DEP Report finds more streams, lakes, bays, and ocean waters fail to meet standards - trends worsen due to sprawling over-development Unsafe to eat fish from, swim in, or drink from most NJ waters Last week, we disclosed that more than 12.5% of NJ residential drinking water wells failed to meet drinking water standards, and that residents of more... Full story »

Yesterday I thought it was me. You know, catching up with the paper after a long weekend, sometimes you don't read it as closely as you might. Yesterday, by the time I got to Sally Forth and Luann, I thought I had missed Dear Abby or her once twin sister Ann Landers. Of course, things change. Newspapers change. But... Full story »

Teen pregnancy is a fact of life, like it or not. Hypocrisy is a fact of life too. So it's valid news when a self-proclaimed abstinence-only Mom apparently fails to successfully communicate values to her own daughter. It's kind of a leadership issue, in its own way. - joiseygal Having a child pregnant outside of marriage doesn't mean there... Full story »

When I read Sarah Palin's compelling life story, I feel a mixture of admiration, flat-out envy and incredulity. Mostly I just feel tired. Presidential candidates typically have superhuman energy; the campaign trail allows no time for naps. Still, even by those standards, Palin is exceptional.  Full story »

The Patterson family will live no longer on the comics page of this or any newspaper. Lynn Johnston will stop telling the tale of the family, their friends, neighbors and pets after 28 years. It's like losing a good friend. "For Better or Worse" is coming to an end. And, it's hard to accept. http://www.fborfw.com/news/ The Canadian family seems... Full story »

Following the passage of the new school funding law in December 1996, without any provision for funding of school facilities, I acted. At this point, this story becomes very personal. Three factors played a role in enabling me to initiate action. First, I had been involved in school funding and facilities funding for almost 30 years as a Vice... Full story »

[Update: 8/30/08 - I just checked the DEP webpage to see if they had gotten around to issuing a press release on the PWTA Report. Not yet, but I did find that DEP made it a priority to issue a "good news" release about lifting the Delaware shellfish ban, but not "bad news" about drinking water wells. See:http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2008/08_0043.htm I... Full story »

It was reported this morning that New Jersey is getting less money from tourism revenues; Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R - Atlantic) is calling for the Dept. of Tourism to pump up their efforts to get more tourists to the state. He is right, but it's not the fault of the Tourism Dept. - our esteemed leaders have dropped the... Full story »

I can't agree more with these words from Joe Biden's acceptance speech last night: "You know, folks, my dad used to have an expression. He'd say, "A father knows he's a success when he turns and looks at his son or daughter and know that they turned out better than he did." I'm a success; I'm a hell of... Full story »

Residents of over 50,000 NJ homes drinking polluted water - 12.5% of wells fail to meet standards [Update: Here is today's APP story - DEP is merely responding - this is bad news they would have preferred to have stayed under the media radar:  Full story »

DEP Report: Residents of over 50,000 NJ homes drinking polluted water According to a DEP report required by the Private Well Testing Act, residents of over 50,000 NJ homes are unknowingly drinking unsafe well water, yet DEP and local health officials are ignoring the problem.  Full story »

The annual high school ratings issue, a prominent New Jersey magazine has an advertisement for drug sniffing dogs. Maybe that's just a coincidence? For a fee, this company will bring a dog to your house and search for drugs.  Full story »

After years in which N.J. college students flocked to out of state schools, the Class of 2008 seems to be bucking the trend: More than half of them are attending schools here in New Jersey, according to a College Board report. Are the state's schools doing more to keep students in state?  Full story »

My 15 months old son needs his shots. As every parent know, this whole ridiculous idea of giving children 50 or so doses (no-one should get that many doses during their lifetime) is an absolute nightmare - and this ridiculous obligation exists only in the nanny state. Our pediatrician, who had our complete trust, kept pushing us to get... Full story »

Is additional car dependent public access worth the destruction? Back in January, while hiking on Baldpate Mountain (Hopewell Township, Mercer County) I was shocked to come across a new access road and parking lot blasted through forest - an experience that prompted me to write this post (with pictures): Pave paradise: Put up a parking lot http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/01/pave_paradise_put_up_a_parking.html  Full story »