finediony New Jersey news: program

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Parsippany students protest federal lunch program

MORRIS PLAINS (WABC) -- Some students who usually buy hot lunches are now brown bagging it instead. They are upset over the schools smaller portions and higher prices.

"We're all for healthy foods..but if the portion is smaller the price should be smaller," Brandon Faris, a senior, said.

The majority of students at Parsippany Hills High School made their feelings clear. Barely a customer bought lunch from the Farm Stand, the Solar Grill and the Pizza Zone in the high school's cafeteria.

"No one was buying food, they had this Chinese food set up, nobody got any," senior Joe Hunt said.

Mark Vidovich says he understands. He is president of Pomptonian, the food company providing the school spread.

"They say it's not personal, and they want to make a statement," Vidovich said.

A statement about the federal healthy hunger free kids act of 2010 to make school lunches more nutritious. Pomptonian, serves more than 80 districts that must abide by new rules.

"They introduced the new max on bread, entrees shrank by 33 percent," Vidovich said.

Like a smaller pizza, more carrots, less pasta, more salad and green beans, and no bread. The government raised lunch prices, Vidovich says, because it costs more to serve more fruits and veggies. But you're talking about high schoolers.

"At the end of the meal, you're not full," one student said.

"For $4.50, I can go to Wendy's and get a full meal," said another.

Vidovich says his company raised the concerns to the government. The kids want to make sure it's heard loud and clear.

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Friday, September 28, 2012

The New Jersey Medicaid Program

Thursday, June 21, 2012

New Jersey suspends 'unreliable' red-light camera program

SAMANTHA HENRYNEWARK -- New Jersey suspended a red-light camera program Tuesday in all but four of the 25 municipalities in the pilot program, saying the traffic signals are not timed according to program standards.

The state Department of Transportation said 63 of the 85 cameras around the state have not been adequately tested with their paired signal lights.

Tickets won't be issued at the 63 locations until the department determines compliance with state standards.

But DOT Spokesman Joe Dee said drivers should understand that the cameras "will keep rolling" while the reviews are being completed and, if it's found those cameras are in compliance with state standards, tickets will be sent out for violations committed during that time.

If it's found that any cameras were not in compliance with state standards, Dee said, officials will then decide whether to reimburse or offer other consideration to people who received and paid tickets that were issued because of the cameras.

Meanwhile, 21 municipalities where the program was suspended will have to specifically re-certify the timing of the yellow lights by August 1.

The five-year pilot program was authorized by the Legislature in 2008, as a way to determine whether use of the cameras reduce the frequency and severity of crashes at intersections with a history of motorists running red lights. Motorists have paid millions of dollars in fines because of the cameras.

Officials found that the formula used to calculate the duration of yellow lights under legislation governing the pilot program differs from the national formula that New Jersey's DOT uses when installing traffic lights. The formula is designed to ensure that drivers have enough time to respond to a red light and prevent a collision.

Every traffic signal at each of the 85 intersections in the pilot program conforms to the nationally accepted standard used by NJDOT. But only 22 traffic signals of the 85 were certified in accordance with the formula specified in the legislation.

The Star-Ledger of Newark first reported the program's suspension.

Studies have shown that the cameras decrease collisions at intersections, though a 2005 study by the Federal Highway Safety Administration found that rear-end crashes increased 8 percent, likely due to people slamming on the brakes approaching intersections.

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(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Thursday, January 19, 2012

NJ launches prescription monitoring program

By BETH DeFALCOTRENTON -- More than five years after New Jersey passed a law to start tracking prescription drug use, the state is launching a long-awaited database monitoring use of dangerous drugs with the intent of helping doctors spot abusers more quickly and authorities stop drug dealers.

The database has been collecting information since Sept. 1; to date, more than 4 million prescriptions have been entered. Starting this month, doctors and pharmacies, including mail-order operations, can access detailed patient information on prescriptions for painkillers, steroids, sedatives and stimulants.

"It's going to allow us to track all prescription filled in the state of New Jersey and into the state of New Jersey by pharmacies that ship into the state," said Thomas Calcagni, the director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, which will oversee the database.

Including New Jersey, 40 states have such a program, according to the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

The number of Americans who abuse prescription drugs is greater than those who use cocaine, hallucinogens and heroin combined, according to a 2009 federal survey on drug use.

Push to get the New Jersey program operating became more of a priority following a series of stories by The Star-Ledger of Newark last year that exposed widespread abuse of steroids and human growth hormone by police and firefighters.

"There are benefits coming to this late in the game," Calcagni said. "We've learned a lot from their mistakes."

For example, unlike many of the other states, human growth hormone prescriptions will be tracked.

Law enforcement agencies will have access to the information, but only after obtaining a court order declaring probable cause, a higher standard than in most other states, which only require the search be related to an active investigation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's New Jersey division "is committed to fighting the prescription drug problem with every available tool possible in order to protect our citizens," said Brian Crowell, special agent in charge of the division. He called the database invaluable in helping stop the spread of drugs.

The program cost $244,000 to set up and will cost $177,000 a year to maintain, but authorities say it will save much more by spotting abusers. The costs are covered in large part through a $350,000 federal grant. Optimum Technology of Columbus, Ohio, was chosen to oversee the database.

New Jersey's program will be more proactive in looking for abuse than many other states where the onus is placed on the doctors and pharmacists to contact law enforcement when they see suspicious activity, Calcagni said. His division will monitor the database for outliers and signs of abuse, warning doctors when patients exceed certain thresholds.

Prescription drug use has been steadily growing in New Jersey and around the country, surpassing cocaine and heroin use, and falling only second to marijuana use.

In 2010, there were more than 7,200 people in New Jersey who were admitted to certified substance abuse treatment programs as a result of prescription painkiller abuse, an increase of nearly 2,000 from the previous year and up more than 5,000 from 2005, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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Thursday, June 2, 2011

NJ Transit expands quiet car program to Hoboken

One of New Jersey Transit's new multilevel trains arrives for the first time on a regularly scheduled run at Newark's Penn Station Monday, Dec. 11. 2006. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

Eyewitness NewsHOBOKEN (WABC) -- New Jersey Transit's "quiet commute" program is expanding to Hoboken Wednesday.

All NJ Transit trains in and out of Hoboken will have one car where using a cell phone or talking loudly is prohibited.

The designated quiet car will be either the first or last one, depending on which direction it is traveling.

NJ Transit officials say they now has quiet cars on all peak service trains.

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ONLINE: njtransit.com

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