NJN News; Tuesday April 21, 1998

I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's true.

Good evening. Case workers at the Division of Youth and Family Services, along with union leaders, are charging the Whitman administration as short-changing, abused and neglected children. The Diffus workers packed an assembly budget hearing today. As state house correspondent Jim Hooker reports, case workers say they're swamped and can't properly oversee endangered kids and families. Diffus case workers jammed the legislative budget hearing today to send a message that they can't possibly do their jobs right with the resources they've got. Commissioner, what is the current ratio of supervisors to case workers? But since these hearings are for department heads and lawmakers only, the workers and union leaders took their sometimes heated message to a state house press conference.

To hire 375 workers and 75 support staff, we need $20 million. If we just had what we had in 1988 in this division, we could meet these standards. Case workers say they want the state to follow standards adopted by the Child Welfare League of America, which call for a maximum 25 cases per worker. New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services averages 37 cases per worker. Until case notes get capped and Diffus staff are given the resources to do the jobs, things cannot be expected to get better. The state's Human Services Chief says the administration added 200 case workers in recent months and that he's satisfied with the current staff to case ratio. We've made real progress in the last year in Diffus staffing. We've added several hundred. And, you know, we'll watch it for a while when we, you know, kind of stabilize that get all the new workers trained and we'll see if we need some more and we'll revisit the issue again. Several Diffus case workers and union leaders also accuse the administration of doctrine caseload ratios by pressuring case workers to get rid of cases prematurely to bring their numbers down.

They say this practice, which the administration denies, further endangers the abuse than neglected children, they're assigned to protect. The workers are planning to keep up the pressure on lawmakers for more dollars with a state house demonstration set for June. The budget takes effect July 1st, Jim Hooker and JN News Trenton. It now looks like the teen mother will follow the lead of the teen father, Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson are accused of killing their infant in a Delaware motel in 1996. Grossberg is charged with second degree murder, but the plan testimony of her former boyfriend has reportedly prompted her to agree to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 10 years. Brian Peterson pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month. Both teens are free on bail living at their parents' white cough homes. Crime in the state's largest city is dropping. According to statistics released by Newark's mayor and police director, violent crime in the first quarter of 1998 fell 23%. Non-violent crime dropped 27%. An overall crime by 25%. Seven of eight categories experienced reductions with burglary seeing the biggest drop. Only the homicide rate remained the same.

The same period of time are down 30% versus last year. So it all goes toward our big focus of creating an agency that's more responsive to the community. It's more reflective of the community as witnessed by the class that we hired recently. And again, it's going to be and will continue to be a positive force in Newark's reemergence. Newark fire officials say that department is witnessing a 30 year low in fire incidents. The number of fires in the city fell nearly 25%. The number of false alarms dropped 35%. It won't guarantee savings for all good drivers in New Jersey. So says Governor Whitman about the assembly's auto insurance reform bill passed yesterday. The measure which differs from the Senate version eliminates urban caps. Whitman doesn't like it. I'm waiting 25 years. I don't want to see a ping pong effect start to happen between the Senate amending the assembly bill sending it back to the assembly, which amends it again and back and forth. So I urge the Senate to vote on this bill and pass it and give it to me and I will conditionally veto it to bring it in line with what I proposed is constituting real automobile insurance in the first place.

Senate President Donald D. Francesco says the assembly version could pass in the upper house next Monday, but only to let the governor conditionally veto it. Trash haulers have announced that they're suing Atlantic and Gloucester counties. They maintain the counties have no authority to levy so-called environmental investment charges to help defray the debt for county run incinerators and garbage collection stations. The program emerged last year after federal courts ruled municipal governments cannot require local haulers to use government run trash dumps. Tomorrow is Earth Day and all this week environmental issues and causes are in the wind. For example, today Governor Whitman was expected to announce $200 million a year toward open space preservation. The open space issue was among the governor's commitments for her second term, but as environmental reporter Ed Rogers tells us today, the open space plan suddenly hit a closed door. Governor Whitman was on the hiking trail today. She had hoped to announce a plan for a stable source of funding the acquisition of open space in New Jersey.

