NJN News; Wednesday April 9, 1997 [Master, Original]

years. Yes. State crime figures show the number of domestic violence cases going down, but they're still concerned. We'll tell you why. Congressman Rob Andrews makes it official. He's in the governor's race. How key is the black vote this fall? Black ministers are flexing their political muscles. Team chemistry is behind a science project mixing business and students. Those stories on NJN News is Wednesday.

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Dick Forney with Business, and Jerry Henry with Sports. Good evening. Some good news on the crime front tonight, a decline in violent crimes and crime overall in the state. The preliminary state police report for the first six months of 1996 was compared to statistics for the same period a year earlier. Violent crime fell almost 9 percent. The number of murders was down almost 19 percent. Robbery fell nearly 14 percent, and arson dropped about 10 percent. Domestic violence crimes also fell, but not much, just 3.6 percent. Trisha Gasbriss takes a look at why that's encouraging news for some, but of concern to others. For a mother and her newborn, it should be the happiest of times. But for this mother and baby, it is the most frightening of times. They had to flee the woman's violent husband. They now find comfort at the shelter for battered women in Morris County, which serves 200 women and children every year. Those in the trenches here say, while domestic violence is down, statewide, there is still a great need.

Domestic violence continues to be a significant problem here in Morris County, as well as throughout the state. The number of hotline calls continue to be high. The numbers, while they have decreased statewide, there are 39,000 over 39,000. Reported incidents of domestic violence. According to law enforcement officials, domestic violence today is more often reported by the victims. Education and awareness are equally important in fighting these crimes, and we are seeing a greater effort on law enforcement's part to work with communities. A new program in Morris County to help victims is about to start. It's called the Crisis Response Team. A trained volunteer meets victims at the police station immediately after an incident. The volunteer helps with everything from legal advice to counseling. To be able to offer them advice and options that are available to them, to try and help them to make some choices for themselves. What experts on domestic violence want people to know is that the problem is still severe, and that it's happening every day.

And it's a very private, people want to keep it a very private problem, and so it's hard to bring it out into the open. But there are people who are living lives of quiet desperation, because of domestic violence affecting them. Trishti Gaspers, NJN News, Morris County. Congressman Rob Andrews became the second Democrat this week to formally announce his gubernatorial bid. The South Jersey Democrats started his day in the one North Jersey County where he won the party's organizational endorsement. Senior political correspondent Michael Aaron has our story. Rob Andrews came to Hudson County for the first of three stops today. It's a Democratic bastion and it's for Andrews. Like Jim McGreevey yesterday, Andrews' setting was a school. The same one President Clinton visited last year. Politicians these days of necessity have become philosophers of education, and Andrews revealed a bit of his. It does not mean glorifying tests.

It does not mean measuring your progress by how kids do, by sitting for three hours with a pencil filling in little ovals on a piece of paper. Let's measure how our children look and how they feel and what their self esteem is. That's the real measure of what we've accomplished in education. But he's not just a critic of standardized tests, like the other two Democrats running. He's really a critic of Christy Whitman, her auto insurance policy, her borrowing. Her plan is to borrow almost three billion dollars. You could build a lot of Christopher Columbus schools for three billion dollars. You could put a lot of people back into good houses for three billion dollars. But Governor Whitman isn't borrowing that three billion dollars to help you or your family. She's borrowing that three billion dollars to try to help her get past the November election. Although he's only 39, it's presumed that Andrews has been grooming himself for a statewide run for many years. Now that his moment of truth is here, he's extremely confident, despite the strong showing so far of his chief rival Jim McGreevy.

I'm supremely confident that I'm going to win. Andrews' wife Camille and two daughters accompanied him today, presenting a visual contrast to the lone McGreevy, who is separated. Like McGreevy, Andrews spoke today of not raising taxes if elected. Pressed on how he'd pay for new programs, he targeted high salary patronage employees in government. And they're in public relations positions. They're in government relations positions. They're in legislative liaison positions. In the real world, we know what that means. It means you hire your friends because they don't have a real job. Andrews' second stop was a UAW hall in Mercer County, across the street from a GM plant, slated to shut down next year. And Andrews is continuing his campaign swing at this hour in Brooklawn, Camden County. That's his old neighborhood, and the congressman is speaking at a rally there. You're looking at a live picture of the American Legion hall there. 500 people are expected. The congressman is expected in about 25 minutes if they hear what we heard today.

