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NJ Night Sky: A small summertime comet

Comet Jacques c2014_e2.jpg
Comet Jacques is currently located in the constellation Cepheus. (Damian Peach/
Kevin D. Conod/For The Star-Ledger By Kevin D. Conod/For The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
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on August 30, 2014 at 6:00 AM, updated August 30, 2014 at 6:02 AM

This weekend we may get a glimpse of a small comet. Comet Jacques was discovered by two Brazilian astronomers back in March. It is a long-period comet: it has not been in the inner solar system for 22,000 years.

The comet has been approaching us and was closest to Earth on Thursday at a distance of 52 million miles. Look for it in the northeast sky in the early evening.

It recently passed by the familiar "W" shape of the constellation Cassiopeia and has now crossed into Cepheus. Since the comet is so far north, it is in the sky all night. It is circling the pole just like the Big Dipper, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. It is high in the northern sky directly above the North Star around 1:30 a.m.  It is high in the north-northwest at about 5:00 a.m.

NJ Sky 08-30-14.jpgView full sizeLook for the comet in the northeastern sky in the early evening, but it is visible in the northern sky all night.

The comet is faint: around magnitude 7. This is dimmer than the faintest stars you can see with the naked eye under dark skies, but it should be visible in binoculars. A telescope of about 4 inches in diameter can show the comet as a very small elongated smudge of light. A telescope 12 inches or larger may show the comet's tail which in images is faint, narrow and short.

UACNJ Astronomy Bash

The United Astronomy Clubs of NJ is holding a free Astronomy Bash today from 4 to 10:30 p.m. at the observatory in Jenny Jump State Forest. For more information see:

Kevin D. Conod is the Planetarium Manager & Astronomer at the Newark Museum's
Dreyfuss Planetarium
. For updates on the night sky, call the Newark Skyline at (973) 596-6529.


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How's offshoring working out for you?: Guzzardi

The Jersey Journal By The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal
on August 10, 2011 at 1:57 PM
Democrats Jobs.jpgView full sizeIn this June 22, 2011, file photo Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., left, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., take part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss the Democrats' efforts to create jobs.

The claim first made ten years ago and repeated by Republican and Democratic administrations that corporate offshoring would increase domestic employment turned out to be a painful hoax perpetrated on American workers

Matthew Slaughter, a Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business professor and an economic advisor to George W. Bush, touted the universally accepted globalism mantra that "...for every one job that U.S. multinationals created abroad...they created nearly two U.S. jobs in their [U.S.-based] parents." Today, Slaughter admits his error. In the meantime unemployed, indebted and foreclosed Americans pay the price for the federal government's folly.

Despite the current administration's ongoing rhetoric to the contrary, few well-paying jobs will be created near term. U. S. corporations find it more lucrative to do business overseas.

Here's the evidence. According to a report issued July 27 by Moody's Investor Services, U.S. non-financial corporate cash holdings rose to $1.24 trillion at the end of 2010 with nearly half of the total on deposit abroad. Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems, Inc., Pfizer, Inc. and Google, Inc. held the largest amounts of cash. The huge sums reflect the growing strength of major corporations' international operations.

Based on a Moody's internal survey, the agency concluded that: "We believe companies will keep this cash outside the U.S. as they pursue international acquisitions, invest in their own overseas operations or await tax breaks on overseas earnings they bring back to the U.S."

Instead of broad-based hiring, major corporations hoard cash, slash domestic payroll and hire abroad. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, during the 2000s, companies cut their U.S. work forces by 2.9 million while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. Compare that to the 1990s when large corporations added 4.4 million domestic jobs versus 2.7 million abroad.

Compounding the unemployment problem is that GE, Wal-Mart, Cisco, Oracle and dozens of others pay little if any federal income tax. Consider Microsoft which just released its fiscal fourth quarter statement that reflected record sales of nearly $17.4 billion, a 30 percent increase in after-tax profit and a 35 percent gain in earnings per share. On a $6.3 billion profit, Microsoft paid only 7 percent in taxes or a meager $445 million. Microsoft's foreign earnings make up 68 percent of its overall income.

According to Microsoft's IRS filings, over the past six years the company's pre-tax profits booked overseas nearly tripled to $19.2 billion in the fiscal year just ended from $6.8 billion in the year ended June 2006. During the same four year period, its U.S. earnings have dropped to $8.9 billion from $11.4 billion.

Microsoft shrunk its tax bill by channeling global sales' earnings through the low-tax havens of Ireland, Puerto Rico and Singapore.

To end offshoring and thereby restore American job opportunities, strong federal intervention is required—something light years away given the insidious link between Silicon Valley campaign donations and Capitol Hill.

A September 2010 effort failed when Senate Republicans blocked the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act that included two amendments that would ensure that Americans are first in line for any domestic jobs. Currently, no similar legislation is pending.

JoeGuzzardi.jpgView full sizeJOE GUZZARDI

Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues-since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns are syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at

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Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown participates in Blue Star Museums, through Labor Day

Independent Press By Independent Press Independent Press
on August 21, 2014 at 11:27 AM, updated August 21, 2014 at 11:29 AM

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown participates this summer in Blue Star Museums, a collaboration among the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to all active-duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day, 2014.

The museum will offer the Blue Star Museums program on tour days, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 1-4 p.m. until Aug. 28.

The free admission program is available to active-duty military ID holders and up to five family members. Active-duty military includes Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active-duty National Guard and active-duty Reserve members. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families. The complete list of participating museums is available at

The museum is at 45 Macculloch Ave.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum is a nonprofit educational affiliate of the W. Parsons Todd Foundation.


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Two N.J. women form life-saving friendship over kidney donation

Lawrence Kidney donation
Kidney donor Sue Bunn with Kyra Duran, the woman who received her kidney 10 years ago, at the 2014 transplant games in Houston, Texas.
Brielle Urciuoli | For By Brielle Urciuoli | For The Times, Trenton
Email the author
on August 24, 2014 at 7:00 AM, updated August 24, 2014 at 7:01 AM

LAWRENCE — Ten years ago, Lawrence resident Kyra Duran invited Sue Bunn — whom she had never met before — over for brunch to ask her a life-changing question.

The question went something like this: “Will you donate a kidney to help me survive?”

“It was very hard to ask her,” said Duran, 49, who was diagnosed with a rare kidney and autoimmune disease when she was only 12 and had struggled with it ever since. “But she was very much wanting to do it.”

About four months after the informal meeting, the two headed over to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and underwent the dual person surgery, during which the life-giving organ was transferred.

For Bunn, the impulse to share had come over her without any deep pondering or anxiety.

“I don’t know. I just did it,” Bunn, of Princeton, casually said about her decision to donate a kidney.

The women’s backgrounds are very different. Duran is a managing editor at the New Jersey League of Municipalities. Bunn is a personal trainer at Princeton Fitness and Wellness.

Though the women were strangers to each other before the operation, Bunn’s employer knew of Duran through his church group and let his employees know that she was in need of a transplant.

In the decade since the transplant, the giver and the recipient have become close friends.

The two women attended the Transplant Games of America last month in Houston, where thousands of donors, donees and the families of donors who passed away filled the stands of a soccer stadium for days filled with remembrance, games, and incredible story telling.

“It was remarkable to see people that received organs and were able to live a better life,” Bunn said. “It was very powerful.”

When the living donors were acknowledged at the opening ceremony, Bunn said, everyone’s clapping and cheering made her feel like a celebrity.

Duran initially thought that she was lucky to receive a kidney, though with the transplant she also got so much more in finding a new friend. “We see each other at least once a month, if not more,” Bunn said. “We’re really close.”

Duran said the kidney disease had not had a significant impact on her life until 2004. “I was fatigued, but other than that, I was fine,” she said.

Then her kidneys began to fail and doctors told her that she was not a good candidate for dialysis, so she was left seeking a donor. Initially frustrated by the difficulty of the search, she reached out to her church group, who sent out emails asking friends, families and colleagues if they would be interested in donating a kidney.

Duran’s prayers were finally answered that winter when Bunn reached out to her, after a dozen family members went through tests to give Duran their kidneys with no success.

“Somehow I just knew there was something special about her,” Duran said.

The surgery, which Bunn described as fairly simple on her part once all the preliminary tests were done, had a happy ending. “I have a lot more energy now,” Duran said. She said she found herself very grateful because she has heard many stories of donees rejecting the transplant organ, which can lead to health complications or even death.

Brielle Urciuoli may be reached at Follow The Times of Trenton on Twitter @TimesofTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.


