Temperatures reached a hundred once again, as the hottest summer on record continues...We caught up with some folks in North Jersey dealing with warm temps and trying to stay cool.
HEAT IS ON
North Jersey Shot Putters
North Jersey has 8 of the top female high school shot putters in the entire state, and they have shown dominance in this track event in recent years, with many titles among them. Recently, they gathered at Paramus Catholic HS for a photo shoot, and they had this to say about their sport.
Read Art Stapleton's column.
The Great Falls water park
More flooding...This week Paterson's Great Falls became a local hot spot, after the recent torrential rains. The historic Paterson Great Falls Park, which was designated as a national park last year (see my video), has lured visitors from all over the region to marvel at the surging waters.
The historic park designation will be a great great thing -not only for Paterson -but for those who have never been.
This place truly is a spectacle, well worth seeing, without a doubt.
The Great Falls in winter.
The Great Flood of 2010
North Jersey has more or less turned into a swamp this spring, as Nor'easters and horrendous storms have dumped record amounts of rain. Flooding has ensued, and wrecked havoc on low-lying communities and neighborhoods near swollen rivers. This is a staff video I produced, focusiing on Bergen and Passaic counties.
TARIQ GOES TO HAITI
Tariq Zehawi, my esteemed colleague at The Record, just returned from a two week trip to Haiti. he was following a medical/religious group from Saddle River, headed by Dr. Mark Wade,who plans to provide short-term -and long-term care, for earthquake victims in Haiti. Tariq and reporter Joe Ax went down with Wade's group, and remained in Port Au Prince until Wade and his group returned a week later with more supplies. Read more.
I helped him edit this video, which is a little longer than most of the video reports we produce, which includes a lot of his photographs as well. Tariq did a fine job on this very difficult assignment.
BLIZZARD 2010
The first major storm of the 2010 walloped North Jersey, dumping 18 inches of snow and shutting down schools, roads, and stores.
BOSCO'S BEST
Wednesday was National Letter of Intent Signing Day for high school athletes across the nation, and North Jersey had dozens of players signing on with top college football programs. None more than National powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, which had 10 players signing with Division I schools.
The national high school football champions and the North Jersey Team of the Year, celebrated with a grand ceremony at the Sheraton Crossroads Hotel. Bosco also honored 27 of 32 seniors who intend to play college football, including 10 who will play Division I or I-AA. Read more.
JETS PREPARE FOR COLTS
The Jets and head coach Rex Ryan prepare for this weekend's AFC Championship game against the Colts in Indy at the teams practice facility in Florham Park. The outspoken leader of Gang Green talks about the upcoming game, as well as young quarterback Mark Sanchez.
JETS SHOCK CHARGERS
NY Jets 17, San Diego 14
Went on the road with Gang Green out to San Diego of the AFC Divisional playoff game, and Jets hung in there and stole this one from the heavily favored Chargers. Loudest stadium I've ever been in, it was crazy-loud, and a great game.
After the game was another story. My colleague Chris Pedota's car rental was mistakenly towed after the game, which left us stranded and set off a string of events that turned this trip into a nightmare.
CHARGERS CASTILLO; Pride of Garfield
San Diego Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo is one of two present NFL players -the other being Myles Austin of the Cowboys, from tiny Garfield New Jersey.
In fact they both played on the same team at Garfield High, the same unheralded school that produced former Jets standout Wayne Chrebet -making that THREE NFL stars from the same small town. As Castillo prepares for upcoming playoff game against his hometown team -the Jets, we visited with him and his former high school coach Steve Mucha.
YANKS WIN 27th WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
New York defeats Phillies in 6 games to clinch their 27th World Series title, and the first in the brand new Yankee Stadium.
I produced a video both before the game, and another one after the game.
Pre-Game video.
Post-game video.
OBAMA SUPPORTS CORZINE
President Barack Obama came to Hackensack and joined Caroline kennedy in an effort to drum up support for Governor Jon Corzine in his bid for re-election. Corzine has been trailing the challenger Republican Chris Christie, and needs the boost. Obama remains a fan favorite among area Democrats, and put on quite a performance. If only Corzine had that kinda command...
9/11 INTERVIEW BY NEWS 12 -Long Island
A nice piece done by New 12 Long Island reporter Virgina Huie, on my September 11th photographs.
