New York and California enacted the biggest of 40 state tax or fee hikes during the
global financial crisis between fiscal years 2009 and 2011, the \”Report of the State Budget Crisis Task Force\” found in warning that monetary woes are limiting states’ ability to deliver basic services.

New York nearly doubled its education spending per student from 1999 to 2009, boosting it to 68 percent above the national average.

And the Empire State’s Medicaid program spends more than Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania combined with 72 cents of every dollar going to optional medical services for the poor and disabled, the report found.

The task force, created to study state finances in the wake of the financial meltdown, did credit Gov. Cuomo for taking steps to rein in Medicaid spending.

But the report’s \”unambiguous\” conclusion about state governments stated, \”The existing trajectory of state spending, taxation, and administrative practices cannot be sustained. The basic problem is not cyclical. It is structural.\”

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Orazio Anthony Cerami, on July 16, 2012, of Bellmawr. Age 84. Beloved husband of Lillian (nee Prokapus) for 57 years. Loving father of Anthony Cerami, Jeanne Passanante, Carol Trumbetti, Mary Sue Cerami and Nancy Meighan. Dear brother of Marie Laxton and the late Rudy, Joe and Mae Cerami. Devoted grandfather of Steven and Tyler Passanante, Ashley Cerami, and Alyssa, Regina, Ian and Kyle Meighan.

Orazio (known to his co workers as Art) worked for the RCA Corporation in Camden, NJ as a Drafting and Standards Manager for 33 years. Orazio also got his teaching degree in 1975 from Rutgers University and taught drafting in the evenings. He was a veteran of the US Army, stationed in Alaska during the Korean Conflict, also serving as Army Chaplain and photographer. He was honorably discharged in November, 1952.

He was a former member of the Cherry Hill Chapter of the Pine Barons Barbershop Chorus and a member of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. Orazio was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Bellmawr Fire and Rescue Squad #1, the National Rifle Association, and the Bellmawr School Board.
 

Orazio was involved with the development, design and building of the Bell Oaks Elementary School and helped design the home that he and his family lived in. While Orazio loved his Lincoln Continentals, his true love was for his family. He will be sorely missed.

via www.bellmawrfire.com

Ewing, NJ…As the head coach of the softball program at Trenton State College, which has since changed its name to The College of New Jersey, Dr. June Walker had a tremendous impact both on the diamond and women’s athletics.

In a disgraceful speech on the Senate floor last Tuesday, Frank Lautenberg accused Charles and David Koch of attempting to \”subvert the upcoming election\” and apparently called for a boycott of consumer products manufactured by Koch Industries, which he identified by name (Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, etc.). It turned out that Lautenberg was asking for a boycott of his own constituents — since Georgia-Pacific has operations and employees in that state.

Apparently embarrassed by that revelation, Lautenberg and his allies are now backtracking feverishly, denying that the senator called for a boycott of Koch Industries. But if Lautenberg wasn’t suggesting that his listeners ought not buy consumer products made by Koch Industries, then why did he list them, and describe them as \”a source of revenue for the Koch brothers\”? Was he giving Koch a little free advertising?

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Rising senior to play for East All-Stars on Saturday

PHILADELPHIA – La Salle rising senior Pat Christensen (La Jolla, Calif. / La Jolla)has been named to the Cape Cod League All-Star team, it was announced last week. Christensen, a reliever for the Orleans Firebirds, was named to the East All-Stars, who take on the West contingent on July 28 at Whitehouse Field in Harwich.