kids wondered aloud what the treasure was gong to be at the end of this muddy hike. Their excitement was palpable, and gleefully unexpected. It was, after all, a hike through the woods, with nary a game system or television in sight. Yet these young digital natives, inundated with more media than any generation of humans preceding it, were actually enjoying walking through the mud on a sunny day in search of hidden treasure…
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
An extraordinary outreach effort will have to be mounted to bring the benefits of ACA to many who need insurance the most.
By Joel C. Cantor [Joel C. Cantor is the director of the Center for State Health Policy and professor of public policy at Rutgers University. He has authored numerous studies of health insurance regulatory policy, healthcare delivery system performance, and access to care for low-income and minority populations. He serves frequently as an advisor on health policy matters to New Jersey state government. The views expressed in this essay are solely those of the author and are not endorsed by funders of the Center for State Health Policy.] The road to national health reform has been rough, to say the least. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed Congress three years ago in a cliffhanger vote following the death of Sen. …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
One of the few things educators and administrators agree on: charter schools need multiple authorizers.
By Laura Waters [Laura Waters has been president of the Lawrence Township School Board in Mercer County for eight years. She also blogs about New Jersey education policy and politics at NJLeftBehind.com. A former instructor at SUNY Binghamton in a program that served educationally disadvantaged students from New York's inner cities, she holds a Ph.D. in early American literature from Binghamton.] Here’s a rarity within New Jersey’s education reform community: consensus. The NJ Education Association, Gov. Chris Christie, Commissioner Chris Cerf, Education Law Center, and NJ Charter Association concur that the state's charter school law is broken. In response, several members of the state Legislature are working on overhauls, and last week a…
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
It's Air Quality Awareness Week.
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Tuesday, April 30
By William O’Sullivan, Director of the Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality: The Christie Administration is urging New Jersey residents to consider making simple lifestyle choices and changes to help improve air quality for everyone in our state, as we celebrate Air Quality Awareness Week, April 29 through May 3. Some basic changes to everyday practices, such as burning only well-seasoned wood in your fireplace, keeping your vehicle properly maintained, using environmentally friendly products or just turning off some lights in your home or office, can reduce air pollution and decrease your impact on the environment. New Jersey's air quality has improved greatly over the years as a result of laws regulating …
Friday, April 26, 2013
New Jersey’s leaders should make investments in proven ways to grow the economy instead of continuing to focus on reducing taxes.
By Gordon MacInnes [Gordon MacInnes is president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1997 to conduct research and analysis on crucial issues facing New Jersey.] Efforts to cut taxes died last year at the hands of lousy revenue collections and New Jersey’s slow crawl out of the recession, both of which made it apparent we need more resources to meet our needs, not fewer. But like a zombie, the tax cuts are back on center stage in Trenton. Like last time around, they are the wrong prescription for our ailing economy and won’t deliver the jobs that New Jersey needs. First comes the “invisible” tax cut in the upcoming year, followed by a phased-in “real” tax cut over the next three years. Gov. …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
At Assembly budget hearing, both sides map out strategies for long, bloody campaigns.
By Michael Aron [Michael Aron is the chief political correspondent of NJTV.] When the Christie budget for FY2014 was unveiled in late February, it looked like there would be almost nothing to fight over in April. The governor had taken the two largest potential issues off the table by fully funding the pension obligation to the tune of $1.6 billion and by agreeing to expand Medicaid. If the pension had been underfunded, the unions and the Democrats would have howled that Christie was a hypocrite. If he had opted out of expanded Medicaid, critics would say he did it because it was part of Obamacare and Christie was protecting his right flank at the expense of 104,000 New Jerseyans without health insurance and at a cost to the state of $227 …
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Geocaching as a way to get the kids out and moving
The countdown started at around 300 feet and grew louder as we walked closer. My eldest child, holding a GPS device, shouted ever-lowering numbers as we walked closer to our destination a mile deep into the woods at Shark River Park. “Two hundred,’’ she said. “One hundred feet! We’re almost there!” My other two kids wondered aloud what the treasure was gong to be at the end of this muddy hike. Their excitement was palpable, and gleefully unexpected. It was, after all, a hike through the woods, with nary a game system or television in sight. Yet these young digital natives, inundated with more media than any generation of humans preceding it, were actually enjoying walking through the mud on a sunny day in search of hidden treasure…
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The head basketball coach was terminated on Wednesday after a controversial video surfaced containing footage of Rutgers basketball practices. Was it the right decision?
Rutgers University Athletics Director Tim Pernetti announced Wednesday that head basketball coach Mike Rice has lost his job following the release of a video showing Rice shoving and kicking players and using obscene and offensive language during practices. Was it the right move? Pernetti has confirmed that the video was brought to his attention in fall 2012, brought to him by former director of player development Eric Murdock. An independent investigation was launched at that time, and Pernetti ordered a three-game suspension of Rice in December, and fined him $50,000, for a loss of approximately $75,000 in pay during the suspension, according to NJ.com. Rice was also ordered to attend anger management counseling and was monitored at …
Monday, April 1, 2013
Now that Christie has wrung the bloat out of OSA, it may finally start making a difference to poor kids.
By Laura Waters [Laura Waters has been president of the Lawrence Township School Board in Mercer County for eight years. She also blogs about New Jersey education policy and politics at NJLeftBehind.com. A former instructor at SUNY Binghamton in a program that served educationally disadvantaged students from New York's inner cities, she holds a Ph.D. in early American literature from Binghamton.] In 1994, Gov. Christie Whitman announced a plan, never endorsed by the Legislature, to offer publicly funded vouchers to private and parochial schools for children in Jersey City. Over the past 20 years, Whitman’s modest proposal has evolved into the Opportunity Scholarship Act (OSA). In its grandest form, inscribed in Senate Bill 1872, OSA would …
Friday, March 29, 2013
Today, March 29, is my last day as editor of Lawrenceville Patch. Patch assistant regional editor John Saccenti will be coordinating coverage of Lawrence Township until a new editor is chosen.
Today (Friday, March 29) is my final day as editor of Lawrenceville Patch. I’m moving on to follow a new career path. Before I go, however, I’d like to thank all the wonderful people – you, the readers – who have made Lawrenceville Patch the success that it is. This site has come a long way since launching in December 2010 and the reason for that is because of you and everyone else in our community who embraced the idea of a website dedicated to local news and information sharing. So, thank you for all your support and help over the last two-plus years. It’s been a fun ride. I think we’ve produced some good journalism in that time and, for the most part, have had a positive influence on the Lawrence Township community. Going forward, until…
Tugwalla
7:34 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013
kASS Check out this story being reported on ABC...The same IRS oprichnik who lead the tyrannical targeting of conservative groups now is running the IRS Obamacare division! http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/ more ›