Currently I’m a reporter for the New Jersey Local News Service, an operation owned by Advance Publications. We provide stories, pictures and video to the Newark Star Ledger and NJ.com.

Before that, I was an intern at Inc., writing stories, twittering and creating video for Inc.com.

If you follow this link to my Google Reader page, you can see what I’ve worked on, and what I’m up to now.

NJ.com has the unfortunate habit of taking down stories (or so I’m told). Because of this, you can find a selection of my favorite work from the Star Ledger for posterity on this page, below this post. Old work from Inc. has been bumped down the Google Reader page, but is still worth checking out if you’re interested in small business-oriented stories and videos.

Photo by Eliot Caroom for the Star Ledger

The Roselle police officer who shot a suspect during a drug raid Wednesday night fired his weapon accidentally after slipping and falling, police told the injured man’s mother.

Andre Doss, 27, of Linden remained hospitalized today after he was shot once in the upper torso during the raid on his father’s masonry business, according to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the case.
Eliot Caroom/For The Star-LedgerSam Doss holds a rag with his son Andre’s blood in the office where he was shot by police Wednesday night. Andre Doss was shot while working at his father’s business in Roselle.

Roselle and Linden police officers were executing a court-authorized narcotics search warrant around 6:30 p.m. on S&D Construction in Roselle, and on Doss. The weapon was discharged shortly after officers executed the warrant, the prosecutor’s office said.

Authorities say Doss was running a drug distribution operation out of the company, at 1173 St. Georges Ave., and that the warrant followed several weeks of police investigation. The business belongs to Doss’ father, Sam Doss, but authorities would not say whether he had any role in the alleged drug operation. The business was closed today, its metal gates rolled down.

The shooting was the second in three days in Union County involving a police officer firing on apparently unarmed suspects. Early Monday morning, Hillside police fired several shots at 25-year-old Fuquan Stribling in his car during a confrontation, striking him seven times, his relatives said. That case is still being investigated, and four Hillside police officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.

In Wednesday night’s shooting, Doss’ mother said a police officer told her the officer slipped and fell during the raid, causing his gun to fire, striking her son. The prosecutor’s office was still investigating why the officer shot Doss, and could not confirm that account. Doss, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, was taken to University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

“He’s having a hard time breathing and talking because his lung was punctured, but he’s basically okay,” Doss’ mother, Rhonda Julius, said today from her home on Middlesex Street, near the construction company.
Father of Andre Doss talks about his son being shot by the police

The officer who fired the single shot is a 19-year veteran of the force, Roselle Police Chief Gerard Orlando said. The officer, whose name was being withheld, was placed on leave and was treated for stress. Orlando would not comment on the specifics of the case, but said in a statement, “I am confident that a thorough and impartial investigation will be conducted by the prosecutor’s office.”

A few police officers were present during the search, but none of the other officers discharged their guns, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Doss’ father, Sam Doss, said he runs a legitimate business and denied any drug operation existed. Sam Doss, who was not there at the time, said his son, who was hobbled by a broken foot when police executed the warrant, was in the office at the time doing bookkeeping work.

“I can’t see why this happened,” Sam Doss said. The police, he added, “walked through the door and shot an unarmed man.” The father, who has been at the location for four years, said police may have been confused because he often lets people in and out to use the bathroom.

Roselle Councilwoman Christine Dansereau, who chairs the public safety committee, said she would convene an emergency meeting with Mayor Garrett Smith and Councilman Yves Francois Aubourg, who is police commissioner, to discuss the issue. Dansereau wants to propose a citizen advisory committee made up of civic and religious leaders, to improve communication between the public and law enforcement.

“I’m extremely disturbed when any kind of incident occurs in public safety that involves our community and the police,” she said. “The key thing is a safer community.”

Doss’ mother said she worries that because her son has an arrest record, the police will blame him for the shooting. Court records show Doss has two criminal convictions, one for drug possession and the other for aggravated assault with a weapon. “Because he has a record, they are going to try to make him a bad guy,” she said today.

Eliot Caroom is a reporter for New Jersey Local News Service. Alexi Friedman is a reporter for The Star-Ledger.

VIDEO: http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2009/04/father_of_andre_doss_talks_abo.html

Eliot Caroom/New Jersey Local News Service. Cyndy Rintzler, vocational coordinator at the Occupational Center of Union County, tells worker Edipo DeSousa that he can start training to work a job in the community Tuesday. DeSousa worked for the ShopRite at the Occupational Center in Roselle for two years.

by Eliot Caroom/For The Star-Ledger
Tuesday April 07, 2009, 6:27 PM

The Occupational Center of Union County in Roselle celebrated its 50th anniversary Tuesday under the shadow of potentially devastating budget cuts. The center, which provides work opportunities to more than 350 disabled people, could lose up to 18 percent of its state funding, according to center President Mark Lasky.

At a party that celebrated the anniversary, state officials congratulated the center on its work and tried to reassure the staff.

“Gov. Corzine’s done everything he can to protect the most vulnerable folks out there,” said Kevin Martone, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Human Services. “You guys are doing crucial work at a crucial time.”

