Look Who's Talking

Jeff Edelstein (that guy on the left) pours the contents of his brain onto page 2 of The Trentonian every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Now we're forcing him to shut up and listen.

"Look Who's Talking" is a new feature by Jeff that will run each Monday. And he won't be doing the talking.

Each week Jeff will interview a different member of the community or of interest to the community and let you get to know them through their own words.

It starts this week with Eric Maywar, who moved his bookstore "Classics," from New Hope, Pa., to Trenton a few years back.

Have suggestions for future interview subjects? Drop Jeff a note at jedelstein@trentonian.com.

The war on gangs

A huge percentage of the crime news we write about in the Trenton area is connected to gangs or involves gang members.

Several stories over the past few days offer a perspective on the local and national effort to put a dent in this problem. None of it leaves us encouraged.

- A Trenton Blood was sentenced last week after unsuccessfully arguing that he suffered from something called "Battered Gangster Syndrome," and that's why he shouldn't be held responsible for taking part in the firebombing of a house that left a man and his two young daughters murdered. For those who've argued recently that putting gang crimes on the front page of The Trentonian glorifies these thugs and helps them recruit, hopefully Saturday's headline, "See You in 2037," is a clear enough message to young gangster wannabes. Do the crime and you'll be doing lots of time.

- A story out of Newark details how difficult it is for law enforcement to make a case against gangs, as gang members and people in the community fear being branded as a "snitch."

- And finally, in other parts of the country, small cities facing gang problems similar to Trenton's are trying a new approach. They're suing.

Trenton schools get an 'F'

Despite this morning's headlines about the state possibly taking over control of the Trenton school system, the likelihood of that actually happening, for a variety of reasons, is slim.

But holy crap! It's hard to believe the city would need a wakeup call after the report card-tampering scandal at the Sherman Avenue School earlier this year, but they sure as hell got one yesterday with this announcement.

We are so bad at running our public school system that the state is talking about seizing control away from city leaders.

From Mayor Palmer to the city council to the board of education and on down, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

One would expect these leaders to be tripping over themselves today to do something about this. Instead, silence.

Construction disruption

It's one of those great mysteries of life.

Just like infuriatingly long lines at the DMV, why does the state seem to create maximum disruption for everyone affected by a road construction project, or in the case of Hanover Street right now, a state office building project.

This morning's Trentonian brings you the story of Anita Zilberg and her husband Alex Lebedinsky, the owners of Lemar Sound and Video.

Business has plummeted thanks to the state construction project near their shop, and they've even had to lay off employees because of it.

The construction project has taken away the shop's parking, and its customers. So it was kind of a final straw for the couple the other day when they received a parking ticket near their store for occupying a space regularly used by contractors.

But what can they do after reaching the final straw?

We've got hundreds of state government politicians ready to issue a press release 10 times a day congratulating themselves or pontificating about this or that topic, but no one in state government bureaucracy who is ready, willing and able to fix the little problems people have from being trampled on by the state.

So other than sue the state of New Jersey (yeah, right), their option is to go to the newspaper and hope that outrage builds among every reader who's suffered a similar fate.

Back Talk Blog launched

Now you can talk back to Back Talk ... as many times as you want, whenever you want.

Ed. Note has launched a Back Talk Blog, and the premise is simple.

Each Back Talk item from The Trentonian will be posted as a blog entry, allowing readers to post comments in response to the Back Talk caller or Ed. Note's response.

Let the fun begin!

You've been shot; what do you do next?

The latest "assault with a bullet" reported by Trenton police continues an interesting trend.

Why does your typical Trenton shooting victim call anyone and everyone EXCEPT THE POLICE?

The young man who was shot this morning in Trenton used his cell phone to call friends, who drove him to the hospital.

Why are shooting victims bypassing the police and ambulance services?

In this case, who knows. In previous cases, many of the city's shooting victims have been in trouble with the law themselves - including having warrants outstanding for their arrest.

Again, we don't know the details of this morning's incident. The victim could have been a random, innocent bystander.

More frequently, though, the shooter knows the victim, and both have been up to no good. It paints a picture of a lawless criminal crossfire that's playing out on Trenton's streets.

Meanwhile, Trenton police have released crime statistics for June. They're up slightly over the same month last year, but still down YTD. Read the full text of the report on our Web site.

The dead dog

OK, so just how important is it that an innocent bystander's pit bull was shot by police on Sunday as police looked for the suspect in the shooting of a Mercer County sheriff's officer?

