Some of the same Paterson officials who received thousands of dollars in overtime for responding to Hurricane Irene were paid close to $30,000 in extra pay long before the storm — and now they must give all that money back.

The state Department of Community Affairs ordered the reimbursement in a letter to city officials released Friday and suggested reforms aimed at improving fiscal management in a city that is routinely bailed out with state funds.

Paterson faces an $8 million deficit in its proposed budget. And by January, Governor Christie is expected to sign legislation that would provide the city with an additional $21 million in transitional aid, part of a $139 million package that was passed by the Legislature this week for distressed cities statewide.

Reforms advocated by the state — and by the local officials this month during a series of City Council hearings into the overtime controversy — would dramatically alter how the state’s third-largest city handles overtime for its hundreds of employees.

Chief among the recommendations from state officials is the removal of Betty Taylor as the city’s acting personnel director. The state cited her “extraordinarily poor” performance with respect to payroll functions and provided as proof two instances in which an extra zero was mistakenly added to overtime checks. One employee received $18,000 instead of $1,800.
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Herman Cain announced on Saturday that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

The news comes in the wake of Cain being accused of having an extramarital affair and sexual harassment charges from more than a decade ago resurfacing. The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza has vehemently denied any wrongdoing amid the controversy.

This is a developing story… More information to come…

ATLANTA (AP) — Rapidly becoming a mere footnote in the presidential race, Herman Cain sent mixed signals Friday on whether he would abandon his beleaguered White House bid on Saturday after a woman’s allegation of an extramarital affair.

He said he would make a “major announcement” on whether he would press on – at an event still being billed as the grand opening of a new headquarters.

It is the latest – and perhaps final – twist in a campaign saga that has taken the Georgia businessman from unknown longshot to surprise frontrunner to embattled tabloid subject.

He arrived at his suburban Atlanta home on Friday afternoon to talk with his wife of 42 years, Gloria, about whether to press on after his campaign was rocked by multiple sexual harassment allegations and this week’s claim that he had a 13-year affair. He denies wrongdoing. It was their first face-to-face meeting since the allegation was made public.
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Senator John A. Girgenti (D-35) of Hawthorne today thanked the many residents from around the State who donated clothing and other essential items to the victims of the recent hurricane and flooding.  Girgenti opened his Hawthorne district office as a drop-off location for donations last week.  The clothing collected was picked up and distributed throughout Passaic County on Wednesday September 14^th.  The Senator reiterated the need for food and canned goods for hurricane victims, and asked all residents to kindly donate what they can spare.

Senator Girgenti’s District Office is located at:

507 Lafayette Avenue

Hawthorne NJ

07506

Email: SenGirgenti@njleg.org

Phone: (973) 427-1229

“People were very generous in giving what they could spare, and we received donations from concerned and compassionate residents not just in the 35^th District, but from all over the State.  It is truly moving and inspirational to see the kindness exhibited by New Jersey’s citizens.  Many of my constituents are affected by the flooding, especially in the City of Paterson.  While there is still much work to be done, the items that we collected will provide them with at least a small amount of comfort and normalcy as they rebuild their lives.  I would like to say thank you to everyone who came by my district office to drop off donations.”

“Today we distributed the items that were collected, but this is by no means the end of our efforts.  I ask all residents to continue to donate items, most especially canned goods, food, and drink.  The victims are still in great need, and food supplies are running low.  Anything you can provide would be most appreciated, and my office will continue to function as a drop-off center for these items.”

 “Again, I thank everyone who has dropped off donations, and I thank in advance those of you who will in the coming days.  In the aftermath of a terrible storm, it is humbling to see the people of our State continuing to come together in the spirit of community to help our neighbors in need.” 

The past two weeks of flooding have wreaked havoc on Passaic County‘s largest food pantry for the needy.

“After the Labor Day weekend we normally see about 20 families a day. Right now we’re seeing 50. We’re packed from nine in the morning until 2:30 every afternoon,” said the Rev. Patricia Bruger, executive director of CUMAC. “Normally we put 20 to 21 non-perishable items in the bags, but we’re down to eight. We’ve literally had no stuff to put in them.”

The staggered economy and government cutbacks had already stretched CUMAC thin before the flooding hit, Bruger added. The number of people seeking food help in the first eight months of 2011 was up for the fourth consecutive year, and donations were off.