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Today's Star-Ledger Page One: Storm and holiday travel, party time at Shore, court OKs banning sex offenders from social media

: Travelers cross the street into the parking lot outside Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport. Tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving and this year the beginning of Hanukkah, is traditionally the busiest travel day of the year. Newark NJ 11/26/13 (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)
Jennifer Potash By Jennifer Potash The Star-Ledger
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on November 27, 2013 at 8:00 AM, updated November 27, 2013 at 8:23 AM

Here is an interactive image of today’s Star-Ledger front page, with links to our top stories. Clicking on a story will bring you to a story or topic page.

A storm threatened to stir up a holiday travel nightmare. Thanksgiving Eve is a big party night at the Shore. An appeals court upholds Parole Board’s decision to ban sex offenders from social media.

All of these stories and more can be found in today’s Star-Ledger. Click here if you’re interested in home delivery.


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National Signing Day 2013: Rutgers shows signs of expanded recruiting footprint with 22 commitments

Nadir Barnwell, an early enrollee at Rutgers from Piscataway, is considered by recruiting experts the standout in a strong Rutgers recruiting class. (Photo by Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger)
Tom Luicci/The Star-Ledger By Tom Luicci/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
Follow on Twitter
on February 05, 2013 at 9:00 PM, updated February 06, 2013 at 10:52 AM

The standard football recruiting stops for Rutgers are all represented again this year. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Delaware, Maryland. But look a little closer and you’ll see the first signs of a potential shift.

Lester Liston, a linebacker from Michigan, is expected to make his commitment to the Scarlet Knights official Wednesday, national letter of intent signing day.

As recently as Saturday night, Ade Aruna, a defensive end from Indiana, took an official visit to Rutgers.

Those are Big Ten mailing addresses — which is what Rutgers’ will be a year from now.

Yet as much as the recruiting experts believe that coach Kyle Flood and his staff will have no choice but to eventually branch out in recruiting once the conference change occurs, Flood isn’t sure it will be a seismic shift in philosophy.

"I still think our recruiting footprint is the right one, what we do now," he said. "What I think will happen, and maybe it’s the case a little bit already, is that kids outside of our recruiting footprint may be showing an interest in us because of the Big Ten. If they show a strong interest in us, we certainly will show a strong interest in them.

"Certain positions — quarterback, kicker, punter, the specialty positions — you always are searching nationally for. But I think for the most part our footprint will remain the same."

Unlike a year ago, when he was named head coach and had 48 hours to hold together the best recruiting class in school history — which he did — Flood’s challenge was different this year.

He was recruiting for both the present (the Big East) and the future (the Big Ten).

"From what I could see, it was business as usual for them," said national recruiting guru Tom Lemming of Max Preps and CBS Sports. "They stayed in the areas they’ve always done well in. But in the future, they’re going to be able to go into Ohio, come to Chicago, go to places they haven’t been to before because they’re in the Big Ten."

Depending on the measuring stick, Flood’s first full recruiting class — as of now 22 players are expected to sign letters of intent with Rutgers — is either very good or just average.

By Big East standards this is a top-notch recruiting class — the league’s best, according to the experts, if you don’t count ACC-bound Pittsburgh.

But when stacked against Big Ten schools, it’s a mid-pack collection of talent. ranks the class 30th nationally, No. 1 in the Big East (Pittsburgh, ranked higher nationally, is viewed an ACC football school now) and would rate it No. 4 in the Big Ten. has it 41st nationally, No. 1 in the Big East and No. 6 in the Big Ten.

Lemming has it tops in the Big East "and in the 30s nationally and somewhere between fifth and seventh in the Big Ten." The rankings are subject to change until after signing day.

"I don’t know if the move to the Big Ten has had a major impact on kids and what they’re thinking just yet," said Rich Hansen, the coach at traditional state power Saint Peter’s Prep of Jersey City. "I think it’s a positive overall. But right now, maybe because it hasn’t happened, I don’t sense an extraordinary amount of buzz. I’m sure that will change when Rutgers is in the Big Ten."

Unlike a year ago, when five-star defensive tackle recruit Darius Hamilton was the headliner (he was the only player from that class to play on either offense or defense as a true freshman last year), the current class lacks a name that grabs immediate attention.

There are a couple of four-star recruits in cornerback Nadir Barnwell of Piscataway (he has already enrolled) and offensive lineman Dorian Miller of Metuchen. And Lemming says that 6-4, 195-pound wide receiver Andre Patton "is far and away the best player in Delaware."

But the class appears to be composed mostly of good, solid talent.

"Overall, I like the balance they’re bringing in," said Scott Kennedy, the national director of scouting for "They got a quarterback, a couple of receivers and corners and it’s strong across the defensive line."

"This class is made up mostly of three-star kids, which are usually good, solid program players," said Mike Farrell, the national recruiting analyst for "Nadir Barnwell is obviously the headliner. I think he’s the most athletic player in the class. After that, there are bunch of guys with three-star ratings that I think will be impact players for Rutgers."

Farrell said he saw an extension of the Greg Schiano approach when it came to this recruiting class and Flood’s first full go at it as a head coach, saying "there wasn’t a sudden geographical shift."

But he’s also of the opinion that Rutgers will need to broaden its recruiting reach as a member of the Big Ten.

"I think they’ll have to start hitting a little bit more of the Midwest, maybe branch out into western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois," he said. "They’re going to be selling games against Big Ten opponents. They can go into some new states and tell players they’re going to be playing Michigan and Ohio State and maybe they can get a good player or two because of it. They can stick with the formula that has worked for them but I think they also have to throw their hat in the ring more in the Midwest."

Kennedy called this class "a very good follow-up to last year (the highest-ranked recruiting class in school history)," and said that finishing anywhere between fourth and sixth in the Big Ten is more than a respectable showing for Rutgers.

"You finish fourth or fifth in recruiting in the Big Ten and you’re playing on New Year’s Day against an SEC team (in a bowl game)," he said.

The players expected to sign national letters of intent with Rutgers on Wednesday:

Nick Arcidiacono, TE
6-5, 230
Holland, Pa./Archbishop Wood

*Dontea Ayres, RB
5-9, 205
Salisbury, Md./Wicomico

*Nadir Barnwell, CB
5-11, 190

Devan Carter, RB
6-2, 230
Rochester, N.Y./Brighton

Anthony Cioffi, DB
6-0, 180
Springfield/Jonathan Dayton

Justin Goodwin, RB
6-0, 180

Janarion Grant, WR
5-11, 170
Trilby, Fla./Pasco

Bryant Gross-Armiento, DB
6-1, 190
Sunrise, Fla./American Heritage

Nick Internicola, LB
6-3, 230
Pembroke Pines, Fla./University

Sebastian Joseph, DE
6-4, 270
Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg

Josh Klecko, DT
6-2, 260
Colts Neck/Red Bank Catholic

*Chris Laviano, QB
6-3, 200
Glen Head, N.Y./Holy Trinity

*Lester Liston, LB
6-2, 235
Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc (Hargrave Military Aacdemy)

Taylor Marini, TE
6-4, 225
Oviedo, Fla./Lake Mary Prep

Dorian Miller, OL
6-3, 295

Myles Nash, LB
6-5, 205
Sicklerville/Timber Creek

Andre Patton, WR
Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth

*Delon Stephenson, CB
5-11, 190
Sayreville/Sayreville (Milford Academy)

T.J. Taylor, DB
6-3, 190
Kendall Park/South Brunswick

John Tsimis, WR
6-0, 175
Harrington Park/Bergen Catholic

Kemoko Turay, DE
6-6, 220

Eric Wiafe, DE
6-5, 250
Egg Harbor Twp./Egg Harbor Twp.

*Mid-year enrollee

Tom Luicci:;


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Editorial: Honor those lost at Pearl Harbor

South Jersey Times By South Jersey Times South Jersey Newspapers
on December 07, 2012 at 5:00 AM, updated December 07, 2012 at 5:03 AM
american flag
Today, Dec. 7, is Pearl Harbor Day, a day to remember the sacrifice made by thousands of Americans lost to an unwarranted attack on our Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor and to honor the enduring sacrifice of those who lost loved ones there. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, a day to “live in infamy” forever.

In recent years, this nation has known another day of infamy in another unwarranted attack on American soil, this time on civilians at the World Trade Center, a site devoted to doing what Americans do best: Working hard — making, trading, buying, selling, creating by wit and wonder all the things that made us the strongest nation in the world.

Following that attack and the corollary attacks on a peacetime government in Washington, we entered another war, just as we did in 1941, attempting to avenge our loss, punish our enemies, and protect our sacred land. In both WWII and the Iraqi-Afghanistan incursions, more Americans were killed, more families suffered, more resources were expended than were lost in the initial attacks.