One of the new proposals there here is an idea for a garden state service corps for young people, comparable to President Clinton's AmeriCorps. And tonight we'll bring you all of Rob Andrews' remarks at this event in their entirety at 11.30 on NJN. Tomorrow, Democratic hopeful Michael Murphy will announce his candidacy at the State House, which we'll carry tomorrow night at 11.30. And on this weekend's on, the record will launch three weeks of candidate interviews, beginning this weekend with Rob Andrews. Okay. Pretty interesting time. Well, Michael, as the candidates make their announcements in their bids for the gubernatorial race, black ministers are already flexing their political muscle. State House correspondent Jim Hooker reports that in a tight race this fall, a critical factor could be the African-American vote. When former Democratic Governor Jim Floreo narrowly lost to Governor Whitman in 1993, political observers said a key to his defeat was that he ignored urban areas, home to most of the state's traditionally Democratic African-Americans. That's why Democrats successfully courted the black vote that helped send Robert Torres-Sully to the Senate last fall. Now, a leading black political voice is setting the stage for African-Americans to be recognized as a political force in the governor's race.

Or should be no surprise that African-American clergy or African-American leadership, for that matter, would expect delivery from these candidates. You cannot continue to deliver for folk and then settle for crumbs. The ministers counsel demonstrated its clout when they met separately with all three Democratic hopefuls. The candidates pledged to work hard for black support. I want the leaders of this group not just to have a slice of the pie, I want them to help bake the pie. I think that we need people in every community to be involved in making policy, creating jobs, running institutions. The reality is that I'm placing my faith in my future and my trust and people from all those communities, Hispanic and New Jerseyans, African-American and New Jerseyans, and others. The reality is that everybody else is talking and I'm doing.

We're talking about those basic issues, which are of grave concern, not only to the ministerium, but indeed to all residents of this community of Trenton, but indeed throughout the state of New Jersey. Whitman, who met with ministers in December, says her record will help her make inroads into the black community. I trust that as people go to the polls in November, they'll make their decisions based on the actual record of this administration. We walk the walk all the time. One political expert says the black vote alone in New Jersey at 12 percent of all registered voters is probably too small to sway the election for either party. He says that's especially true for Democrats, if Whitman continues to get strong approval ratings. The black voters contribute anywhere from four to eight percentage points of the total spread between the Republican and Democratic candidate. So that matters on the margin, but if the race isn't marginal, if the race isn't close, it's not enough to get you there. The ministers say neither political party should take the black vote for granted, pointing out it helped Republican Tom Kane win an impressive re-election victory in the 1980s. Jim Hooker, NJN News.

There's more news ahead tonight on NJN News. The science of teamwork is making a difference at some Mercer County schools and some fun events for hundreds of students today had some serious lessons attached. All in Hale, the co-discoverer of Hale Bob Comet says U.S. schools are not making science a priority and that students here lag behind the rest of the world in that area. Those comments come as a few New Jersey companies have teamed up with local schools to foster science education.

On tonight's education agenda, Rich Young profiles an award-winning local effort to get kids interested in science. This is the science exploratory at the Ben Franklin School in Lawrence Township. Three districts, Lawrence, Ewing and West Windsor Plainsboro have signed on with several local companies and a project called Bridges to the future. The idea to get kids as young as five interested in science. Kids are really natural scientists. Science is really something that isn't something for the elite, which is a mistake that I think we've made in the way we've presented. It's really a natural human activity. That's what companies, including Bristol Wires, Squibb, Union Camp and others believe and so they give money, materials and human resources to change that. Today, first graders in Sonya Polikalcis class got a hands-on lesson on what's found in dirt. You find anything? Here we have found three worms. Three worms? Where are they?

The hands-on method to science learning is really not that new. What makes this program unique is that teachers take a back seat approach to the classroom. Rather than telling kids what's in a pile of dirt, the kids get to look for themselves. The teacher just acts as a guide. Instead of being teacher-directed, the children are doing the investigating and they're discovering on their own. The science-only classroom is filled with scientific tools from oversized microscopes to a big aquarium. Most kids think it's fun. The sponsors look to the future. The reform really consists of bringing the hands of the kids onto the science. And that's really to breed the excitement that we as scientists have felt and which has guided us to become scientists. This program is getting an award next month from the Association of Partners and Education for its effort in bringing schools and outside resources together. Rich Young, NJN News, Lawrence Township. Hundreds turned out on the campus of Richard Stockton College in Atlanta County today in the name of Cultural Harmony. Students, teachers, public officials, and law enforcement agents from across the state gathered for the fourth annual cheer conference.