It's a priority the governor made during her inaugural dress last January. A plan created by the governor's staff would have raised about $150 million annually, but the governor decided to back off on that proposal. It's what is the best balance of funding sources to do that and we hadn't finalized that at all. So it was inappropriate. Earlier this year, the governor's council on the outdoors had suggested a variety of options that would have provided $200 million in funding annually for open space preservation. Council members were upset because the proposal developed by the governor's staff fell short in funding and relied too heavily on taxing water companies. Environmentalists support the governor's efforts, but worry about the delay in getting a plan before the legislature invotors. We think it's critical that as the bulldozers are out destroying the last farms in forest in New Jersey, that the legislature and the governor come forward with a plan to preserve the last remaining open spaces. On the day before Earth Day, the governor reaffirmed her pledge.

What we're talking about really at this point is what funding sources are we going to present to the people because I want this to go on the ballot. Ed Rogers, NJN News. Moving from preserving land to protecting our clean water. Governor Whitman conducted water tests with dozens of girl scouts on a boat on the Delaware River this afternoon. Rich Young was also on board when New Jersey's top captain dedicated the tall ship. It's full of history and majesty as it sails up and down the state's waterways and starting today, it's New Jersey's own. It's official. The AJ Mirror World is a 70 year old one time oyster cruiser. Today, Governor Whitman formally designated the Mirror World as the official tall ship for New Jersey. And it's emblematic of the commerce that we used to have. This is what we used to see on the waters all the time. It supported an industry. The ship was built in Cumberland County in 1928. It's since been completely restored and now serves as a floating classroom for thousands of students every year. We are environmental education and specializing Delaware River and Bay stewardship.

How much of the sodium thiosephate we put in will give us a reading as to how much dissolved oxygen is in our river water. On this eve of Earth Day, girl scouts from several South Jersey troops collected water samples from the Delaware. As part of a science experiment, they checked for oxygen levels, a sign of a vibrant waterway. That science leads us to problems that are in this watershed and we need to address those problems together to improve it. How important is it to have clean water? Well, it's really, I mean, we use it every day for drinking and then washing dishes and everything. So it's really important that they're trying to fix it. When it's not used as a classroom, the Mirror World is open for public tours. It's based in Port Norris, but could be found in ports in and around New Jersey throughout the summer. This weekend, you could see it at a festival here in Burlington City, Richung, NJN News on the Delaware. The first loan to clean up and close underground storage tanks has been approved by the state economic development authority. The city of Elizabeth received a million dollars to remove 31 old tanks and replace them with four new ones.

The money comes from a log of an Whitman signed last August. It created a fund to be used by the EDA and the Department of Environmental Protection to make loans to owners and operators of old tanks. There is a federal deadline to upgrade or close all old tanks by December of this year. Today is school election day in New Jersey. Property tax is hanging the balance for New Jerseyans, but most are not planning to vote on their school budgets today. Voter turnout is usually light. Voters throughout the state are deciding whether to approve 553 local school budgets. Statewide, there are more than 2200 school board candidates up for election today. Most polling places will be open until 9 o'clock tonight. About 15% of registered voters are expected to show up at the polls. An ocean county community has taken a few licks from a US district court judge, Stafford Township Mayor, though, he says he's still not giving up on the community's goal to silence and ice cream vendors' musical rendition of Turkey in the straw. Last month, the Township Council approved an ordinance banning ice cream-talked music.

Many residents think the song is, quote, as they say, annoying to the residents. And the mayor says he'll continue to do all he can to try and put a stop to it. Still to come tonight on NJN News, the New Jersey Devils are sharpening their skates for tomorrow's playoff opener. And a quilt shows how the gift of life is being offered in the state. I'm Sarah Lee Kessler, and tonight's health watch will meet a young woman who's recovering from anorexia. If you have a comment, call NJN News at 1-800-Jersey-1, or our email address, NJN News at AOL.com. Thank you.

Nationwide, there are more than 57,000 people waiting for organ transplants in New Jersey. The governor has issued a proclamation declaring this week National Organ Donor Awareness Week. As Trish de Gasparis reports, the families of some who donated and some who received gathered at one northern New Jersey hospital today. It was an unusual reunion today at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood for one family who lost their daughter and another who found life through that daughter's donated kidney. Diana Mossett was only 19 years old when she was killed in a car accident.