Today, as Congress debates the “fiscal cliff,” the financial sacrifices scheduled for 2013 to repay debts incurred by avenging our loss while protecting our citizens at home, it behooves us to consider the words of another Roosevelt — President Theodore Roosevelt, who served a century ago after another military incursion with great loss and lasting consequences.

“Walk softly,” said Teddy Roosevelt after the Spanish American War of 1898, “and carry a big stick.”
The biggest stick we carry, we Americans, is the strength of our people — our courage, our inventiveness, our work ethic, our determination to succeed where others have failed.

As President Obama brings home our men and women from Afghanistan and resolves to walk softly for awhile, we Americans have a chance to honor those who died 71 years ago at Pearl Harbor and in every subsequent attack by doing what we do best — working hard, rebuilding our economy, strengthening ourselves through health and fitness, and — collectively — regaining our rightful place as the strongest nation in the world.


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Letter: To Gloucester Freeholder Robert Damminger, it's all relative

South Jersey Times By South Jersey Times South Jersey Newspapers
on April 25, 2013 at 3:11 AM, updated April 25, 2013 at 3:13 AM

Robert DammingerGloucester County Freeholder Director Robert Damminger

To the Editor:

Does anyone besides me appreciate the irony in two recent stories published in the Times?

Cumberland and Salem county freeholder boards are determined to provide job security for their corrections officers, and negotiate the best financial deal for their taxpayers in the jail merger scenario that involves closing the Gloucester County Jail.

But much attention and concern have been focused by Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert Damminger on his niece, Kelly Conroy, being replaced as the solicitor of the Multiple Unit Dwelling Regulation Board in West Deptford Township.

Oh, the horror of it all!

(The township committee made the party-line change on April 19. In January, Damminger criticized the committee for seeking a new solicitor, asking whether Conroy was “passed over” because she is a Democrat, or because he is her uncle.)

A well-placed politician’s relative may actually have to find a private- sector job in this economy and in this county. How unfair is that?

Maybe Damminger could make a call and have Conroy hired at the county’s DREAM horse park, where qualifications seem to be optional.

Carol Rhodes


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Youth's talent lights up the stage in unique CAU sensory-friendly performance

Suburban News By Suburban News Suburban News
on January 28, 2014 at 2:14 PM, updated January 28, 2014 at 2:21 PM

Do not be surprised if at the 2024 Tony or Oscar Awards you hear the name of John Patrick Munley when the award for Outstanding Screen Play or Original Book in a Broadway Musical is announced. At the age of 17, “JP” as he prefers to be called, has already written scripts for two full length plays, penned and illustrated the first book in a projected series, and has formed CoolKidz Productions, his own theatrical company. That list of accomplishments for one so young is certainly impressive, but it becomes even more amazing when his diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, a component of the autistic spectrum, is added to the mix.

“I never saw it as a bad thing”, commented JP. “In a way, I feel as if I’ve been gifted. Asperger’s has given me lots of creative capabilities”.

JP, now a junior at the New Mark Education School in Scotch Plains, began writing plays as a freshman creating the character, Peter Huntley, who also deals with Asperger’s, meeting life’s daily adventures and challenges head on. JP credits both his parents and teachers for encouraging him and helping him find ways to achieve his goals.

“They all love my work”, he said. “I saw how movies worked and I thought, I could do that; and I did”.

An avid reader, he has always been a big fan of the writings of Beatrix Potter and decided to take her stories of “Peter Rabbit”,” Benjamin Bunny” and Jemima Puddle Duck” to the stage.

“It is hard for me to pick one story that is my favorite”, he said. “I love them all”.

JP had already adapted the writings of The Tales of Beatrix Potter when he approached Community Access Unlimited and the CAU Community Players with the proposition of performing his play. Community Access Unlimited (CAU) is a nonprofit community based organization that provides individuals with developmental disabilities and at-risk youth with the services they need to lead a full life and achieve their goals and dreams. In 2011, the CAU Community Players was born as a fully integrated community theatre troupe that combines the talents of community members of Union County and beyond with staff and members supported by CAU.

After reading a newspaper article about the CAU Community Players’ first performance, “Seussical Jr.” in June of 2012, JP grew interest in joining the players and when auditions for the troupe’s second performance, “Beauty & the Beast Jr.” were advertised, JP knew he wanted to be a part of the group.

“I went to the auditions with the hope of getting a part because I love both acting and theatre and I did. I really loved being in the show and also meeting new friends in the process. I talked to the director about my hopes to someday see my play, “The Tales of Beatrix Potter”, performed.”

After some minor revisions and additions, the pair approached CAU in hopes to take the play to the stage in the 2014 theatre season. Community Access did just that. With the generous assistance of a $9,500 grant from the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities, JP’s dream became reality.

“One of the most exciting aspects, aside from seeing this very talented young man’s work being recognized is the opportunity to make this a “sensory friendly” production , so that families with autistic members can come and enjoy a night of theatre and fun without the normal stresses they face in a live theatre setting. Imagination and creative expression is key in this show”, said Marguerite Modero, director of the CAU Community Players.

“CAU is giving this wonderful, young artist a chance to realize his dream, but also offers hope and inspiration to younger people who may also be struggling with aspberger issues.

Assistant-director, Keith Radzion, is excited with the creative possibilities of the show.

“We are approaching this production in a non- traditional way; thinking out of the box is a critical component to its success. We are encouraging the audience to dialogue with us and be part of the action rather than imposing the traditional rules of a quiet audience throughout the performance. I think the energy from the audience will rub off on the performers and prove to be a very lively and gratifying experience for all of us”.

When JP was asked if he had any advice for younger theatre hopefuls, he said, “Never give up on your dreams and always believe in yourself. Find people who believe in you too, like CAU. Their help and support has made my dream come true. This has been a great opportunity for me."

One can only guess what great things the future holds for JP Munley, but he predicts that his life road will lead to college and then to authoring and illustrating children’s books; each story teaching a life lesson within the story.

“The Tales of Beatrix Potter” will take place, Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. and March 1 at 2 and 7 p.m., at Community Access Institute, 88 West Grand St. in Elizabeth. the The CAU Community Players – a joint troupe of community actors from throughout Union County and beyond and members of Community Access Unlimited with developmental disabilities and youth they support.

The theatre will be opening 1 hour before each performance for families to ‘Meet Your Seat’.
The cost $10 per ticket. To purchase tickets, contact Meghan Ravenscroft at 908-354-3040, ext. 216 or at

The audience size is limited to 50 per performance, lending itself to the sensory friendly aspect of the show. There will be a relaxation room available during the performance for any individuals who need a break from the performance.

Learn more at

Community Access Unlimited (CAU), celebrating its 35th anniversary, supports people with special needs in achieving real lives in the community. CAU provides support and gives a voice to adults and youth who traditionally have little support and no voice in society. CAU helps people with housing, life skills, employment, money management, socialization and civic activities.

CAU also supports opportunities for advocacy through training in assertiveness, decision-making and civil rights. CAU serves more than 5,000 individuals each year. For more information about CAU and its services, contact us by phone at 908-354-3040, online at or by mail at 80 West Grand St., Elizabeth.


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Home > News Bytes > Another Chinese Delegation Visits DRBC
Another Chinese Delegation Visits DRBC

DRBC periodically receives requests to host delegations from other countries to discuss the commission and its programs. A delegation of 20 environmental regulatory officials who work at the national, provincial, and local levels in the People's Republic of China visited DRBC on February 28, 2013. Deputy Executive Director Bob Tudor provided an overview of the Delaware River Basin and the DRBC along with a brief explanation of the commission's work in the functional areas of water supply/flow management and water quality. He also spoke about Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and its key concepts:

  • Manage water sustainably
  • Integrate water management between and within levels of government and other organizations
  • Involve the local public and stakeholders from all water use sectors
  • Recognize the interconnectedness of land and water; surface water and groundwater; water quantity and water quality; freshwater and coastal waters; rivers and the broader watershed

Three IWRM examples were briefly discussed, including the Flexible Flow Management Program (FFMP), Regional Sediment Management Plan (RSMP), and Strategy for Sustainable Water Resources - 2060.


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DOE Archives

Abbott Regulations

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Designation of Abbott Districts
Criteria and Process

Submitted by:
Dr. William L. Librera
Commissioner of Education
June 15, 2005

The Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act (EFCFA), directed the Commissioner to make recommendations to the Legislature of criteria to be used in the designation of districts as Abbott Districts. N.J.S.A. 18A:7G-4(k). The purpose of this paper is to make those recommendations consistent with the intent and spirit of the Abbott decisions and the legislative guidance provided.

