essexcountypolitics

Hundreds march at Newark airport for higher wages

Posted by · January 16, 2018 3:37 AM

Posted Jan 15, 2018

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker joins hundreds of airport workers as they march at Newark Liberty International Airport to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther Kingâ��s legacy and echo his call for justice and equality for all workers.

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Hundreds of Newark airport workers joined union leaders and federal, state and local elected officials Monday for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march and rally to demand higher wages.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, former mayor and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the state Assembly's new speaker, Craig Coughlin, and others addressed more than 600 aircraft cabin cleaners, custodians and others who had gathered inside Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport, after marching through Terminal B, then outside along the airport road on the frigid but sunny federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.

Officials noted that King was pressing for economic equality when he was assassinated in April 1968 while in Memphis to support sanitation workers seeking higher wages.

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Black Caucus Sees Murphy as Ally but Says ‘Not So Fast’ to Legalizing Marijuana

Posted by · January 16, 2018 3:22 AM

John Reitmeyer | January 16, 2018

NJ Spotlight

Sen. Ron Rice (D-Essex), chairman of the state Legislature's black caucus

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With Phil Murphy taking office today, members of the legislative black caucus are confident they have an ally in the governor’s office — as opposed to the previous administration. But they say they are in not complete lockstep with the new governor, and want him to carefully consider some of his policy initiatives.

Murphy campaigned on issues like increasing the minimum wage and addressing employment gaps and he is also a former national NAACP board member who picked someone directly from the black caucus, former state Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, to serve as his lieutenant governor.

The Murphy-Oliver ticket also prevailed in November with more than 90 percent of the state’s African-American vote, said Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), the chair of the black caucus.

“We think we have a vested interest in him succeeding,” Rice said in an interview with NJ Spotlight.

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Who is responsible for cleaning up N.J.'s toxic sites? A toxic banker | Editorial

Posted by · January 13, 2018 4:01 AM

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

eletters@starledger.com

Posted Jan 12, 2018

There are roughly 114 Superfund sites in New Jersey, and the Trump Administration official tasked with overseeing the remediation of these toxic areas - along with a $3.3 billion account used to fund the cleanup - is a corrupt former banker who was banned from banking by the FDIC.

If you're still confused about how this All The Best People campaign is supposed to work, join the club.

Even for Scott Pruitt, the chief vandal at the EPA, it was an extraordinary act of arrogance to appoint his personal banker, Albert Kelly, as Special Advisor in charge of Superfund. Just five months ago, the FDIC fined Kelly $125,000 and banned him from going anywhere near other people's money - including the community bank his family has operated since the 1930s.

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Christie signs bipartisan bill to draw Amazon’s HQ2 to Newark

Posted by · January 12, 2018 3:01 AM

By ELANA KNOPP

January 11, 2018

TAPintoNEWARK

Governor Chris Christie signed bipartisan legislation Thursday authorizing billions of dollars in state tax incentives to draw Amazon’s second headquarters to Newark.

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Newark, NJ – Governor Chris Christie signed bipartisan legislation Thursday authorizing billions of dollars in state tax incentives to draw Amazon’s second headquarters to Newark.

Amazon's move to Newark could bring up to 50,000 new jobs to the region.

The city was selected by Christie in October as the state’s endorsed recommendation to be the Seattle-based retail giant’s next corporate headquarters, or HQ2.

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Working on Plan B If Feds Leave NJ-NY in Lurch Over Trans-Hudson Funding

Posted by · January 12, 2018 2:57 AM

John Reitmeyer | January 12, 2018

NJ Spotlight

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump promised in his inaugural address to renew “tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation,” concerns are running high in New Jersey that the federal government will back out of its commitment to help fund a new trans-Hudson rail tunnel.

That uncertainty, fueled in part by recent negative statements made by the Trump administration about the long-planned Gateway infrastructure project, is leading some officials to start sketching out a “Plan B” in the event the federal dollars for a new tunnel never materialize, or at least continue to be delayed.

One of those officials is state Sen. Robert Gordon, a Democrat from Bergen County who was recently picked to lead the Senate Transportation Committee. Gordon envisions using a three-pronged approach to increase trans-Hudson capacity in the short term: taking advantage of an expanded Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, completing a planned extension of the bistate agency’s PATH service to Newark Liberty Airport, and possible public subsidies that could be used to improve and increase ferry service between New Jersey and New York.