That stands for civility, harmony, education, environment, and respect. We firmly believe that unless you have the respect and harmony, it's very difficult for students to learn. So this particular one is called to the ends of the rainbow. And we're using the colors of the rainbow to show harmony. As you can see, the program featured interactive workshops providing lessons on trust, tolerance, and cooperation. These middle schoolers were kicking up their heels today with the help of the Alvin Ali Repertory Ensemble. With the help of an arts grad, students said, Hedgepeth Williams Middle School got a chance to experience the art of dance and learn firsthand about careers in the arts. Left, turn to the left, repeat, right, turn to the left, left, turn to the left. The program will conclude with a field trip in Princeton to Princeton next week to see the Alvin Ali American Dance Theater perform. Still ahead tonight on NJN News, a legendary New Jersey restaurant closes up shop.

And in our business report, some New Jersey cable customers will soon dial up more than TV. How many of you out here like magic? Do you like magic? Well, so do I. And making music fun, Sesame Street goes to the symphonies. Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Dick Forney are among the celebrities who have sipped and stepped at the knife and fork in Atlantic City. The landmark restaurant has shut its doors forever, though, after seven decades as a fixture in the resort town.

This past winter, 79-year-old owner Mac Lutz never opened up the restaurant that was featured in the 1981 movie Atlantic City. Now there are plans to sell the four-story Flemish-style building. Lutz says he wants out because it just isn't fun anymore. No more lobster for Diablo for you. That's too bad, though, it is. Take it away, Dick. Well, Kent, what a Wall Street can be a fickle lover of stocks. Today's hot property can be replaced by an Anjaneu in the business in the blink of an eye. Maybe the case with Hunter and County-based Merck. The Prince of Pharmaceutical stocks has been hit with a wave of selling brought on by brokerage house advice. Analysts are concerned, they say, about a host of patents on popular Merck drugs, which will expire in the early part of the 21st century. And that it's not producing new ones fast enough.

Meanwhile, Warner Lambert has become the darling of Wall Street set with a new anti-cholesterol drug called Lipitor, which competes head-to-head with Merck's Zokor. In today's trading, Merck's stock dropped more than $3 a share, while shares of Morris County-based Warner Lambert were bit up more than $1 each. Comcast cable customers in Central and Northern New Jersey are about to get internet access through their TV cable at home. Comcast says its middle-sex county subscribers will be the first to get access to the information superhighway and speeds many times faster than currently available through telephone dial-up services. It's on all the time. We call it a web tone. You're always connected. You don't dial up. You get unlimited access. You get email, chat, news groups, your own personal web space. I don't know. Any other ISP out there that's offering anything that we don't, but we don't intend to. Comcast calls its internet access Comcast at home, the monthly charge for the internet service, about $40 a month for its cable subscribers. Comcast has 900,000 homes wired in 13 New Jersey counties.

The selling in the stock of Merck helped pull down the rest of the stock market today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which Merck is a major component. Slip, 45 and a third, to close at the 65, 63 level. The MX Composite rose one and a half. The NASDAQ Composite dropped nearly 8, and the Standard Imports 500 fell 5 and a half. Bonds were little changed, with a 30-year treasury off just slightly and the yield unchanged. Less than one week till T-Day, and the tax man and woman are wishing you many happy returns. Happy or not, returns must be in the mail by midnight next Wednesday. So what makes this a particularly taxing year for New Jerseyans? We asked an expert. Don't assume that your situation is as simple as it may seem. For example, if you're selling your house, well, there's a number of issues there. Can I exclude some of the gain from an older taxpayer? Can I defer some of the gain? How do I calculate basis? That's an example. Be humble. Sometimes you do need an advisor to steer you in the right direction. What about a New Jersey law? What has changed since the last filing year? At the state level.

Well, we've had an introduction of a property tax deduction or a property tax credit, and the taxpayers will see that on their form as they're preparing the New Jersey 10-40. Meanwhile, state treasurer Brian Clymer says returns are pouring in to the Department of Taxation. The average check is up. I think about $60 in terms of people paying us. We're running ahead of last year on returning refunds to people about even with the year before. Well, we'll have more with our tax expert on this week's edition of New Jersey Incorporated, and we'll also examine in depth the pending transportation funding legislation in Washington called ICT and what it means to New Jersey. That's New Jersey Incorporated Thursday evening at 7 and Saturday afternoon at 1 here on NJN. You're about these people who are sending dead bees and cockroaches in their envelopes. Oh, that ought to make it. That ought to make a big hit with a tax ban. Prepare for an audit. Exactly. Get ready for an audit. Thanks, Dick. Still ahead tonight on NJN News. A check of our forecast coming up, and Jerry's here with a preview of what's ahead in sports.