Extremely important, of course, to Linda Milbourne and her family, the dog's owners.

Not so important, perhaps, to readers and journalists whose immediate reaction is, A COP WAS SHOT! Of course his colleagues are going to swarm the area and find this dangerous, anarchist punk as quickly as possible, to protect the public, their co-workers and themselves from further harm.

If a pit bull jumps out at an on-edge police officer in that situation, it's not shocking that something like this could happen.

So why does it continue to be a story followed in the pages of The Trentonian?

For one thing, a dog, apparently, was shot by police. Yet the spokesman for the Trenton Police Department told the newspaper that no incident report was ever filed about it, something that's supposed to happen anytime a cop shoots a gun outside of target practice.

That's just the start of the questions about this incident. At no point, and in no way, though, should it detract from the real issue of the past few days -- the fact that one of our bravest public servants, an unarmed hero cop trying to help a woman in distress -- was shot close range and is lucky to be alive.

The most important things are wishing him a speedy recovery, getting swift justice for the person responsible, and coming up with solutions that will have us writing about less of this kind of thing in the Trenton area.

Police fighting police

You'd think that the shooting Sunday afternoon of Mercer County Sheriff's Department officer Joshus Hahn might serve as a wakeup call, or a reminder, that the enemy our police officers should be fighting is "out there," not within the walls of the station.

So it was sad at the very least ... and a frightening statement about how this crap might be putting our public safety at risk ... to see open hostility among officers at the scene Sunday, while the punk suspected of shooting the unarmed Hahn in the chest at close range was still at-large.

The tension within the Trenton Police Department boiled over this past week when critics of Police Director Santiago and Mayor Doug Palmer made public a photo of Capt. Paul Messina, a Santiago ally, sleeping while on duty.

Messina, understandably feeling victimized by critics of the administration but ready to serve his suspension, had to endure chants of "Capt. Sleepy, Capt. Sleepy!" as he worked the crime scene of Hahn's shooting yesterday.

Blame Santiago and Palmer for this situation, as a number of disgruntled cops do, or blame the disgruntled cops for poisoning the atmosphere in the department.

Either way, it's up to the top leaders of the city - Palmer and the council - to do something about Santiago, do something about the disgruntled cops if they are acting inappropriately, or do something about all of them!

Let's get the focus back on crime fighting, instead of infighting.

What's denser than a Pennsylvania politician?

We've got a $650 million state budget surplus, yet legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell, unable to agree on a bunch of crap voters don't really care about, have shut down Pennsylvania state government.

Do the residents who have to vacate the state park camping spots they planned their vacations around care about the details of Rendell's proposed energy policy?

How about the senior citizens who see the highlight of their week as playing the slots at Philadelphia Park?

No. In fact, no one but Rendell, apparently, sees energy policy as a big enough and immediate enough of an issue to force a shutdown that is inconveniencing millions of his constituents. I know the world is still in Al Gore Live Earth afterglow, but I don't think we need to shut down state campgrounds in order to come to an agreement on energy policy.

(Although the shutting down of DMV offices and a temporary lag in issuing driver's licenses might make a small dent on global warming.)

Pennsylvania politicians apparently didn't learn anything from New Jersey's state budget shutdown debacle. (Hey, Atlantic City's a long way from Harrisburg ... forgive them if they can't do the math on shutting down slot revenue that pours an incredible amount of money into state coffers EVERY DAY the casinos run.)

And they apparently didn't learn anything from the pitchfork-and-torch mob scene response from voters when they raised their own pay last year.

That scene could pale in comparison when it hits home with Grandpa that he can't play the slots today.

Run, Bloomy, run!

As journalists in New Jersey, we can't help but salivate over the prospect of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumping into the 2008 presidential race.

Bloomberg recently shed his fairly recently acquired Republican Party membership, and could be positioning himself for a Ross Perot-like third party run.

Wouldn't an all-New York presidential election be fun? Well ... New York (Rudy), New York (Bloomberg) and carpetbagger New York (Hillary), anyway.

If Rudy Guiliani, consensus GOP frontrunner, wins the nomination, he's going to make New Jersey a lot more competitive than any other potential Republican candidate. The AP is predicting that a Bloomberg candidacy would make an already competitive New Jersey even more so.

