'A Bronx Tale: The Musical,' with Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks co-directing and Chazz Palminteri writing the book, is making its world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. Here's how it happened Watch video

The creative team behind "A Bronx Tale: The Musical" at Millburn's Paper Mill Playhouse, has just debuted three songs from the show for the press, including a vivid number about writer Chazz Palminteri's old stomping grounds along Belmont Avenue. Sweet street corner harmonizing gives way to the more insistent beat of early rock and roll; the company sings of church bells and wiseguys, sidewalk peddlers and Sunday sauce. You can practically smell the zeppoles frying.

"A Bronx Tale," which began previews Thursday and officially opens Feb. 14, is based on Palminteri's one-man show and the beloved 1993 film directed by Robert De Niro about a young man named Calogero, the promising son of a hard-working bus driver who falls under the sway of a flashy capo. It's a fable, a morality tale, says De Niro, who co-directed the musical with four-time Tony-winner Jerry Zaks. "It's father and son, good against bad."

"It's about people making the right choices, about not wasting your talents," adds Palminteri. "I think everybody has these dreams and ambitions. That's why 'A Bronx Tale' just resonates."

An unpretentious narrative draped in nostalgia and embroidered with menace, combined with a finger-snapping soundtrack influenced by 1960s rock and soul and an A-list creative cast that also includes music by Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast," "Newsies"), lyrics by Glenn Slater ("School of Rock") and choreography by Sergio Trujillo ("Jersey Boys")?

It might as well be called "A Broadway Tale."

Not that anyone will admit it.

"Let's see how the show lives on stage at the Paper Mill," suggests Menken.

"We're just focusing on putting on the best production that we can at the Paper Mill," insists Richard H. Blake, a Clifton actor taking a break from "Jersey Boys" to play Calogero's father Lorenzo.

"Whaddayagonnasay?" shrugs De Niro.

There is an omertA about the potential for a Broadway transfer, even though the nonprofit Paper Mill, which emerged from near-insolvency in 2007 to reclaim its rep as one of the most well-regarded regional theaters in the nation, has launched, through partnerships with outside producers, two musicals that went on to Broadway since 2011, "Newsies" and "Honeymoon in Vegas." A third, the swing-era "Bandstand" directed by Andy Blankenbuehler, who choreographed current Broadway darling "Hamilton," is expected to transfer to the Great White Way as well.

But to speak of this could be to jinx it. And the show does not go on for every production with high (if silent) Broadway expectations — "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which played at the Paper Mill in 2015 as part of a collaboration with La Jolla Playhouse and the powerhouse Disney Theatricals, is not expected to transfer, although there is still life (which is to say, money) in such shows — at the amateur or high school level, or in touring productions.

The Paper Mill does not have the kind of capital it takes to help mount a Broadway musical — upwards of $5 million, significantly more for technically challenging ones — nor is that its mission. "Paper Mill can't make that happen," says producing artistic director Mark Hoebe. "That's not who we are. We don't even enter into that conversation. If you're focused on getting a shot to Broadway, that's not always the best way to get the work done."

What's at stake

A Broadway transfer does bring with it prestige and the ability to attract better projects. And while helping develop an ambitious musical can result in a new income stream for the theater, it's not a significant amount, or a reliable one, year to year. Typically a nonprofit theater will share in the royalty pool for a limited amount of time; in the 2013-2014 tax year, the Paper Mill received $168,991 in royalties — not the millions or even billions of dollars a successful Broadway run with associated touring companies can reap.

Veteran Broadway composer Alan Menken was inspired by doo-wop and early rock in creating the songs for "A Bronx Tale: The Musical."Jerry Dalia/'A Bronx Tale: The Musical at the Paper Mill

But local audiences in recent years have been able to appreciate these Broadway-caliber shows thanks to these partnerships with commercial producers, who have found that traditional out-of-town tryouts at, say, Boston, New Haven or Philadelphia for-profit theaters too expensive. Nonprofit theaters have their own staff and crew and, crucially, an existing subscriber base (the Paper Mill's is a very healthy 21,000, up from 12,500 during its financial crisis).

"With a commercial theater, you're starting at zero," says David Saint, the artistic director of the nonprofit George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, where original productions of "Proof," "The Toxic Avenger" and "It Shoulda Been You" eventually transferred to Broadway. With so-called "enhancement" money, a nonprofit theater can spend more on sets, costume and lighting than would typically be in its budget.

"We are giving our audience a much bigger, more exciting vital production," says Paper Mill managing director Todd Schmidt. "We couldn't spend that kind of money."

How much money, Schmidt isn't able to say. The specifics of the Paper Mill's financial relationship with its "A Bronx Tale" partners — in this case, music executive Tommy Mottola and longtime Broadway producers the Dodgers, among whose hits is the monster "Jersey Boys" — is confidential. But the Paper Mill's most recent tax filing offers an indication of how much money is involved. For the tax year that covered the world premieres of "Honeymoon in Vegas" and the play "The Other Josh Cohen," the theater received $1.5 million in enhancement money.

The Paper Mill, which opened in 1938 in what was once a derelict mill, has a grand history as a revival house, and was long considered too close to New York City to host quiet Broadway tryouts. "Now with the internet, and everyone has a camera on their cell phone, you can't escape the public eye," Hoebe says. "It doesn't matter how far you go."

