OPINION: The Abuse of Cancel Culture. Cancel Culture is the hot political buzzword being thrown around way too carelessly in the last year. And it is hurting the real cases where debate that is needed on important issues is being stifled. So to the Cancel Culture crowd we say this: Because your concerns were not addressed does not mean they were not heard; it means you have failed to persuade enough people to agree with you. Leave your echo chamber and work harder to win over people with your arguments. North-JerseyNews.com
The second of two big expansions this month of COVID-19 vaccine eligibility in New Jersey begins March 29. The new cohort who can schedule a shot in New Jersey include food production, agriculture, and food distribution; eldercare and support; warehousing and logistics; social services support staff; elections personnel; hospitality; medical supply chain; postal and shipping services; clergy; and judicial system. NJ1015.com
New Jersey residents 55 and older and those 16 and older with intellectual and developmental disabilities are among the next group eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 5. The latest group of people includes higher education teachers and staffers, communication support workers, sanitation workers and members of the media. The expansion makes Gov. Phil Murphy eligible for the vaccine. New Jersey Herald
State officials cautioned families gathering for Spring religious holidays in the Garden State to be mindful of tuning the celebrations into a coronavirus superspreader event. “Please be particularly careful as you celebrate the couple of big religious holidays coming up,” said Gov. Phil Murphy at a press briefing March 24. The governor acknowledged that New Jerseyans are fighting pandemic fatigue but need to continue to follow the health protocols still in effect—social distancing, wearing a face mask, repeated washing of hands—even as the number of residents being vaccinated continues to rise. He said following those health protocols will help limit the spread of coronavirus variants as well. North-JerseyNews.com
New Jersey and New York are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection. The number of people getting infected in New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. News12 New Jersey
Plans for resuming in-person classes at Paterson schools have become entangled in a dispute between the teachers’ union and the superintendent over the timing of health and safety inspections of the buildings. Paterson Education Association President John McEntee Jr. said the union will oppose any reopening plan until its representatives are allowed to inspect school buildings to make sure sufficient measures have been taken to keep employees and students safe, expressing particular concern about classroom windows in the district’s aged, non-air-conditioned school buildings. The Record
A federally run pilot vaccination center in Newark is set to open March 29 that will eventually be able to vaccinate 6,000 people a day, seven days a week. The site at Naimoli Family Athletic and Recreational Facility at the New Jersey Institute of Technology will aim to get shots to residents in vulnerable communities. NJ.com
As the George Floyd trial gets set to begin this week, Sen. Cory Booker believes after discussions with his fellow Senators about the recent passage of police reforms named after Floyd in the House can form a basis for legislation in the chamber he serves. Provisions in the in the bill include banning ban all chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases; end racial, religious and discriminatory profiling; limit the transfer of military grade equipment to state and local police; establish a National Police Misconduct Registry; require data collection, including mandatory body cameras and dashboard cameras; establish new standards for policing and the Public Safety Innovation grants for community-based organizations to help reimagine policing in their communities; and making lynching a federal hate crime. North-JerseyNews.com
A bill barring police officers from loitering within 100 feet of a polling place or ballot drop box stalled in the State Senate after passing the Assembly. The proposed law is a bid to prevent the resurgence of actions undertaken by the National Ballot Security Task Force, a group of off-duty police and sheriff’s officers who intimidated voters, largely non-white ones, away from the polls in 1981 at the behest of the Republican National Committee. The Ballot Security Task Force, after a lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee, led to a consent decree barring similar deployments, but that lapsed in 2018. New Jersey Globe
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal reached a first-in-the-nation settlement with a “ghost gun” company that bars untraceable weapons being sold into the Garden State. New Jersey had sued James Tromblee, d.b.a. U.S. Patriot Armory, for selling ghost guns, which are partially assembled firearms sold with needed parts to create an operational gun, into the state. U.S. Patriot Army agreed to pay $70,000 to resolve the lawsuit, among other relief. Additionally, the company would stop advertising and shipping ghost guns into New Jersey. North-JerseyNews.com
Police must notify parents if their child is caught with alcohol or marijuana under a law signed March 26 that reverses a reform made in February. Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill into law, a day after both the State Senate and Assembly unanimously voted to pass the “cleanup” bill (S3565). It changes the underage alcohol and weed use warning law that passed swiftly as a compromise to get legal weed done in February. The Daily Record
The State Legislature approved legislation allowing New Jersey municipalities to create an incentive program that encourages property owners to patronize local businesses with discounted property taxes. Passed unanimously by the State Senate and Assembly, municipalities would be able to offer a reward card that shoppers use when making purchases at local participating shops, with a percentage of the sale going to lower the shopper’s property tax bill. Out-of-town shoppers could receive their reward as a rebate check. NJ.com
Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne and the state Department of Environmental Protection are have formed a coalition to work with to find and implement flood risk reduction strategies for the northeast region of the state. The Resilient Northeastern New Jersey initiative is seeking input, information, and recommendations from residents, workers, businesses, and organizations regarding their own experiences with flooding and storm events, that will work to address flooding from coastal storms, high tides, heavy precipitation, and overflowing riverbanks. The Jersey Journal
And finally…Sea levels are rising at the fastest rate in 2,000 years, and the quickest in the Garden State. NJ.com
