NJ on alert for possible Ebola, high school steroid scandal: First News with podcast
New Jersey’s First News, hosted by Eric Scott, written and produced by Matthew White and Patrick Lavery. Full podcast available below. Digital support, with additional links, by Dan Alexander.
METEOROLOGIST DAN ZARROW’S FORECAST:
TODAY: Partly sunny. Hi: 68-72
TONIGHT: Showers develop after midnight Low: 54-62
TOMORROW: Rain through mid-afternoon. High: 65-71
New Jersey Prepares for Ebola - While there is no indication the deadly virus has spread beyond a man being kept in strict isolation in a Houston hospital every one of New Jersey's 72 hospitals are on alert. Each has an isolation area when anyone showing symptoms would be placed. Given our closeness to four major international airports the risk here could be greater. Despite the small risk, even the mere mention of Ebola is having an impact on our daily lives, especially with parents.
- NJ residents divided on Ebola fears / NJ1015.com
In Dallas health officials continue to try and track down anyone who may have come in contact with the man infected. A Dallas family is now under armed guard, confined to thier home for three weeks under quarantine because the infected patient stayed in her apartment. Security was brought in to keep her there after she refused a vounltary request to stay home.
- Dallas household weary of Ebola quarantine / NJ1015.com (Associated Press)
There is word of another American being infected. A camera man covering the story for NBC news started showing symptoms this week. He will be flown back to the U.S. for treatment.
- Ebola Strikes NBC News Cameraman in Liberia / New York Times
Breach Fallout - New revelations by JPMorgan Chase add to increasing doubts over the security of consumer information kept by lenders and other businesses. The bank now says this summer's cyberattack affected roughly 83 million households and small businesses that use its online services and mobile apps. JPMorgan Chase says stolen were names, addresses, phone numbers and emails addresses. It says there's no indication that sensitive information such as account numbers, passwords, social security numbers and dates of birth were stolen.
- JPMorgan breach heightens data security doubts / NJ1015.com
- JPMorgan Says Data Breach Affected 76 Million Households / Bloomberg
Steroid Scandal - It was to be one of the biggest high school football games in central Jersey but the game between number 3 Sayreville and number 2 South Brunswick was cancelled last night due to a steroid scandal. Sayreville's defensive coordinator Charles Garcia was arrested last week after officers found a cash of steroids and needles in his car. Neither school nor state athletic officials are saying much. The game has to be made up by Monday, or South Brunswick wins by forfeit and the school board isn't planning on meeting before Tuesday night.
- Sayreville HS football coach charged with steroid possession / NJ1015.com
- Sayreville assistant coach busted on steroid charge / MyCentralJersey.com
Job Picture Improves - Unemployment benefits applications drop nationally and here in New Jersey, good news and good news.
- Applications for US jobless benefits drop to 287K / NJ1015.com
Grandmother Shot - A Newark grandmother was walking with her 6-year-old grandson Thursday afternoon when a man came racing toward them a gun in each hand firing wildly. She shielded her grandson and took a bullet in the leg. Police say she was not the target a man standing nearby was. He was shot in the foot. The gunman got away...
Making NJ Schools Better - We have great teachers, but we can also do better says Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto (D-Secaucus) who has announced the Assembly education panel will consider recommendations to make teachers more effective. The suggestions are in a new report by The Garden State Alliance for Strengthening Education.
- Assembly to study teacher effectiveness / NJ1015.com
Real Convicts of New Jersey - "Real Housewives" star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe are going to jail. The couple pled guilty to hiding assets during a bankruptcy. Teresa will do 15-months in a federal prison. Her husband will do 41-months. She will go to jail first while her husband stays with their children. They will each also have to pay over $400,000 restitution.
- ‘Real Housewives’ couple gets prison for fraud / NJ1015.com (AP)
- 10 revelations from Joe and Teresa Giudice's sentencing hearing / NJ.com
Tunnel of Trouble - During Superstorm Sandy a couple of years ago the Hudson River rail tunnel used by Amtrak and NJ Transit trains was flooded. A just-completed engineering report finds the salt left behind from the flood waters is causing major corrosion problems inside that tunnel but officials are telling commuters not to worry…
- Sandy flooding results in tunnel corrosion / NJ1015.com
- Repairs to Tunnels Damaged by Sandy Could Snarl Trains / Wall Street Journal
What Not to Do In Court - If you are appearing in court on a marijuana possession charge it's probably not a good idea to show up with pot on you. In Fort Lee, that's what Richard Thompson did. Security found marijuanna in his backpack as his entered the courthouse. Now he's facing new charges.
Fire Protection - How protected do you think you are from carbon monoxide exposure and fire? A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll finds only two-thirds of New Jersey have three critical safety devices.
- Are you risking death from fire or carbon monoxide? / NJ1015.com
Proving What You Learned - New Jersey students will have more ways to prove what they learned in high school and still get a diploma even if they fail to show it on regular tests. State education officials have unveiled a new test to be used for next school year. This year, the state is already experimenting with a test called the PARCC exam.
- New Jersey making passing new tests a graduation requirement / The Record
- Administration wants to be clear about PARCC’s role in high-school graduation / NJ Spotlight
Minimum Standards - For-profit colleges are facing an uncertain future in New Jersey as lawamakers consider holding them to minimum graduation standards or they risk losing thier ability to issue degrees. Devry University says that unfair since they teach valuable skills that can’t be measured in a graduation rate. Devry graduations less than half of its students. The state wants to hold for-profit schools to 75%.
A report just released by the state Attorney General's office finds flaws in "Lisa's Law" which would require certain domestic violence offenders to wear a GPS tracking device. The sponsor of the bill is blasting the report and re-introducing the bill...
- NJ assemblyman blasts Lisa’s Law report / NJ1015.com
- Another try planned for N.J. law protecting domestic abuse victims / Newsworks
in a few hours, a judge will rule if the owners of the Taj Mahal casino can stop making pension payments for it's union workers. Trump Entertainment says if they cannot it will hurt efforts to reorganize and keep the Taj open.
- Taj, union fight over switch from pension payments to 401(k) plans / Press of Atlantic City
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