With new cases down by two thirds from a week ago and other key health metrics related to COVID-19 declining, Gov. Phil Murphy expressed confidence that the Winter peak has been surpassed. “The Omicron tsunami is continuing to pull back,” said Gov. Phil Murphy during a press briefing on Jan. 24. “While yes we believe that we are on the backside of Omicron, we are not free of it.” Later, Murphy commented putting aside people who have a legitimate reason that they’re not vaccinated or boosted, those not getting the vaccine are being “selfish…I think it’s a shirking of our collective responsibility. I do think it’s akin to drunk driving. You’re not only putting yourself at risk, you’re putting other people at risk.” North-JerseyNews.com
All Sussex County elementary, middle and high schools have returned to in-person instruction as the most recent spike in COVID cases appears to be on the decline locally and throughout the state. The Sparta and Hopatcong districts, along with Lenape Valley Regional High School, announced earlier this month that they were temporarily moving to remote instruction due to staffing issues resulting from COVID illness or possible exposure. By last week, all three had reopened to in-person learning. New Jersey Herald
Students in the Paterson School District returned to the classroom for the first time in the new year Jan. 24. The school district was among those that went remote following Winter break amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The school district was supposed to return last week, but it was pushed back as a precautionary measure. News12 New Jersey
The state corrections officers union is going to court to seek a restraining order halting enforcement of New Jersey’s newest COVID-19 vaccination mandate for corrections officers, the New Jersey State PBA announced Jan. 24. The move, on behalf of 28 PBA locals, seeks permission from the state appellate court to file for a restraining order halting Murphy’s latest order, signed last week, which applies to state workers in healthcare and congregate settings, and requires they be vaccinated as well as receive booster shots when eligible. NJ1015.com
New Jersey got good news on several fiscal fronts as the Kroll Bond Rating Agency upgraded the state’s credit rating from stable to positive and the state logged gains in jobs, tax revenue, and gaming revenue for December 2021. Kroll is the last of the four credit rating agencies to upgrade New Jersey’s credit outlook to positive—Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service, and S&P Global Ratings gave the Garden State’s credit rating a boost in recent months. The credit rating firm said the Garden State’s improved outlook reflects “the robust recovery of the state’s financial picture since the early days of the pandemic and ample liquidity.” North-JerseyNews.com
Ten school districts across the state are asking voters to approve school construction proposals in special elections Jan. 25, costing a grand total of $394.9 million. North Jersey voters will go to the polls in Cresskill to approve $21.7 million to undertake various improvements, alterations, renovations, repairs, and upgrades at Cresskill Middle/High School after damage from Tropical Storm Ida; in Franklin Lakes for $20.9 million for a prioritized list of urgent projects include HVAC system upgrades, boiler replacements, window replacements and roof replacements; in Mendham for $19.9 million for building repairs and renovations, tech-centered instructional spaces, safety and security upgrades; and in Hoboken for $241.0 million for a new high school. NJ.com
Legislation designed to bolster the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program through expanded digital media production tax credits was recently signed into law. The cumulative annual limitation on digital media content production tax credits would be increased to $30 million from $10 million, and would authorize an additional $100 million in tax credits starting in fiscal year 2025. State Sen. Gordon Johnson (D-37), who sponsored the bill in the Assembly, added “Digital media projects are just as important to the entertainment industry and economy as film projects, and deserve the same opportunities to grow and thrive in our state. This law will give New Jersey an even more competitive edge by further establishing our state as an appealing destination for creative projects of all kinds.” North-JerseyNews.com
A conservative activist from Sussex County recently filed a lawsuit against the local Democratic Party, alleging the party and lawmakers defamed him by calling him a member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization and insinuating he’s racist. Bill Hayden, a member of the Republican State Committee, president of the Skylands Tea Party and potential candidate for Sussex County commissioner, filed a similar lawsuit two and a half months ago against Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Hayden said statements by Gottheimer and top members of the Democratic Party are “outrageous and false” while acknowledging he has invited members of the group to rallies he’s organized. “I’ve never been a member. I know one Oath Keeper, [former Republican Assembly candidate] Ed Durfee. I’ve never attended a meeting, I’ve never filled out an application, I’ve never been part of them,” he said. PoliticoNJ
