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MONDAY. JANUARY 20, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
POLITICS
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Jersey Assemblymen John S. Wisniewski, center, D-Sayreville, N.J., Louis D. Greenwald, left, D-Camden, N.J., and incoming Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, N.J., address the media Jan. 13 in Trenton, N.J. Greenwald says an investigation into massive local traffic jams that has ensnared Gov. Chris Christie's administration has grown into an abuse-of-power probe.
NJ mayor: Sandy aid ultimatum came from Christie
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. — The Democratic mayor of a town severely flooded by Superstorm Sandy said Sunday that she was told an ultimatum tying recovery funds to her support for a prime real estate project came directly from Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a claim a Christie spokesman called "categorically false."
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Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" that the message pushing a Rockefeller Group commercial development was delivered by Christie's lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, when the two were at an event in Hoboken in May
to celebrate the opening of a new supermarket.
"The lieutenant governor pulled me aside and said, essentially, 'You've got to move forward with the Rockefeller project. This project is really important to the governor.' And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and that this was a direct message from the governor," Zimmer recalled Guadagno saying.
Christie spokesman Colin Reed issued a statement Sunday saying, "Mayor Zimmer's categorization about her conversation in Hoboken is categorically false."
On Saturday, Zimmer said Guadagno and a top community development official separately told her that
recovery funds would flow to her city if she expedited the project.
Hoboken, a low-lying city of 50,000 across from Manhattan, was nearly swallowed by the Hudson River during Sandy, with three of its electrical substations and most of its firehouses flooded, businesses and homes submerged, the train station inundated with water, and people trapped in high-rises because elevators didn't work and lobbies were underwater. Zimmer has proposed a comprehensive flood mitigation plan and has applied for $100 million in grants to help make it happen.
Zimmer said she didn't reveal the conversation with Guadagno until now because
she feared no one would believe her. But, with Hoboken having received just $342,000 out of $1.8 billion in Sandy recovery aid from the state in the first funding round, she said, she is speaking out in hopes her city won't be shut out in a second funding wave, when the state is due to disperse $1.4 billion. Hoboken has also received millions in federal aid.
Christie, meanwhile, is embroiled in another scandal that threatens to undercut his second term and future presidential ambitions. The U.S. attorney's office and a state legislative panel are investigating allegations that Christie aides engineered traffic jams in Fort Lee by closing lanes to the George Washington Bridge, possibly as payback against the town's Democratic mayor, who didn't endorse Christie for reelection.
Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the legislator leading the state investigation, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that his committee would look into Zimmer's political payback allegation as well.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, told "Meet the Press" that Wisniewski is part of a "partisan witch hunt" and should step down.
"I think we have to give the allegations serious thought," he said, "because this is a pattern we've heard time and time again throughout New Jersey."
Wisniewski countered that his committee of eight Democrats and four Republicans is bipartisan and would continue its investigation.
CRIME
Lawyer: Boy jailed in shooting not to blame
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — A 17-year-old boy charged as an adult in the shooting of two students inside a school gym isn't responsible for the crime, his attorney said.
Charges against Raisheem Rochwell were based on surveillance video and witness information from the shooting Friday afternoon at Delaware Valley Charter High School, police said. One bullet from a gun Rochwell was holding hit two students, wounding each in an arm, police said.
Rochwell has been charged with aggravated assault, carrying an unlicensed firearm, carrying a firearm in public in Philadelphia, possessing a firearm while a minor, possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
"I've not seen that, I'm not aware of that, and from the information I have, I do not believe that is accurate," Sanita said of the police version of events. He added that Rochwell "is not the person who will ultimately be responsible for this act."
But Rochwell's attorney, Amato Sanita, disputed that account to reporters Saturday night.
He remained in jail Sunday and unable to post $500,000 bond. He faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 6.
"Anything you're hearing out there, this is nothing that involves anything intentional." Sanita said. "We can make those comments right now, and that's it."
Although police have stopped short of calling the shooting accidental, Sanita suggested it was — though he stopped short of using that word.
The school will resume classes Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
"We are thankful that our students are in good
police also questioned a 16-year-old boy in connection with the shooting, but he was released because the district attorney's office declined to approve criminal charges, according to a police statement.
An 18-year-old female student was shot in the back of her left arm, and the same bullet also struck a 17-year-old boy in the shoulder, police said. Both were treated at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. The female student was released Friday, but it wasn't clear Sunday whether the male student remained hospitalized.
School officials also said they were working with police and the school's public safety team "to ensure that all safety measures are addressed." The school has metal detectors, but officials and police have yet to say how they believe the gun was brought into the building.
condition and recovering from this unfortunate incident. We will continue to be committed to making sure that the safety of our children and staff is taken seriously inside and outside of school," the school said in a statement.
STATE Wine business growing in Kansas
TOPEKA — More than 150 people attended the 28th annual Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association conference this weekend in Topeka.
Bob DesRuisseaux, owner of Prairie Fire Winery in Paxico and one of the conference organizers, told The Topeka Capital-Journal business is booming for Kansas wineries. DesRuisseaux says winemaking is becoming a leading source of agritourism in Kansas. Kansas has 33 farm wineries.
Annarose Hart, of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, says winemaking is becoming an increasingly important part of the Kansas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marianne Curtis, owner of Fieldstone Orchard, in Overbrook picks raspberries in one of the hoop houses on the farm.
tourism mix, noting the development of the Somerset Wine Trail in Miami County. She says a marketing plan is being developed at present to promote Kansas wine.
Associated Press
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