Meanwhile, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer is continuing his slow dance with Hillary. Since he practically makes out with her every time they cross paths, which seems to be frequently, his support is seen as a foregone conclusion. But he's lagged behind colleagues such as Mayor John Street of Philadelphia and Gov. Jon S. Corzine in declaring his love officially.

Besides liking a good horse race and the storylines that another serious Ross Perot-esque bid would bring, Bloomberg might actually steer the debate toward competence and public policy.

He is MR. COMPETENCE. And hearing him speak at a recent breakfast of business leaders in New York City that was picked up on radio, he sounds refreshingly nonpartisan and nonpolitical. So much, in fact, that it's hard to believe that he will run. He doesn't seem afraid to give answers that will piss off some segment of potential voters and donors. He's the anti-Hillary.

Police let one get away

The longer the case of missing Hightstown mom Amy Giordano goes unsolved, the more outrageous it seems that police allowed her boyfriend (now charged in absentia with abandoning their 11-month child in a Delaware parking lot) to take off for Italy.

Now police are testing traces of blood found in Giordano's apartment and asking authorities in Italy to help find Rosario DiGirolamo. He is facing the abandonment charge in Delaware, but more importantly, they want to talk to him about what he knows about the whereabouts of his girlfriend.

Gee, you think that might have been a good conversation to have before the guy left the country? If he did anything more serious than leaving that poor child, do you seriously think he is EVER coming back?

Something seemed screwy about this case from the beginning. But the cops were extremely slow to see it.

Good, old-fashioned newspaper and TV reporting, rather than good, old-fashioned police work, uncovered the missing mom, DiGirolamo and the child on a grocery store surveillance tape hours before her disapperance, and uncovered the fact that DiGirolamo lives in a very nice house that used to belong to a high-ranking New Jersey mobster.

How about getting some eyebrows raisied over just the fact that he was living in that house, and paying Giordano's $850-a-month rent in Hightstown, on the $56,000 salary of a computer programmer?

We're not sure what resources and amount of focus the police are giving this case now. But we would like to say as strongly as possible ... Amy Giordano and her family deserve 110 percent of their attention.

Jobs leaving Trenton

Mayor Doug Palmer called a press conference yesterday to blast Capital Health System over plans to move its Mercer campus out of the city and into Hopewell Township.

That means 1,500 jobs moving out of Trenton, less accessible health care for some city residents and a sucker punch to efforts at revitalizing the city, Palmer said.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

We are so sick of this victim mentality coming from Trenton's leaders. Instead of blasting a business or organization for choosing another community over yours, why not put your effort into convincing them that your community would be the better location?

If, as Palmer said, the "move comes just as our city is making significant strides toward revitalization and improved quality of life," then he should be able to sell those qualities to Capital Health System and other employers.

Instead, Doug Palmer's looking for another handout. Locate in Trenton not because we put together the best deal, or will be the best place for your employees. Locate in Trenton because we deserve another welfare check, another subsidy. Locate in Trenton because we'll shame you into it by holding a press conference to say you're discriminating by not "helping us out."

That's not the way this country's most successful mayors have turned things around. They've done it with corporate partnerships that have benefited corporations as much as they have the city. By showing that an investment in urban areas can be BETTER than the suburbs. If city leaders do their part, instead of looking for another handout.

Yet all Palmer can do is call a press conference and blast Capital Health System for "making a business decision," and caring about turning a profit, like those aims are evil.

Hello! That's what businesses are supposed to do. If our mayor doesn't understand that, this city's going nowhere fast. We are doomed.

New managing editor

The Trentonian recently welcomed a new managing editor -- the #2 person overall in the newsroom.

Aaron Nobel worked most recently as editor of the Connecticut Valley Spectator, a weekly newspaper in the Dartmouth College area of New Hampshire and Vermont. He founded that paper about five years ago, and it went on to win newspaper of the year, sports section of the year, entertainment section of the year and other honors from the New Hampshire Press Association. He has also worked as a daily and weekly newspaper reporter and sports reporter.

Aaron is getting to know the area, but isn't a complete stranger. His father grew up in Burlington County, where his grandparents still reside.

He sees many opportunities to improve and offer more to Trentonian readers, and is looking for all the feedback you can give him. You can contact him at anobel@trentonian.com or give him a call at (609) 989-7800, ext. 178.

Assault ... with a bullet

It was not quite Orwellian, but certainly using language to put the best possible spin on things.

A press release from the Trenton Police Department today referred to three "aggravated assaults" over the weekend in Trenton.