I. Background and Criteria

Abbott Districts are the product of approximately thirty years of frequent and controversial dialogue, litigation, and thirteen decisions of the New Jersey Supreme Court. In Abbott II (1990), the Court found that the school funding formula was unconstitutional as to poorer urban districts. The Court identified those districts that appeared to qualify as "poorer urban districts," but ultimately left it to the Legislature, the State Board and the Commissioner to make that determination. After the Court’s decision in Abbott II, the Legislature enacted the Quality Education Act (QEA). The Legislature defined those districts entitled to the Court’s Abbott remedy as the 28 districts identified by the Court plus Neptune and Plainfield. In Abbott III, the Court found that the remedy provided by QEA was constitutionally deficient. The Legislature subsequently enacted the Comprehensive Educational Improvement and Financing Act (CEIFA) and identified those districts entitled to Abbott remedies as the original 28 Court-identified districts. Although CEIFA was found to be unconstitutional as applied to the Abbott Districts in Abbott IV, the Court did not invalidate limiting the group of districts to the original 28 identified by the Court. The Court noted, however, that a district could challenge its classification before the Commissioner (Abbott IV, page 200 fn37.). CEIFA was later amended to add both Plainfield and Neptune to the definition of an Abbott District. N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-3. In 2004, the Legislature acted on the Commissioner’s recommendation and made Salem City the 31st Abbott district.

In developing these criteria, we at the Department of Education examined carefully the language in all of the Abbott decisions. There are three themes captured in the voluminous record of the Abbott decisions that provide the basis for the designation, classification, and declassification of Abbott Districts. Moreover, the decisions are clear and specific that it is the Commissioner of Education who is charged, in consultation with the appropriate bodies, to develop and update criteria for Abbott designation that retain and strengthen the Court’s themes for answering the question "What is an Abbott District?"

The themes are:

  1. Abbott designation consistently spotlights poorer urban districts.
  2. Abbott designation rests on a two-part test, educational adequacy and concentrated poverty.
  3. Abbott designation is a remedy, not a reward.

A. Poorer Urban Districts

For the last three decades urban public education policy in New Jersey has been largely defined through judicial determination. The landmark decisions in Robinson v. Cahill and Abbott v. Burke reflect a consistent judicial posture "that the urban poor are capable, that given sufficient attention in an adequately financed system using the best knowledge and techniques available, a thorough and efficient education is achievable." (Abbott II, page 394) The cases continuously direct the State to do more and to do better in providing the "thorough and efficient" education mandated by New Jersey's Constitution to poor urban children.

The New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott II first designated "Abbott Districts" with criteria and a list of districts that were identified by the Commissioner of Education as poorer urban districts. It left it to "the Legislature, the State Board of Education and the Commissioner to determine prospectively which districts are poorer urban districts." (Abbott II, page 385)

Abbott is not about relative educational disparities alone. Instead, the decisions concern those districts in which both poverty and educational inadequacy are so substantial that they cannot possibly satisfy the standard absent implementation of the Abbott remedies that "poorer disadvantaged students must be given a chance to compete with relatively advantaged students." (Robinson v. Cahill I, page 515)

The factual record included only the comparative data from poor urban districts. The Court implies that older suburban and rural communities with similar characteristics might also be eligible for Abbott designation. While this possibility cannot be dismissed, it is overwhelmingly probable that the conditions for Abbott designation will be primarily urban because high concentrations of poverty, significant mobility, and the other characteristics of poverty are much more likely to be found in urban centers. The needs of poor rural and older suburban poor communities certainly exist and may require additional remedies, but Abbott designation should not be the only recourse available or possible.

B. Two-Part Test for Designation and Declassification

In order to be considered for Abbott designation or Abbott declassification, a school district must be characterized by both low student achievement and concentrated poverty for designation or the absence of both for declassification. Both Abbott II (page 385) and Abbott VII, as well as legislation (N.J.S.A.18A:7G-4), give the Commissioner the responsibility to determine those districts to include or, as will be discussed, to remove from Abbott status.

1. Educational Adequacy

The Commissioner of Education, the Department of Education and the State Board of Education must insure that students receive a thorough and efficient education. The primary means by which they determine which school districts satisfy this requirement is the State Monitoring System and also now the requirements of the federal legislation, No Child Left Behind. The Supreme Court accepted the Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS) as the measure of educational adequacy. (Abbott pages 161-162) Each district must offer a program that gives students the opportunity to master the Content Standards. In Abbott II, the Court notes certain factors that could be indicative of educational adequacy. These factors include:

  1. variety of course offerings;
  2. facilities;
  3. instructors' education and experience;
  4. teacher/pupil ratios;
  5. indicators of student achievement including, but not limited to statewide test scores; and
  6. drop out rate.

The Court does not suggest that any one of the above standards is determinative, although student achievement indicators are clearly the most important. Acceptable performance emerges in a balance of the State Monitoring System standards.

As a result of the enactment of the Educational Facilities Construction and Finance Act (2000) and the State’s pledge to fund at least 40 percent of school facilities costs in all districts, the Department has excluded facilities as a criterion.

Student achievement must be considered within the context of the district's ability to attain "adequate yearly progress" as required by the "No Child Left Behind (NCLB)" legislation. This federal measure focuses on educational improvement over time as assessed annually and not on a specific level of educational attainment. Perhaps more importantly, NCLB forces districts to include the performance of Special Education, Limited English Proficiency, economically disadvantaged, and racial and ethnic minorities as subsets. The failure of any one group to improve can result in the designation as schools in need of improvement. Additional factors not specifically referenced by the Court, but appropriate for consideration are school safety and the ability of all students at Grade 3 to read at grade level. Therefore, to determine educational adequacy the following factors will be considered:

  1. statutory monitoring results;
  2. variety of course offerings;
  3. teacher qualifications and experience;
  4. teacher/pupil ratios;
  5. student attendance
  6. drop out rates;
  7. ability of Grade 3 students to read at grade level;
  8. statewide test scores; and
  9. other local achievement indicators as approved by the Department.

These criteria make the essential need for a statewide student-level database because it will produce much more rigorous and credible data for making such judgments. Districts with concentrated poverty in which students are consistently attaining acceptable achievement may not be designated an Abbott District, though their ability to offer a sound educational program in the face of substantial obstacles should be celebrated and shared with other districts.

2. Concentrations of Poverty-Economic Indicators

The socioeconomic status for the 30 (now 31) districts included in CEIFA (N.J.S.A.18A:7F-3) as Abbott Districts is determined in large part by District Factor Grouping (DFG). The Department of Education devised this system in 1974 to rank every district in the state by seven factors: 1) per capita income level; 2) occupation level; 3) education level; 4) percent of residents below the federal poverty level; 5) density (the average number of persons per household); 6) urbanization (percent of district considered urban); and 7) unemployment (percent of those in the work force who received some unemployment compensation). (Abbott II, page 385)

The DFG model was revised following the 2000 census, as follows: 1) percent of population with no high school diploma; 2) percent with some college; 3) occupation; 4) income; 5) unemployment, and 6) poverty. Most Abbott Districts are found in DFG A, with a few in DFG B, one DFG CD and one DFG FG. Not all DFG A districts are Abbotts.

Additional criteria for urban districts derive from those districts originally identified as "urban aid districts" by the Department of Community Affairs pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:27D-178 to 181 and now included as New Jersey Redevelopment Authority "eligible municipalities."1 To qualify as an urban aid district, the municipality must be of a certain size or density, have a certain number of children whose families are on welfare, have public housing, and a higher tax rate or lower property valuation per capita. (Abbott II, pages 341-342)

Municipal overburden, which can be determined by comparing the sum of the county, municipal, and school tax rates among the school districts, must also be considered. (Abbott II, page 343) In the Educational Facilities and Financing Act, the Legislature provided additional guidance in determining socioeconomic status for new or continuing Abbott Districts. N.J.S.A.18A:7G-4.

The criteria may include, but not be limited to: the number of residents per 1,000 within the municipality or municipalities in which the district is situate who receive TANF; the district's equalized valuation per resident pupil...the district's income per resident pupil...the population per square mile of the municipality or municipalities in which the district is situate; and the municipal overburden.

Given this context and its own analysis, the Department of Education adopts the following economic indicators to guide Abbott classification.