Well, Kenneth's a busy day for college basketball coaches, including Rutgers, Kevin Bennett, the story next. So you're getting used to saying it. Rutgers, Kevin Bennett. Slowly, but surely he was glad to see us today, by the way, said hello. Today begins the National Letter of Intense Signing period for college basketball coaches. That means coaches around the country are busy. The new Kevin, the new Rutgers coach, Kevin Bennett only has one scholarship to offer. He was busy working the phone. Bennett has been on the job less than a week.

One of his first priorities is to fill his coaching staff, and he's added one more assistant today. Now it's two down and two to go. We fired two full-time assistants there on the path and working in Todd Koalczyk, who came with me from Ryder University and Rob Leneer from St. Bonneventure. And I feel great about that. Two great recruiters, great coaches, and we'll be adding one or two more. But that's certainly something that will not happen for at least a couple of weeks. Though getting a late start hasn't helped his recruiting efforts, Bennett says he's still going after size. They're the hardest guys to recruit, and it is very, very late. That's not to say that we don't have a shot at a couple of them, and we're doing everything we can. There's a very limited days that were allowed out until next Friday, next Thursday, actually. So, needless to say, I'm getting on a plane and no one's going to see me for about seven straight days because we've really got to take the next step with some of these players. On to the next level in Atlantic City today. The Seagulls of the United States Basketball League loaded up on New Jersey talent in the USBL draft.

Seagulls picked Greg Smith at the University of Delaware in the first round, a 6-9 forward. Others included Gidrius Adidas of Monmouth, along with Coriabano of Monmouth, and Carl Cochran of Stockton State. And... Well, this is basically a step of stone for me. We're going to go to the next level where we're going to see the NBA, we'll see the NBA, we'll have you. I'm just going to do my hardest to try my hardest to work with to my fullest capacity to make this the next level. And the folks in Atlantic City are certainly glad to see that because he was a star player at Atlantic City High School League right away from Delaware State. What was it, 6-7? 6-9. 6-9. 6-9, yeah. Thank you. Two inches. It's been a chilly day across New Jersey today. Temperatures are about 15 degrees below normal for this time of the year, and expect near record lows overnight. We'll tell you about it shortly.

Central and southern New Jersey are under a freeze warning for this evening. The high was 45, though, today, here in Montclair. But spring was definitely on the minds of folks at the Art and Floral Extravaganza at the Montclair Art Museum. Dozens of floral designers from across New Jersey created floral works, interpreting artwork currently on display at the museum. As far as our air quality goes for tomorrow, expect cold green or good air quality throughout the state. And here's that forecast in North Jersey tonight clear and cold. Look at that low way down there at 15 degrees overnight. Tomorrow sunshine with a high of 50. In South Jersey tonight clear and cold lows in the teens in the southern part of the state, and tomorrow sunny skies with highs in the lower 50s. And finally tonight, he's the people in your neighborhood, tomorrow aligned from Sesame Street. Bob McGrath is the soft-spoken guy who's fluent in sign language, plays the piano, and sings along with Big Bird and Elmo. And this week he's appearing live with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra,

hosting the annual Young People's Concert. Anisa Mejidi was there for today's performance. Good morning. I said hi. You can count on Bob McGrath to bring high energy to the stage and a real love for children. His name was Aaron Copeland. Can you say that? What a great way to turn them on to classical music. I think it's incredibly important that children are exposed to the arts. It's probably one of the most important parts of a child's life. And so off they went to Siberia. The highlight of this Young People's Concert is Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Keija, a story about a soldier who never was. Sergei Prokofiev originally wrote this score for a movie, which was never made. But fortunately, 10 years ago Bob McGrath got together with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

and designed this delightful production. Oh, my best men are dying off his sound. The Symphony's Young People's Concerts continue this weekend in Newark and New Brunswick. Anisa Mehdi, NJN News, Newark. He's a natural and appearing all week with the Symphony Orchestra. And that's our news for tonight. I'm Kat Madaghan from Dick and Jerry and all of us here. Thank you for being with us and we'll see you again tomorrow night. .

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