Not all of the center’s workers were comforted.

“What’s been said at the state level is the vulnerable people won’t be affected,” said Art Brand, vice president of professional services for the center. “But we have very vulnerable people.”

The center helps people with a range of mental, physical and developmental disabilities get jobs and keep them. It serves between 350 and 400 people.

Edipo DeSousa is one such person. DeSousa graduated from high school two years ago, but needed help training for a job, according to Cyndy Rintzler, the center’s vocational coordinator. He worked in a ShopRite that operates in the center’s facility and met the objectives required to work outside the center.

On Tuesday, as the center celebrated, DeSousa got word that he will soon get a job in the community, thanks to money from the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. But that opportunity could be fleeting. The division’s funding will be reduced under Corzine’s new budget.

The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, part of the Department of Labor, funds 29 different workplaces for the disabled throughout the state. It allocates about $20 million in direct funds from the state.

“It may be as high as a 10 percent cut,” said Brian Fitzgibbons, the acting director of the division. “We love the people over at OCUC. It’s just that this is not our doing.”

The center normally gets about $1.5 million a year in funds from the division, along with between $1 million and $1.5 million of income from a workshop that does piecemeal packaging, labeling and shrink wrap work for manufacturers.

Even in good times, the center runs a deficit of about $300,000 a year and makes up for it through a capital fund, Walter said. Those funds have shrunk in the last year as well. The center conservatively invested less than 30 percent of its fund in stocks, but the fund’s value still dropped significantly with the stock market.

“You want to adhere to the mission of the center, but if you think about it, if you’re losing $600,000 a year, after a couple years you’re out of business,” Walter said.

The center is already at peak capacity. It started a waiting list last year and is offering partial shifts to workers in an effort to avoid furloughs. One reason for the overcrowding is the dedication of the disabled workers, who rarely retire.

“We have clients who are in their 70s who come to work every day,” said Walter. “They have nowhere else to go.”

by Eliot Caroom/For The Star-Ledger
Wednesday April 01, 2009, 6:06 PM

Across the country Roman Catholic parishes are making do with less. In Rahway, budget cuts and less autonomy for parishes are deeply affecting a traditional faith community.

Parishioners at St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Rahway met with a bishop on Tuesday night and complained about financial and spiritual problems arising from sharing a pastoral administrator with St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, around the corner, less than a quarter-mile away.

Longtime St. Mark’s parishioners targeted the Rev. Dennis Kaelin, who was installed as the pastor for both churches in July, for criticism, accusing him of ignoring their needs and mismanaging their parish.

St. Mark’s parishioners are upset over the firings of two longtime employees and an opaque accounting of their finances, which are now administered along with those of St. Mary’s by Kaelin.

“Our parish is losing its value to the community,” said Pat Smorol of St. Mark’s. “This is not the St. Mark’s we’ve grown to love . . . our proposal tonight to you, Bishop Cruz, is that we break the link with St. Mary’s.”

Bishop Manuel Cruz of the Archdiocese of Newark asked speakers at the standing room-only meeting for seriousness and charity, and said he feared hurt feelings in the community.

“I’m here because I care,” Cruz said. He also added that “we will not discuss finances.”

But before long, money was at the center of the fray. A major issue was the firing of two longtime employees of St. Mark’s who maintained the building, answered the phone, raised money and ran a food pantry.Confusion and anger about the firings consumed much of the meeting. Some of the confusion arose from the shared administration of the two parishes’ finances.

“Why were Darlene Leverne and Barbara Pluciennik relocated from St. Mark’s, a parish that could afford them, and sent to St. Mary’s, where they are in debt?” said Eleanor Polini, a St. Mark’s parishioner. “(Then) you unjustifiably let them go. Two widows with no other job.”

Kaelin said the churches’ finances were separate–but that neither church could afford the employees. According to Kaelin, St. Mark’s owes St. Mary’s money for shared bills, while St. Mary’s carries a debtload of $4 million.

Kaelin said he consulted the archdiocese’s internal auditors, who advised him to cut staff.

“It’s not clear to me that St. Mark’s can afford them,” Kaelin said of the workers. “I’m not going to put St. Mark’s in debt . . . I’m not going to put myself in a position where I’m going to start begging for money at Mass.”

Beyond their concerns over money, St. Mark’s parishioners alleged that Kaelin neglected their spiritual concerns by not showing up for important church functions. Parishioners complained of locked front doors, unanswered calls and fewer religious ceremonies at St. Mark’s. They also blamed those problems on the archdiocese, which gives Kaelin administrative responsibility for both churches.

“How do you maintain two churches, one person?” asked Polini on Wednesday. “I mean could you maintain two households? I think it would be very difficult.”

Polini said that Cruz told her after the meeting the shared administration of the parishes will stay in place.

“Sometimes parishes have growing pains,” said Jim Goodness, director of communications for the Diocese of Newark. “Some of it is financial, but by and large it really is indicative that parishes and different groups of people look at ministry in different ways.”

The archdiocese will not replace Kaelin as the administrator for St. Mark’s, but a dedicated priest for the church is being considered, Goodness said on Wednesday.

