NJN News; Tuesday May 14, 2002

mgm news is made possible by pfc energy serving customers strengthening the business community and investing in new jersey's future first union serve in the financial needs of individuals and businesses from connecticut to florida writes i'm communication solutions designed for the people and businesses of new jersey horizon blue cross blue shield of new jersey making a health care worker in new jersey's businesses and individuals the new jersey education association people who care about your experience and geraldine archives and it's election day in newark incumbent sharpe james seats that german city hall challenger city councilman cory booker says he's confident of victory as he shares his fellow federal managers are among those watching in your polling places governor mcgreevey cracked down on license broad insecurity at the dmv and why one university has decided to lower its tuition increase and good news for tuesday may fourteen it's election day in new jersey voters and twenty

nine new jersey municipalities are going to the polls to choose mayors and city councils the most watched political battle is a new work where federal monitors are watching the vote in the mayoral race has gained national attention and attracted major campaign funding thirty three year old city councilman cory booker is trying to topple sixty six year old incumbent mayor sharpe james james is going for a record fifth term michael aaron has been following the james campaign and joins us now from new york james campaign is built around the idea that progress deserves to be continued and rewarded and that the man who presided over that progress is best suited to carry it on whether or not voters see it that way this is clearly been the most exciting election in recent new york history and that five million dollars plus the most expensive city election ever in new jersey the motor voter morning in galilee baptist church in the south or near his home fans from voting for he joked for better man

it was the people when people by exercising their right to vote people went to date and so was the media and the candidates to accept the choice of the people in their prior to the date of the media said this candidate said that this morning in the most precious thing to have in a democracy the right people's james was talkative today i'm asking this campaign much of it allegedly coming from his players what is the point six hours and five stopped later james was a teachers union headquarters both candidates claimed to have a thousand field workers out today the james as the fault of the organized labor supporting is counting on that he couldn't resist the pocketbook or in front

of his supporters and we know that we cannot afford to have a transition the teachers union says it has one hundred fifty people getting up votes for james today reporter about what they'd heard that several book of orders were harassed earlier this morning have you ever had a day david lang and they waited and then everyone and everything to spend the great we have so much as a race so matsuda doc and then he talked about student seesaw out canvassing forum on their own accord students fighting for privacy or will not be imply not be a guarantee the camp they just say we like what's going on in your family was really say that they're out to demonstrate in place at ice cool to oppose common and the real deal is

the real building came charging his campaign slogan cory booker sometimes turns that into the raw deal that he says has been handed to newark residents james has never lost an election going back to nineteen seventy the scandal will see if that strain continues mr michael whalen and james election night headquarters you michel mayor james his challenger cory booker spent the day pounding the pavement thanking supporters and urging people to go to the polls sack rethink is following the booker campaign he's in new york with the latest sack it has all the makings of a victory celebration at least that's what the booker campaign is counting on its search algorithm brazilian restaurant in the iron down section of your victory will come down to how well the poker machine got their people out to the polls according to revamp a turnout was heavy all day early this morning cory booker short of a central registry

polling station cast to go in what has been a contentious race for prospective single city and urging supporters to come out and vote there were one hundred booker and his supporters spent the morning in the south where were they frequently came head to head with supporters games unlike previous virginia's elections down any given street and it didn't show any sign of casting ballots for field support for another guy been knocking on doors and fall banking are really are trying to just let people know that it's there's a day forward and serve our barbecue markets but with all the emphasis on getting people to the polls the booker camp also complained of irregularities at this polling station hopeless campaign plane to elderly residents were bringing people into the polling booth that's actually not new unless they have their enable