She had discussed organ donation with her parents so they knew her wishes. Diana's organs were harvested. One kidney went to Donna Keeney, who had spent years on dialysis and would eventually die without a transplant. We felt like they deserved to know who got the kidney, one of the kidneys from Diana, and that I am doing well, and it has helped somebody. Diana's parents say that knowing their daughter helped someone is a great comfort. It gave us the sense that Diana was still living on in a way and when we saw Donna looking so well. And her husband said to us, I'll never forget it, you've given my wife back to me. The two couples actually first met through a dear Abby column. Caroline Mossett wrote about donating her daughter's organs, Kevin Keeney read it and knew there were too many similarities to be a coincidence. I said, these are the people. They've got to be the people. And I went up and told Donna and she looked like a chill. She got to chill up my spine. Could you imagine if it was the mother of my donor?

Their story, as well as the organ donor quilt hanging in the hospital lobby, is all an effort to bring awareness to the great need for organ donors. Is it a tough choice for many people or rather easy choice? I think it's tough at the time of death. If people can make that choice prior to that tragic event happening, it's much easier for them to go through the process of donating and honoring it. You never get over the death of a child. You never do. They'll always be a hole in my heart and my husband's heart. But the fact that she lives on and is helping others that really does help us. Trishti Gaspers, NJN News, Ridgewood. She's pretty, she's smart, she's popular, and she's starving herself to death. She has an eating disorder. In tonight's health watch, a rare look at an illness that affects 8 million Americans. Health and medical correspondent Sarah Lee Kessler takes us inside one New Jersey program that's trying to save lives.

Were you happy before you came in? Like what made you come in? Because you can't even walk to class. How are you going to walk to class now without feeling like you're going to pass out? Tough love delivered anorexic to anorexic. This is a rare glimpse inside a group therapy session for patients with eating disorders. It's having a bad body image today. The medical center at Princeton has treated 160 people, mostly young, mostly female, since starting its eating disorders program two years ago. 21-year-old Shannon Walsh is one of them. My whole vision was totally distorted, so I could only see someone who needed to lose more weight. Eventually, Shannon lost 50 pounds. She could have lost her life. I was hospitalized six times. It's estimated that, you know, women who have these disorders for 10 years are longer. The mortality rate may be as high as 25, 30%. The death rate from anorexia, the starving disease, and bulimia, the purging disorder.

The final analysis these illnesses are not about food. People use eating disorders often to make statements. I grew up believing that anger was wrong and speaking up for myself was wrong. I had to do everything right or else I wasn't good enough for anything. Shannon, a high school valedictorian, is now back in college after a two-year life and death struggle with anorexia and bulimia. Warning signs include depression, anxiety, and weight loss. Any unusual behaviors around food, around meal times, preoccupation with their bodies. Dr. Willis says signs like these should sound apparent alarm bells. Sarah Lee Kessler, NJN News, Princeton. Dick's Business Report is coming up shortly. He's here now with a preview for us. Kent, more big profits for New Jersey's pharmaceutical industry. We'll have the first quarter results and a warm winter puts the damper on profits at one of the state's utilities.

Dick, you were saying that the baby boomers are the ones helping to rack up big sales for the pharmaceutical company? Well, you know, as the population of the United States ages, there's more and more ailments that come up and more and more people are looking for something to relieve those ailments. Boy, I'll tell you, people who invested in pharmaceutical companies a few years back are today counting their lucky stars and saying, what a great investment that was.

Well, New Jersey's pharmaceutical giants continued to make money as fast as they made pills for what ails the world in the first quarter of this year. For example, a 21% increase in sales of its cholesterol lowering drug provocol help boost profits at Princeton-based Bristol Myers Squibb. Meantime, sales of its old standby over-the-counter medication, et cetera. Soar, 38% after the FDA approved a migraine version of the pain reliever earlier this year. Profits at Squibb were up a better than expected 14% of the first three months of 1998. Madison-based sharing plows net rose 20% pace by continued strong sales of its clattered and allergy medication. And even a string of bad luck couldn't keep earnings down at rival American home products. AHP's bottom line increased by 13% despite of lost sales of two of its on its two weight loss reduction and weight reduction drugs, that is, which were recalled last fall. Well, the shorts and shirt sleeves of mid-January, remember this scene this year where there was not good news this year for GPU energy.

