Gov. Phil Murphy sent a letter to President Joe Biden March 2 stating New Jersey would be prepared to host Ukrainian refugees having to flee because of the Russian invasion. “We stand willing and ready to work with your administration to accept and admit Ukrainian refugees to our state,” wrote Murphy. “Last year, we were proud to host Afghan allies and their families at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Now, we will be proud to do our part in welcoming Ukrainian men, women, and children who have left their generational homes in the face of Russia’s cruel and illegitimate invasion of Ukraine.” North-JerseyNews.com
The Ukrainian military and civilian soldiers continued to bog down Russian forces, protecting the borders of key cities and inflicting heavy losses against the larger and better equipped Russian army. But as Russian forces largely rely on long-range missiles, the invasion has caused a humanitarian catastrophe that has left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians with no heat, water or electricity, and struggling to find a path to escape. While the prospect of a cease-fire and “humanitarian corridors” was again being discussed, there was little evidence that conditions on the ground would allow for large-scale evacuations from areas of the heaviest fighting. The New York Times
Stock futures crept higher, while bond yields and oil prices rose, a day after fears of a recession pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a correction. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, continued to climb higher on fears of a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports and rose over 3% to $127.26 a barrel. Futures tied to the S&P 500 edged up 0.2% March 8, while blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures rose 0.1%. The Wall Street Journal
Gov. Phil Murphy said higher gas prices may have to be endured in order to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin as the average sits at $4.17 per gallon for regular on Monday, according to AAA’s survey of prices. “At this point with Russia given what Putin is doing in Ukraine, we’re all going to have to swallow hard and take it. This is completely unlawful,” Murphy said. “This guy is a complete and utter thug. He’s a war criminal and if it means we all have to take a little bit of pain to break this guy then that’s what it’s going to take because that’s what we need to do.” NJ1015.com
Forty-nine percent of New Jersey residents think measures undertaken by the Garden State during the coronavirus pandemic were “just right,” while 32% said the state went “too far,” according to the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. To that end, 54% felt “very comfortable” returning to a sense of normalcy in their daily life, with 33% saying they were “somewhat comfortable.” Only 11% said “not very” and 3% “not at all” to answer the question. “Over half of New Jerseyans think that the pandemic is not technically over, but they are mentally and emotionally ready for it to be,” noted Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “Many New Jerseyans are reentering life and returning to normal despite knowing the pandemic will be around for a while.” North-JerseyNews.com
Hoboken is ending its COVID-19 state of emergency, declared two years ago at the beginning of the pandemic, citing recent trends in the city and the greater region for lifting it. The state of emergency was first declared on March 12, 2020, one day after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. City Council meetings will be returning to in-person session starting in April, having been virtual since the pandemic began in March of 2020. Hudson Reporter
Gov. Phil Murphy will deliver his sixth state budget address, the first time in two years before a crowd inside the Statehouse in Trenton. Scheduled for 2 p.m., the Democratic-controlled state Legislature granted Murphy a two-week delay so he could deliver this one in person. Attendees will still be required to wear masks. NJ.com
Legislation tieing New Jersey Gross Income Tax brackets to inflation gained approval from the state Senate’s Budget and Appropriations Committee Feb. 28. As Federal income tax brackets already are indexed annually for inflation and have been for more than 40 years, “our bill will protect New Jerseyans from paying higher income taxes due to inflation and provide tax relief to the many New Jerseyans who live paycheck to paycheck,” said State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-25). The Morris County lawmaker said the bill seeks to prevent bracket creep, which happens “when a person gets a cost of living raise in their salary and that raise pushes them into the next tax bracket where they pay more, but yet inflation is giving them less buying power.” North-JerseyNews.com