to actually vote for themselves in which case it can take either going worker anyone of their choice into the booth with them but our concern is that you have electioneering going on all within a hundred feet of the actual polling booth which is not legal an election worker told nj and that some of the residents were being insisted his quote they didn't know who was running an overt about some shenanigans of the issue is trying to do to undermine our efforts although those were expected never dealt with very swiftly and we're fortunate to have election monitors here and state police here sell everything that happens we're right on top of it and trying to sort of before it becomes of them because after taking an hour this afternoon to retire to a sensual an apartment complex for a nap poker was back out on the border is still here in these war this is where they've set up and this is where it will be later a concern as territory a stronghold and i guess what does have to wait and see what the return safeguards everything live in

europe and that you know exactly election workers at many polling sites have reported a steady flow of voters today in there to oversee the whole process or federal observers police and challengers as a retailer has more on that story let's win hispanics and many other troops headed to the life takes to make their vote count and whether those houses for the mayoral elections in the city is history making changes may change shape then why change something that so i was putting activity outside some polling sites as cars blasted campaign slogans and campaign workers from both camps inside federal observers challengers and judges were on hand to ensure the voting process was safe legal process as it's called weighs one machine wasn't

functioning every ten minutes that tell the city was great response the essex county superintendent of elections has normally about fifteen state police are assigned to new york on election day but because both candidates have alleged acts of intimidation and other shenanigans throughout this race additional state and local police have been assigned and i've been very visible throughout the city today i've never seen an election with this many federal marshals aren't regular police lawyers for all sides to meet some believe this afternoon the us attorney's office said so far no serious problems have been alleged some cases intimidation we were called the support of the board of elections and i have said that we had some allegations of some physical altercations on the george washington carver school publicly said they were responded immediately we had multiple reports of newark police are encouraging voters to vote in a particular way and the attorney general dispatched state police who handled the

situation the us attorney's office says they're looking into those and all allegations of voter intimidation but they say overall so far the election has been there and say there's a retailer andrea news new york with us now to talk about what we might expect in the new york mayoral race r nj and political insiders democrat rick think menand republican roger bachmann rick starting with you know how do you measure the race at this point there's no question it's a great day for north is going to be a lot of participation the people they get a rake and have a chance to have their say i think all things being considered though right now the famous abbey sharpe james but cory booker is that a lot of money they got a lot of opportunity to get his voters to the poles ride your many are saying this race is just too close to call how do you size it up at this point i say is about just that way can i think it is too close to call that life i think just given the importance of a living and so forth that the georgians as he might have a very slight advantage to be a long night rick on election day in this race doesn't

it all come down to who's best financed and prepare to get out the vote work and it's not all about money money is very importantly who's best prepared to get out the vote is really what it's about and money is a key element to that which you have you have to have the support of the people yet that people were motivated to help you and they have to know where they're going to get your voter's a place like north election like this yucky very specific about who you point to the polls yet to be very well prepared and have to have your supporters idea to be successful we heard a report roger about some irregularities of being allocated to allegations from the booker campaign anything to those a regularity stay here well you know when your career it seems the politics is a context for it can put their legs to be expected this kind of thing and you're you heard chris christie the us attorney has say just a minute ago that that there was really nothing to those allegations you think it's going to be a long night rider i just said so can absolutely i think it's gonna be very close i would give the slight edge to just like get a legislative to sharply because of the union endorsements teachers and so forth that we could be surprised are you going to make a

prediction wreck i think i'm leaning towards charges being the person is going to select any timeframe and my mom when my nose i don't think is going to set a long night i think a chord book is that i'm self rule that opportunity to win but i don't think they're going to be a quite get the job done on shared by ten o'clock or a no fly zone writer and rick thanks so much in the state's third largest city voters are deciding whether to re elected mayor who is under federal indictment patterson mayor martin barnes is seeking his second full term in office five candidates including three councilman are hoping to unseat him barnes is charged with taking bribes and favors in exchange for city business and in trenton incumbent mayor doug palmer is running for his fourth term the fifty year old palmer has been promoting the recent opening of the downtown marriott hotel in the capital city and the revamped waterfront area featuring a popular ballpark and i love the plumber hopes to fend off a challenge from fifty eight year old north world cup northward councilman w oliver about eli get elsewhere republican us senate candidate that was