We were expecting to read about people getting beaten up. But in each of the incidents, the victim was actually shot.

"Assault" sounds like some Trenton folk got into fistfights this weekend. In reality, bad aim was the only thing keeping us from murders #15, #16 and #17.

Monday morning quarterbacking the police

Blame The Sopranos if you'd like. But the case of the missing mom, abandoned baby and boyfriend who took off for Italy inspires a lot of speculation about what might have happened.

Click here to read The Trentonian's latest update of the story.

To recap, an 11-month-old baby is found abandoned in the parking lot of a Delaware hospital. His doting, loving mother is missing, but there are at least some signs (leaving without her cigarettes) that point to something other than her just taking off on her own. The father of the child turns out to be married, and his wife has no idea about the girlfriend or the kid. Then it turns out the father lives in the former McMansion of a prominent Jersey mafioso. Then it turns out the father ditched his job and took off for Italy after the whole abandoned baby thing made the news. Then based on cell phone records, police charge him with being the person who abandoned the baby.

Didn't this whole thing look suspicious enough for police to have pursued the father more aggressively before he had the chance to leave the country? And why did it take reporters to dig up surveillance video of a grocery store visit by the missing mom, the fugitive father and the toddler just hours before the baby was found?

And the whole mob angle gives rise to all kinds of theories.

Is this case of local police not knowing when to call in the FBI? Or did the FBI and similar higher law enforcement authorities view it as some minor desperate mom situation and were dismissive? Or are police in multiple states having a hard time cooperating and communicating?

It's easy to second-guess police - like the Lawrence beating death murder investigation that turned out to be no beating at all, but rather a case of meningitis, or the day that Trenton police spent processing the scene of a dumped body only to find out hours later that it was the carcass of a dog.

In both cases, if their initial assessment of the "crime scene" had been true, and they hadn't pulled out all the stops to investigate and warn the public, they would have been in for even more criticism.

We'll take an overreaction any day compared to what has happened in the case of the missing mom.

Rutgers football blog launched

Rutgers fans, if you haven't already, should bookmark a new Trentonian blog about the Rutgers football team.

After last year's breakthrough season, Rutgers is bigtime. And The Trentonian will be paying more attention to the Scarlet Knights than ever this season and throughout the offseason.

Look Who's Talking

Jeff Edelstein (that guy on the left) pours the contents of his brain onto page 2 of The Trentonian every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Now we're forcing him to shut up and listen.

"Look Who's Talking" is a new feature by Jeff that will run each Monday. And he won't be doing the talking.

Each week Jeff will interview a different member of the community or of interest to the community and let you get to know them through their own words.

It starts this week with Eric Maywar, who moved his bookstore "Classics," from New Hope, Pa., to Trenton a few years back.

Have suggestions for future interview subjects? Drop Jeff a note at jedelstein@trentonian.com.

The war on gangs

A huge percentage of the crime news we write about in the Trenton area is connected to gangs or involves gang members.

Several stories over the past few days offer a perspective on the local and national effort to put a dent in this problem. None of it leaves us encouraged.

- A Trenton Blood was sentenced last week after unsuccessfully arguing that he suffered from something called "Battered Gangster Syndrome," and that's why he shouldn't be held responsible for taking part in the firebombing of a house that left a man and his two young daughters murdered. For those who've argued recently that putting gang crimes on the front page of The Trentonian glorifies these thugs and helps them recruit, hopefully Saturday's headline, "See You in 2037," is a clear enough message to young gangster wannabes. Do the crime and you'll be doing lots of time.

- A story out of Newark details how difficult it is for law enforcement to make a case against gangs, as gang members and people in the community fear being branded as a "snitch."

- And finally, in other parts of the country, small cities facing gang problems similar to Trenton's are trying a new approach. They're suing.

Trenton schools get an 'F'

Despite this morning's headlines about the state possibly taking over control of the Trenton school system, the likelihood of that actually happening, for a variety of reasons, is slim.

But holy crap! It's hard to believe the city would need a wakeup call after the report card-tampering scandal at the Sherman Avenue School earlier this year, but they sure as hell got one yesterday with this announcement.

We are so bad at running our public school system that the state is talking about seizing control away from city leaders.

From Mayor Palmer to the city council to the board of education and on down, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

One would expect these leaders to be tripping over themselves today to do something about this. Instead, silence.

Construction disruption

It's one of those great mysteries of life.