The theater had once boasted 40,000 subscribers but its base had shrunk by the time it had to be bailed out by the town of Millburn, which purchased the property and buildings in 2008 for $9.1 million and leased it back to the Paper Mill. The theater shifted its model and opened itself up to more partnership and world premieres, although classic musicals remain part of its mission. (In fact, "West Side Story," which opens June 1, is already sold out.)

"We tried to create an environment where people can do the work they need to do, and we're there to support them," Hoebe says. "In the last five years, that's really started to pay off."

Saint, from the George Street Playhouse, recalled advice from Daniel Sullivan, the former artistic director of Seattle Rep, a Tony-winning regional theater. "Always go with a show that you would want to produce, even though it didn't have a nickel attached to it. You're not putting the cart before the horse, letting outside money drive the choice of artistic work, and that's when it becomes very dangerous and you become a theater for hire. You have to have some vision of what you want to do in your theater, that you're proud of it."

Telling the tale

"A Bronx Tale" dates back to the 1980s, when Palminteri, then a struggling actor, penned a one-man stage show based on his childhood memories, including witnessing a shooting that becomes a pivotal moment in the story, and his infatuation with an African-American girl that propels the drama.

"If you look at it, it has all the elements of a great musical," says Palminteri, who wrote the book for the musical. "It has a great story. It has the wise guys. It has the black and white love affair. Everything about it is just dramatic."

After De Niro made his directorial debut with the 1993 film (he also co-starred as Lorenzo), he and Palminteri made a few stabs at developing the show, but the music never quite felt right, De Niro says. Eventually Menken and his frequent collaborator Slater came on board, with a score that leans heavily on doo-wop and early rock.

"Finding the vocabulary was the essential building block for me," Menken says. "What's the voice of this musical, and can I find an original and interesting way to tell the story? It ended up being so much fun. Each of the songs is a little wink at one kind of style of music from the era, and I love doing that."

That the show shares DNA both creatively and narratively with "Jersey Boys" is a promising sign for its New Jersey run, not to mention its long-term future.

"It's a similar story of family, of neighborhood, of struggle and friendship and how friendships can get confusing," says Blake, who returns to the role of Tommy DeVito in the Broadway production of "Jersey Boys" two days after "A Bronx Tale" closes. "When I say family and neighborhood, that's an Italian thing. It's Belleville. It's Newark. It's the Oranges. It's a definitely a story that rings true to those neighborhoods, not just the Bronx."

Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out TV Hangover, the podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or listen here.

The shooting occurred near the intersection of South 10th Street and Brenner Street, authorities say.

(File photo)

ESSEX -- Authorities are investigating an overnight fatal shooting that left one male victim dead, authorities confirmed Friday.

The shooting occurred near the intersection of South 10th Street and Brenner Street, said Thomas Fennelly, Chief Assistant Prosecutor at the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

The victim's name has not yet been released. No arrests have been made in connection to the shooting, Fennelly said.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/02/6_underage_victims_recovered_in_statewide_sex-traf.html

An investigation by the prosecutor's office Homicide Task Force is underway.

The killing brings the city's 2016 homicide total to 15.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A Newark man is facing aggravated assault and weapons charges, police said.

ROXBURY -- A truck driver was arrested in connection with a stabbing at the truck stop on Route 46 Thursday afternoon.

Yasim McDonald, 37, of Newark, was charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, aggravated assault with bodily injury with a deadly weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon, police said.

Police say McDonald had a physical altercation around 12:44 p.m. with another truck driver at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop/gas station at which pointed he stabbed the man. The weapon was only identified by police as a "sharp object."

McDonald, who remained at the scene after the stabbing, was arrested without incident. He was taken to Morris County Correctional Facility in lieu of $25,000 bail with a 10-percent option.

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Officials say the victim was a 33-year-old city resident.

NEWARK -- Authorities have identified the victim slain in an overnight shooting on South 10th Street in Newark as a 33-year-old city resident.

Daniel O. Cappell was discovered by Newark police lying unresponsive in a sidewalk in the 600 block of South 10th Street shortly after midnight, said Thomas Fennelly, Essex County Prosecutor's Office Chief of Assistant Prosecutor in a released statement.

Police reported Cappell appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds, Fennelly said. Emergency medical officials later pronounced Cappell dead at the scene. 
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/02/6_underage_victims_recovered_in_statewide_sex-traf.html
An investigation into the shooting by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Task Force is ongoing, Fennelly said. No arrests have been made.

Smith's death marks the fifteenth homicide in Newark since the start of 2016. Several of the killings, in which many of the victims were shot to death, occurred in the last two weeks amid a surge of gun violence.  

On Tuesday, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose introduced plan detailing new efforts by city police to curb the violence, including a proposal that could see dozens of New Jersey State Police troopers reassigned to the city.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Only three other schools in the state carry the research classification

MONTCLAIR -- New Jersey now has four public doctoral research universities.

Montclair State University has been designated a "research doctoral university," thanks to a decision announced Monday by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The designation, school officials said, reflects the growing amount of doctoral-level work happening at the college.

Montclair State joins three other public universities in New Jersey that were previously pegged as doctoral research institutions - Rutgers-New Brunswick, Rutgers-Newark, and NJIT. Five private universities -- Princeton, Seton Hall, Stevens Institute, Fairleigh Dickinson and Drew -- also have the distinction.

