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NO INDICTMENT IN POLICE CHOKEHOLD DEATH; PROTESTS ERUPT IN NYC

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THURSDAY 12.04.14
PROTECTING
THE
PROTECTORS
Lakewood defense
firm promotes
bullet-stopping

GOT $14.5 MILLION?

technology.
YOUR MONEY, A14

This French chateau leaves no stone unturned.

LUXURY LIVING, D8

Clarity in
flood-claim
reports
demanded

things Chris Christie

must do to run
for president

Manipulation of storm
damage data feared
NICOLE GAUDIANO @NGAUDIANO
WASHINGTON The Federal Emergency Management Agency will examine whether it can force insurers to reveal whether they manipulated flood insurance claims to keep payments to superstorm Sandy
victims as low as possible, Sen. Robert Menendez said
Wednesday.
Menendez, D-N.J., said FEMA Administrator Craig
Fugate made that commitment during a meeting with
senators representing New York and New Jersey.
Menendez said he expects FEMA to require insurance companies contracting with the agency on flood
insurance to disclose all peer reviews by engineers
and adjusters so policyholders can determine how
their claims were evaluated.
Weve made it very clear to (Fugate) that were going to continue on this until we have success, Menendez said after the meeting.
FEMA covers losses incurred by the National
Flood Insurance Program, but private insurers service and write the policies. A FEMA spokesman said
after Wednesdays meeting the agency will do everything possible to ensure peer reviews are made available to policyholders.
The meeting followed findings last month by a federal judge in New York that a Write Your Own insurance company, which performs insurance servicing
work as part of a contract with FEMA, had engaged in
reprehensible gamesmanship with disaster victims, and such practices may be widespread.
The case revealed that New York homeowners
were denied a claim for structural damage because an
engineer retained by the flood insurance provider
quietly altered the report on the damage as part of the
peer review process. The alterations shifted the cause
of the damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 to the

PRESIDENTIAL
PAPERWORK
Testing the waters: Does
Gov. Chris Christie take
action to test his viability?
Statement of candidacy:
138 people already have
filed for 2016. Will Christie?
Spend money: Does Christie or his campaign
receive or spend $5,000 in
donations?
Identifying staff: Does
Christie file a Statement of
Organization with the feds?
Matching funds: Does
Christie scramble to earn at
least $5,000 in matching
funds in 20 states?

See FLOOD, Page A4

Mom leads push

for later school
starting times

BOB JORDAN @BOBJORDANAPP

ts the biggest guessing game in

JERRY CARINO
CARINOS CORNER

TOMS RIVER A gingerbread house

sits on the kitchen table. Garland is

wrapped around the staircase bannister.
Cindy Botwinicks home looks
ready for Santa to come bounding
down the chimney. It does not look like
the epicenter of a revolt.
Yet Botwinick, a 43-year-old mother of three, is
battling for change on an issue plaguing families in
Toms River and elsewhere around the country:
school districts early start times.
At Intermediate North, her oldest son Declan
starts classes at 7:15 a.m. Hes 11 years old, and his
alarm clock goes off at 5:45 each morning. Its been
a shock to the system for the sixth-grader; last year,
his elementary school day began at 9:35.
I feel very passionately about this, Botwinick
said Tuesday. I have three young men. Its a large
responsibility to give them the very best shot in this
world. I dont think of these start times as doing it

OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
WEATHER
YOUR MONEY

Wheres Waldo? of presidential

politics. In case youre wonder-

Canada this week. That follows the trip

he took to Mexico in September and his
visit to Israel and Jordan in 2012. These
trips raise eyebrows because, in part,
visiting other countries is what potential
presidential candidates do.

D7
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ton, D.C. Think of it as the

ing, Gov. Chris Christie can be found in

See LATER, Page A12

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
LUXURY LIVING

Trenton. Not to mention Washing-

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VOLUME 135
NUMBER 290

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See FIVE, Page A4

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NO VERDICT IN MURDER TRIAL

Jurors in frying pan case set to resume

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deliberations today. STORY, A3