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N.J. and towns could be slammed by Christie pension move, Trump tax law and more

Posted by · January 11, 2018 2:40 AM

By Samantha Marcus

smarcus@njadvancemedia.com,

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Posted Jan 10, 2018

Looks like 2018 is going to be a tough year for New Jersey's state and local governments.

A Wall Street agency said Wednesday that New Jersey and its local governments will be fighting pressures on multiple fronts as they grapple with the expiration of a key property tax control, a changing federal tax landscape and rising pension bills.

S&P Global Ratings warned that these three developments, which emerged as Gov.-elect Phil Murphy prepares to take office, risk "potentially straining both state and local budgets."

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Chaneyfield Jenkins launches bid to unseat Baraka

Posted by · January 10, 2018 2:43 AM

By MARK J. BONAMO

January 9, 2018

TAPintoNEWARK

Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins takes out petitions to run for mayor today, launching her bid to unseat Mayor Ras Baraka.

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Newark Central Ward Councilman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins began her campaign today to become the first female mayor of New Jersey's largest city, attacking the record and character of Mayor Ras Baraka. Chaneyfield Jenkins also framed her run within the struggle of women in Newark and across America to assert themselves as part the growing movement against sexual assault and harassment.

"I've never seen myself as just a Central Ward councilwoman. Every vote I cast impacts every ward of the city. I'll putting it all out there on the table. It's about the city, and we can do better," said Chaneyfield Jenkins, 58, after she picked up the petitions at the city clerk's office needed to be filled out to enter the May 2018 municipal election as a mayoral candidate."You have to be willing to challenge the system, especially when you know it's broken."

Baraka had previously announced his re-election on the steps of City Hall in June, surrounded by the eight other council members as well as a contingent of political supporters, including Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Phil Murphy, who will be sworn in as governor next week.

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Boastful and Unabashed, Christie Gives Final State of the State Address

Posted by · January 10, 2018 2:35 AM

By NICK CORASANITI

THE NEW YORK TIMES

JAN. 9, 2018

After eight years as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie delivered his final State of the State address on Tuesday.

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TRENTON — In a speech that was boastful and reminiscent, Gov. Chris Christie delivered his final State of the State address on Tuesday, capping a tumultuous eight-year tenure as the Republican governor of New Jersey marked by soaring highs, brought by reforms and a tough-talking style, and historic lows, from scandal and a failed presidential bid.

In a nearly 90-minute address, the governor, who has the lowest approval rating in New Jersey’s history, spun a rosy tale of a state he rescued from financial travails, citing a tally of accomplishments seemingly at odds with his constituents’ current view of him.

“Today, I want us to take a breath,” Mr. Christie said as he began, still basking from the nearly four-minute standing ovation he received as he entered the floor of the State House. “We need to remember where we were nine years ago: on the brink of financial ruin as a state.”

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New Jersey Lifts Prison Book Ban After A.C.L.U. Calls It Unconstitutional

Posted by · January 09, 2018 2:52 AM

By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH and BENJAMIN MUELLER

THE NEW YORK TIMES

JAN. 8, 2018

“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander galvanized prison reform activists.

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New Jersey said it had lifted the ban on a best-selling book about mass incarceration after the American Civil Liberties Union called for an immediate end to what it said was an “ironic, misguided, and harmful” instance of censorship.

The state’s decision to reverse a prohibition on “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander, at the two prisons came hours after the A.C.L.U. of New Jersey on Monday sent a letter to the state’s corrections commissioner, Gary M. Lanigan.

The letter argued that the book’s presence on a list of banned texts at New Jersey State Prison and Southern State Correctional Facility violated the First Amendment and the department’s own regulations.

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Essex County College reports favorable financial audit as major milestone

Posted by · January 09, 2018 2:45 AM

By ELANA KNOPP

January 8, 2018

TAPintoNEWARK

Essex County College is reporting a favorable annual financial audit and says the report is a step in the right direction to remove itself from probation instituted by the Middle States Commission.

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Newark, NJ – Essex County College is reporting a clean bill of health on its annual financial audit.

The audit, completed last month by certified public accounting and auditing firm PKF O’Connor Davies, found no material weaknesses in the college’s internal controls and found ECC to be in compliance with all federal and state sponsored programs. In addition, the college says that all material weaknesses found in the 2016 audit have been corrected.

Although the audit does not affect accreditation, the college hopes that the clean audit finding will contribute to demonstrating compliance with accreditation, according to a college spokesperson.

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