Get updates from the Midweek Reporter and other papers on Twitter!
The nine community newspapers published by the Hudson Reporter are now providing breaking news updates and previews of upcoming stories on Twitter.
Confused? It’s easy to sign up. Go to the site for your town:
http://www.twitter.com/UCNJreporter for Union City;
http://www.twitter.com/WNYReporter for West New York;
http://www.twitter.com/SecReporter for Secaucus;
http://www.twitter.com/BayonneCommNews for Bayonne;
http://www.twitter.com/hobokenreporter for Hoboken;
http://www.twitter.com/JCReporter for Jersey City;
http://www.twitter.com/NBReporter for North Bergen;
http://www.twitter.com/WeReporter for Weehawken;
and http://www.twitter.com/MidweekReporter for the Midweek.
Check out www.hudsonreporter.com any time for breaking news and articles for all papers.
Search for driver who killed JC woman
According to news reports, Jersey City police is searching for the driver of a silver-colored SUV that hit a woman crossing Route 139 at Oakland Avenue Saturday morning at around 5:30 a.m. Authorities identified the woman as Maria Concepcion, a Jersey City resident, who was declared dead at the scene.
The Hudson Reporter will have more on this incident as information comes in.
The Jersey City Police Department is asking for the public’s help in their investigation and asking people to contact them at (201) 547-5245. – RK
North Hudson Fire’s hiring freeze lifted
After being barred from hiring new firefighter candidates due to a 2007 NAACP lawsuit against North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, the department has had the injunction lifted and will be able to hire off of their own list of candidates.
The NHRFR serves five towns in Hudson County, N.J.: North Bergen, Guttenberg, Union City, West New York, and Weehawken.
A federal judge in 2009 placed an injunction over the Regional, prohibiting them from hiring new firefighters unless they used a court-mandated list that broadened eligible candidates to residents of Hudson, Essex and Union counties. The NAACP has alleged that the department discriminated again African-American candidates.
Before that, the NHRFR only hired candidates who resided in their own five towns. The NHRFR officials stated that hiring off of the newly broadened list would unfairly compromise the chances of Hispanic candidates, who make up a large segment of the local population.
At the NHRFR meeting Monday, Chairperson and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner announced that this injunction was lifted last week, while the court case will continue. He said that the department would make hiring decisions within 30 to 60 days.
It was also announced at the meeting that hiring application deadlines have been extended to May 29. 2010. Interested candidates may visit www.nhrfr.net or may pick up an application at NHRFR headquarters, located at 11 Port Imperial Boulevard, West New York, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, read this week’s North Bergen Reporter in print or at www.hudsonreporter.com. – TT
24 percent of local teachers could retire this summer if bill passes
A local newspaper posted a story on Sunday noting that with Gov. Chris Christie’s plans to cut pension and health benefit banks for current teachers, those retiring by Aug. 1 will get to keep all the money. Thus, many teachers who are eligible to retire may do so all at once at the end of this school year. That is, if Christie’s plan passes through the state legislature.
If many of them leave, it could leave area districts struggling to pay a lot of money at once, but might also open their jobs up to new teachers.
The story notes: “Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to get long-serving teachers to retire this summer could drain lots of experience from some districts while largely sparing charter schools staffed by younger educators, a Star-Ledger analysis has found. …The state’s largest teachers union says the plan could prompt mass retirements. The Star-Ledger analysis shows more than 29,300 of the state’s nearly 143,750 certified teachers — about 20 percent of the workforce — qualified for retirement, either through age or years worked.
“Hudson, Passaic and Cape May counties could be hit the hardest, with 24 percent or more of their teachers potentially looking at an open door.”
Correction
Our publication incorrectly identified the winner of the “Best Single Ad Any Size, Multi-Spot or Full,” created for Bayonne Medical Center by The Hudson Reporter. The award winning ad, “David vs Goliath,” was in fact designed by Spot On! Creative Group LLC. of Montclair, N.J. We apologize for any confusion and congratulate Spot On! Creative Group on their campaign.
“We appreciate the honor and are proud of our team for conceiving and producing this compelling ad,” said Kevin Riedy, partner and creative director.
Hudson has most Twitter-ers in NJ
Don’t understand Twitter yet, even after our very first brief today?
Basically, you type in very short updates on your life, or thoughts of the day, in 160 characters or less, and people who’ve chosen to “subscribe” to you get alerts or emails about it. You usually just go to www.twitter.com to sign up. In fact, you can receive “Tweets” from all the Hudson Reporter newspapers!
Anyway, a communications firm in North Jersey sent out a release Monday announcing that Hudson has the most Twitter users in New Jersey:
“Hudson County has the highest concentration of Twitter users in New Jersey, according to Twitter New Jersey, a first-of-its kind report compiled by Jaffe Communications of Westfield, NJ on the widespread use of the popular social media platform in New Jersey.
“Hudson County’s ‘Twitter Density’ is 6.51 users per 1,000, closely followed by Essex County, which has 6.31 users per 1,000, according to the report released today. Twitter Density shows the concentration of registered Twitter users in a certain geographic area.
“The report also looked at municipalities in New Jersey with the highest concentration of Twitter users. Milford Borough in Hunterdon County had the highest Twitter Density with 64.1 users per 1,000 followed by Cape May City with 35.8, the Princetons with 33.8 users per 1,000, Hoboken with 28.6 and Flemington with 24.6.”
Jersey City, New Jersey’s second largest city, ranked 35th with 2,010 users, or 8.3 per 1,000.