"For much of the late 20th century, Montclair State was constrained in its development," MSU president Susan Cole said in a statement about the designation.

"But, in the past 15 years, the university has worked strategically and aggressively to grow enrollment, faculty and facilities, and that growth has enabled the University to expand its educational programs and research initiatives in service to the state and the nation."

PARCC 2015 results: 5 things we learned about Essex County schools

According to a spokesman for the school, MSU currently has 254 doctoral students in six programs ranging from environmental management to mathematics education. The school also has plans to add more doctoral programs, he said.

The Carnegie Classification, which releases a new list of designations every five years, cites 335 doctoral universities across the country.

Doctoral universities are ranked at three levels, based on the amount of research they conduct. Montclair State is ranked a level three, with moderate research. Rutgers-New-Brunswick is level one, the highest, and Rutgers-Newark and NJIT are level two, school officials said.

MSU was previously classified as a Masters 1 University.

Cole said the designation points out important research that is being conducted at the New Jersey school.

 "This new designation reflects the efforts of the University's distinguished faculty and the programs they have created that both challenge students and address the issues facing society," she said.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Knowledge, wisdom and perspective are the gifts of age

Every now and then, it's good to deliver a column about an old guy or gal because, well, we're all gonna get there. God willing.

That, and they should be listened to.

So, regular readers here have become acquainted with:

Inspirational author Victoria Schmidt, now 94.

My first wrestling coach, Norm Buik, a 1930s state champ, gone seven years already.

My mother and father, still with us at 92, on the occasion of their 70^th wedding anniversary.

Michael Venus, who walked the Appalachian Trail at 77.

Yogi Berra, reflecting on his experience as a first-wave rocket-boat man during D-Day, in what was his last lengthy interview.

I'm often asked, "What's your favorite story?"

That's easy. Ray Brooks, the last living World War I flying ace, one of my first for The Star-Ledger in 1990. He died in 1991 at 95.

Along the way, there have been many others. Nuns. Veterans. Teachers. Jerry Izenberg. People with Knowledge, Wisdom and a thing sorely lacking today: Perspective.

Add to this list Mr. Gene Kesselman, 95, who lives at Crane's Mill in West Orange -- in the independent living section. The Fitbit watch he wears says he walks about 2.8 miles a day.

"I've done 280 miles since I got it," he said.

When he's not walking, he's on his computer, writing and connecting, or watching videos of the lectures he gives, fine-tuning his delivery. He lives a modern life in a modern world.

"I don't drive much at night anymore," he said. "Other than that, I'm fine."

The subject of night driving came up as Kesselman explained why he was limiting his lectures to days only - "unless there's a special circumstance."

Prior to this, he would go anywhere he was asked, day or night. Libraries. Temples. YMCAs. Historic Societies. Any place speakers go to impart their Knowledge, Wisdom and Perspective.

"You know the difference between knowledge and wisdom," he asked. "Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing you don't put tomato in a fruit salad."

A good line. A Kesselmanism. He has many of them.

His favorite? "Your life belongs to you, but your heritage belongs to your children."

This is how he ends his lectures, which are half-hour presentations that beg his contemporaries to step up and tell their stories to their children and grandchildren.

"I wish I knew more about my parents. I knew them as parents, but I didn't know them as people," he said. "If I had known more about them, when they were young, more about the world they grew up in, I would have understood them better."

Kesselman was a Newark kid growing up in the Depression. His parents were refugees who fled Poland to escape the heavy-handed Cossacks. Human nature doesn't change much: just the names of the villains.

"They had it tough," he said.

The family landed in Clinton Hill, but a relative got Kesselman into Weequahic High, "one of the best in the country at the time."

Kessleman finished seventh in class but didn't qualify for a full scholarship to Rutgers which, in those days, administered a test and took the top 200 finishers gratis.

"I was devastated," he said, but instead went into the Army Air Corps, "where I got the best education in the world.

"It's where I learned to integrate with all kinds of people," he said. "It's where I became a man. Before that, I was so shy, I asked my wife (Myra) to the Weequahic prom by writing her a letter."

During his lectures, he passes around a photograph of himself as a young first lieutenant.

"I want them to see who I was, and I ask them to remember who they were," he said. "The guy in the picture is the guy I want my grandchildren to know about.

"If I don't tell them, how will they know?" he said. "All they see is that I'm old, I don't work, but somehow I have money. It's up to me - up to all of us - to fill in the blanks."

Kesselman's blanks go like this: after World War II he went into advertising then became a manufacturing rep.

 "I'm a born salesman. I can sell anything to anybody," he said.

Later he started an office supply company with his son, Bill, one of two boys he raised with Myra, who passed away in 2011.

"When I was about 80, I started to think, 'What do I do with all I've learned,' " he said. "Eighty years is a long time. A lot changes. Think about it like this: The Civil War started in 1861. World War II in 1941. That's 80 years!"

He started writing "rambling" letters to his grandchildren about his life and his accrued wisdom.

"We always talk about history," he said. "Our religious traditions, the Constitution, it's all history. But why do we ignore our own history, our family history? Tell it."

And this is where the inspiration comes in. At 95, his life is not over. It's just nearing the time when it is ready to be handed off, to be understood and appreciated by the next generation.

Your life belongs to you, but your heritage belongs to your children.

"That's our gift to them," he said. "But we have to make an effort to give it."

And so we have.

