By NICK CORASANITI

THE NEW YORK TIMES

JAN. 31, 2018

Senator Robert Menendez leaving the federal courthouse in Newark last year. The Department of Justice moved on Wednesday to dismiss the remaining charges against Mr. Menendez.

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The Department of Justice on Wednesday dismissed all the remaining charges against Senator Robert Menendez, a decision that underscores how a 2016 Supreme Court ruling has significantly raised the bar for prosecutors who try to pursue corruption cases against elected officials.

The motion to dismiss comes less than two weeks after prosecutors said they were intent on retrying Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and it allows him to run for re-election without having to face a second trial.

The Justice Department on Wednesday cited last week’s decision by Judge William H. Walls to throw out several charges the senator had faced, including bribery counts stemming from accusations that Mr. Menendez lobbied on behalf of a wealthy Florida eye doctor in exchange for political donations. All charges against the doctor, Salomon Melgen, were also dismissed.

By NICK CORASANITI

THE NEW YORK TIMES

JAN. 30, 2018

Kevin Corbett, a top executive at a global construction and engineering firm, is set to be the executive director of New Jersey Transit.

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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Kevin Corbett is about to step into what may be the hardest job in New Jersey.

On Tuesday, Mr. Corbett, a top executive at Aecom, a global construction and engineering firm, was introduced by Gov. Philip D. Murphy as the next executive director of New Jersey Transit, whose cascade of problems and rampant delays has turned a once model transportation agency into one of the worst commuter railroads in the country.

“It’s a phenomenal challenge, but it’s one that is solvable,” Mr. Corbett, 62, said in an interview. “There was a lot of stuff that was done right early on — without getting into why it deteriorated — clearly where it is now, the ability to bring it back is there. It’s leadership.”

By NICK CORASANITI and SHANE GOLDMACHER

THE NEW YORK TIMES

JAN. 29, 2018

United States Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican who is chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election in November.

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United States Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a Republican from New Jersey who is chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, delivered another blow to Republican efforts to hold onto the House in 2018 on Monday after he announced that he would not seek re-election.

With Mr. Frelinghuysen’s decision to retire at the end of his term, which party leaders for months had feared was a possibility, he became the latest prominent Republican to head for the exits this year ahead of what party strategists worry could be a brutal fall election. Among those are eight who lead some of the House’s most powerful committees.

Mr. Frelinghuysen, 71, did not give a specific reason for not running, but he was likely to face the stiffest challenge in his nearly quarter-century occupying his northern New Jersey seat and his departure gives the Democratic Party a better chance of winning the seat this fall.

JOHN MOONEY | JANUARY 29, 2018

NJ Spotlight

Lamont Repollet

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A new governor's transition reports probably should be taken with a grain of salt, more about broad approaches than detailed policy blueprints for the administration to come.

But when it comes to education, Gov. Phil Murphy's release of his transition committee's report on Friday did signal some early directions - and changes of direction - about what could be one of the high-profile issues of his tenure.

For example, the 11-page report played up Murphy's campaign promise to fully fund the state's school finance law, but also tempered expectations that this would happen overnight.

JOHN REITMEYER | JANUARY 29, 2018

NJ Spotlight

Governor Phil Murphy

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Within a matter of weeks, New Jersey and at least two neighboring states may be going to court to officially challenge the federal tax-code overhaul that was recently enacted by President Donald Trump. At the heart of the case that's now being organized is a new policy that caps a longstanding federal write-off for state and local taxes.

The formation of the multistate legal coalition was announced on Friday by Gov. Phil Murphy, along with Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The trio of Democrats are alleging the tax changes that were signed into law late last year are effectively targeting only "blue" or Democratic-leaning states that didn't support Trump in the 2016 president election.

The lawsuit would specifically challenge the tax changes on constitutional grounds in federal court, arguing they violate the equal-protection clause and other provisions. A total of 12 high-tax states are being hit the hardest by the new tax-deduction cap, and the governors said they're now encouraging their colleagues in those other places to join the coalition.

COLLEEN O'DEA | JANUARY 25, 2018

NJ Spotlight

Gov. Murphy looks on as Attorney General Gurbir Grewal swears in Parthiv Patel, the first Dreamer to become a lawyer in NJ. His wife Sarika Patel is assisting.

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New Jersey plans to help an estimated 22,000 young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” by creating a state office to assist them and by joining a multistate lawsuit opposing the Trump administration’s decision to deport them. These young people, who were brought to the United States as children, could be forced to leave in as few as six weeks, if the Republican administration ends the policy currently protecting them.

Gov. Phil Murphy discussed his administration’s tactic during a Trenton event at which he also introduced a man who is New Jersey’s first Dreamer to become a lawyer, a 27-year-old brought to the United States by his parents from India 22 years ago. Attorney General Gurbir Grewal administered the oath of the New Jersey Bar to Parthiv Patel in front of a crowd of family, supporters and the press.

At the same time, Grewal said New Jersey will do everything in its power to support those covered by DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that President Barack Obama put in place in 2012. An important part of that, he said — and numerous immigrant rights groups, state legislators, and others agreed — is joining the lawsuit. The suit was filed by New York and 14 other states and the District of Columbia last September seeking to stop Trump from ending DACA on March 5. It contends that “rescinding DACA will cause harm to hundreds of thousands of the States’ residents, injure State-run colleges and universities, upset the States’ workplaces, damage the States’ economies, hurt State-based companies, and disrupt the States’ statutory and regulatory interests.” New Jersey’s joining the suit is “long overdue,” Murphy said.

January 23, 2018

TAPintoNEWARK

Gov. Phil Murphy, following his inauguration last week, ​ticked off a list of lofty goals and​ progressive​ proposals for the state.

Yet allies and opponents have shown skepticism, or at least questioned, his vision for New Jersey

Rutgers President Robert Barchi made himself no exception, during ​a start-of-the-semester kick-off address at the Rutgers University Senate on Friday afternoon.