Town Hall

Hours after being questioned on national television - again - about whether he'd like to serve as America's vice president, Gov. Christie found himself at a mall in Voorhees fielding questions about a distinctly parochial issue: a controversial charter school in Cherry Hill. Christie launched a series of town-hall meetings Wednesday, hoping to sell an income-tax cut and other ideas he addressed in his State of the State speech the day before. Instead, he was met with parents worried that the charter school would siphon money from their local public schools.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Pastor Max Darbouze, a U.S. citizen born in Haiti and now a pastor at Grace of God Church amid the three-story working-class apartments on the east side of New Hampshire's largest city, showed up an hour early for the Newt Gingrich town hall yesterday because he wanted to learn one thing. It was a rough Christmas at Darbouze's church, with more toys doled out to poverty-stricken families than ever before, and even nonmembers walking in off the street begging for cash donations.

Pennsylvania State University president Rodney Erickson will meet with alumni in town hall-style meetings in King of Prussia, Pittsburgh, and New York City next week to discuss the child-sex-abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The first session is set for Wednesday night at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Pittsburgh. Erickson will lead a second session next Thursday at the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge on First Avenue in King of Prussia.

SPOTSWOOD, N.J. - A 12-year-old tells Gov. Christie he was unfairly busted at school for bullying because the "Jewish community" controls the school board. A woman who says she's the victim of a conspiracy asks the governor for a job. And a retired teacher, who says she is a former teacher of the year, advises him not to change the tenure system or else teachers will have to have sex with their bosses to keep their jobs. To which Christie responded, straight-faced: "I don't want teachers to have to sleep with the principal.

3.6 pct. rise for Social Security WASHINGTON - Social Security benefits will go up by 3.6 percent next year, the first increase since 2009 for the one in five Americans who rely on government retirement and disability programs. The higher benefits will provide relief to more than 60 million people, many of whom have seen their retirement accounts dwindle, home values drop, and out-of-pocket medical costs rise since their last raise. Starting in January, 55 million Social Security recipients will get increases averaging $39 a month, or just over $467 for the year.

Republican mayoral candidate Karen Brown is crying foul over a half-hour television appearance by Mayor Nutter scheduled for Tuesday night on NBC10. The mayor's office and the television station, now owned by Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp., are billing the event as a "live town hall. " The mayor will answer questions from a live studio audience and respond to submissions via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail from 7 to 7:30 p.m. He'll continue taking questions until 8, with the exchanges to be streamed live on the Internet at www.nbcphiladelphia.com . Brown, who has a steep hill to climb to beat the Democratic incumbent in a city dominated by his party, said she had called NBC10's Kathleen Burke, listed as a media contact for the event.

Medford's former police chief and town manager dropped simple assault charges this week against a councilwoman he had accused of poking his chest. Stephen Addezio could not be reached for comment after he dismissed the charges against former Councilwoman Victoria Fay in Burlington Township's municipal court. The case was heard there to avoid a conflict of interest in Medford. "I'm very, very excited, since I can close that chapter of the book in my life," Fay said Wednesday night.

JIM THORPE, Pa. - They had to leave the protest signs outside. As about 250 people settled into their chairs for a town hall meeting last week with Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), a staffer laid down the law: No cursing. No noisemakers. No chanting. Please respect others' rights. For good measure, five uniformed state troopers patrolled the edges of the oak-floored auditorium at Penn's Peak resort. As controlled as the situation was, at least Toomey was putting himself in position to take guff.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had his fireside chats. For Karen Brown, the Republican candidate for mayor, it will be Tuesday Talk With Karen. Beginning Tuesday at noon, Brown plans to give weekly talks on selected subjects, roughly 30 minutes of give-and-take in front of Frank Rizzo's statue at the Municipal Services Building, across from City Hall. Her first topic this week: the Philadelphia School District. Next week, she plans to address the Police Department's stop-and-frisk program.