Shawn Shaw faces up to life in prison on the charge of violating the inmate's civil rights while serving as a corrections officer.

NEWARK -- A former Essex County Correctional Facility guard was convicted Friday on charges of raping a female inmate and then trying to cover up the crime.

Shawn Shaw faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty in federal court of charges that he forcibly had sex with the inmate while on duty as a law enforcement officer in December, 2010. 

The second charge that he obstructed justice carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

Shaw, 42, showed no visible reaction when the verdict was announced. 

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas revoked Shaw's bail following the verdict. He will be sentenced in May. 

Woman says she 'froze' during alleged rape at Essex County jail

Shaw was the only guard on duty during the overnight shift of Dec. 27-28, according to court records. Prosecutors said he offered inmates rewards such as cigarettes if they would have sex with him that night. 

The inmate who accused him said he flashed a flashlight at her and called her on the intercom system before entering her cell while she was sleeping. She testified that Shaw pulled down her sweatpants and underwear while holding her down, and then had sexual intercourse. 

She testified that she froze and was unable to scream for help during the incident.

Shaw maintained his innocence throughout the trial and testified that he did not know why he was being accused. 

Several days after the attack, Shaw spoke with investigators and denied entering the woman's cell or having sex with her, leading to the obstruction charge. 

U.S. Attorney's office Criminal Division Chief Thomas Eicher had no comment following the verdict. 

Defense lawyer Mark Fury thanked the jury, saying it "spent a lot of energy going carefully through every argument that I raised." 

Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Eddie Roberson gunned down Talif Crowley on a Newark street in February 2013 after losing a $700 bet over Super Bowl XLVII, authorities said

NEWARK -- When the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3, 2013, Eddie Roberson lost a $700 bet with his longtime friend, Talif Crowley, over which team would win the game.

Two days later, Roberson remained angry over losing the bet and shot Crowley six times on a Newark street, ultimately killing him, authorities said.

On the third anniversary of the killing, Roberson was sentenced on Friday to life in prison after being convicted by a jury on Dec. 16 of murder and weapons offenses in the shooting death of Crowley, 38, of Bloomfield.

"I'm glad he got what he got," Crowley's mother, Audrey Crowley, later said outside the courtroom. "He deserve every bit of it and more."

When he handed down the life sentence, Superior Court Judge Alfonse Cifelli noted the "brazen and cold-blooded" nature of the crime and said "this casual murder of a longtime friend" indicates the risk of Roberson committing another offense.

The judge also pointed to "the necessity to protect the general public from Mr. Roberson's activities."

Cifelli said Roberson "has expressed absolutely no remorse for his actions" and "continues to refuse to accept responsibility for the death of Mr. Crowley."

The life sentence equates to 75 years in state prison and Roberson, 31, of Newark, must serve nearly 64 years before becoming eligible for parole. Roberson will receive credit for almost three years of time served.

During Friday's hearing, Roberson stood up and turned around to face Crowley's family members who were sitting in the courtroom. Roberson said he was sorry for their loss, but maintained he was "still not the one" who killed Crowley.

"I do feel for y'all loss," Roberson said.

But after Roberson sat down, Crowley's cousin, Tawanda Smith, stepped to the front of the courtroom and said she hopes Roberson will think about how Crowley's five children no longer have a father.

Smith also told Roberson she prays that "God have mercy on you."

"I don't hate you," Smith said. "I don't know why you did what you did."

Cifelli issued the sentence after denying Roberson's motion for a new trial and granting the state's motion for an extended prison term based on Roberson's prior criminal record, which includes seven convictions on indictable offenses.

In denying the motion for a new trial, the judge said the evidence of Roberson's guilt was "overwhelming and compelling," including the testimony of two witnesses who identified him as the shooter.

After Friday's hearing, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells, who tried the case, said Roberson and Crowley had made the bet while attending a Super Bowl party over which team would win the game. Roberson picked the 49ers and Crowley selected the Ravens, Wells said. The Ravens won the game by a 34-31 score, but Roberson never paid up after losing the bet, authorities said.

Two days later, Crowley was driving to his mother's home when he spotted Roberson and two other individuals on Goodwin Avenue in Newark, Wells said. After Crowley got out of the vehicle, Roberson confronted him and apparently expressed his anger over losing the bet, Wells said.

One witness recalled hearing Roberson say to Crowley that "they cheated my team" moments before Roberson opened fire, Wells said. When Crowley extended his hand to shake Roberson's hand, Roberson pulled out the gun and started shooting, Wells said.

"Losing the bet seemed to be the motive," Wells said.

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Property taxes rose 2.4 percent, on average, last year.

TRENTON — The already steep property tax bill for New Jersey residents jumped again in 2015, topping $8,300 for the first time and increasing at the fastest rate since 2011.

The average residential bill rose from $8,161 in 2014 to $8,353 in 2015 — a 2.4 percent hike, according to annual data released Friday afternoon by the state's Department of Community Affairs.

The state aggressively tightened the cap on local property tax hikes in 2011 after property taxes were rapidly rising for several years. However, the data showed the rate of increase in 2015 was higher than the previous three years.

For homeowners, the $191 average increase comes on top of what were already the highest real estate taxes in the country. Property taxes consistently rank New Jerseyan's top concern.