forrester has released some financial information forster has used more than three million dollars in dividends from his company to help finance his election bid that according to file documents which are required under senate rules forced recorded an annual salary from his company of four hundred thousand dollars in two thousand won foresters shares of the firm are valued at more than fifty million dollars i'm a greedy today pledged to crack down on driver's license fraud and other abuses at the dmv state house correspondent jim parker reports the action comes amid heightened concerns after september eleventh the administration says the arrest of thirteen dmv workers on fraud related charges over the past year and a half led to the crackdown one of those employees worked at the lodi office where the governor chose to make his announcement we are committed to running the division of motor vehicles and unethical incompetent manner the citizens of the state of new jersey should add the reason more expectation for no less as part of the crackdown mcgreevy says six state troopers will move from part time to full time

duty investigating fraudulent driver's license and more vehicle title rings the administration also is spending a previously announced seven and a half million dollars to upgrade and antiquated computer system and begin criminal background checks on employees who really has also called on a bergen county congressman to try to secure up to two million dollars in federal funds for other security enhancements congressman rothman says he will use the september eleventh attacks to help make his arguments we know that one of the first lines of defense against these terrorists and those would be murderers of americans is our security check system but that security check system is severely undermined if a terrorist can walk into a division of motor vehicles branch office and pick up a fake id it's not that the money isn't there more vehicles agencies collected some four hundred and fifty million dollars in fees last year with just seventeen million dollars or less than five percent coming back to the agency's for operations

but mcgreevy says the state still needs to skim most of that money for the general fund because of deficits the governor indicated however that he's open to other changes wants a specialty empty study commission he appointed reports back to him in august jim harper and dan news lodi we'll be back with more in saying is coming up in just minutes fb most of us think of arthritis as a disease that affects older people and for the most part that's

true but as we learn in part one of this special health watch children can get arthritis to health and medical correspondent sarah lee kessler has the story of eleven year old lauren buyer of caldwell is one of three hundred thousand american children who've been diagnosed with arthritis or some form of rheumatoid disease it's an autoimmune disorder that can affect any joint in the body eating away at the bone this is the hand of an eight year old patient mr roshan right there been from chronic inflammation the joint daughter elizabeth shall i'm a pediatric rheumatologist at the saint barnabas ambulatory care center in livingston says people just aren't aware of that kids get arthritis to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is about twice as common as childhood diabetes but if he asked most people children get diabetes they'll say yes is not sad that yes most people do children get arthritis

they laugh and say no that's an old person's disease the fact is there are twelve thousand pediatric arthritis patients in new jersey alone but just to put it into perspective four thousand children in new jersey thats more than have muscular dystrophy hemophilia and cystic fibrosis it's quite a large number and apparently pediatric arthritis is under diagnosed the problem begins with parents who made this day kids aches and complaints for growing pains rather than something more serious things that would make me concerned are if you actually see swelling in the joint because growing pains you should say any swelling seven year old victoria bella peoria month bill was diagnosed at the age of four after waking up in excruciating pain when i asked her what she was feeling she said it was like a candle in her knee there's no known cause no cure but there are of effective treatments more and that interest is held watch sarah lee kessler nj and news

livingston says sennott co president john bennett is calling on governor mcgreevey to end the freeze and school age by may twentieth because many school budgets were rejected by voters last month some districts are now facing cuts and it says the state needs to focus on education and the state budget deficit problems and not building a sports arena in downtown newark or you know it was a total destruction and i think it's time that we understand that you can't talk about building an arena where you're not able to fund the education about the tax base in new jersey but that simple gentilly can't do much the same time an acclaimed senate republicans are united in opposing in newark arena while the budget remains on balance the governor claims the new yorker reno would not involve taxpayer dollars but that aid to school districts would come from public funds which is you know it's a look at what's coming up in his business report rich coming up what's happening on the labor front to new jersey are the latest jobless figures and april showers bring