The State Senate Labor Committee approved a bill to raise the weekly payment cap for individuals on temporary disability and family leave programs from 70% of the state’s average weekly salary to 85%. New Jersey provides workers with up to 26 weeks of temporary disability insurance and up to 12 weeks of paid family leave, which can be used to bond with new children or care for a sick or injured loved one. In each case, workers are paid a weekly benefit of 85% of their weekly wage, to a cap of $993. The cap represents 70% of the state’s average weekly wage of $1,418. At 85% of the average state wage, the maximum benefit would increase to $1,206 per week. New Jersey Monitor
The U.S. Senate on March 7 unanimously cleared anti-lynching legislation and sent it to President Joe Biden for his signature. The bill was named for Emmett Till, a 14-year old boy lynched in 1955, and would classify lynching as a crime under existing federal hate crime statutes. “After 200 failed attempts and over a century’s worth of efforts, I am proud to say that Congress has finally passed legislation to criminalize lynching, a shameful instrument of terror used to intimidate and oppress Black Americans,” said Sen. Cory Booker, the measure’s chief sponsor. News12 New Jersey
The state Attorney General’s Office this year stopped requiring New Jersey police departments to disclose statistics for new Internal Affairs complaints filed by civilians. At issue is a new form for local police departments’ annual IA reports that are made public that omitted the section on civilian complaints. The Attorney General’s Office said it would revise the annual report forms for 2022 and again make public the numbers of new civilian complaints. New Jersey Herald
New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled the public has a right to see settlement agreements with public employees, in part because too often the government is not transparent with taxpayers. In the Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County case, the court determined that the government misled the public about what really happened regarding the discipline of a county correctional officer who coerced a prisoner into having sex. The ruling has broad implications, in that the court decreed settlement agreements can no longer be considered private personnel matters, but are public records that must be disclosed. The Daily Record
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed congressional maps that had been approved by state courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to stand, giving Democrats an advantage in this year’s election in two key states. In issuing the orders March 8, the Supreme Court rejected requests by Republicans to restore maps approved by G.O.P.-controlled state legislatures. Those district lines were thrown out and replaced by courts in both states after challenges by Democrats. Under the new court-imposed maps in both states, Democrats are likely to gain more seats than they would have under the legislature-approved versions. The New York Times
The New Jersey State Police has asked some Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor of agency’s staff if they want to work for them as the Murphy Administration continues ahead with its plan to withdraw from the bi-state agency. The letter included Civil Service classification questionnaires to anyone seeking to transfer onto the New Jersey payroll as employees of the State Police and details on their current positions and resumes. Whether anyone would actually be hired was not promised. NJ.com
Incumbent Andre Sayegh faces challenges from at least four high-profile rivals in Paterson’s upcoming mayoral election. Councilman Luis Velez and former Councilman Aslon Goow submitted their nominating petitions on March 7, hours before the deadline for candidates seeking to run in the May 10 contest. They join council members Michael Jackson and Alex Mendez—both of whom face pending election fraud indictments—as challengers looking to oust Sayegh. The Record
Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James is threatening a lawsuit if he’s not placed on the ballot in his bid for an at-large city council seat in the May 10 election. “Should you persist in your position, which violates Mr. James’ rights, all remedies under the law will be pursued,” Thomas Ashley, James’ lawyer, wrote in a March 4 letter to City Clerk Kenneth Louis. James is hoping to be on the ballot for the seat, but Louis has refused to certify his candidacy, citing a judge’s 2008 order disqualifying James from holding office due to a criminal conviction. NJ.com
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla highlighted a range of new projects in the city—from public safety to greenspace to climate resilience—framing them as long-term investments whose time has come in his State of the City address. Bhalla proposed a new complex in the city’s North End that would contain police and fire department headquarters as well as 600 parking spots in a new municipal garage. Additionally, the mayor emphasized the importance of tackling climate change head on in Hoboken as “doing nothing is simply not an option. Leaving the problem to future elected officials is also not an option.” The Jersey Journal
And finally…Big Snow ski resort at American Dream plans to reopen for Memorial Day. The Record