Losing pension court case could cost N.J. big, Moody's warns

The real estate website Zillow looked at median property taxes across the U.S. last year and found that seven of the 10 counties with the highest property taxes — Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union, Morris, Hudson and Hunterdon — are in New Jersey. The remaining three were in New York.

Christie boasted in his January State of the State address that reforms he and the Legislature put in place helped cut the average tax bill increase under Corzine to 1.9 percent during his own tenure.

"We could do even better," he said.

Of the 565 municipalities in New Jersey, taxes decreased in about 11 percent. Increases were less than 1 percent in another 9 percent, according to the state, which also noted that adjusted for inflation, the statewide hike was 2.1 percent.

"A bipartisan property tax cap is now in effect, and other reforms initiated by Governor Christie have made it possible for towns to do better than the cap requires," the Department of Community Affairs said.

The department said that U.S. Census data shows property tax increases since the cap "have consistently lagged neighboring state and regional averages."

Property tax bills grew at least 7 percent annually from 2004 to 2006. And local spending increased 70 percent in the 10 years leading up to a 2011 law that caps spending increases and the amounts police and fire unions can win in arbitration at 2 percent.

It replaced a 4 percent cap with plenty of exceptions.

But the new limit isn't impermeable, either. The cap allows towns to spend more than the 2 percent cap to pay for debt service and employee pension and health benefits, and to respond to emergencies. Local officials can also exceed the cap with voter approval.

Average tax bills rose 2.4 percent in 2011, 1.6 percent in 2012, 1.3 percent in 2013, and 2.2 percent in 2014.

The state blamed some of the higher property tax averages on Atlantic City, which has a $3.7 billion falloff in commercial property value as it grapples with casino closures and tax appeals.

The declining resort town's property taxes increased 50 percent over two years.

Setting aside Atlantic City and Paterson, which lost nearly a third of its assessed property value after a revaluation, the statewide increase would have been 1.7 percent, officials say.

Some lawmakers argue that New Jersey's high property taxes can make it an inhospitable place to live, particularly in retirement. And while real estate taxes are primarily a local issue, Democratic and Republican state lawmakers have pointed fingers at each other for obstructing tax reform.

Republicans say they want civil service, sick pay and pension and health benefits reforms. Democrats accuse Republicans of blocking property tax credits and increased school aid.

But at the start of the legislative session in January, both Democratic and Republican Assembly leaders said property tax relief should be a focus. But it hasn't gotten the same attention as repairing the public pension fund or replenishing the Transportation Trust Fund.

Democrats also said at the start of the previous legislative session in 2013 that it was time to fix the taxes "once and for all."

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

The Skyliners Junior Synchronized Skating Team, representing Team USA for its eighth straight year, earned a gold medal at the 2016 Leon Lurje Trophy in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Jan. 17.

The Skyliners Junior Synchronized Skating Team perform their Long Program set to "Les Miserables" that would eventually score them a gold medal for Team USA at the 2016 Leon Lurje Trophy in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

ESSEX COUNTY -- The Skyliners Junior Synchronized Skating Team, representing Team USA for its eighth straight year, earned a gold medal at the 2016 Leon Lurje Trophy in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Jan. 17.

"To see the raising of the flag and know that we had earned gold for America was truly amazing," said Josh Babb, Skyliners head coach and director of Synchronized Skating. "The girls took command of the ice and their strong, heartfelt performance paid off."

The team was in second place after their Short Program, but after their Long Program set to "Les Miserables" gave them a combined score of 167.23, they earned the first-place prize.

The Skyliners Junior Synchronized Skating Team perform their Short Program set to a Michael Jackson medley and would eventually go on to win a gold medal for Team USA at the 2016 Leon Lurje Trophy in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

New Jersey was represented by Julia Damesek of Short Hills, Michaela Kaminski of Whippany, Emily Kirillov of Fair Lawn, Katie Lam of Edison, Audrey Laude of Short Hills, Rachel Oberman of Warren and Alexandra Perez of Gladstone.

In addition, Team USA teammates the Haydenettes of Lexington, Mass., earned the silver medal in the senior division at the competition.

For more information about the Skyliners, visit skylinerssynchro.com.

To submit an achievement, please send an email to essex@starledger.com.

Mike Romano may be reached at mromano@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @mromano26. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.

Victim took a photo of the suspect, police said

NEWARK -- DNA evidence has linked 49-year-old Irvis Johnson (pictured)  to a May burglary and now police are seeking the suspect, the department said in a statement.

Irvis Johnson (Newark Police Department)  

A woman returned her apartment in the 100 block of Lehigh Avenue last year and discovered that it had been burglarized. The victim went to a neighbor's to call police and spotted a man in the driveway with some of her stolen belongings when she returned. The victim took a picture of the man, police said.

Det. Joshua Rivera headed up an investigation which recovered DNA evidence that was a match for Johnson, who was also the man in the photo taken by the victim, police said. A warrant was issued for Johnson's arrest.

Anyone with information about this or any other crime to contact the Department's 24-hour Crime Stoppers' tip line at 877-NWK-TIPS (877 695-8477) or NWK-GUNS (877 695-4867). All anonymous Crime Stopper tips are kept confidential.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The author asks: Ever notice how common crimes like theft get little news coverage, but there's always an abundance of coverage for events that rarely occur in our daily lives? Watch video

By Gary C. Woodward

You probably already know that we're four times more likely to be struck by lightning than from a terrorist attack. You wouldn't know that by watching or reading the news, though.