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GROUND ZERO REVISTED
Progress is replacing delay, slowly, at the former World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero. Take a look. I had not been down there in some time, and its very hard to accept that its been ten years. Yet, nothing has gone up. I believe that it essential for that site to be rebuilt in order for all of us New Yorkers to move on. Its taken too long.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
WOODLAND PARK? or WEST PATERSON?
Boro residents argue over what to call their town, weeks before Election Day when they get set to vote on the name.
MIRACLE METS
The Mets gave tribute to the World Championship team of 1969 with a moving ceremony at Citi Field. Seaver, Koosman, Grote, Cleon, Buddy, Kranepool, Swoboda, Ryan -all were on hand to take us back to that magical year, and to relive their improbable World Series win over the vaunted Baltimore Orioles. Good stuff.
Lets Go Mets.
ROTHMAN LISTENS-UP
Congressman Steve Rothman held a series of town hall meetings to listen to what his constituents had to say about the proposed changes to national health care. The first meeting, held in a swelter-hot senior center in North Arlington, was raucous. This video caught a lot of attention and went somewhat viral, after the Drudge Report linked to it, almost crashing the NorthJersey.com server. Nearly 160,000 hits.
This was another meeting, held in Englewood Cliffs two days later.
SOMBER FAREWELL
Jersey City bid farewell to fallen officer Marc DiNardo, the detective shot during a shootout with robbers on July 16th. Law enforcement from around the country turned out for the funeral procession. Full story.
HINDU STYLE WEDDING
In traditional Hindu style weddings, it is customary for the groom to ride a white horse dressed in his wedding attire, and be led by a dancing congregation to the place of the wedding ceremony. This is known as the Baraat.
On Thursday, 28 year old Ajay Desai rode that white horse around his Park Ridge neighborhood, to the delight of friends, family, and neighbors who danced and sang to the rhythm of the traditional Indian music blaring from speakers.
More than 100 wedding guests participated in the Hindu style wedding celebration.
At times they were hoisting family members and friends into the air (video-journalists too!), singing and dancing all around.
Photo by Michael Karas
BOYS OF SUMMER
Charlie McGill is a NorthJersey legend. Since the mid-1950's he has been the sports cartoonist for The Record, best known for his weekly sketches of the top male and female high school athletes, known as the "Athlete of the Week." He has draw such well-known North Jersey athletes such as Tim Thomas, Jim McGovern, Essence Carson, as well as the actor Ed Harris -who was a standout tail-back for Tenefly in the late '70's.
Charlie, whose been semi-retired since 1993, has embarked on a new project called the Boys of Summer, which features the top player for the Mets and Yankees respectively, from each decade since the 1960's. Readers of The Record made the selections, and a handsome pull-out section will be printed in the paper each week.
Recently, I produced this video on Charlie and his "Boys."
STADIUM FOOD
Both New York baseball teams opened-up brand new stadiums this year, and both clubs boast about how great the food is. With fancy fine-dining, world renown restaurants, and high-end eateries -the food options are vast. So reporter Jeff Roberts and I went on a tasting tour to see for ourselves just how good the food really is.
After experiencing both, I enjoyed the dining experience much better at Citi. The food was better prepared, higher quality, reasonably priced, and offered more open areas to sit or stand and eat.
Yankee Stadium was VERY expensive across the board, and just not very good. Nathan's dogs were small and over-priced, pull-pork was dry, yet the garlic fries and Italian ices were good.
Here are two video tours led by Jeff.
Citi Field eats
New Yankee Stadium Eats
ATF BLOWS-UP STUFF
The ATF detonated some cars, a mail box , and a mannequin, so they could work with police investigation teams and teach them new skills in how to look for clues and solve a crime after an explosion or suicide bombing. The exercise was held in a quarry in Millington. I got a flat on the way out, rear-left tire blew out after driving all over the rocky pit. Not fun.
MEMORIAL DAY
Clifton remembered their war dead with two Memorial Day services, including a parade through the North Jersey town where marchers carried the names of all 301 Clifton servicemen who died in battle since WWI.
LPGA'S SYBASE
The womens professional gold tour came to North Jersey this week for the LPGA's Sybase Classic and the venerable Upper Montclair CC. Here are two pre-tournament features on two of the top players, Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer.
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