“You already had a lot of people with frozen salaries, declining salaries, less hours of work — the underemployed and the unemployed, who were a significant part of our mix of donors,” she said. “You and I might have put $5 worth of groceries into a food drive bag at the grocery before, now it’s just $2. Then the hurricane hit.”

Patricia Espy, executive director of the Center for Food Action — Bergen County‘s largest food pantry — said her organization is suffering from the same effects of the economic downturn but has seen only minimal impacts from the floods. “We saw a spike in demand right after the hurricane, not just for food but from people who lost bedding or all their winter clothing or their washer/dryer,” said Espy. “We’ve had a number of families who were displaced.”

But CFA’s food supply, while down significantly because of the economy, hasn’t seen the continued effects of the flooding that have hit CUMAC, she added.

Low-income communities like Paterson have been hit hard, but Bruger said CUMAC is also seeing families from unexpected locations. “We’ve been seeing people from places we’ve never seen before, people from upcounty Passaic, from Lincoln Park, even from Bergen County,” she said.

The demand on her staff just to collect and distribute food is so intense, Bruger added, that they haven’t had any time to calculate precisely how many more people have come seeking help.

“We’re so far behind the eight ball we can’t put the numbers together because my staff is so overstretched,” she explained.

Even before the floods, Bruger added, the pantry had run out of critical supplies like dry cereal and canned meat products. And those foods are particularly needed by flood victims. “We’re seeing people with no power in their homes, no way to store food or cook it. They need food they can eat right now without preparing it. They need that pop top can of meat or that cereal,” she said. Now, “many of our food shelves are filled instead with donated clothing for us to give out.”

The foods CUMAC needs most are cereal, high-protein items (particularly canned tuna, canned chicken, frozen meats and canned beans), peanut butter and jelly, pasta and tomato sauce.

Anyone wishing to donate food can call CUMAC at 973-742-5518. To give cash, visit cumacecho.org and click on the “Donate Now” button or send a check payable to CUMAC at PO Box 2721, Paterson, NJ 07509.

To help CFA, visit cfanj.org and click on the “Ways to Give” button, call 201-569-1804, ext. 25, or send a check to the Center for Food Action, 192A W. Demarest Ave., Englewood, NJ 07631, attention:

CLIFTON — Police are looking for a man who slashed a barbershop worker from his face to his chest in what investigators believe was a random act of violence.

The 20-year-old employee at a Lexington Avenue barbershop was closing up just after 10 p.m. Tuesday when a man in his 20s walked in and slashed him in the face and chest, said Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken. The attacker fled.

The victim was left with a deep, long cut that ran from his face to his chest. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center where he was treated and later released.

Police do not have a motive in the slashing and said it appeared that nothing was taken from the shop and that the victim did not know his attacker. It was unclear if the attacker had a knife, box cutter, razor blade or some other weapon.

“It’s appearing to be, in the initial stages, a random act of violence,” Bracken said.

The investigation is ongoing, he said. Detectives ask anyone with information to call 973-470-5908.

In late June, Gov. Chris Christie flew to Colorado and motored out to Vail, where he gave the keynote speech to a group of wealthy conservative donors shepherded to the playground of the rich and famous by David Koch.

Koch along with his brother Charles is the owner of Koch Industries and a founder of Americans for Prosperity.

Mother Jones magazine obtained the audio of Christie’s speech, which until the magazine obtained recordings of it, had gone unreported.

The governor had the affluent crowd rolling in the aisles as he regaled them with tales of derring-do in his never ending battle with New Jersey’s Democratic legislature.

The Christie-shtick that drew the most laughs, however, was not when he called the Democrats “stupid” for pushing the millionaire’s tax when they knew he’d wipe it out with one stroke of the veto pen, but when he did a (damn good) impression of former Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine wheeling his cot into the governor’s office to wait out the government shut down.

Among the revelations in the leaked audio is Christie’s account of a conversation between him and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver where he said Oliver told him she might not survive the pension and benefits vote about to take place in her house. The bill to reform pension and health benefits for state workers was wildly unpopular in her caucus and Oliver knew she was risking her neck in ramming it through.

At the speaker’s request, Christie said he had lined up enough Republican votes in the lower chamber to keep Oliver in power should her caucus have tried to take her out.

“I said Sheila Oliver is under siege. And she wants to do the right thing. And we cannot be slaves to party or partisanship. She is right on this issue and she is with us on this issue,” Christie said he told Assembly Republicans. “So if they take a run at her on the floor, I need all of you to vote for her for Speaker.”