It's a problem I call a "news inversion" -- when a story about a limited number of usual events seems to signal a cataclysm of huge proportions.   

The more media coverage a crime story gets, the less likely that its crime category represents a serious threat to other citizens.

This is generally true for New Jersey.

Take murder, for example. Any unnecessary death is one too many, of course. And yet, the state was somewhat below the national average with 337 homicides in 2014. Even so, murder as a subject was mentioned over 6,400 times in an 11 month period in just one source: NJ.Com.

That holds true for suicides, as well. The state experienced 757 last year -- among the lowest per capita rates in the nation -- but it got nearly 4,000 mentions in the same database, and extended air time from area broadcasters focused on particular cases, many involving New Jersey residents.

This isn't an entirely new phenomenon. Political communication scholar Doris Graber published a study of crime news, using stories found in The Chicago Tribune ("Mass Media and American Politics," 1993). In her study, the most reported category was murder, which in 1991 was 0.3 percent (925) of all the crimes documented in the city's Uniform Crime Report. But in the Tribune murders got 64 percent of the coverage.

More common crimes, such as theft, got comparatively little coverage.

Think of CNN's current preoccupation with global terrorism. It is both a serious problem and seriously over-covered, at least in relation of other pressing world concerns.

News inversions tend to convert a single example into a rule. Our brains are hardwired to want to generalize to the whole from a few specific cases. In communication terms, this is the function of a synecdoche, a fancy word for the straightforward idea that we like to use a single case to stand for the whole.

It's one of the most efficient rhetorical tropes a news organization can employ. Using it one might conclude that the 1999 actions of mass murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School in Colorado points to what is wrong with children raised in affluent suburbs.  But perhaps there is no link at all.

As with this case, there is always an abundance of experts ready to take the bait of television notoriety to speculate on what an event like this "means" to the nation. Most commentators cannot resist the synecdoche. It makes the world simpler.

It makes for good television.

And it saves the expert from the potentially embarrassing but intellectually honest assessment that a given case, even a mass murder, is perhaps significant of nothing.

The truth is that seriously deviant individuals engage in acts with unknowable causes, following a vague string of logic known only to them. But to actually say that is to leave the third act of a traumatic episode unwritten. And so we write social significance scripts based on mostly unrepresentative cases.

This explains the endless panic mode of the 24/7 "Breaking news" cycle. Everything covered is urgent. Everything represents an early warning of a bigger and ominous trend.

How do we counteract this compulsion to find meaning and at the same time maintain our own sense of equilibrium?

Step back. Tune out. The world is not ending.

The awful events documented and reported on a given day are often only going to make true sense as single aberrations, mostly useless in making generalizations about long-term trends in American life or the global culture.

More specifically, limit you time and your children spend in the presence of television news reporting.  This is especially important for seniors, who typically gorge themselves on video and TV news. 

We have good evidence that, like most of us, older Americans generally over-estimate how dangerous their community and the world really is.

Gary C. Woodward is a Professor of Communication Studies at The College of New Jersey and most recently the author of "The Rhetoric of Intention in Human Affairs." He blogs at theperfectresponse.com.

Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter @NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

Parents may avoid the lead problem by testing for paint and dust if their homes were built before 1978

Peeling lead paint is still a problem in New Jersey, particularly in older, poorer cities. (Tony Kurdzuk | The Star-Ledger)

With the nation focusing recently on the possible brain damage and other problems associated with lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich., advocates for children have pointed out that Michigan is not alone in dealing with the lead issue.

They cited official public health statistics showing that elevated blood lead levels are widespread among children in New Jersey and in other states, particularly in older, poorer cities where lead paint has not been removed from some homes built before 1978.

The federal Centers for Disease Control points out that lead-based paint is the most widespread and damaging source of lead exposure for young children, but it may also be found in air, food, water, dust and soil.

The CDC recommends that parents take the following steps to make their homes more lead-safe:

• If you see paint chips or peeling paint in windowsills or on floors, clean these areas regularly with a wet mop
• Wipe your fee on mats before you enter the house, especially if you work in occupations where lead is used
• Talk to your local health department about testing paint and dust in your home for lead if you live in a home built before 1978
• Home renovations should be performed by certified renovators who are trained in Environmental Protection Agency-approved techniques to follow safe practices. Common home renovation activities such as sanding, cutting and demolition can create hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint.
• Remove recalled toys and jewelry from children

The Mayo Clinic identifies the following signs showing that children may have elevated blood levels:

• Developmental delays
• Learning difficulties
• Irritability
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Sluggishness and fatigue
• Abdominal pain
• Vomiting
• Constipation
• Hearing loss

The website KidsHealth cites the following effects of long-term lead poisoning:

• decreased bone and muscle growth
• poor muscle coordination
• damage to the nervous system, kidneys and/or hearing
• speech and language problems
• developmental delay
• seizures and unconsciousness (in cases of extremely high levels)

According to the CDC, at least 4 million households in the United States have children that are being exposed to high levels of lead.

Under New Jersey standards, an "elevated" blood lead level is 10 mg/dL, or 10 micrograms per deciliter.

That was also the federal standard until 2012, when the CDC determined that lead was dangerous at lower levels and defined an "elevated" level as half that, or 5 mg/dL.

Still, the CDC says at its website, no medical treatment is recommended for children with blood levels lower than 45 mg/dL.

