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| State briefs for 10/21: Teenage road deaths down for third year |
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TRENTON (AP) — New Jersey highway safety officials say the number of teenage drivers and passengers killed in motor vehicle crashes has declined for a third straight year.
Fifty-nine teen drivers and passengers driven by teens were killed last year. That’s down from 68 in 2007 and 73 in 2006.
New Jersey created a special panel to study teenage driver safety in 2007, two months after three teens died in a fiery crash in Monmouth County.
Last year, it released a report with 47 recommendations for improving safety. Some safety awareness initiatives are under way in schools, and the state has banned plea agreements for teens who commit driving violations.
Other recommendations go into effect next year, including an 11 p.m. curfew for teen drivers and a limit on passengers to just one.
Foreclosures high, but slowly declining
TRENTON (AP) — The number of foreclosure proceedings begun against New Jersey homeowners in August was 40 percent higher than the same month a year ago — but it continued to slide down from a peak in June.
The state judiciary says 5,757 foreclosure proceedings were begun in August, 6 percent less than the high in June.
Not all homeowners who receive foreclosure notices ultimately lose their homes.
New Jersey’s numbers are in line with national trends. National data show fewer foreclosures again in September.
State symphony has new conductor
NEWARK (AP) — The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has selected a new conductor.
The orchestra announced Tuesday 46-year-old Jacques Lacombe will succeed Neeme Jarvi.
Jarvi led the regional orchestra from 2004-09.
Lacombe’s three-year term began last month. He will be the orchestra’s 13th music director.
He will make his first appearance with the orchestra April 22 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
The French Canadian’s career highlights include 75 performances as guest conductor of the Montreal Symphony.
Sex with teen gets teacher’s aide prison
MOUNT HOLLY (AP) — A judge has sentenced a 45-year-old former teacher’s aide at a southern New Jersey school to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a male student.
Donna Goebel maintained her innocence during sentencing in court Monday. The 45-year-old Westampton resident expressed “extreme regrets” for what she called an “uncharacteristic situation.”
The 16-year-old testified the two had sex several times in early 2008.
The judge said he had great difficulty painting Goebel as a predator because she was in an awful marriage.
The judge said consensual sex between a 16-year-old and an adult is legal except when the adult holds a position like a teacher’s aide.
Blackmail defendant thought FBI involved
ATLANTIC CITY (AP) — A defendant in the Atlantic City sex video blackmail trial says he helped lure a city councilman to a tryst with a prostitute to help the FBI.
Floyd Tally is one of three men charged with setting up the videotaped sex sting of Councilman Eugene Robinson.
Tally testified Tuesday the confessed mastermind of the plot, former Council President Craig Callaway, told him he was cooperating with the FBI in a probe of an official using his city vehicle to pick up prostitutes.
Tally said he agreed to help “catch him in the act,” but said he did not know it would be recorded.
In previous court hearings, FBI agents offered no evidence of an investigation into Robinson.
Created: 10/20/2009 | Updated: 10/20/2009
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