Several Democratic sources said at the time Oliver was in little actual danger because no potential opponent for the speakership had lined up enough votes to take her out. Nevertheless, according to Christie, Oliver was nervous enough that she sought Christie’s assurance that his party would back her.

Here is the Mother Jones story as well as a link to the audio of the event.

Below is a transcript of Christie’s speech courtesy of Brad Blog.

David, thank you very much for the introduction and thank you all of you for the great welcome. Not just now but throughout the day today. I’ve had an opportunity to meet many of you and to be able to thank you personally for what you’re doing to support folks like me who are out there on the front lines fighting for the principles and the values that we believe in. Believe me, now’s the time, and I’ve heard this repeated many times today, now’s the time when we need to fight even harder because the opponents of what we want to try to maintain in our country are fighting harder than ever. And I’ll state to you why I think it is that they’re fighting even harder than ever as we discuss these issues tonight.

Paterson’s underperforming schools would be the focus of an ambitious plan this year to bring “innovation zones” aimed at boosting student achievement scores by double digits.

Schools Superintendent Donnie W. Evans outlined the plan at Wednesday’s Board of Education workshop.

The plan calls for targeting 17 schools, including one charter school, that would undergo what Evans described as “managed instruction.” It would also try to streamline and reform basic school processes.

“Our processes stink,” Evans told the board, using the example of one mother who, earlier in the meeting, described an excruciating experience she had with the district’s school choice program.

Evans said the plan calls for the district to directly manage instruction to ensure that all students are taught the same comprehensive curriculum, and that all teachers know how to teach it.

To do so, the district would hire the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Learning to providing training and support.

In its first year, the plan would include elementary schools Nos. 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18. 20, 23, 25, 26 as well as the Frank Napier Jr., Norman S. Weir and the New Roberto Clemente schools.

It would also include Eastside High School with its three academies for culinary arts, technology and government, plus the International/Garrett Morgan school and the Community Charter School.

Evans said the schools were chosen because either the district or the state education department identified them as low-performing.

“If done right, we can’t help but improve student achievement,” Evans said.

Irene Sterling, president of the Paterson Education Fund, a non-profit advocacy group, described the plan as a major change for the district. She urged the board to adopt it even though it will likely spark criticism.

School Board member Christopher Irving questioned why the charter school was included in the plan, instead of an additional district school.

Evans replied that there would be no additional cost for including the charter in the program.

The new plan comes at a time when the most recent New Jersey ASK (Assessment of Skills and Knowledge) scores showed overall improvement in math proficiency in the district, but a decline in science and a slight decrease in language arts.

It also comes at a time when the state education department has offered Evans a one-year contract extension after which he would be judged on progress in student academic achievement.

If Evans declines the offer, state education officials said he will not be offered an extension when his current contract expires next year. Evans, who made $205,000 last year, has until Oct. 1 to decide whether to take the offer.

CLIFTON — Police arrested an 18-year-old and are seeking another suspect in two stabbings that happened during a brawl that broke out after a house party this weekend, authorities said.

The brawl stemmed from a comment made about someone’s song selection during the house party on Highland Avenue near Van Winkle Avenue, but police said underlying animosity between two groups in attendance fueled the dispute, said Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken. Investigators also believe gang members were at the party.

The party let out about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, and a huge fight ensued. The altercation spanned a block as at least 20 people fought each other while bouncing off cars with at least two people stabbed and at least one person injured while trying to flee, Bracken said.

Police were called to a Clifton Avenue gas station where two victims in the fight were sitting in a car filled with five people. A 17-year-old Clifton boy was suffering from several stab wounds in his upper and lower back, and a 19-year-old Clifton man had cuts on his arms and hands from what police believe was a fall while he fled from the flight.

Both victims were taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center and were released later in the day.

A 17-year-old male from Passaic, who also was repeatedly stabbed in the back, was driven to St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic with stab wounds. He later was taken to University Hospital in Newark and also was released later in the day, Bracken said.

Police arrested Felix Bonilla, 18, of Passaic in his stabbing, Bracken said.

Bonilla was charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He was being held in county jail on $150,000 bond, police said.

Police are seeking a suspect — but do not have an identity — in the stabbing of the Clifton teen in the ongoing investigation, Bracken said. The stabbing victims were from either side of the feuding factions, he said.

“Both of them are extremely lucky,” Bracken said about the stabbing victims. “The slightest margin either way: if the wound was the slightest bit to the left or right or a little deeper, you would have had a different outcome.”