Upload
asburyweb
View
215
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/10/2019 Asbury Park Press front page, Sunday, January 4, 2015
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/asbury-park-press-front-page-sunday-january-4-2015 1/1
The New Jersey government leftcountless children exposed to lead poi-soning in the last decade by divertingmore than $50 million away from ahealth fund so routine state bills and sal-aries could be paid, an Asbury ParkPress investigation found.
Diversions were approved by Demo-cratic and Republican governors, in-cluding Chris Christie, and the Legisla-
ture.The state also failed to implement a
2008 rental housing inspection lawaimed at reducing lead poisoning, thePress found.
Not spending $100 on a home inspec-tion “will cost you tens of thousands (ofdollars), if not hundreds of thousands,for every child who’s poisoned” andneeds treatment, said Ruth Ann Norton,
president and CEO of the Green &Healthy Homes Initiative, a nonprofitbased in Baltimore, Maryland, whichseeks to stamp out childhood lead poison-ing.
Lead, a toxic metaleverywhere in theenvironment, can cause brain damageand learning and behavioral problems. Ithas been deemed the state’s top environ-mental health threat for kids. More than5,000 New Jersey children each year arefound to have well above-average lead
contamination. Hundreds of those chil-dren live in Monmouth and Ocean coun-ties.
Thousands more — mostly minoritychildren in impoverished city neighbor-hoods — are at risk. The metal is in oldpaint chips and dust, playground soil andeven some imported candies.
PRESS
INVESTIGATION $50 million missingfrom fund leaveschildren vulnerable to
LEAD POISONING
BOB BIELK/STAFF
PHOTOGRAPHER
Alexander LopezGarcia, 4, of LongBranch has learningdisabilities that mayhave been caused bylead poisoning.
Lead,a toxic metal found everywhere, can cause
irreversible brain damage. It’s the state’s top
environmental health threat for kids.
But since 2004, under both Democratic and
Republican administrations, the state has steeredat least $53.7 million from the Lead Hazard Control
Assistance Fund to the general treasury.
TODD B. BATES @TODDBBATESAPP
See LEAD, PageA8
ON THE WEBScan the QR codeor visit APP.comto see a video onlead poisoning.
INSIDELocal boysuffers leadpoisioning, A8What is lead? A9Sandy promptselevated leadtesting, A9
Asbury Park Press :: Monmouth Edition APP.COM $2.00
01.04.15
VOLUME 136
NUMBER 3
SINCE 1879
@ISSUE AA1
BUSINESS AA6
CLASSIFIED D1
LOCAL A3
LOTTERIES A2
OBITUARIES A18
OPINION AA4
SPORTS C1
SUNDAY BEST E1
WEATHER C12
SAVOR SUNDAY NIGHTS WITH
UPSCALE TAKE-OUT
& ‘BOTTLE’ SERVICESunday Best
ECONOMIC REFORMS CHANGING CUBAN LIVES, DREAMS PAGE 1B
LAKEWOOD — The growing power of senior citizenvoters in the township has given older residents a new-found voice in local politics, one that already has ap-proved heating system upgrades in public schoolswhile cutting local taxes at the same time.
Members of the Senior Action Group say they areadding their voice to the political dialogue as they ad-vocate for their community members, many of whomlive on fixed incomes yet pay millions of dollars in prop-erty taxes while using few of the services offered bythe township and school system.
The group’s goals include reducing the multimilliondollar cost of busing public and private school students;stopping taxpayers from paying for the collection oftrash from businesses, places of worship and private
schools; and seeking improvements to the municipal-ity’s often chaotic and traffic-clogged roadways.
If the group manages to build a senior citizen votingbloc, it would become a formidable power among thetownship of 100,000 residents. Of the 60,500 likely vot-ers older than 18, 12,500, or about 20 percent, are 65years or older, according to the latest population esti-mates.
But SAG members say they don’t want to work in avacuum. The group has reached out to one of the fore-most powers in the township, the Vaad, to find common
Seniors bandtogether tostir up politicsin LakewoodGroup organizes info
sessions, voter drivesKEVIN PENTÓN @KEVINPENTONAPP
SeeSENIORS, Page A6
UPPER FREEHOLD—Local residents hope to put pres-sure on New Jersey Natural Gas to keep a proposed 28-mile natural gas transmission line out of their neighbor-hoods.
New Jersey Natural Gashas not yet finalized a routefor a 30-inch high-pressure transmission pipe thatwould feed the southern portion of the utility’s serviceterritory in Ocean and Burlington counties. Currently,the utility pulls natural gas from a connection to an in-terstate pipeline in Middlesex County.
Plans call for a new transmission line from Chester-
field Township in Burlington County, to North Hanover,Upper Freehold, Plumsted, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst before it connects with the utility’s sys-tem in Manchester, spokesman Michael Kinney said.
A group, called Families for Responsible Pipelines,has formed to push the utility toward choosing a routealong a Jersey Central Power & Light right-of-way andaway from residential streets. The utility’s surveyors
Residents gearing
up for battle overgas pipeline planDAVID P. WILLIS@DPWILLIS732
See GAS, Page A6
ONLY ON NEWSSTANDS: UP TO
$1,576
M E G A C O U P O N S A V I N G S ! I N S I D E
HOW DID CHRISTIE
SCORE ON OUR
REPORT CARD? @ISSUE