The district must be DFG A and satisfy the following criteria. DFG B districts that also meet the following criteria may be classified as Abbott if they demonstrate additional substantial economic hardship:

  1. The district must have a low-income concentration (as measured by eligibility for free lunch under the United States Department of Agriculture free/reduced lunch program) of at least 40 percent;

  2. If the district has a low-income concentration less than 60 percent, then it must have an equalized value per capita at least 3 percent below the state average and equalized tax rate at least 30 percent greater than the state average;

  3. If the low-income concentration is at least 60 percent, then the equalized value per capita must be at least 3 percent below the state average; the equalized tax rate does not factor into the eligibility requirement for these districts; and

  4. The district must be included in the NJRA eligible list.

C. A Remedy Not a Reward

A remedy in the strictest sense of the word provides a response to correct, to improve and/or to change a condition in favorable or desirable ways. In terms of Abbott designation, the remedies as defined broadly and specifically are similarly intended to improve student achievement through the application of resources and the support that the community, because of economic conditions, is unable to provide. It is under those circumstances that the Abbott decision requires that additional state aid and remedies must be provided.

If the Abbott remedies are properly implemented, they may produce such an improvement in student performance that the district’s Abbott status might be eliminated or reduced in scope. In combination with changing economic conditions, this possibility might fundamentally change the district’s status. However, when durable and concentrated poverty are combined with significant educational improvement, Abbott status will be maintained. This shall occur almost exclusively in District Factor A Abbott School Districts.

Change in status requires a systematic and timely review of current Abbott Districts and of prospective Abbott Districts so that a determination consistent with the intent and spirit of Abbott can be made. Such a review will occur after the decennial census; although prospective districts could petition the Commissioner for such designation (and appeal through the Courts if denied). There may be circumstances where the Commissioner independently determines that students in a particular district require the full array of Abbott remedies. In the instance where a district applies for Abbott designation, a thorough and promulgated review process must be established. In all cases, both the relevant educational and economic criteria must apply.

Abbott designation carries with it the obligation to implement specific court-ordered remedies. Prospectively, one could classify any district eligible for any state-supported remedy as Abbott regardless of the range of special services. It is preferable to limit Abbott designation to districts that qualify for most, if not all, Abbott remedies. Presently, only districts in DFG A and B and one in DFG CD, and one in DFG FG qualifying for urban aid with concentrations of poverty have been designated Abbotts. Other districts which may be determined by the Commissioner to be in need of additional remedies but not the full panoply of Abbott remedies would be designated as non-Abbotts. Remedies may include full day Early Childhood programs for four-year-olds and/or 100 percent reimbursement for Facilities improvement or other appropriate remedies. The redesign of a modified school formula should provide for the "sliding scale" approach for needy, non-Abbotts. This approach would be targeted to documented district needs, which is preferable to across-the-board Abbott designations.

Particular attention should be given to K-8 districts requiring additional resources. They do not fit into the Abbott models which are all PK-12 districts. Additionally, high poverty rural districts may require additional resources to deal with issues of high student mobility and their inability to attract highly qualified teachers. In those districts, full school day preschool (six hours) for four-year-olds and half school day preschool for three-year-olds, some other preschool model, and/or early literacy programs may be appropriate. Additionally, for those districts not providing programs beyond the fifth or eighth grade, there must be effective articulation between the lower schools and the districts into which they feed. Eligible districts will be asked to develop a three-year plan to integrate preschool into their curriculum and other programs to be determined. By 2008 it is anticipated that preschool will be in place for all eligible children in those districts. The Commissioner will recommend that the State provide the additional funds each district will need to implement these programs.

II. Process

Based on the above economic, urban and educational indicators set forth above, districts that meet the Abbott criteria, but have not been designated as such, will be phased in as Abbott Districts over time. The first year will be a planning year in which the district will receive the funds necessary to undertake a comprehensive needs assessment and develop a three-year operational plan for each school and for the central office. The first three-year operational plans should focus on two specific programs – high quality preschool and intensive early literacy. This planning year should include substantial professional development to prepare for the programmatic changes that are identified in the three-year operational plans. Future three-year operational plans will include other initiatives to address issues in the district that are preventing students from achieving the CCCS. Increased State funds will be provided, as needed, to support the activities identified in the approved three-year plans.

Districts that do not meet the Abbott criteria, but may be eligible for "sliding scale remedies," shall be required to demonstrate financial inability to provide such remedies and to demonstrate educational inadequacies relative to those needs. Those districts will also be required to develop an implementation plan. The timing and details of the plan shall be tailored to its needs.

The decennial census may validate that some Abbott Districts no longer satisfy Abbott’s economic requirements. After each census, the Commissioner shall document those Abbott Districts, if any, that no longer satisfy the criteria for concentrated poverty. Should these districts also demonstrate satisfactory student achievement, an exit plan will be devised for each no longer qualifying district to permit an orderly financial and educational transition. Funding, for example, might be phased out over four years. These districts will continue to receive 100 percent facilities funding for all projects in the design or construction phase. Districts will be able to make application for adjustment based on hardship.

We should not remove from Abbott status those District Factor A districts that continue to qualify as high-poverty even if their students consistently achieve at acceptable levels. These high performing Abbott Districts reflect a local leadership and commitment essential to quality outcomes, and not enough time has elapsed to make sure the improved educational process has been institutionalized. It is reasonable that these DFGA districts with high concentrations of poor children require more time and analysis to determine if their success will continue without the Abbott remedies. Therefore, they must, at this time, remain designated as Abbotts.

Districts may receive consideration concerning Abbott status in a number of ways. They may directly petition the Department of Education or the Department may independently conclude the conditions in the district require such consideration. Legislators may also, on behalf of the district, request such an analysis.

The responsibility to insure that all New Jersey public school students receive a thorough and efficient education rests with the Commissioner, the Department of Education and the State Board, not with the Courts. While the New Jersey Supreme Court, through Abbott, has provided a framework to assure compliance with that mandate in the 31 Abbott Districts, that framework establishes certain remedies. The framework does not implement the remedies or represent that a different set of remedies may not be more appropriate under certain conditions or, that as economic conditions change, the remedies cannot change. This paper offers criteria and a process for children in districts challenged by insufficient resources and unable to deliver a fully adequate education.

These criteria and process must be reviewed carefully as they raise important questions that easily go beyond Abbott districts into the broader issues of the statewide funding formula. As an example, Abbott classification or de-classification can not be viewed as a snapshot in time but also must be viewed in terms of probability that educational adequacy and concentrations of poverty are addressed by classification or that educational adequacy and broadly accepted fiscal means of support can be maintained once a district is declassified. Obviously, all of these questions are central to the thorough analyses that the Legislature will surely want to conduct while responding to this report on Designation of Abbott Districts. The Department of Education is most willing to work with the Legislature and other representative bodies including potentially affected districts as this important task is addressed.

1The current list appears on the NJRA website at:|27930|


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Filing deadline for 2014 Senior Freeze (PTR) Applications extended to October 15, 2015. (View Treasurer's Press Release)

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Note: The amount appropriated in the State Budget for property tax relief programs affected reimbursement payments for 2014. Applicants were eligible for 2014 reimbursement payments if their income did not exceed $84,289 for 2013 and $70,000 for 2014, provided they met all the other program requirements. Applicants whose income was over $70,000 but was $85,553 or less can establish their eligibility for future reimbursements by filing an application by the due date. This also ensures the Division will mail them applications for 2015.

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The case against incentives for hiring unemployed While Economic Opportunity Act got broad business support, industry quiet on vetoed proposal to improve jobs numbers

By ,

As the budget deadline loomed large last week, lawmakers raced to put the finishing touches on the Economic Opportunity Act that's rewriting the state's corporate incentives programs.

But while that bill enjoyed bipartisan support, another incentives measure to award small companies tax credits for hiring unemployed workers has stalled since getting a conditional veto from Gov. Chris Christie in May.

And while the premise would seem to be a win-win for businesses and workers, the effectiveness of the program — and the political fate of the concept — are far from certain.

The measure was part of a package of job-creation bills unveiled in December by Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange), now a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the October U.S. Senate race. Her legislation would have given tax credits to small businesses that expanded their workforces by hired unemployed workers.

Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Mount Laurel) said the bill was designed to help small businesses hire new employees “that they might not otherwise be able to afford.”

But “without offering any data to demonstrate that this type of tax credit will lead to increased long-term employment, this bill rushes headlong to implement a potentially $2 billion tax incentive program,” Christie wrote, saying the Legislature should commission a study of the issue before creating a credit that may not work.

The bill doesn't require a cost-benefit report on the program until after it takes effect, Christie added.

The idea of giving tax credits for hiring, or hiring certain categories of workers, isn't a new one. It's been done off and on at the federal level for decades, said Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

Whether it works is another story.

“It's mixed,” Van Horn said. “I think it's neither a bad idea nor an automatically terrifically good one.”

The fundamental problem, he said, is that businesses generally don't respond well to outside pressure, regardless of whether the pressure is positive or negative.

Without creating a giveaway for businesses, he said, “the question is, how do you structure a tax credit to get them to hire somebody that they wouldn't have otherwise hired?”