Parents whose children test at "elevated" levels below that level need to take steps to control lead exposure, the agency says.

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Babatope Owoseni, 36, of East Orange, is expected to receive a 16-year state prison sentence

NEWARK — Nearly a year after pleading guilty to strangling his pregnant wife to death, Babatope Owoseni stood up on Friday in a Newark courtroom and claimed he was innocent.

"I am, indeed, innocent," Owoseni told Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler.

But the judge rejected Owoseni's claims and denied his motion to withdraw the guilty plea.

Wigler noted that Owoseni was placed under oath when he pleaded guilty and agreed to tell the truth before he then gave a detailed account of how he killed his wife.

Given how Owoseni acknowledged during the plea hearing that he reviewed an autopsy report, the judge dismissed Owoseni's assertion as part of his motion that he had not seen the report before pleading guilty.

"Sir, I'm not buying it," Wigler told Owoseni.

Owoseni, 36, of East Orange, pleaded guilty on March 19, 2015 to an aggravated manslaughter charge in connection with the Dec. 27, 2013 killing of 26-year-old Fatoumata Owoseni, who was nine months pregnant at the time. The unborn child died as a result of the attack, authorities said.

Wigler scheduled Owoseni's sentencing for Feb. 19. He is expected to receive the 16-year state prison term that prosecutors agreed to recommend under a plea agreement. Owoseni would have to serve nearly 14 years before becoming eligible for parole and he will receive credit for time served.

In denying the motion, the judge stressed that while one of the factors in considering such motions is whether a defendant has asserted "a colorable claim of innocence," Owoseni made no such claim in his motion papers.

"He's never alleged....that he did not kill his wife," Wigler said.

Wigler also said he remains satisfied that Owoseni understood the terms of the plea agreement and that his guilty plea was "knowing and voluntary."

When Owoseni pleaded guilty, he said that in the days leading up to the incident, he picked up his wife and their children in Maryland and ultimately returned to his East Orange home, according to Wigler, who read from the transcript of Owoseni's plea hearing on Friday.

At the time of the incident, Owoseni said he and his wife were having an argument in the residence during which she claimed he was not the father of the unborn child, Wigler said. Owoseni said the dispute escalated into a physical altercation, Wigler said.

During the fight, Owoseni said his wife struck him and he ultimately strangled her to death, according to Wigler.

During Friday's hearing, Owoseni's attorney, John Haggerty, said Owoseni is looking to withdraw his guilty plea, because Owoseni claims he was not provided with certain materials by his former attorney before pleading guilty. A different defense attorney was representing Owoseni when he pleaded guilty.

Those materials were the autopsy report, crime scene photos, autopsy photos and a transcript of the grand jury proceedings leading to his indictment, Haggerty said.

Without those materials, "he really could not make a knowing, intelligent decision," Haggerty said.

Haggerty also said Owoseni is alleging he was pressured by his former attorney to accept the plea deal. He said that while Owoseni is an educated man with a master's degree, he is new to the criminal justice system.

Being new to the system, Owoseni was "a babe in the woods" and may not have been aware of what materials he needed to see, Haggerty said.

But Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata, who is handling the case, said calling Owoseni "a babe in the woods" is "offensive."

Amirata argued Owoseni had ample time to discuss the case with his former attorney before pleading guilty. When he pleaded guilty, Owoseni said he had had ample time to speak with his attorney and he indicated he was not being pressured to enter the guilty plea, Amirata said.

Amirata also noted that although Owoseni claims he was not provided with the autopsy report, he acknowledged during the plea hearing that he reviewed the report.

"There's no question that this is just a whimsical change of mind by this defendant," said Amirata, adding that the wife's family "has been tortured through this whole incident and deserve closure."

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

See which New Jersey counties had the highest and lowest average property tax bill in 2015

TRENTON -- Property tax burdens in New Jersey run the gamut, averaging more than $11,000 in some counties in northern New Jersey to just below $4,000 in counties down south.

No tax bill, measured as a countywide average, topped $11,000 in 2014. But two of the 21 counties, Bergen and Essex, crossed that threshold last year. Four others, including Union, Morris, Passaic and Somerset counties, also exceed $9,000, according to new statewide data.

Statewide, the average property tax bill rose 2.4 percent, or $191, from $8,161 in 2014 to $8,353 in 2015.

The state installed a 2 percent cap on property taxes five years ago that the Christie administration emphasized Friday, and Gov. Chris Christie boasts often, is preventing the single-year, 7 percent tax increases of the past.

Here's how much property taxes went up (again) in N.J. last year

Annual tax increases since the cap was aggressively tightened from 4 percent to 2 percent through a law that also reduced the exceptions municipalities could claim "have consistently lagged neighboring state and regional averages," state officials said.

In 2015, nine counties, mostly along the shore or in the southern part of the state, rang up below $7,000 per home. Cumberland County, which borders Delaware, has the distinction of the lowest average tax bill in the state, at $3,921, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Community Affairs.

Expressed as dollars, Essex County residents are, on average, paying the most and had to cough up the most year over year from 2014 to 2015. Their bill climbed $351. Burlington County had the largest percent increase, which cost them $236, on average.

In all, homeowners in eight counties had to dig deeper into their pockets than the average taxpayer statewide, who had to pay another $191.

