May 28, 2009

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN -- Gregory Gamble has been named director of economic development at Rutgers University–Camden.

In this new position, Gamble, 37, will work to build relationships between Rutgers and a wide range of businesses and organizations with the goal of the enhancing the economy of the Greater Camden region. Through his efforts, Rutgers will seek to promote business growth in the University District and throughout the City of Camden.

He also will serve as CEO of the Rutgers–Camden Technology Campus, Inc., a not-for-profit, technology-...   Read More >>

(CNN) -- Eighteen-year-old Juan Gonzalez was dying alone in a hospital, thousand of miles from his Guatemalan home. He was separated from the family he had traveled to the United States to help support.

Diagnosed with a chronically weak heart, without much money and lacking resources, Gonzalez seemed bound to die without ever seeing his parents again.

That changed after CNN aired a story about his plight.

Thanks to the help of a compassionate hospital staff, a U.S. congressman and a concerned community, Gonzalez has been reunited with his parents for what may be the last time.

A mother’s fling has resulted in her bearing twins – by different fathers.

Eleven-month-old Justin and Jordan Washington may have arrived in the world within just seven minutes of each other, but in an amazing twist of fate, they are half brothers.

Each has a different dad because their mother Mia Washington, had an affair and conceived two babies by different men at the same time.

The bizarre double conception happened when Mia cheated on her partner James Harrison with another man.

One of the boys is James's son, but the other is fathered by another man, whose identity has not been released.

An American mother suffocated her son, revived him, then suffocated him again before burying his tiny body in a public playground.

Tiffany Toribio apparently confessed to the shocking crime eight days after she dug a hole and buried three-year-old Tyruss.

'She placed her hand over her son's mouth and nose and suffocated him,' said Police Chief Ray Schultz.

She had second thoughts about what she did. She performed CPR on her son, brought him back to life and then decided to go forward with that original act she had started to commit.'

'What makes this story especially sad is, when asked the reason why she took Ty's life, Tiffany said that she did not want him to grow up with no one caring about him, the same way that she had grown up where nobody had cared about her.'

The murder came to light a we...   Read More >>

LOS ANGELES — A sequel has been greenlit for Matt Giraud on "American Idol."

The 23-year-old piano player from Kalamazoo, Mich., who crooned Bryan Adam's "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" from "Don Juan DeMarco" for his movie song performance Tuesday, received the fewest number of viewer votes Wednesday on the popular Fox singing competition. However, the judges decided to use their one-time power to save him from elimination.

"`Idol' history has been made!" host Ryan Seacrest exclaimed following the salvation.

With th...   Read More >>

The Arizona State University community is expressing anger and embarrassment in response to ASU's decision not to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he gives the commencement speech there next month. An ASU spokesperson now confesses, "we blew it," and concedes that the university likely would have conferred the honorary degree, but once it became a controversy, ASU administrators were too worried about appearing insincere.

When the news hit last week that ASU would not honor Obama with a customary honorary degree when he addresses the graduating clas...   Read More >>

We've all done it--offended someone with something we've said, intentionally or not. Even the word-savvy President Barack Obama slipped Thursday night on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" when he compared his poor bowling skills to those of the participants in the Special Olympics.

Like Obama's blunder, there are a host of verbal landmines that could befall otherwise well-intentioned employees trying to interact with colleagues from traditionally underrepresented groups. But what do you do the moment after your gaffe? Do you open your mouth and insert your foot? Or do you simply beg for forgiveness?

To find out how to save face, we did a web search for "how to apologize for something you've said" and nearly 5 million results came up--everything from "how to apologize to a woman&quo...   Read More >>

Child welfare officials are worried about a recent spike in calls to the state child abuse hotline and suspect it’s due to extra family stress brought on by the recession.

The hotline received 6,185 complaints in March, up from 5,104 in February and 5,070 in March last year. Those figures represent calls referred to local offices for investigation to see if children are at risk of harm or need social services. Typically 80 to 85 percent of calls come from tipsters worried that a child is being hurt or neglected, while the rest reflect attempts to get troubled families food, heat or housing.

“Over the last two months we’ve seen a rather significant increase in referrals,” said Kate Bernyk, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. “We think it’s very much due to the current economic...   Read More >>

TRENTON - Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced a new chief executive officer for the Schools Development Authority and a new commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). Governor Corzine recommended for appointment Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri to be the next chief executive officer of the Schools Development Authority, replacing departing CEO Scott Weiner.

“Kris Kolluri has been an outstanding commissioner of transportation,” said Governor Corzine. “Through his unique grasp of the many complex issues facing our vast infrastructure networ...   Read More >>

Now that the campaign is over and the tears and awesome thrills are settling in...just what could an Obama/Biden government look like from a policy perspective?

We've heard the arguments through debates, ads, town hall meetings...but how do their policy papers reads?

What about the fine print at the end of the day? The LaRuelist Report will be sharing with you what top analysts around the country are saying about this new Administration?

The history continues!