Gordon MacInnes, president of the think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, said he's skeptical of the tax credit idea.

“I don't think these incentives are usually that big, and I think that people are responding to demand,” he said. “That's what really counts for most small businesses. I don't believe that they make decisions primarily on the effect on their tax bill.”

Michael Egenton, senior vice president at the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, said he agrees with the basic concept behind the bill, noting that employers already face higher health insurance costs, as well as a host of taxes and fees.

But, he said, the chamber concurs with Christie's idea of studying the issue first. The chamber has thrown more support behind larger programs to improve the state's overall business climate, like the Economic Opportunity Act and Christie's proposed income tax cut, a political nonstarter with Democrats.

Rather than tax cuts, MacInnes said he'd like to see lawmakers make long-term investments in areas like higher education and infrastructure, which can make New Jersey a more attractive place for businesses.

He noted many of the pharmaceutical companies that have left the state in recent years have gone to similarly high-tax locales, like Massachusetts and California.

Van Horn said the ultimate goal should be to make New Jersey more competitive by building on its historic strengths. He said officials can use a variety of tools to make that happen, from tax credits and tax cuts, to long-term investment and cutting red tape. But he said there are no easy answers.

“That's not something you can turn on a dime,” he said.

E-mail to: jaredk@njbiz.com
On Twitter: @jaredkaltwasser

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24 March 2008 - 12:16 PM

My buddy has been a Devils fan for years. He's got an authentic Brodeur jersey thats just sitting in is house. He just bought a new home and is fixing up the basement as is game room/ entertainment area. He'll have a pool table, big screen yadda yadda. Anyway I would love to get the jersey signed for him by Marty. Have it say my friends name and like best wishes or something. Anyone know where I could get this? Im an Islander fan and Im kinda close with them team. The practice a block from where I work and Im there almost everyday chillin and watching them. Ive even played with chris simon lol. Anyway...thanx for the input guys! And since the Islanders arent in the playoffs im gonna jump on the devils bandwagon.....GO DEVILS!


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Linden Residents Express Frustration with Sandy Recovery Process

By Desirée Taylor
Senior Correspondent

Senate President Steve Sweeney and a panel of legislators got an earful from Linden residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy — residents like NAME???. He had to foot the entire bill to repair his home, he says, because his request for Sandy aid was denied.

“FEMA never helped. I applied three times and I did not even get a penny,” said Jack Horta.

Sweeney says his legislation, called the “Sandy Bill of Rights,” will address these issues. It will explain eligibility requirements, how to apply, reasons for rejected applications and an applicants’ rights to appeal. The Senate president also submitted a plan outlining how the next round of funding should be spent.

“We’re trying to start over again because we got a second round. In the first round, only 4 percent got to people for relief. This time around, we can’t sit back,” Sweeney said.

“It’s a disgrace. We don’t know how the money we had coming to New Jersey was spent. We don’t know where the first $1.8 billion went. We have another $1.4 coming. Out of that, too many unanswered questions,” said Assemblywoman Linda Stender.

One of those unanswered questions — why did the administration quietly fire HGI, the contractor charged with distributing Sandy aid?

“We have all this money wasted by a company that didn’t address people’s needs. It is being given money to buy out and the administration doesn’t say straight up that they fired these folks because they did the job wrong and we are not going to pay them,” said housing advocate Arnold Cohen.

Arnold Cohen is among 70 housing and community advocates who sent a letter to Gov. Chris Christie, calling on his administration to improve its draft spending plan.

“It can be done better, cheaper, we could have people in their homes, if only we work with local groups,” Cohen said.

Sweeney agrees non-profits can do a better job. His plan calls for utilizing community resource centers to help disburse aid and act as resource guides for storm victims.


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New Sleep Center to Open

To meet the rising demand for sleep lab studies, North Kansas City Hospital will open a second four bed sleep center this summer at 8640 N Green Hills Road, Suite 44 & 45, Kansas City, MO 64154 in the Northland. The current four bed lab is located on the hospital’s second floor.

Joseph Henry, MD

Joseph Henry, MD, serves as medical director for the NKCH campus facility and the new Green Hills location. He and Brian Ladesich, MD, partner to manage the studies. Both pulmonologists practice with Meritas Health Pulmonary Medicine and are board certified in sleep medicine.

Brian Ladesich, MD

“The off-campus environment is quiet and offers easy access,” says Dr. Ladesich.

Physicians can refer patients directly to NKCH’s sleep centers and receive the test results or physicians may refer patients to Dr. Henry or Dr. Ladesich.

Sleep Center

Sleep studies may be scheduled at either facility based on availability and patient preference. The newly remodeled center features four rooms; two are equipped with bariatric-rated beds and recliners. To help ensure an accurate study, each room is designed and decorated to resemble a bedroom and the sleep center is fully equipped with cameras and other necessary technology. The new sleep center will be open Wednesday through Friday, but can expand to seven days a week as needed.

Sleep Studies

Sleep TestMost insurance companies require that home sleep testing be completed prior to a sleep lab study. Meritas Health Pulmonary Medicine can assist with both types of studies. When a sleep lab study is required, a full array of Type I studies are available at either location.

Type I Studies

  • Polysomnogram Only Sleep Study is a diagnostic study without intervention. CPAP is initiated under emergency guidelines per protocol.
  • Split-Night Polysomnogram with CPAP/Bi-level Titration as Indicated includes documentation of sleep-related disordered breathing followed by the initiation and titration of CPAP/Bi-level therapy, if sufficient time to implement and titrate therapy is available, as per protocol.
  • CPAP/Bi-Level Titration or Check/Titration Polysomnogram initiates CPAP/Bi-level at the start of the study and titrated as protocol dictates. For an initial titration, there should be a previous diagnostic polysomnogram performed within the previous three months.
  • Post-Op Polysomnogram assesses the benefits from upper airway surgery. If disordered breathing persists, CPAP/Bi-level therapy is initiated, as per protocol.
  • Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) determines daytime sleepiness in relationship to sleep disorders, especially narcolepsy. The MSLT must follow a diagnostic polysomnogram. The MSLT is canceled if the diagnostic study demonstrates an untreated sleep disorder.
  • Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) assesses alertness/wakefulness either following therapeutic intervention or complaint of sleepiness. Required most often by Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or railroad industry. No repeat polysomnogram is necessary.

To learn more, call 816-346-7450.


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Language and identity

Jeanie Bell, Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education, 20 March 2010

JOHN HARMS: I’d like to introduce Jeanie Bell, who is from the Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics at the Batchelor Institute in the Northern Territory. Jeanie, I wanted to start by asking where you’re from originally.

JEANIE BELL: Well, I’m another Queenslander [laughter]. I guess they’re everywhere aren’t they?

JOHN HARMS: Which part and which people?

JEANIE BELL: Before I start talking about that, I’d like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people from this particular area of the country and thank Auntie Agnes this morning for that lovely welcome. I’m originally from south-east Queensland, and I was born in Brisbane and grew up in Brisbane. My parents, who are both of Aboriginal descent, came from south-east Queensland.

My father came from the Kamiliroi people, we think, on our paternal grandmother’s side. His blood father was a son of a white station owner in south-east Queensland who we never knew, although I think I’ve inherited some of my traits from some of that family. His real father was a full-blood Aboriginal man from south-east Queensland. He was a Yuggera man who lived in the Brisbane Valley. He lived on a station also and never came under the Queensland Act. So he was always a free Aboriginal. He spoke language as well as good English.

My mother was born in Hervey Bay. Her grandmother and mother were descendants of the Dulingbara people from Fraser Island who spoke a dialect of the Gabi-Gabi language and connected to the Badjala language, which is that language that I probably know the best of all traditional languages because I’ve studied it over many years and written a thesis on it.

Her father was a white man who came from Norway or Sweden, another family that we didn’t ever know. And her grandfather on her mother’s side was from the Solomon Islands. So yes, there are many kinds of histories. I identify as an Aboriginal person though and grew up in Brisbane.

JOHN HARMS: So in growing up in Brisbane, did you speak any language or did you learn language yourself?

JEANIE BELL: No, the only language I learnt was English and I guess they taught us well, as David spoke about. I was at school in Brisbane in the 1950s and early 1960s. I heard lots of language spoken by elders in our communities and our families - not everyone spoke it but many of the older people still spoke language. The languages they spoke came from the three main language groups of south-east Queensland, which are the Wakka Wakka languages, the Gubbi-Gubbi languages and the Yuggara languages which cross over into northern New South Wales.

JOHN HARMS: And even though you didn’t speak personally, did you have a knowledge of those languages yourself?