good news for the nation's retailers the numbers and how the market's reacted when we come back the the business news some good news on the labor front of new jersey the state jobless rate has fallen for the first time

in fourteen months the unemployment rate in a project one tenth of one percent to five and a half percent by comparison new jersey's unemployment rate was at four percent in april two thousand won among the sectors adding jobs six hundred new jobs are retailers officials attribute the rise to the opening of to bloomingdales in one century twenty one department store manufacturing lost thirty one hundred jobs last month at the largest decline government payrolls fell by eight hundred april was the twentieth consecutive month at new jersey's jobless rate was at or below the national level which now stands at six percent as for the coming months more companies expect to add more jobs in the third quarter this year continuing a steady recovery from this past recession according to men power's latest survey twenty seven percent of company said they plan to add jobs in july through september wiley percent said they anticipate cutting staff the rest of the company said they either expected maintain their current staffing levels or were uncertain about hiring activities manpower talk to sixteen thousand companies as a part of its survey new jersey drivers are getting to more choices

for auto insurance but don't expect origins consumer first insurance opens for business tomorrow state banking insurance department says the company is targeting urban areas are rates will likely be a bit higher than average meanwhile rockers casualties started in affiliate called truckers against insurance in cherry hill it's providing insurance for customers who don't qualify for rucker casualties best raise those rates will be about twenty five percent higher consumers went on a shopping spree in april nationally retail sales rose one point six percent it's the biggest increases for the reported significantly stronger than economists expected excluding or those the commerce department says retail sales were up a strong one percent in april big gains were seen for building materials corn supplies and healthcare products as well as restaurant sales on wall street something we haven't seen in a while a strong today rally adele posted another triple digit gain investors wanted to applying road after the same as retail sales figures

they seem to be growing more confident of the consumer spending the economy's biggest component boy was also strongly indicating investors are gaining confidence in stocks close the goddess reasserted one hundred eighty nine points ten thousand to ninety nine among the broader market's the imf said it to him as they came to sixty six points as the p five hundred is up twenty to the bond market the benchmark tenure noticed and a half it sealed a five point two nine percent since that's rich so common injury and used how letter from the governor has state colleges and universities rethinking to which increases through fb if you have a comment called one eight hundred jersey won for our

email address at j and news that mgm dot org some of the state's colleges and universities are revising projected tuition hikes the governor had warned of on its intuitions are increased by more than ten percent and say john reports on one university that has now decided to change its plans while rowan university prepares for the graduation of the class of two thousand to the school president is grappling with ways to make up a twenty million dollars budget shortfall ron was the first university to announce it would hike tuition fifteen percent the plug on all of this going back to the drawing board after receiving a letter from the governor it said any college raising tuition more than ten percent would be audited were working to try to get ten percent ten percent is the number that the governor has indicated he would be comfortable with and ten prisoners a number that we're going to try and use our target the lead or unfairly caught a lot of the institutions off guard the government called intuition percent ludicrous state colleges universities still collect grants they still collect tuitions so for

a five percent reduction instead a certain colleges that a fifteen percent increase is simply not there barr says it will make up some of the deficit through the school's early retirement program something he says was not available when they initially made the fifteen percent announcement we are not interested in having a fight with governor of presidents lose fights the governor's but really the issue is how do we do the difficult task of ensuring that were maintaining quality and maintaining for a gold medal the new jersey association of state colleges and universities says all of these dresses are now looking to hire ten percent or less you see most of the institutions do everything they can to try to meet the target that the effect the governor's asked for that is can you get this these two issues the campus a lot less and that's what one's gonna try to do officials are the major problem facing major resistance is not only whether they will be accepted to a state school but whether they will be able to afford to saint joan nj and new that's nj and inside tents on a hand for rich and all of us here thanks for joining us and we'll see with eleven

for the latest on today's elections it's been there it's been the