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BRIDGEGATES BACK
United CEO quits after link to Port Authority probe
MICHAEL SYMONS @MICHAELSYMONS_

TRENTON The Bridgegate scandal, dormant for

months, sprung back to life with a vengeance Tuesday
for Gov. Chris Christie and his struggling presidential
campaign.
United Airlines announced that its chief executive
officer had stepped down, a casualty of the airline and
federal prosecutors inquiries into the relationship between the companys executives and the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
the agency that runs Newark Liberty International Airport.
The U.S. Attorneys Office inquiry sprung from the

George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal,

where Christie loyalists have been accused of causing
massive traffic jams in Fort Lee in the fall of 2013 in a
bid to exact revenge on a political foe of Christies.
Tuesdays announcement of the departure of CEO
Jeff Smisek and two other executives makes plain that
the long-simmering scandal will continue to dog Christie, a Republican, and his presidential ambitions, which
have already been diminished by the controversy, according to a series of opinion polls.
Christies campaign was already in long-shot territory, said Patrick Murray, Monmouth University polit-

FILE PHOTO/GOVERNORS OFFICE

Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Stephen Sweeney and Port Authority

Chairman David Samson with United CEO Jeff Smisek in 2013.

See CEO, Page 14A

WEDNESDAY 09.09.15

Wildfire, smoke
hit the Shore

BOB BIELK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students at Mater Dei Prep are back in school after a

successful effort to save the Middletown school from closure.
COURTESY OF WPVI-TV

The fire line is shown Tuesday morning at a wildfire that broke out in the Woodmansie section of Woodland Township,
Burlington County, near the Ocean County line and burned nearly 1,000 acres of Pinelands before being contained overnight.

Blaze contained but still burning;

dry spell feeding it may end tonight

What Mater Deis

survival teaches
other schools
JERRY CARINO CARINOS CORNER

STEPH SOLIS AND ERIK LARSEN @STEPHMSOLIS

A thick smell of smoke continues to travel throughout the Shore as a forest fire rages on in the Pine Barrens, primarily in Manchester.
The wildfire, which broke out in the Woodmansie
section of Woodland Township, Burlington County,
burned nearly 1,000 acres of the Pinelands, with about
90 percent of that area in Manchester, according to Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection.
But the good news is, the fire doesnt look likely to
get larger than it is.
The fire is 100 percent contained, Hajna said.
That doesnt mean its controlled. Its still burning.
The smell of smoke has been reported throughout
Ocean and Monmouth counties, including Manchester,
Lakehurst, Toms River, Pine Beach, Point Pleasant,
Howell and Tinton Falls. A haze of smoke settled over
the Garden State Parkway near Toms River.
In the Whiting section of Manchester, the air appeared clear on Tuesday afternoon, but an acrid smell
of smoke wafted over the Crestwood Shopping Plaza,
where Eleanor Kositch, 75, was looking for a newspaper to find out more information about where exactly
the fire was located.
I was going to call the police and ask if the fire de-

James Hauenstein was in Toms River a

few weeks back when a substitute
teacher stopped him and offered congratulations on his new gig as president
of Mater Dei Prep.
Her eyes filled with tears, he recounted, and she said, I went to Mater
Dei Prep, and I am so excited about
what is occurring up there.
Shes not alone. On Tuesday, seven months after
getting served a death notice, Mater Dei reopened
under new management. The Middletown institution
was saved from the burgeoning Catholic-school
graveyard by passion, creativity and a whole lot of
money.
The way this whole thing has played out, I feel
like weve lived through a miracle, said Dorothea
Laux, mother of two students there.
The Mater Dei Miracle has a nice ring to it. But
the truth is, a common-sense measure made the difference. By separating from St. Mary Parish and
implementing a new governance model led by a board
of directors, Mater Dei sets an example that others
would be wise to watch.
Running a school is running a business, said

See WILDFIRE, Page 9A

See CARINO, Page 9A

KY. CLERK WHO FOUGHT GAY MARRIAGES IS FREED FROM JAIL PAGE 1B

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