JEANIE BELL: I felt very influenced by some of the older people who spoke language. I loved to listen to them speak. I didn’t understand a lot of what they said, but we knew lots of words. So we could listen and hear words that we were familiar with and that we used them all the time in our English. We mixed the words on a regular basis. That was probably the beginnings of what’s known today as Aboriginal English. Because that happened all over the country, it didn’t just happen in south-east Queensland.

JOHN HARMS: When I was doing my research with Steve Renouf on the book, The Pearl, two generations before in the Renouf household weren’t permitted to speak language. It was a sort of an internal decision from Steve’s grandfather and grandmother. That happened a lot, didn’t it?

JEANIE BELL: It did, yes.

JOHN HARMS: Why was that?

JEANIE BELL: Especially in our parents’ and our grandparents’ generation, because very early on in Queensland history they decided that they couldn’t control the Aboriginal people who were wandering around their own traditional countries. There had been a lot of massacres and there had also been a lot of trouble with Aboriginal people stealing cattle or sheep. There were lots of illegitimate children being born so they decided that they would form these communities or reserves as they were called, and they were managed quite often by the churches. They rounded people up and sent them to those places. So when they got to these places, and Cherbourg is one of the most well known in south-east Queensland and there was another reserve that was managed by the Salvation Army outside of Ipswich which was called the Deebing Creek Mission.

Our father’s mother, our paternal grandmother, and her sister ended up there. They had been rounded up from around the St George area, when they were 12 years old in the 1890s. Our mother and many of her family from Hervey Bay had been sent to Cherbourg where language and culture was forbidden. The Anglican Church managed the Cherbourg reservation and the Salvation Army the Deebing Creek Mission. They sent them to school, so they were teaching them the white ways or the European ways, and English, of course, was a very important part of that.

JOHN HARMS: So how was that policed?

JEANIE BELL: By the superintendents mainly, and the people that were the church workers or the missionaries that were at the reservations. And there were teachers brought in to the schools. In my mother and father’s generation, they only went to school to grade four. After they left school at grade four, I’m not sure, my mother’s story was that there was a Torres Strait Islander teacher at that stage and she used to go into the school and help with the younger children, so she was kind of like a teaching aide, I think, what you would call an Indigenous education worker today. By the time they were getting on to be 13 and 14, they were then sent out to work. I’m not sure in that period in between what they were doing. They were training them to be domestics, I think, and other types of workers.

JOHN HARMS: And were there penalties for speaking language?

JEANIE BELL: Well, that’s what we were told. I guess the one that I’ve heard people mainly say is that they would have their mouth washed out with soap or they were sent to the dormitories or they were locked up in darkrooms and punished. They were punished for a lot of things. And quite often they were also punished by older Aboriginal people who had taken on the roles of helping to grow these children up. My mother always talked about a boiling pot on a fire outside the dormitory where an old lady who didn’t have any legs sat, and she was always threatening to throw them in the pot - like those kinds of stories. Oral history is wonderful in many ways, but quite often it does get changed along the way, so we have to be careful with that.

JOHN HARMS: What do you see as the impact of that decision at Cherbourg to deny language for those who lived at Cherbourg?

JEANIE BELL: Again, it’s a similar process or pattern that happened all over Australia and in the Torres Strait. I think that the situation today is that - and this has been the case for the last few decades - we have many younger generations, my generation and much younger but maybe not the little children because they don’t really understand the impact of it so much yet, many generations have become very angry and resentful at the loss of language and culture and have felt that part of our identity was stolen or denied us. We weren’t allowed to have access. We didn’t get the opportunities to learn in the ways that would have been done in traditional ways.

We all know that societies change, and once there are dominant groups that come into a country, you are channelled or pushed into others ways of being. But I guess there’s a deep-down grieving and sense of loss that people feel about not having access to language and not being able to speak language. We still use it to shape our identity, and part of that is through the efforts around the country to revive language and to try to maintain languages that are still alive. We all know that that’s a loaded gun in many ways, because there are not many examples of success around the world with language revival. We can name a few - perhaps Welsh and Hebrew - and we’ve had a few really good examples of success in Australia. But it’s the effort that goes into it, which is part of the healing of bringing that back and giving people an opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of the traditional language which connects us to the land and which connects to our ancestors, and that’s an important part of who we are.

JOHN HARMS: That’s been your life’s passion, hasn’t it, with the Gubbi Gubbi?

JEANIE BELL: Yeah, the Badjala and the Gubbi Gubbi, but mainly with the Badjala. That’s the language that I learnt through tapes that had been recorded and lodged at the AIATSIS [Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies] audiovisual area and in the documented area with manuscripts and such. One of our grandfathers, who wasn’t a bloodline grandfather, but through the tribal connections he was a grandfather and he had been recorded by a number of linguists in the 1950s and the 1960s, and the taped information was lodged. The material did get originally recorded by two linguists: one that lived here in Canberra, Stephen Wurm, and another linguist from The Netherlands, Nils Holmer. Then there were other people that did a little bit of work on those languages as well, and then I did some of work on Badjala.

JOHN HARMS: When did you start that work?

JEANIE BELL: I guess I always had a memory of that old grandfather, Grandfather Willy McKenzie, because he spoke language all the time. He spoke wonderful English, and he was one of those men who always had a very strong presence wherever he went. As children he came to visit our house on a regular basis, and we saw him a lot out in the community. At the Royal show he was always in his scout uniform, and he always out to meet the Queen and all those kind of dignitaries that came. But he always spoke various languages. So he could hear him speak perfect English and you also heard him speak traditional languages. I just always remembered that, and always had it in my mind.

I went to Monash University in Melbourne in the late 1970s after doing adult matriculation in Melbourne, after I had moved there to live for a while, and I was with a friend who was also starting university. I said to her, ‘I would really like to do linguistics. I am little bit nervous but if you come and we go together… That’s where I started because I knew there were people there that had worked with Australian languages and I knew that was the place where I was going to learn about them. That was the start of it in terms of my formal work.

JOHN HARMS: Then it was a decade-long process to establish the research which allowed you to publish in 1994?

JEANIE BELL: Yes, it was ongoing. I went to work in Central Australia after I finished my degree, and then I went back to the east coast in the early 1980s and worked at Queensland university for a while and also a little bit in northern New South Wales. But during that time I started to speak to a lot of elders, who had memories much longer than mine, and who had known quite bit of language. I started talking to a lot of them and I also started listening to a lot of the AIATSIS tapes - the tapes that been recorded with our old people - and talking to other Aboriginal people in south-east Queensland. So there was a bit of a swirl going on. There were a lot of people wanting to do things and get involved with language and teach it. It was a good time too, because people were still around who knew people who spoke language, and they spoke some language too. So there was all that happening, which was great.

JOHN HARMS: How many people would you have spoken to who had the language?

JEANIE BELL: I can’t really say numbers wise.

JOHN HARMS: In the dozens or in the hundreds?

JEANIE BELL: It wouldn’t have been hundreds, it probably would have been 20 or 30 people.

JOHN HARMS: And then when the dictionary came out, have you found that there has been an interest amongst the people in taking it up?

JEANIE BELL: Yes, I think so. Basically what I was working with were tapes and also historical documents where people had recorded language - people that had settled in that area; people that had come and taken up land and had Aboriginal people working for them living on the stations. Some of them wrote the language down. Some of the missionaries wrote the language down. So there has been a number of source material, and a lot of people had come along in the 1940s and pooled together all the stuff that had been done in the 1920s and the 1900s. There are various stages of the historical documentation. In that first dictionary that was published in 1994, it was a collation of all that material. After I did my masters at Melbourne Uni, I went back to work in Hervey Bay for a couple of years and I did another dictionary but it was just the Badjala language because I was able then to provide a lot of grammatical information. Grammar is a big thing in Aboriginal languages but with reviving languages we don’t always go back to the old way of talking; we don’t always use the traditional grammatical ways or patterns that would have existed back then. It gets changed quite a bit. People don’t always like to learn.

Our languages are case languages, and very much like Latin. They are agglutinating languages and they add all these little bits onto the words, and the words can be quite long. It’s a bit hard for a lot of our mob to learn language, because we are so used to just speaking English that it’s a bit of a challenge. When you come to learn language as adults, it’s always another added challenge. So we tend to kind of make it easier, I think.

JOHN HARMS: How many Indigenous languages were spoken on the continent?

JEANIE BELL: Originally they say there was between 500 to 600 dialects, and between 250 to 300 different language groups or language families.

JOHN HARMS: And of those languages, how many would have been subject to the sort of research that you’ve done?