As the temperatures soared, its sales plunged. Today, the utility said the wilder than normal winner put a damper on sales of electricity, and that was a major contributor to lower overall first quarter profits at its parent GPU incorporated. GPU says its net fell 14% compared to the first quarter of 1997. While the stock markets momentum remained unbroken today, with another day of advances in all major industries. The Dow pushed forward another 43 points to close at the 91-84 level, the MX composite, edges up less than two, the Nasdaq composite gained 16 and 3 quarters, and the S&P 500 added two and two thirds. Interest rates continued to rise in the credit markets today. The benchmark 30-year bond offered 11-30 seconds in price, it's yield moving up to 5.94%. Anybody revising their prediction on the 10,000 mark based on all this? Well, here's Dave. Well, that a tagline. It's a guy from potential securities with a man who made the prediction, and then I don't have heard much from Joe lately. I wonder what's going on here. Well, check it out.

Thank you, Dick. When we come back, a check of our forecast is coming up. Jerry, what do you have in sports? Well, let's play off time and the doubles say they're ready. A preview. Next in sports. Great predictions for the Devils, huh? Right. Remember after the year after the Stanley Cup didn't make the playoffs, so you talk about high expectations. I tell you, after finishing the season with the second best record in the league, the Devils are picked by many to win it all this time. That's despite finishing the regular season with the 3-5 and 2 record in the final 10 games, but it's a new season starting Wednesday night. The Devils will try to beat the Ottawa Senators in the best of seven series in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The guys are getting a little more excited. I mention at a time that, well, right after the season that I didn't know where the team stand, you know, I wasn't sure how to read them, but with the late practices that we had, you know, I'm feeling good. Devils Goldie, Maritan, Brodura, and his team overall are coming off their best season, but he says they have to forget that now and step it up a notch for the playoffs. We're just happy that the season's over. It was a long season. You know, we're playing a lot of games because of the Olympics and stuff like that. Everyone's really happy that everything's all done and over. We don't have to chase any records anymore, chase anything. You just get to go and win some hockey games for this hockey club. When you finish with a great record, there's high expectations, and of course, those are there, but I'm not looking at the Stanley Cup right now. I'm looking at the first round. I'm looking at the Ottawa Senators, and we'll go from there because it's a long road, and that's too far away to look at that. I'm looking at the big picture right now, and that's the Senators who are a good hockey team.

By the way, the Devils and Senators split four games during the regular season, which included two shutouts by Brodura. In NFL news, the package Reggie White says he has changed his mind, and he will come back for another football season. And the Giants today released running back Rodney Hampton, the team's all-time leading rusher. At the same time, the team signed free as a Gary Brown from San Diego Hampton, game more than 6,800 yards in his eight-year career with the Giants. He says he wishes the team had released him at the end of the regular season, so he could catch on with another team. He only played in the team's final two regular season games last year following knee surgery. So, Kim, that was kind of expected because he missed so much, but he has certainly shared some good times with Giants fans in the backfield for the Giants. He shared some of his real feelings about this change in his career. Sure, for sure. No, he'll pick up with somebody I think. Thank you, Jerry. Another lovely spring day across New Jersey today with sunny skies and temperatures mainly in the upper 60s. The mercury hits 71 in some places today. The state house is showing lovely signs of spring time. The blossoms along State Street and Trenton are bursting with color.

Just look at these bright colorful tulips now in full bloom. And here's a look at our pollution watch for tomorrow. Modern levels are expected throughout the state. Here's the New Jersey forecast. In the northern part of the state tonight, it clears skies with lows in the upper 30s overnight. Tomorrow, a partly sunny day with a high of around 70 degrees. In South Jersey tonight, clear skies, lows in the upper 30s. And tomorrow, in the southern part of the state, a mix of sun and clouds with highs in the 60s. And finally tonight, Earth Week was in full bloom at Richard Stockton College today. Students soaked up some rays and checked out different ecological boosts that focused on cleaning up the environment who activities like beach sweeps, various groups like the geology and biology clubs had literature on display, as well as booths protesting the use of nuclear energy. But for some, it was just time for fun in the sun, while getting the message out to keep mother Earth safe and clean for future generations. Good solid message for all.

And that's our news for tonight. I'm Kent Matahand for Dick and Jerry and all of us here at NJN News. Thank you for being with us, everyone. We hope to see you back here again tomorrow night. You You

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