High winds associated with a storm are to blame for damaging eight small engine planes at Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing Township Tuesday night.

The winds came as a squall line blew through the area anywhere from 4 to 4:30 am Wednesday, topping off at 60 mph as measured by the airport. The National Weather Service said there were no tornadoes, however, most of the chaos can be blamed on a microburst -  a relatively rare event in which a column of air shoots down from a storm and creates straight-line winds.

The most notable damage came to one plane that was ripped off of  its moorings and sent flying over the fence of the airport and into the flight school’s parking lot. Three others were completely flipped over. Elsewhere at the airport, a hangar had its roof torn completely off, and many of the damaged planes were too wounded to be tied down and were stashed in hangars.

Elsewhere in the state, there have been 11,000 reported power outages and sporadic reports of damage.

A New Jersey State prison guard who mercilessly and seemingly needlessly beat an inmate to within an inch of death in July remains suspended, and new details have emerged.

The inmate he beat, 45 year old Bradley Peterson, is originally from the Rhode Island prison system. While he was cuffed and shackled, corrections officer Kevin Newsom repeatedly hit him over the head with a metal baton. After the beating, he allegedly ordered those under him on the chain of command to keep it a secret and keep it out of reports.

For this, Newsom was charged with aggravated assault and official misconduct, and was subsequently suspended without pay from the job which pays better than $91,000 a year.

Lt. Stephen Alaimo, Newsom’s superior, was charged with official misconduct and suspended with pay – however a hearing  to determine whether or not he gets to enjoy his suspension with an income will be held within the next two days. He was charged because he failed to report the wrongdoing.

Prosecutors were informed of the attack in August by the Special Investigations Division, but no details have been given as to how they learned of it.

A Trenton man was carjacked and held in a basement early Monday for two hours before he found a way to escape his abductors.

The 25 year old was driving a loaned truck on Hamilton Avenue at 12 am when two masked men, armed with a pistol and a shotgun, forced him back into the truck and took the wheel. After putting a bag over his head, they stopped at a house where they taped his wrists and feet, took his valuables and left him there.

He somehow managed to escape from the bondage and flee out the kitchen door, where he took refuge at his girlfriend’s house. From there, he noticed the men driving around looking for him outside in his loaned truck.

The next day at 6 pm, police found the truck empty and abandoned on Tyler Street.

Police think the victim’s criminal past may have something to do with why he was a target for the men. If you have any information pertaining to this case, you are urged to call police at (609) 989-4170, or the Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.

Two men are being heralded as heroes after rescuing an old woman from a smoldering car.

The elderly woman was seen driving erratically by Deshawn Feliciano of Lawrence while en route to the Ewing Diner this afternoon. She narrowly missed hitting a man pushing a stroller and nailed another car before coming to rest on a telephone pole. While the car was smoldering, Feliciano and another man decided to go into the flames and rescue her.

After reaching into the flames and grabbing the woman, they set her down on the median and extinguished the flames with an extinguisher they got from Valero.

After their efforts, paramedics arrived and transported her to a hospital where she was treated for a cut on her leg and other undisclosed injuries. Her name was not given, nor was the name of the other man who pitched in. The driver of the other car had a rattled head, but she was in good health nonetheless.

Justice was served to one of the suspects in the murder of 84 year old Tuskegee Airman Jerry Eure.

Anthony Bethea, 19, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for  killing the war hero in his West Ward home in November of 2007. They initially attempted to rob the man because they thought he was an easy target.

The former Airman was a WWII veteran with a group of the nation’s first black military pilots from Tuskegee.

Anthony and his 19 year old cousin William entered the man’s home through a basement window, crept up the stairs and proceeded to slash the elder’s throat and hit him over the head with a pipe. Anthony’s cousin is awaiting trial.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Ed Neafsey, in preparation for William Bethea’s trial, said that jurors will be allowed to watch a tape of him pinning the blame on his cousin for the murder. William was a member of Trenton High School’s ROTC program, and he was wearing his uniform during the recording of the tape. He stated that after exiting the home, his cousin Anthony came out and said “mission accomplished. I just killed somebody, and I got the car.” William also claims all he did was steal some things from the house.

Anthony will be eligible for parole when he is 61 years old. Judge Neafsey said he will indefinitely serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

A memorial for Eure will be held Nov. 5 from 7-9 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 471 Parkway Ave. in Trenton.

A class-action lawsuit filed by Century 21 franchisees against Century 21 Real Estate Corp. and parent company Cendant is moving forward following a decision of the New Jersey Appellate Division.