“It appears that the people who are still worshipping at the St. Mark’s site are feeling they need someone who can minister to them and their particular needs,” Goodness said. “We’re confident we can provide them with a priest who can meet those.”

Job losses in 2008 were worse than any year since 1945, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Now an industry formed in response to unemployment after World War II is booming again. Outplacement Consultants for laid-off workers-began to help the wave of GI’s returning to the U.S. labor market. Today, outplacement firms are again doing a brisk business, hired by companies to help laid-off employees find new work.

“Whether it’s by number of clients, revenue, anyway you want to measure, (business has) doubled since last year,” said Kate Wendleton, founder and president of the 5 O’Clock Club, a New York-based company whose clients include Blackrock Financial, Ernst & Young and Time Warner. “We’ve been in business since 1986, and this is by far the largest number of people that we’re servicing.”

Wendleton, who uses outplacement consultants rather than staff, estimated she had 80 counselors a year ago, and now has 200, with 30 more in training. Her business offers career coaching to laid-off workers, individually and in small groups. The coaching and support last for a year at a cost ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 paid for by employers.

Outplacement business in the United States was up 57 percent in the last quarter of 2008 compared with a year earlier, according to Insala, an outplacement software company. Insala measures growth by the number of users of its flagship product, EmploymentTalk, which currently has about 240,000 users.

“In the fall, things started to change very rapidly and the career transition part of our business has started to skyrocket,” said Insala CEO Phillip Roark. Insala normally sells between five and eight software systems to large companies every year. Now, Roark said, “We’ve sold that many in the last 60 days.”

Roark said many recruiting firms are venturing into outplacement as their traditional business shrinks.

That doesn’t concern Barbara Barra, executive vice president of Lee Hecht Harrison, which is one of the two biggest outsourcing firms in the world with 243 offices.

“It’s very easy to say, ‘We now do career transitions,’” Barra said of her new competition. Although it’s easy to join the field, Barra said it’s harder to succeed: “There’s not a lot of barrier to entry. There might be barriers to outcome, but not to entry.”

She said Lee Hecht Harrison’s clients are large clients who appreciate the company’s breadth. Often Lee Hecht Harrison will open a career center on-site if a client fires large numbers of employees, like a plant closing.

Businesses have a number of reasons to spend valuable cash on employees walking out the door. The length of a former employees’ job search can determine costs for unemployment insurance. Other motivations include lawsuit prevention and preserving business relationships. Then there’s the morale of the remaining employees.

“The departing employee may join a competitor, and if they are angry at how they were treated, they might not treat information as confidential,” Barra said. “They could badmouth the company. They could be hired by a customer.”

In recent years morale has become more of a motivation, according to Thomas Serleth, the CEO of Power Transitions, a San Francisco-based outplacement company. Power Transitions serves a range of clients, from small non-profits to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Serleth said that when he first entered the business in the 1980’s, companies hired outplacement help mostly to avoid lawsuits from disgruntled ex-employees. That has changed.

“It’s kind of a message to the people that remain behind,” Serleth said. “Especially the repeat customers, they’re worried they’re going to go through it again …morale is probably as big a reason as any.”

On a chilly January morning in New York, Wendleton pitched the worker relations angle to several hundred HR managers at a breakfast seminar. “You’ll never hear a [5 O'Clock Club] job-hunter say ‘This is what my employer did to me,’” Wendleton said. “We’re focused on the future.”

But Wendleton’s company doesn’t aim to brainwash the laid-off. She just doesn’t want negativity in group sessions. Her larger point: “When people do need to vent, they’re allowed to vent to their private coaches.”

Some job-seekers will have plenty to vent about. Job hunting is more difficult for workers whose industry is declining with no end in sight.

But mass layoffs are a situation that Wendleton’s 5 O’Clock Club has seen before.

“When PanAm folded, the question was, ‘What will all these stewardesses do?’” Wendleton said. “When Newsday had to let off hundreds of journalists, each person had to decide what’s right for them.”

Wendelton’s program asks laid-off workers to think about what position they’d like to work towards 15 years in the future. Fifty-eight percent of those in the program change careers — and that statistic is from before the current crisis.

“These Wall-Streeters, maybe they can go into the surburban markets, but that’s only going to work for a fraction of those people,” Wendleton said. “Instead they’re going to have to say, ‘What is it I wanted to be in high school?’”

No one wants to be laid off, but career changes can be positive, according to Ken Goldstein, Labor Economist for the Conference Board. He made that point at Wendleton’s HR seminar by reciting a laundry list of extinct jobs from an old copy of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, a government publication.

“Half the jobs in it didn’t exist twenty years ago,” Goldstein said. “Half of them in it in 2020 and 2030 won’t be there now.”

Goldstein believes that despite the current tough times, jobs are getting better and will continue to do so. As time goes by, he said, “You get a few people less doing something they hate, but you’ll also get a few more people doing something they like.”

So what does a labor economist pick as the winning fields to look into? Outplacement is certainly one:

“I would think three people are doing booming business right now, Goldstein said. “The repo man, outplacement, and duct tape-because nobody’s throwing anything out.”

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