Just like infuriatingly long lines at the DMV, why does the state seem to create maximum disruption for everyone affected by a road construction project, or in the case of Hanover Street right now, a state office building project.

This morning's Trentonian brings you the story of Anita Zilberg and her husband Alex Lebedinsky, the owners of Lemar Sound and Video.

Business has plummeted thanks to the state construction project near their shop, and they've even had to lay off employees because of it.

The construction project has taken away the shop's parking, and its customers. So it was kind of a final straw for the couple the other day when they received a parking ticket near their store for occupying a space regularly used by contractors.

But what can they do after reaching the final straw?

We've got hundreds of state government politicians ready to issue a press release 10 times a day congratulating themselves or pontificating about this or that topic, but no one in state government bureaucracy who is ready, willing and able to fix the little problems people have from being trampled on by the state.

So other than sue the state of New Jersey (yeah, right), their option is to go to the newspaper and hope that outrage builds among every reader who's suffered a similar fate.

Back Talk Blog launched

Now you can talk back to Back Talk ... as many times as you want, whenever you want.

Ed. Note has launched a Back Talk Blog, and the premise is simple.

Each Back Talk item from The Trentonian will be posted as a blog entry, allowing readers to post comments in response to the Back Talk caller or Ed. Note's response.

Let the fun begin!

You've been shot; what do you do next?

The latest "assault with a bullet" reported by Trenton police continues an interesting trend.

Why does your typical Trenton shooting victim call anyone and everyone EXCEPT THE POLICE?

The young man who was shot this morning in Trenton used his cell phone to call friends, who drove him to the hospital.

Why are shooting victims bypassing the police and ambulance services?

In this case, who knows. In previous cases, many of the city's shooting victims have been in trouble with the law themselves - including having warrants outstanding for their arrest.

Again, we don't know the details of this morning's incident. The victim could have been a random, innocent bystander.

More frequently, though, the shooter knows the victim, and both have been up to no good. It paints a picture of a lawless criminal crossfire that's playing out on Trenton's streets.

Meanwhile, Trenton police have released crime statistics for June. They're up slightly over the same month last year, but still down YTD. Read the full text of the report on our Web site.

The dead dog

OK, so just how important is it that an innocent bystander's pit bull was shot by police on Sunday as police looked for the suspect in the shooting of a Mercer County sheriff's officer?

Extremely important, of course, to Linda Milbourne and her family, the dog's owners.

Not so important, perhaps, to readers and journalists whose immediate reaction is, A COP WAS SHOT! Of course his colleagues are going to swarm the area and find this dangerous, anarchist punk as quickly as possible, to protect the public, their co-workers and themselves from further harm.

If a pit bull jumps out at an on-edge police officer in that situation, it's not shocking that something like this could happen.

So why does it continue to be a story followed in the pages of The Trentonian?

For one thing, a dog, apparently, was shot by police. Yet the spokesman for the Trenton Police Department told the newspaper that no incident report was ever filed about it, something that's supposed to happen anytime a cop shoots a gun outside of target practice.

That's just the start of the questions about this incident. At no point, and in no way, though, should it detract from the real issue of the past few days -- the fact that one of our bravest public servants, an unarmed hero cop trying to help a woman in distress -- was shot close range and is lucky to be alive.

The most important things are wishing him a speedy recovery, getting swift justice for the person responsible, and coming up with solutions that will have us writing about less of this kind of thing in the Trenton area.

Police fighting police

You'd think that the shooting Sunday afternoon of Mercer County Sheriff's Department officer Joshus Hahn might serve as a wakeup call, or a reminder, that the enemy our police officers should be fighting is "out there," not within the walls of the station.

So it was sad at the very least ... and a frightening statement about how this crap might be putting our public safety at risk ... to see open hostility among officers at the scene Sunday, while the punk suspected of shooting the unarmed Hahn in the chest at close range was still at-large.

The tension within the Trenton Police Department boiled over this past week when critics of Police Director Santiago and Mayor Doug Palmer made public a photo of Capt. Paul Messina, a Santiago ally, sleeping while on duty.

Messina, understandably feeling victimized by critics of the administration but ready to serve his suspension, had to endure chants of "Capt. Sleepy, Capt. Sleepy!" as he worked the crime scene of Hahn's shooting yesterday.

Blame Santiago and Palmer for this situation, as a number of disgruntled cops do, or blame the disgruntled cops for poisoning the atmosphere in the department.