JEANIE BELL: Quite a few, I’d say. Since probably the 1950s there’s been a lot of work done by linguists attached to universities or to other bodies of linguistic research. So there’s been a lot of documentation and recording of language that’s happened. One of the things that linguists like to do, particularly when they are in career positions as linguists, is they like to go out and collect language and then analyse it and compare it to other languages. Part of that is also towards the contribution being made to linguistic biodiversity on a global level because, as you know, globally languages are severely endangered at the moment. Apparently, the languages in Australia are the most endangered. At this point in time, we only have 20 languages that have more than 1000 speakers. The biggest and fastest growing language in this country is Kriol. Kriol is spoken by 40,000 to 50,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the north of Australia, and there are three major dialects of Kriol. They are all English-based creoles, but they are languages in their own right. They have their own grammar and they have their own vocabulary. They originally start as contact languages, but they are now creole languages.

JOHN HARMS: Do you feel that they serve Indigenous identity well?

JEANIE BELL: I think the people that speak them do. They are very much a part of their identity. From a linguistic point of view they’re killing off our traditional languages faster in collusion with English so it’s a bit of a two-edged sword in a way.

JOHN HARMS: Of course we’ve seen with the various initiatives or actions of the Federal Government in recent times some policy regarding language and the English language in Indigenous communities. What would your advice to Mr Rudd and his department be?

JEANIE BELL: I think that my advice would be, like the advice of many others that are offering up advice to the Northern Territory government and to the Federal Government, is that children learn better if they can learn through their own language, their first language. In Australia where Indigenous languages are still spoken on a daily basis, children should be allowed to have a bilingual approach to education or what the Summer Institute of Linguistics is proposing and lobbying very strongly for is a multilingual approach to language teaching. That’s not just for Indigenous languages but for all language groups. The idea would be that children learn through their first language. Then once they’ve gained skills in literacy and numeracy in their own language or at the same time they may be learning English.

When bilingual education first started in the Northern Territory in the 1970s that was intended to be the approach, then it got changed, then it got changed a bit more, and then it got weakened. Now we are faced with a situation where they’re insisting that schools teach English for the first four hours of every school day and then, if there is time in the afternoon, they can have some instruction in their own language. But in the Northern Territory children are quite often very tired and very hungry. So after four hours of English, they would be exhausted and quite often they won’t come back to school or they’ll be quite lethargic if they are in school.

The number of language teachers in schools is quite small. We do have quite a few Indigenous education workers and quite a few of them would speak their own languages. Particularly in Arnhem Land, around the Western Desert of the Northern Territory, and in South Australia in places like Yuendumu, Willowra and Lajamanu, which are the big Warlpiri communities in the Western Desert, and a little bit on the east coast where Catholic education run schools at places like Port Keates and Daly River and places like Bathurst Island. There are a lot of different situations. The Catholic education department has a different approach, but really there are schools in Arnhem Land that are still continuing to teach through their own languages - and they are Yolngu schools. They’ve just stood their ground and they’ve been able to negotiate a bit of a compromise with the new CEO of the Department of Education and Training. So that’s working well for them, I think.

JOHN HARMS: Do those communities train their own teachers, or does Batchelor have…?

JEANIE BELL: Batchelor trains a lot of the teachers. We train Indigenous education workers as well as primary education teachers and also early childhood teachers. Charles Darwin University is also venturing into that area as well.

JOHN HARMS: It might be a good time to open it up for questions.

QUESTION: Not so much a question as an identification: You can understand from my accent that I come from Ireland originally. We were occupied for hundreds of years by the British, and it was rather an unpleasant experience in lots of ways. The language was one of the identifiers of nation, and the language was suppressed, as in the situation here on this continent. Our reward wasn’t just having our mouths washed out with soap and water; it would have been hot lead or dangling at the end of a rope, which was rather an unpleasant experience. It wasn’t until the Free State was achieved in 1922 that the language was re-established in the official areas. It has been restored practically fully, one might say, by having all documentation in the EU [European Union] translated into Gaelic. So it’s one of the official languages and stands beside French, English and German.

One of our famous patriots, a man by the name of O’Donovan Rossa, while he was being buried Thomas Davis gave the oration and described language as a more important barrier than a fortress or river. As you said, it definitely identifies a people. Thank you very much.

JEANIE BELL: Thank you.

JOHN HARMS: We’ll take that as a comment. What’s your feeling, Jeanie, about the possibility of restoration of language? I know you’ve suggested that there are very few examples from around the world.

JEANIE BELL: That’s one of them.

JOHN HARMS: Yes. With Gubbi Gubbi and Badjala, would you see it being taken up even by a small number of people?

JEANIE BELL: Well Badjala has actually had quite a successful journey. One of my cousins has been teaching the language in Hervey Bay along with some other people who support her, and she did some training with me when I taught at the Cairns TAFE College. We were teaching an Indigenous language workers courses. She’s now also doing her BA in Language and Linguistics at the Batchelor Institute. She’s just about finished. But she’s been teaching the language for a number of years. I did go back there to work for a couple of years after I’d done my thesis to help them develop materials and also to teach the language to some adults, particularly young men who were wanting to write new dance songs, new corroborees.

They’ve also had a journalist come to live in Hervey Bay, I think it was two years ago now, and she wanted to run a series of Badjala language programs in the Hervey Bay Chronicle, and she consulted with the local Aboriginal organization. They agreed to support that idea. She used the dictionary that I had produced, and it’s been incredibly successful. They nominated themselves – I think the journalist might have done the nomination - for a United Nations peace award for reconciliation and have received it two years in a row. They are now being supported by the Queensland Government to teach the Badjala language in local schools. That is a success.

JOHN HARMS: That’s in place now, Jeanie?

JEANIE BELL: It is about to happen. We are negotiating how it’s going to work. But it has been really successful and I still give support in whatever ways I can. Joy and I talk a lot about what’s happening with the program and we together come up with new ideas. She talks to lots of other people. The State Library of Queensland is supporting - I know that Roley is involved with the State Library - language preservation and revival in terms of documenting, producing resources and helping people do research on their languages. Yes, there are a number of really good things.

You can look at the Kaurna language program in South Australia that has been going in Adelaide for probably 10 or 15 years and they’ve got a school where they teach the Kaurna language all the time.

In Western Australia there are a number of schools that support language learning through their Languages other than English program. They train their own teachers to do language teaching, which has been fantastic. It’s had a few issues but it’s working quite well.

The New South Wales Government has developed and endorsed a policy for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in schools, and that has gone quite well to my understanding. I know there are some glitches where people felt they weren’t being given a proper place in the system. They were being brought in to teach the language but they weren’t necessarily being given the rewards or respect of their role, because they weren’t trained teachers in a lot of cases in the formal sense.

I think there are a lot of success stories. There are different levels of success. It’s what the community regards as success. The University of Sydney has a program for training Indigenous teachers to be language teachers. They have a very strong program going in Victoria where they’ve got training happening through Gippsland TAFE. There are a number of things that are going on. While there are some programs that start and don’t go anywhere - they might go for a little while and then they fall down, because there is not the resources or funding - that happens certainly, but there are lots of good stories about what’s happening.

MAN IN AUDIENCE: You spoke briefly about the dangers of using oral history and relying on it too much, but my question was: is oral history useful in maintaining the language and carrying the language forward to the people in the future; and also to what extent do English words get picked up and adapted into the language?

JEANIE BELL: I think oral history is extremely important and part of our traditional practice is stories that are passed down through the generations, as it is with most cultures. Obviously there are those things that happen where people kind of change bits here and maybe exaggerate a point here and miss out some other important information, but at the same time it is a very valuable tool in language and in culture, and just generally in passing down history. Sorry, I’m not sure I understand your question about English.

MAN IN AUDIENCE: I was just wondering as English has adopted and picked up words from other languages as it goes on, to what extent is that happening with the Indigenous language where it picks up English?

JEANIE BELL: Quite a bit. Obviously you see lots of Indigenous words everywhere you go, particularly with place names in Australia but there are other words that have been adopted into the English language. The languages of Arnhem Land have adopted words from Macassan, because they had a long history of association with the Macassans who came to the Arafura Sea. And the same on the west coast with the Malay languages, with the people that interacted with the Aboriginal groups on the west coast. The same would have been here. But yes, we’ve certainly adopted and even in Aboriginal English it’s both ways. We change words in English. We don’t always use English the way other people use English, but we also use a lot of Aboriginal words. Occasionally the meanings of the words might change. So yes, it does happen I think all the time.

JOHN HARMS: Time is getting away, Jeanie. We thank you so much. You’ve come all the way from Alice Springs going all the way back to Darwin. I was really thrilled that you could make it here.

JEANIE BELL: Thanks for inviting me. [applause]

Date published: 12 July 2010