In August, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Robert J. Brennan certified a class of current and former Century 21 franchisees in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and other claims against their franchisor, Century 21 Real Estate Corp., as well as its parent company, consumer and business services provider Cendant Corp. Currently, Century 21 is owned by Cendant spin-off Realogy Corp.

Following Judge Brennan’s ruling, Cendant asked the New Jersey Appellate Division to reconsider the class certification decision. On October 15, 2010, the appellate court announced it would not hear the appeal, which clears the way for the case to go to trial.

“We are pleased that the case will now move forward as originally directed by Judge Brennan,” says attorney Dan Drachler of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, who represents the franchisees along with firm co-founder Robert S. Schachter.

“As a result of Cendant’s actions, Century 21 franchisees have suffered damages that may total in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” says Mr. Schachter.

According to the lawsuit, Cendant failed to provide the level of services to Century 21 franchisees required by their agreements. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that contributions to a national advertising fund, which topped more than $40 million annually, were misappropriated and diverted to uses other than the benefit of Century 21, including the promotion of Century 21’s Cendant-owned real estate competitors. Shortly after the purchase of Century 21, Cendant also acquired Coldwell Banker and ERA.

Judge Brennan’s order certified a class of current and former Century 21 franchisees during the period from August 1995 to April 2002 whose franchise agreements contain a New Jersey jurisdiction clause.

Employees of the State of New Jersey are upset – to say the least – about Governor Christie’s decision to make state union workers show up for work on Black Friday.

This may seem a triviality, but former Governor Jon Corzine gave unions the option to trade Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, for Lincoln’s birthday in February. Workers for the state get 13 days off, but they feel Black Friday is an important day to have off and is guaranteed in their contract.

Angered workers are still allowed to use an earned vacation day on the infamously busy day. One state employee plans to take the matter to court, using Corzine’s 2009 Memorandum of Agreement as a reference.

Providers, consumer groups, and Medicare patients throughout New Jersey are asking Congress to take steps to ensure that power wheelchairs continue to be available to Medicare beneficiaries. A series of regulatory and policy changes will hamper the ability of home medical equipment providers to supply quality products and services to Medicare beneficiaries.

A new law will end a Medicare patient’s option to purchase a power wheelchair in the first month of use and will expand the flawed “competitive” bidding system. The program artificially limits the number of providers who can supply homecare medical equipment and will severely jeopardize access to power wheelchairs for seniors and those living with physical disabilities.

“Consumer organizations across the state representing senior citizens and people living with disabilities are concerned about the impact of these new measures,” said Barbara Rogers, president and CEO of National Emphysema/COPD Association.  ”We need to ensure that New Jersey’s seniors and people with disabilities continue to have access to mobility equipment that can dramatically change their lives for the better and actually save the government money.”

Rogers said that power wheelchairs help Medicare beneficiaries perform critical daily activities, such as grooming, getting to the bathroom, and preparing food. She said the power chairs can delay admission in expensive nursing homes, while also reducing emergency room visits for Medicare patients, who are less likely to suffer injuries from falls when they have power wheelchairs.

“There must be broader recognition of the benefits of power wheelchairs,” Rogers said. “America needs public policies that improve the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable people in our society, not new rules that restrict access to the medical equipment that they need.”

In recent years, homecare equipment providers have been under siege from the changes in Medicare policies.  Power wheelchair providers have endured reimbursement cuts of more than 35 percent over the last five years, while also experiencing excessive government audits and extended delays in reimbursement payments. Now the government is expanding the bidding program and eliminating the first month purchase option – two measures that will negatively affect providers and beneficiaries.

Under the new reimbursement policy, the government plans to pay providers rental payments over the first 13 months that a Medicare patient has a power wheelchair. This will create a cash-flow nightmare for large and small providers, slicing their cash-on-hand by 40 percent in the first year. Due to the struggling economy, providers are unable to obtain loans or credit lines that would allow them to purchase the equipment from manufacturers and do the necessary servicing so that Medicare beneficiaries have properly-adjusted equipment. Many Medicare patients would receive in stock chairs that haven’t been specially fitted to address the individual needs of the patients.

Consumer groups, providers, and Medicare patients are asking Congress to delay implementation of the new policy for a year, allowing providers time to adjust their business models. The change is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2011.  The delay would be budget-neutral because providers have agreed to a one percent reduction to the Medicare consumer price index update for standard power wheelchairs.

