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TUESDAY DECEMBER 7, 2010
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Today: Flurries
MARIO PARTY
High: 36 • Low: 22
Sophomore Mario Mason and the No. 18 Rutgers wrestling team traveled over the weekend to the Nittany Lion Open. Mason finished first in a packed 149-pound bracket.
NJ residents feel burden of unemployment
Chabad House receives $500K for future goals
BY MAXWELL BARNA
STAFF WRITER
BY AMY ROWE
STAFF WRITER
There are nearly 400,000 people currently claiming federal unemployment benefits in New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development website. After receiving a phone call one morning on her way to class from the head chef at the restaurant where she worked, Jacqueline Cherko, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, became one of these people. Like some of the state’s unemployed taxpayers, Cherko was laid off with little to no warning. At first she was nervous and worried about what she would do next. “It was kind of surreal in the beginning,” she said. “And then there was a hole — like a part of [my] life was missing.” Cherko, who was employed by her Highland Park restaurant as a server and bartender for more than a year, said the job for her was more than just a place to work. It was her means of social interaction and how she paid her bills and enjoyed certain luxuries. Three days after being laid off, she began the process of applying for and receiving federal unemployment benefits. After her request for benefits were granted, Cherko decided she would take only what she required from her benefits until she could find another job. “I cannot sit around and do nothing,” she said. “I am a worker, plain and simple.” Cherko’s story is not unlike that of RutgersNewark senior LaQuay Weekes, who has been unemployed since April of 2009. Weekes was herded into a room of co-workers at the Atlantic City Hilton Casino. It was there that he and his colleagues were informed they would be let go at the end of two weeks. Sharing similar sentiments as Cherko, Weekes was shocked.
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The Chabad House Jewish Student Center on the College Avenue campus will use the donation in order to advance the center’s studies and assist with its plans for expansion.
BY ANKITA PANDA STAFF WRITER
The Engineering Governing Council last night debated and failed to pass a budget cut bill that would minimize the amount of funding allocated to the engineering fraternity, Sigma Phi Delta. The debate during the council’s meeting at the Busch Campus Center reflected views for and against the bill written by the Finance Committee of the council. Opponents of the bill argued the budget cut would leave the fraternity unable to adequately host a rush event. “This budget is sentencing us to not have recruitment for next year, meaning we get
no new members coming in at all,” said School of Engineering junior Dave Friedeborn, who was this year’s rush chair for Sigma Phi Delta. Many fraternity members complained that the council’s bill, which would cut funding down from $200 to $150 for the rush event, was putting them at a disadvantage. “Our rush [to recruit any new members] is equivalent to ever yone else’s interest meeting. We do the same thing ever y other society does,” said School of Engineering junior John Nycz, a member of Sigma Phi Delta. Without funding, the fraternity cannot host events such as rush, said Sigma Phi Delta Treasurer Matthew DeCarlo.
BY COLLEEN ROACHE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
OPINIONS Google enters the e-book market, challenging Apple and Amazon.
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“If we do not recruit enough people, [some of our events] stop happening. We need recruitment so we can do other events,” said DeCarlo, a School of Engineering senior. DeCarlo said the fraternity has been funded every other semester in the past and requested members vote against the bill. “We have received funding for it in the past. The fact that we are going to start a precedent that was not brought up in an EGC council meeting … I do not necessarily agree with it,” he said. Nycz said the entire fraternity felt discriminated against.
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Investor service gives city lower credit rating
A BANNER OF SUPPORT
Students share their favorite places to crack open their books and study for exams.
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Council turns down bill to lessen funds
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The University’s Chabad House Jewish Student Center received a $500,000 donation this week in an effort to further advance Jewish studies and the center’s plan for expansion. Myron Shevell, chairman and CEO of New England Motor Freight, Inc., provided the donation. It honored Shevell’s late son, Jon Shevell, for his service to the center over the years, whose last wishes included the desire to further Jewish studies, Shevell said. “Jon was always great with working with kids, as he coached basketball at Tufts University,” he said. “He helped the rabbi with ideas on how to work with younger people.” Shevell said his donation would help a center that proves to be an effective place for children to obtain a good education and build meaningful social relationships.
IVAN TUKHTIN
Pledges to support the bridging of the Asian-American and LGBTQ communities decorate a table in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus. A talk by Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan last night preceded the signing.
Moody’s Investor Ser vice gave the city of New Brunswick an A2 rating this year, which the company says reflects lower financial stability in the city. Moody’s works to provide credit ratings, research and financial risk analysis for countries and municipalities. It cited weakened fiscal flexibility and the city’s guarantee of $183 million in parking revenue bonds, according to a Dow Jones newswire article. The city received an A1 rating last year — one notch higher than its most recent one. “Although the New Brunswick Parking Authority has a long track record of healthy financial operations with no support from the city, we believe the current project’s reliance on commercial lease revenues could strain the authority’s financial health should these
revenue sources erode,” Moody’s told Dow Jones. The city’s backing of the parking authority’s debt puts it at a greater risk of default, making it responsible for coming up with the necessar y funds should the agency face financial trouble, according to Moody’s logic. New Brunswick city spokesman Bill Bray said the statewide cap on local property taxes, which limits the city’s ability to raise revenue, is a major reason for the A2 rating. “One of the biggest things impacting the ratings — both here and in other communities — is the new 2 percent cap on proper ty taxes,” Bray said. “If a cap has been imposed upon our ability to increase taxes, that has an impact — according to Moody’s — on our bottom line.” The credit ratings agency lowered its ratings on a total of 12
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