Assemblyman Kevin Rooney (R-40) is taking a stand against the Biden Administration’s recent vaccinate-or-test mandate, saying it is a “control issue, not a health issue.” In dispute are the new federal rules that all employers with at least 100 workers would be required to ensure workers were vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19. A federal court in Louisiana blocked the law after the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah among others filed suit challenging the vaccinate-or-test mandate. “Gov. (Phil) Murphy’s lockdowns destroyed a third of New Jersey businesses. This Democrat-backed mandate will crush those that remain,” said Rooney. North-JerseyNews.com
A federal judge rejected Donald J. Trump’s bid to keep secret papers about his actions and conversations as President leading up to and during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan held that Congress’s constitutional oversight powers to obtain the information prevailed over former President Trump’s residual secrecy powers—especially because the incumbent, President Joe Biden, agreed that lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 riot should see the files. The judge wrote the former President “does not acknowledge the deference owed to the incumbent president’s judgment. His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity.’ But Presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not President.” The New York Times
A New Jersey gym owner, who is set to be sentenced for punching a police officer in the face during the attack on the U.S. Capitol, has raised over $30,000 in an online fundraiser since his arrest in January. Prosecutors noted the substantial amount of money raised by Scott Fairlamb in their sentencing memo filed last week, arguing the Sussex County man should not be able to “capitalize” off his involvement in the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection. He can be seen on video as one of the first people to enter the Capitol and later punching an officer who was defending the government building. They are seeking for Fairlamb to be sentenced Nov. 10 to 44 months in federal prison, as well as pay $2,000 in restitution and an additional fine. NJ.com
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued subpoenas to 10 former Trump administration officials. The committee is seeking depositions and records from the aides to former President Donald Trump, with deadlines later this month and next month. Former Trump Administration officials served include press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, senior advisor Stephen Miller, Chris Liddell, a former White House deputy chief of staff; Nicholas Luna, Trump’s personal assistant; John McEntee, former White House personnel director; Ben Williamson, senior adviser to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; Keith Kellogg, who served as then-Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser; Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs; Molly Michael, special assistant to the President and Oval Office operations coordinator, and Kenneth Klukowski, former senior counsel to Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark. The Wall Street Journal
State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) is set to concede his re-election defeat with Democrats having scheduled an election this Friday to choose his successor. Nicholas Scutari, the current Senate Judiciary chairman, reportedly has secured enough votes to be the next State Senate President. But State Sen. Nia Gill is challenging him in a bid to become the first woman and first person of color to serve as Senate President as some members have called for more diversity in leadership that reflect the composition of the party. New Jersey Globe
A runoff will be held in Jersey City’s Ward C, were an incumbent will have to defend his seat from a challenger following a three-way race for the Journal Square-based City Council seat. Councilman Rich Boggiano, who ran on Mayor Steve Fulop’s slate this year, will be up against challenger Kevin Bing, a community activist, in a runoff that is set for Dec. 7. The runoff comes after a three-way race in Ward C between the two and Tom Zuppa, a former Hudson County assistant prosecutor, in the general election, where none of them received a majority of the votes. Hudson Reporter
Gov. Phil Murphy has turned up the pressure for Jack Ciattarelli to concede a week after polls closed. “I think it’s bigger than winning or losing. It gets to question what it is to be an American and respect the institutions…we count on as a society including democracy,” said Murphy. “If it’s mathematically impossible, it’s dangerous. This is not what America is about.” But representatives for the GOP challenger appear to be positioning for a recount, as they stated in their response that “at this time, we do not expect the provisional vote count to end with Jack Ciattarelli in the lead. However, that count may reduce the margin for Gov. Murphy enough to warrant a full recount.” North-JerseyNews.com
After a 10 month stalemate, tri-state governors reached an agreement to divide $14 billion in federal COVID-19 transit aid that should get funding flowing to transit agencies by the end of the year. The agreement sends $10.85 billion to New York, $2.66 billion to New Jersey, and $474 million to Connecticut. Estimates based on the federal formula used to calculate the division of other federal transit funds said New Jersey could have received a total $3.6 billion from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act funds and the American Rescue Plan Act. Murphy administration officials said the state will get close to that estimate in total, but from other federal sources and a shared funding agreement with New York. NJ.com
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Nov. 8 establishing a new Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission within the Department of State. The 30-member panel is charged with “developing policies to address the social and economic needs” of the AAPI community and will be required to submit an annual report to the governor and State Legislature. New Jersey Herald
Garden State lawmakers are renewing efforts to overhaul the way New Jersey forecasts annual tax collections, including by enlisting outside experts to improve accuracy. These new reforms would include enhancing monthly financial-reporting requirements; mandating multiyear spending projections; and requiring annual “stress testing” of the budget to improve recession preparedness. NJ Spotlight News
A bill that would have assigned 100 full-time Department of Labor employees to help legislative offices handle unemployment claims was vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy this week. Murphy said he nixed the measure largely because federal labor officials warned the state that the bill, if enacted, would have violated federal rules, including by having non-executive branch employees enforcing unemployment laws. Under the bill, a claims handler would have been designated to each partisan office and legislative district during the pandemic and six months afterward. New Jersey Monitor
Former Jersey City police chief Phil Zacche has lost what appears to be his final court battle in a bid to have his $12,000-a-month pension reinstated. The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to hear his case after an appellate court ruled that the revocation of his pension was justified because he had stolen $31,000 by accepting payment for a no-show police security detail at a Jersey City Housing Authority building between 2010 and 2014. Zacche, who served in the department for 38 years and was chief from 2014 to 2017, pleaded guilty in 2018 and sentenced to two years probation, ordered to pay restitution and banned from public employment. The Jersey Journal
LG Electronics has donated a dozen 75-inch 4K smart TVs to Cresskill Public Schools following flood damage from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. High and middle school students are unable to return to classrooms, relocated in temporary classrooms at a Catholic school. Additionally, the company donated $25,000 earmarked toward repairs for the schools. News12 New Jersey
North Jersey federal lawmakers offered legislation in both the U.S. House and Senate to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years and cap premium rate increases. The reauthorizing bill (H.R. 5802, S. 3128) would extend the program until Sept. 30, 2026, and cap annual premium rate increases to 9%. Currently, premiums can increase by up to 25% annually. “The new Risk Rating program FEMA is unilaterally imposing will increase premiums for over 170,000 policy holders in New Jersey. Our bipartisan bill will make the program more affordable and fairer,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. said. North-JerseyNews.com
Lawyers from a New York firm hired by Englewood Cliffs to handle its legal battle against the development of affordable housing have been denied a special status that would let them practice law in New Jersey. Nicholas Gravante and Karen Dyer, attorneys from the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, have already amassed $723,416 in legal fees. In September, the attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the borough against four attorneys and their firms as well as the developer of a Sylvan Avenue property at the heart of more than five years of affordable housing litigation. The Record
A New Jersey lawmaker has introduced legislation that would allow residents who subscribe to state-based newspapers or digital publications to deduct up to $250 on their state income taxes. “It just boils down to journalism and democracy are tied together. You can’t have one without the other,” said Assemblymember Roy Freiman (D-16), sponsor of the bill. “Every journalist I speak to, the universal [thing they say] is journalism’s dying. You can’t sit back and let it happen, so what are we going to do to help bolster it?” PoliticoNJ
And finally…Christmas tree supply chain issues are causing prices to rise for both real and artificial choices. News12 New Jersey