Meanwhile, the bidding program for home medical equipment and services is scheduled to take effect in nine metropolitan areas in January 2011. An additional 91 areas including large portions of New Jersey are scheduled to start the bidding program later in 2011.

Yet, on September, 26, 166 bidding system experts and economists, including two Nobel laureates, sent a letter to Congress warning about major problems with the bidding system designed by Medicare. The experts concluded that the system will fail, citing the fact that the bids are non-binding, the rules encourage unsustainable low-ball bids, the design distorts bids, and the program lacks transparency.  H.R. 3790, the bill in the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support, would replace the bidding program with other types of cost savings but preserve patient access to mobility equipment.  Organizations that favor elimination of this bidding program include the ALS Association, American Association of People with Disabilities, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Council on Independent Living, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and United Spinal Association, among others.

“The reality is that homecare equipment providers have reached the limit on cuts that they can endure and continue to provide quality products and services to Medicare patients,” said Richard Lerner, president of Allcare Medical in Sayreville, NJ. “If these new measures are enacted as scheduled, it will be devastating for New Jersey Medicare beneficiaries and for communities where medical equipment providers will close their business and lay off workers. The last thing that America needs is policies that increase unemployment.”

Lerner said that it is imperative that Congress act to ensure that Medicare patients can continue to benefit from power wheelchairs.

Richard Gaskin, 43, of Montclair, N.J., exemplifies the difference that a power wheelchair from Medicare can make in someone’s life. Gaskin was injured 23 years ago and has been confined to a wheelchair since then.  After years of using a manual chair, he got a power wheelchair in 2008.

“I couldn’t get around in a manual wheelchair anymore,” Gaskin said. “I was stuck in one place, and it was so difficult to get around. I needed someone to push me all the time. Now I have more independence. The power wheelchair does so much more for me. I can get around on my own and I don’t have to wait for someone to push me from room to room.”

The power wheelchair, he said, has made life much easier for him, his family and friends.

Imbrium Systems announced today that Stormceptor(R) STC, a premier brand of oil and sediment separator (hydrodynamic separator) for stormwater treatment, was approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for use as an On-Line stormwater treatment device. Based on the recently updated NJDEP stormwater performance testing standards, the Stormceptor(R) technology is the only hydrodynamic device that is currently allowed for use in an On-Line configuration. This performance-based approval allows developers to save tens of thousands of dollars while still providing the best stormwater quality treatment for their projects.

“The Stormceptor STC On-Line approval is another demonstration of innovative technology tested to standards that validate superior performance. Designing stormwater treatment systems to capture pollutants is critical, but so is retaining those same pollutants. Recent updates to the State’s technology verification and certification test standards provided an opportunity to better validate overall performance of these systems. The New Jersey DEP certification letter means that land developers can have complete confidence in Stormceptor’s performance while saving precious land space as well as construction dollars in this tough economy”, said Scott Perry, Group Manager for Imbrium Systems.

Many States and jurisdictions across North America have been relying on New Jersey DEP’s stormwater technology verification and certification process (Technology Acceptance and Reciprocity Partnership or TARP), but may be unaware of this Off-Line requirement. Several years ago, NJDEP reviewed its test standards and discovered pollutant washout – “scour” – was a major issue with most hydrodynamic separators. As a result, NJDEP quickly modified their stormwater device design requirements in early 2008 to address this alarming environmental concern. The outcome was NJDEP mandated all stormwater manufactured treatment devices were only approved as Off-Line water quality devices unless the Department received new test data to a more stringent standard verifying a device would not washout silt-sized pollutants during intense, high-flow rain events.

The new NJDEP testing and verification process has been a welcomed improvement and Stormceptor STC is the first and only water quality treatment technology to date that has achieved On-Line approval. Stormceptor STC is a proven high-performance stormwater treatment technology that developers can implement to save on construction costs when stormwater treatment devices are used in an On-Line configuration. An On-Line water quality device allows the passing of storms greater than the NJDEP water quality design storm through the device, without the added cost of additional stormwater sewer infrastructure and installation time.

“Once again, Imbrium Systems and Stormceptor STC raise the bar regarding stormwater quality treatment devices. We believe our scientific research and continuous innovation are benchmarks for the stormwater industry to follow and New Jersey DEP agrees”, noted Scott Perry. “Stormceptor STC is the first hydrodynamic separator to exceed New Jersey DEP’s rigorous testing standard for On-Line certification and thus civil engineers and land developers can feel confident using Stormceptor STC when they begin their next project”, stated Scott Perry.