Family of NJ Woman Doesn't Blame Traffic for Her Death

It's not hard to find Christie-is-doomed stories today in the wake of his traffic scandal, but the New York Times reports some good news for the New Jersey governor: The family of a 91-year-old woman who died the morning of the gridlock isn't blaming slow ambulances for her death. "I honestly believe it was just her time," says Vilma Oleri of mom Florence Genova. "We want to stay out of it. It's not political." Her husband adds that the "traffic didn't make any difference." That seems to contradict the view of Fort Lee EMS chief Paul Favia, who wrote a letter to the mayor complaining that the traffic jam caused "unnecessary delays" for emergency crews and cited the Genova case in particular. Among other things, paramedics unable to get to her house had to meet her ambulance en route to the hospital instead of at the scene. The family, though, isn't going to make an issue of it.

As for all those Christie-is-doomed stories, take them with a heavy dose of skepticism, writes David Graham at the Atlantic. "Perhaps this will be the end of Christie's career, but it's hard to see how anyone can tell at this point, and there are several reasonable, and equally speculative, reasons this may blow over," he writes. He sums up the bridge controversy in the eyes of non-locals thusly: "He closed down a few but not all lanes of a bridge that (is) managed by a bi-state agency? Huh?" And, sure, Christie is a bully, but everyone already knew that, adds Graham. "Most important of all, there are almost exactly two years until the Iowa caucuses." (More Chris Christie stories.)