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We read the JJ so you don’t have to:

The Journal is again pretty light on substance today, with a lot of crime and fire reporting. Here are the exceptions:

- The front page story is a crime story with a ridiculous headline — “FUMES, THEN FURY.” A still-undetermined “airborne chemical irritant” detected yesterday at Snyder High School reportedly sickened nine people, and sent four folks to the hospital. A fire department official tells the JJ the irritant was “possibly pepper spray.” The school had to be evacuated, and then students were sent back to school to finish out the day. Apparently, after school then let out, there was, in the always-wise words of the JJ, “disorder at dismissal.” City spokesman Stan Eason tells the Journal that four juveniles were arrested on charges including resisting arrest, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, and aggravated assault on a police officer.

Now, we certainly weren’t there to see what went down. But from the JJ’s writeup, it seems like the arrests *might* be unwarranted.

After school let out, “officers urged students to clear the area,” and apparently some of the kids “shouted” and “screamed” at the cops. So, of course, “one officer used his forearm to pin a student against the iron fence in front of the school.” And: “Another officer flung a student to the ground.” We don’t absolve the students of responsibility here, but it does sound a wee bit like your typical heat-of-the-moment cop overreaction.

- State legislation backed by Joan Quigley and L. Harvey Smith to charge landlords for bedbug exterminations passed the Assembly Housing and Local Gov’t Committee yesterday. JC adopted a similar law in September — the state law, if passed, would make the city statute moot.

- A new report from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign shows that, not surprisingly, the portion of seniors making up pedestrians killed by autos is higher than that group’s representation in the general population.

- The Star-Ledger reports that blind JC artist Bojana Coklyat has an ornament on the White House Xmas tree this year

In statewide news:

- A new pilot program aims to help veterans who run into trouble with the law

- The Republican mayor of Franklin, Brian D. Levine, inches closer to a run for governor

- Corzine’s plan to let local governments skip more than $500 million in pension payments next year to head off a feared surge in property taxes cleared the Senate budget committee yesterday

- The Port Authority plans on spending more — especially on infrastructure — to “help the economy”