Missing JC mom found dead, husband arrested
Steven Acuna, the husband of Randy “Amanda” Lehrer, who went missing from Jersey City on Aug. 13, has been arrested and charged in her alleged murder.
A week ago Friday, police found Lehrer’s decomposing, folded body encased in cement in a 55-gallon drum in the basement of the Charles Street building where the couple lived.
Acuna has entered a plea of not guilty according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward Defazio. He is being held on $1 million bail.
The couple has a one-year-old daughter who has been staying with Acuna’s parents. A comment on a Facebook page in memory of Lehrer indicated that Lehrer’s family in Canada may fight for custody.
Police believe Acuna allegedly strangled his wife sometime between Aug. 13, when she was last seen, and Aug. 17, when Acuna reported her missing.
Lehrer was a waitress at Tommy’s Restaurant in Jersey City.
Defazio said Friday that a grand jury will likely be convened within the next three months and additional charges could be added to Acuna’s murder charge.
City budget passed; taxes may rise
The Jersey City Council has finally adopted a municipal budget for 2011.
The council on Tuesday unanimously approved the city’s $490.4 million spending plan for this year. Of this amount, $201.9 million will come from property taxes. While the Healy administration argues that the current budget holds taxes steady this year, taxes have increased when compared to fiscal years in the past.
Two years ago, in the 2008-2009 fiscal year budget, $151.2 million was raised from property taxes for the municipal budget. For FY 2009-2010 the amount raised from taxes climbed to $185 million. This marks the first year that Jersey City is using the calendar year as its fiscal year.
The city was on a fiscal year until June 30, 2010. The city then had a six-month transitional budget that ended Dec. 31, 2010.
Residents pay an overall tax rate that includes three components: city taxes (determined by the city budget), as well as school and county taxes. The school and county budgets are determined each spring.
In addition to city taxes, those other two components of quarterly tax bills have also increased. Under the county’s 2011 $472.4 million budget, Jersey City saw a very slight increase of a few dollars this year. The school budget for the 2011-2012 school year is $630.7 million and includes a $104.4 million tax levy, an increase over last year.
A taxpayer with an assessed home worth $100,000 is paying $32 more, total, in school taxes and about $10 to $15 more, total, to the county this year.
Former Assemblyman Manzo responds to third indictment
Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo filed a response Tuesday to the most recent charges made against him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The case is a continuation of the 2009 federal sting operation into political corruption. Manzo was hit with several charges, but has publicly criticized the sting, saying he believes it was done to help former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in his eventual run for governor.
Manzo has since had some of the charges against him dropped, but others are pending.
The most recent charges against him are that he violated federal travel rules and allegedly failed to report federal offenses by other people.
Motions in response to his third indictment were filed in the Federal Distruict Court in Newark last week. According to an article on NJ.com, Manzo’s attorney has argued that all corruption charges against him should be dismissed.
An 82-page motion says that “federal officials have attempted to ‘bootstrap’ bribery charges on Manzo after failing in their initial bid to convict him on corruption,” according to the article.
Manzo has been charged with bribery but has seen extortion charges against him thrown out.
It’s baaaaaaaack. After summer hiatus, trash train reappears on tracks at JSQ PATH Station
It has been three months since Jersey City residents in the Journal Square area have had to endure the stench of garbage from trains that periodically park on the tracks at the PATH Station. The trash transport train, owned and operated by the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), was last spotted back in June. However, after giving residents a summer reprieve, the train – which collects garbage throughout Hudson County and transports it through Journal Square area – reappeared on Saturday, Sept. 24 and again on Monday, Sept. 26.
Problems with these trains flair up periodically and residents have in the past complained to city officials, the county, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the transit agency that runs the PATH system.
Although the garbage-filled rail cars are covered with black tarps, perhaps to keep the trash from blowing away, the tarps do nothing to mitigate foul odors. Earlier this year residents complained to members of the city’s newly-formed Environmental Commission and members of the City Council.
Getting freight rail lines, like Conrail, to change how they operate can be a challenge since they are regulated by the federal government and municipal, county, and state authorities have no jurisdiction over them.
In June, Ward C City Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who represents the Journal Square community, recommended that residents contact the Hudson Region Health Commission whenever nasty odors from these trash trains sit on the tracks for long periods of time. Residents who wish to complain can call (201) 223-1133. Hudson County residents can also call the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Northern Field Office at (973) 656-4444.