Either way, it's up to the top leaders of the city - Palmer and the council - to do something about Santiago, do something about the disgruntled cops if they are acting inappropriately, or do something about all of them!

Let's get the focus back on crime fighting, instead of infighting.

What's denser than a Pennsylvania politician?

We've got a $650 million state budget surplus, yet legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell, unable to agree on a bunch of crap voters don't really care about, have shut down Pennsylvania state government.

Do the residents who have to vacate the state park camping spots they planned their vacations around care about the details of Rendell's proposed energy policy?

How about the senior citizens who see the highlight of their week as playing the slots at Philadelphia Park?

No. In fact, no one but Rendell, apparently, sees energy policy as a big enough and immediate enough of an issue to force a shutdown that is inconveniencing millions of his constituents. I know the world is still in Al Gore Live Earth afterglow, but I don't think we need to shut down state campgrounds in order to come to an agreement on energy policy.

(Although the shutting down of DMV offices and a temporary lag in issuing driver's licenses might make a small dent on global warming.)

Pennsylvania politicians apparently didn't learn anything from New Jersey's state budget shutdown debacle. (Hey, Atlantic City's a long way from Harrisburg ... forgive them if they can't do the math on shutting down slot revenue that pours an incredible amount of money into state coffers EVERY DAY the casinos run.)

And they apparently didn't learn anything from the pitchfork-and-torch mob scene response from voters when they raised their own pay last year.

That scene could pale in comparison when it hits home with Grandpa that he can't play the slots today.

Run, Bloomy, run!

As journalists in New Jersey, we can't help but salivate over the prospect of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumping into the 2008 presidential race.

Bloomberg recently shed his fairly recently acquired Republican Party membership, and could be positioning himself for a Ross Perot-like third party run.

Wouldn't an all-New York presidential election be fun? Well ... New York (Rudy), New York (Bloomberg) and carpetbagger New York (Hillary), anyway.

If Rudy Guiliani, consensus GOP frontrunner, wins the nomination, he's going to make New Jersey a lot more competitive than any other potential Republican candidate. The AP is predicting that a Bloomberg candidacy would make an already competitive New Jersey even more so.

Meanwhile, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer is continuing his slow dance with Hillary. Since he practically makes out with her every time they cross paths, which seems to be frequently, his support is seen as a foregone conclusion. But he's lagged behind colleagues such as Mayor John Street of Philadelphia and Gov. Jon S. Corzine in declaring his love officially.

Besides liking a good horse race and the storylines that another serious Ross Perot-esque bid would bring, Bloomberg might actually steer the debate toward competence and public policy.

He is MR. COMPETENCE. And hearing him speak at a recent breakfast of business leaders in New York City that was picked up on radio, he sounds refreshingly nonpartisan and nonpolitical. So much, in fact, that it's hard to believe that he will run. He doesn't seem afraid to give answers that will piss off some segment of potential voters and donors. He's the anti-Hillary.

Police let one get away

The longer the case of missing Hightstown mom Amy Giordano goes unsolved, the more outrageous it seems that police allowed her boyfriend (now charged in absentia with abandoning their 11-month child in a Delaware parking lot) to take off for Italy.

Now police are testing traces of blood found in Giordano's apartment and asking authorities in Italy to help find Rosario DiGirolamo. He is facing the abandonment charge in Delaware, but more importantly, they want to talk to him about what he knows about the whereabouts of his girlfriend.

Gee, you think that might have been a good conversation to have before the guy left the country? If he did anything more serious than leaving that poor child, do you seriously think he is EVER coming back?

Something seemed screwy about this case from the beginning. But the cops were extremely slow to see it.

Good, old-fashioned newspaper and TV reporting, rather than good, old-fashioned police work, uncovered the missing mom, DiGirolamo and the child on a grocery store surveillance tape hours before her disapperance, and uncovered the fact that DiGirolamo lives in a very nice house that used to belong to a high-ranking New Jersey mobster.

How about getting some eyebrows raisied over just the fact that he was living in that house, and paying Giordano's $850-a-month rent in Hightstown, on the $56,000 salary of a computer programmer?

We're not sure what resources and amount of focus the police are giving this case now. But we would like to say as strongly as possible ... Amy Giordano and her family deserve 110 percent of their attention.

Jobs leaving Trenton

Mayor Doug Palmer called a press conference yesterday to blast Capital Health System over plans to move its Mercer campus out of the city and into Hopewell Township.

