As hospitalizations in New Jersey dropped below 1,000 for the first time in 45 days, state officials expressed confidence that new COVID-19 cases were beginning to trend down and hospitals would be able to handle an expected increase in the coming months. “I can say with the decreasing hospitalizations and steadying of the cases, the predictive modeling we’ve just done is far different than it was even three weeks ago,” said Health Commission Judith Persichilli, who stressed that the uptick forecast for between Thanksgiving and Christmas will be “within a range that can be handled very well by our hospitals.” North-JerseyNews.com
Pfizer asked federal regulators on Oct. 7 to authorize emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the United States. The companies say they are submitting data supporting the change to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has promised to move quickly on the request and has tentatively scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to consider it with a ruling expected as early as the end of this month. The New York Times
Two Morris/Sussex high school football games have been canceled this weekend due to COVID-19 related issues. Morris Catholic will not be visiting Hudson Catholic on Oct. 9, because athletic director/football coach John Hack has COVID, while the High Point-Lenape Valley game scheduled for Oct. 8 was canceled after High Point paused football activities until Oct. 10 “out of an abundance of caution.” The High Point district announced four confirmed and one presumed positive COVID cases earlier this week. New Jersey Herald
Schools in New Jersey’s poorest districts would be prioritized for new construction using federal COVID-19 relief funds, said Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor during a recent virtual meeting with the USA TODAY Network Atlantic Group’s editorial board. Noting that Gov. Phil Murphy has yet to spend several billion dollars in American Rescue Plan money, Ciattarelli said his “number one priority” with those funds “would be getting caught up in all that Schools Development Authority work….That’s the first place we should go with all those billions. So we have a golden opportunity here to address the issue.” The Daily Record
The state Department of Environmental Protection criticized North Bergen’s pre-application to keep its pre-K school trailers inside a county park in a review released this week. In a six-page “completeness review,” dated Oct. 5, DEP officials said the township’s pre-application was missing key components and documentation to move forward and questioned how little analysis North Bergen did toward identifying alternate sites for the pre-K. The Jersey Journal
The issue of teaching about racism and White privilege has been an issue receiving the spotlight in the New Jersey governor’s race. Moderators in the debate between Gov. Phil Murphy and GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli, along with their respective running mates Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and Diane Allen, have queried the candidates on the subjects. “There is systemic racism, but I don’t think we should be teaching our children that White people perpetuate systemic racism,” said Ciattarelli in his response to criticisms of critical race theory. Gov. Phil Murphy, who signed a law incorporating instruction on diversity and inclusion into the K-12 curriculum during his first term, stated “I believe with all my heart we need to teach our kids the whole truth, nothing but the truth…about slavery, oppression, racism in our country’s history.” North-JerseyNews.com
Congressional Republicans are objecting to a move by the Justice Department to investigate violent threats made against local school board members and teachers, arguing that the federal agency is policing speech of concerned parents. “Violence and true threats of violence should have no place in our civic discourse, but parents should absolutely be involved in public debates over what and how our public schools teach their children, even if those discussions get heated,” according to a letter led by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. “We urge you to instruct the FBI and the various United States Attorneys to make clear in the meetings discussed above that speech and democratic processes, like those that occur at a local school board meeting, must be respected.” New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey and three neighboring states have forged an agreement to share data about firearms used in crimes, in an effort to curb illegal gun trafficking and reduce shootings. Gov. Phil Murphy joined Govs. Kathy Hochul of New York, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, and Ned Lamont of Connecticut in signing a new agreement for law enforcement agencies in the four states to share data to investigate gun crimes, as well as discover and arrest straw purchasers, suspect dealers, and firearm traffickers. Murphy said this new pact expands upon the States for Gun Safety Coalition, a group he and other neighboring governors formed in 2018 to share information to help prevent people who pose a risk to their community from buying a gun across state lines. NJ.com
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Montclair and Newark Oct. 8 to discuss childcare, a key part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill being negotiated in Congress. The proposal would provide free pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, increase salaries for childcare workers and lower costs of childcare. The Vice President is expected to campaign for New Jerseyans to take the COVID-19 vaccine as well. News12 New Jersey
The U.S. Senate voted along party lines Oct. 7 to raise the U.S. borrowing limit into December, after Democrats struck a short-term agreement with Republican leaders that averted a looming default. The legislation, based on a proposal made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and accepted by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), will raise the nation’s borrowing limit by $480 billion, the amount the Treasury Department says is needed to meet the country’s cash needs until Dec. 3. The key moment came after 11 Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in a vote to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold and proceed to final passage of the measure, which cleared the Senate 50 to 48, with two Republican absences. The Wall Street Journal
Reps. Bill Pascrell and Josh Gottheimer were among the first to testify against the Manhattan congestion pricing plan during recently held MTA virtual hearings. The two North Jersey lawmakers argued the plan to charge commuters entering Manhattan between 60th street and the Battery from the George Washington Bridge would be an additional fee for residents of their districts beyond the toll they already pay. “Unlike the shared Port Authority resources from the tolls, which help both our states, every nickel of this new congestion tax will go solely to the MTA. Not a cent will be shared with the PATH or NJ Transit to help Jersey. That’s unacceptable,” Gottheimer said. North-JerseyNews.com
Philip Carchman, a former state appellate court judge, was chosen as the 11th tiebreaking member of the state’s Legislative Apportionment Commission. Carchman, 79, was not among the 11 candidates submitted by Democrats and Republicans in August. Because the two parties could not agree on a final member, they asked Chief Justice Stuart Rabner to appoint an independent member to the commission instead. The commission is tasked with redrawing the state’s legislative district lines following the 2020 U.S. Census. Some districts, particularly in urban North Jersey, will have to shrink to maintain an ideal population, while others in South Jersey and elsewhere will have to grow. New Jersey Globe
A Superior Court judge got it wrong earlier this year when she threw out a high-profile bribery case against a former Bayonne mayoral candidate in what had been one of the state’s biggest corruption operations in years, prosecutors said. In a filing before the Appellate Division, the state Attorney General’s office sought to reverse the ruling of Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez, who dismissed a criminal indictment against Jason O’Donnell in June because she ruled he had committed no crime under the state’s corruption statutes due to not having any influence to offer because he was not a public official when he was ensnared in the sting operation. O’Donnell had been charged in connection with allegations that he took a cash payoff from a Morristown attorney in exchange for promises of lucrative tax and real estate work if he won his election. NJ.com
Paterson has received $750,000 in state grants to provide the balance of the funding needed for the city’s new Vista Park, a property off Jasper Street that sits a couple of hundred yards from Hinchliffe Stadium and the Great Falls National Park. City officials are weighing three similar options for the park, all of which would include a concession building with bathrooms, walking paths and a playground, with construction starting at the earliest next Summer. The Record
And finally…The New York Jets travel to London this weekend to take on the Atlanta Falcons. NJ.com
Threats of violence against educators, politicians, anybody actually, are not civil discourse. Period. There are legal means to pursue one’s ends in the public forum or by negotiation. There is no excuse for excusing violence as a resolution to a dispute. Grassley’s statement effectively condones bullying. Shame on him.
I also support Reps. Pascrell and Gottheimer in opposing New York City’s onerous congestion pricing scheme. I see it as an extra tax for New Jersey and all the suburbs that ring the city. Also, for personal health reasons, I have to add a car to the traffic every few weeks, and according to reports I have read, congestion pricing would effectively double my toll getting to my appointments. I would prefer to be able to take public transportation, but the service and speed I need aren’t available.