But Atlantic County, where taxes rose 7.4 percent from 2013 to 2014, had the only countywide reduction from 2014 to 2015 -- down 1.3 percent, or $82 back in their pockets. The average tax bill also rose in a hurry from 2013 to 2014 in Hudson County, 7.6 percent, but property owners there last year saw only a 1.9 percent increase.

The smallest year-to-year bumps, by percent change, were in Sussex, Passaic and Mercer counties, while average tax bills bumped up higher than 3 percent in Salem, Essex, Cumberland, Ocean, Gloucester and Burlington counties. 

Here are the average 2014 and 2015 property tax bills for the Garden State's 21 counties:

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

The driver's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit at the time of the crash, authorities said.

FAIRFIELD -- Police arrested a 52-year-old Hackettstown man early Saturday morning after the he allegedly drove a car through the first floor of a Fairfield office building while under the influence of alcohol, authorities said.

James Feeny was behind the wheel of the 2013 black Ford vehicle as it smashed into an entrance of the building in the 600 block of Route 46, said Fairfield Police Department Chief Anthony G. Manna in a released statement.

A security guard working at an adjacent Crowne Plaza hotel told investigators that the car then continued through the building's first-floor hallway until it smashed through the entrance doors on its opposite side, according to the statement. 

Alerted to the crash at approximately 2:30 a.m., township police spotted a vehicle fitting the guard's description fleeing the scene westbound on Route 46.

After detaining the car, which police said showed signs of damage and was covered in glass, police allegedly found Feeny in the driver's seat displaying signs consistent with being under the influence, the statement said.

A field sobriety test conducted at the scene allegedly indicated that Feeny's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit, police said.

Asked about the crash, Feeny allegedly denied knowledge of driving through the building, police said.

Police later placed Feeny under arrest. He now stands charged with driving while intoxicated and several other motor vehicle-related offenses, police said.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Police arrested a 26-year-old city woman after she allegedly robbed a Ferry St. Subway restaurant.

(File photo)

NEWARK -- Police arrested a 26-year-old city woman after she allegedly robbed a Ferry St. Subway restaurant early Saturday morning, officials said.

Tinna Richardson allegedly entered the restaurant at approximately 9 a.m., brandished a knife and demanded cash from the on-duty clerk, said Newark Police Department spokesman Detective Hubert Henderson.

When the clerk refused, Richardson allegedly grabbed a tip jar and fled the restaurant, Henderson said.

Police arriving at the scene later detained and arrested Richardson after a search of the area, Henderson said. She now faces charges of robbery and unlawful possession of a weapon.

A police investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

MKA alumnus Sean Jones presents the school with a 50th Super Bowl Anniversary Gold Football.

Montclair Kimberley Academy athletic director Todd Smith, senior football team captains Derek Kleinman, Ethan Fusco, Rob Strain and Erik Zueg, and former NFL player Sean Jones with the NFL 50th Anniversary Gold Football.

MONTCLAIR -- On Feb. 1 Sean Jones, a member of the Montclair Kimberley Academy Class of 1980 and a former professional football player, presented MKA senior football captains Derek Kleinman, Ethan Fusco, Rob Strain and Erik Zueg with the NFL 50th Super Bowl Anniversary Gold Football.

Montclair Kimberley Academy is a member of the Super Bowl High School Honor Roll, an honor bestowed by the National Football League on schools that have an alumnus who has played on or served as a coach of a team that has played in a Super Bowl. Sean Jones was a defensive end on the Green Bay Packers team that captured the Super Bowl XXXI title in 1997.

In commemoration of the Super Bowl's 50th anniversary season, all former Super Bowl players and coaches are presenting the NFL 50th Anniversary "Golden Football" to their respective high schools.

While visiting MKA, Jones told the students, "MKA prepared me for college and for the rest of my life. Not just the rigorous academics, but also my experience in the athletics program here."

To submit school news send an email to essex@starledger.com.

A man was struck and killed by a vehicle Saturday night on I-78, police said.

A man was killed trying to cross I-78 in Newark, Feb. 6, 2016, New Jersey State Police said. (File Photo) 

NEWARK -- A man was struck and killed by a vehicle Saturday night on I-78, police said.

He was driving a 2004 Infiniti in an eastbound express lane in Newark when his vehicle crashed and became disabled in the right lane, New Jersey State Police Trooper Alina Spies said.

He got out try to cross the local lanes and was struck by a Nissan, Spies said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:53 p.m.

Spies had no information on the driver's identity. The cause of the initial crash is under investigation.

There were no other injuries, Spies said. Police closed the local lanes and one express lane during the investigation.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A driver led police on a chase through several towns Sunday before his arrest at the YMCA of Montclair, New Jersey State Police said.

A driver led New Jersey State Police on a chase from Parsippany to Montclair, Feb. 7, 2016. (File Photo) 

MONTCLAIR -- A driver led police on a chase through several towns Sunday before his arrest at the YMCA of Montclair, New Jersey State Police said.

Police began pursuing a white Dodge pickup truck on I-80 eastbound in Parsippany at about 11:47 a.m. after receiving reports of an "erratic driver," State Police Trooper Alina Spies said.

The driver fled from I-80 to I-280, Spies said. Police broke off their pursuit when the driver took Exit 8 for Prospect Avenue in West Orange.

At about 12:40 p.m., police learned he had been spotted at the YMCA, Spies said. He was arrested there.

Spies did not immediately identify the driver.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.