A request for a special grand jury by the Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to throw out Joe Biden’s presidential election victory has been approved. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote in her letter to the court that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.” She said her office has “opened an investigation into any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state.” The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina are lawful. The case against Harvard accused it of discriminating against Asian American students by using a subjective standard to gauge traits like likability, courage and kindness and by effectively creating a ceiling for them in admissions, while the plaintiffs in the North Carolina are arguing the university discriminated against White and Asian applicants by giving preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American ones. The New York Times
A lawsuit challenging the racial imbalance of New Jersey’s public schools is ready to resume. State Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy, the new presiding judge in Mercer County, has scheduled March 3 for oral arguments on the case that questions New Jersey’s long history of racial segregation in the schools and communities. Segregation is measured in several ways, but most cited has been the high percentage of students of color who attend schools that are overwhelmingly nonwhite. Close to half of Black and Hispanic students over the last four years attended schools where the enrollment was 90% or more Black and Hispanic. Thirty percent of White students attended schools that were more than 80% White. NJ Spotlight News
The New Jersey Supreme Court told the state Congressional Redistricting Commission’s Democratic members to respond to GOP arguments that the high court should disregard commission tiebreaker John Wallace’s explanation for why he chose the Democratic congressional map. The commission’s Republican members say Wallace’s newest explanation for his decision runs afoul of a constitutional provision requiring the commission’s vote be made at a public hearing. Democratic Redistricting Commission members have until Jan. 27 to submit their reply to the Supreme Court. New Jersey Monitor
Voting rights legislation in Congress would have flagged New Jersey’s new congressional map as being unfairly one-sided, even though the district lines were drawn by an independent commission. A report by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice said the new lines resulted in a partisan gerrymander as egregious as those approved by state legislatures dominated by one party, based on criteria established in the voting rights legislation that passed the Democratic-controlled House on a party-line vote but was filibustered by Senate Republicans. NJ.com
A Superior Court judge has tossed out a $100 million lawsuit filed by Englewood Cliffs against four attorneys. The order by Judge Christine Farrington in Superior Court in Bergen County said the borough had failed to state a claim in the suit it filed against Thomas Trautner, Albert Wunsch, Jeffrey Surenian and Joseph Marinello and their law firms. The suit alleged that the borough’s former attorneys were working in “deliberate cooperation” with developers and breached their duties by not communicating more extensively with the Mayor and some members of the Borough Council. The Record
Bayonne Second Ward City Councilman Sal Gullace will not be a part of Mayor James Davis’ council slate in the May 10 election after running successfully with Davis in the 2014 and 2018 municipal elections. Gullace said he met with Davis and was told he was no longer going to be on the ticket, with Jackie Weimmer apparently joining the slate instead. Gullace said he is not sure what his next move is yet but that “I’m going to talk to my family…then I’ll decide what I’m doing.” Hudson Reporter
Christine Myers has launched a bid to win back her old seat on the Morris County Board of Commissioners. Myers hopes to return to the county’s governing body, where she served from 2016-2018 before accepting an appointment from the Donald Trump administration to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. There are three open seats on the board this Fall. The Daily Record
The Jersey City Council is preparing to adjust the Arts and Culture Trust Fund tax to give the city council the ability to set the tax rate by resolution annually. The revision would remove the wording that imposed the quarter-penny-per-$100 in property value assessment from last year. Ward E Councilman James Solomon called the amendment a “clerical cleanup,” designed to change the way the tax works without necessarily changing the rate. The Jersey Journal
And finally…ESPN basketball legend and N.J. native Dick Vitale will not be back behind the microphone this season as he battles cancer and is suffering from Dysplasia on the vocal cords. NJ.com