That means 1,500 jobs moving out of Trenton, less accessible health care for some city residents and a sucker punch to efforts at revitalizing the city, Palmer said.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

We are so sick of this victim mentality coming from Trenton's leaders. Instead of blasting a business or organization for choosing another community over yours, why not put your effort into convincing them that your community would be the better location?

If, as Palmer said, the "move comes just as our city is making significant strides toward revitalization and improved quality of life," then he should be able to sell those qualities to Capital Health System and other employers.

Instead, Doug Palmer's looking for another handout. Locate in Trenton not because we put together the best deal, or will be the best place for your employees. Locate in Trenton because we deserve another welfare check, another subsidy. Locate in Trenton because we'll shame you into it by holding a press conference to say you're discriminating by not "helping us out."

That's not the way this country's most successful mayors have turned things around. They've done it with corporate partnerships that have benefited corporations as much as they have the city. By showing that an investment in urban areas can be BETTER than the suburbs. If city leaders do their part, instead of looking for another handout.

Yet all Palmer can do is call a press conference and blast Capital Health System for "making a business decision," and caring about turning a profit, like those aims are evil.

Hello! That's what businesses are supposed to do. If our mayor doesn't understand that, this city's going nowhere fast. We are doomed.

New managing editor

The Trentonian recently welcomed a new managing editor -- the #2 person overall in the newsroom.

Aaron Nobel worked most recently as editor of the Connecticut Valley Spectator, a weekly newspaper in the Dartmouth College area of New Hampshire and Vermont. He founded that paper about five years ago, and it went on to win newspaper of the year, sports section of the year, entertainment section of the year and other honors from the New Hampshire Press Association. He has also worked as a daily and weekly newspaper reporter and sports reporter.

Aaron is getting to know the area, but isn't a complete stranger. His father grew up in Burlington County, where his grandparents still reside.

He sees many opportunities to improve and offer more to Trentonian readers, and is looking for all the feedback you can give him. You can contact him at anobel@trentonian.com or give him a call at (609) 989-7800, ext. 178.

Assault ... with a bullet

It was not quite Orwellian, but certainly using language to put the best possible spin on things.

A press release from the Trenton Police Department today referred to three "aggravated assaults" over the weekend in Trenton.

We were expecting to read about people getting beaten up. But in each of the incidents, the victim was actually shot.

"Assault" sounds like some Trenton folk got into fistfights this weekend. In reality, bad aim was the only thing keeping us from murders #15, #16 and #17.

Monday morning quarterbacking the police

Blame The Sopranos if you'd like. But the case of the missing mom, abandoned baby and boyfriend who took off for Italy inspires a lot of speculation about what might have happened.

Click here to read The Trentonian's latest update of the story.

To recap, an 11-month-old baby is found abandoned in the parking lot of a Delaware hospital. His doting, loving mother is missing, but there are at least some signs (leaving without her cigarettes) that point to something other than her just taking off on her own. The father of the child turns out to be married, and his wife has no idea about the girlfriend or the kid. Then it turns out the father lives in the former McMansion of a prominent Jersey mafioso. Then it turns out the father ditched his job and took off for Italy after the whole abandoned baby thing made the news. Then based on cell phone records, police charge him with being the person who abandoned the baby.

Didn't this whole thing look suspicious enough for police to have pursued the father more aggressively before he had the chance to leave the country? And why did it take reporters to dig up surveillance video of a grocery store visit by the missing mom, the fugitive father and the toddler just hours before the baby was found?

And the whole mob angle gives rise to all kinds of theories.

Is this case of local police not knowing when to call in the FBI? Or did the FBI and similar higher law enforcement authorities view it as some minor desperate mom situation and were dismissive? Or are police in multiple states having a hard time cooperating and communicating?

It's easy to second-guess police - like the Lawrence beating death murder investigation that turned out to be no beating at all, but rather a case of meningitis, or the day that Trenton police spent processing the scene of a dumped body only to find out hours later that it was the carcass of a dog.

In both cases, if their initial assessment of the "crime scene" had been true, and they hadn't pulled out all the stops to investigate and warn the public, they would have been in for even more criticism.

We'll take an overreaction any day compared to what has happened in the case of the missing mom.

Rutgers football blog launched

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After last year's breakthrough season, Rutgers is bigtime. And The Trentonian will be paying more attention to the Scarlet Knights than ever this season and throughout the offseason.