OPINION: Trump’s Trying to Make Putin Great Again. Imagine a world where the U.S. and President Joe Biden did not support Ukraine. Where we stayed on the sidelines as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of a country and appears to have committed war crimes against a nation that upholds the same democratic beliefs as the U.S. That is what a second term of Donald Trump would have brought, as told by his former aides and the man himself. There isn’t an issue of questioning foreign policy. This is about being on the right side or wrong side of history. The words and actions of Trump and his followers show clearly which side they are on. North-JerseyNews.com
Ukraine braced on Monday for a renewed Russian assault along its eastern front. Officials in eastern Ukraine warned civilians still living in the region that time was running out to escape, as newly released satellite images showed an eight-mile-long convoy of Russian armored vehicles and trucks with towed artillery moving east of Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city. The New York Times
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched a fresh appeal for military aid. Ukraine has stepped up its pleas for heavy military equipment to fight the conventional tank and artillery battles that are expected. In a virtual address to lawmakers in South Korea on April 11, Zelensky asked for military equipment, pressing the country to deliver more than the humanitarian assistance and nonlethal aid it has given so far. The Wall Street Journal
Hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers in New Jersey face a deadline of April 11 to be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 or face disciplinary action, including the possibility of losing their job. More than nine out of 10 workers at health care facilities in New Jersey have completed their primary vaccine series, according to state officials, and roughly three out of four have also been boosted. NJ Spotlight News
New Jersey on April 10 reported one confirmed COVID-19 death and 1,536 confirmed positive tests as the seven-day average for cases continues to increase after hitting recent lows in March. The state’s seven-day average for confirmed cases increased to 1,382 Sunday, up 41% from a week ago and 62% from a month ago. The seven-day average had hit a recent low of 631 on March 17. New Jersey’s transmission rate increased to 1.19 on Sunday, after the state reported 1.15 for two second consecutive days. The statewide daily positivity rate for tests conducted April 4, the most recent day available, was 4.32%. NJ.com
Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker were pleased with the Biden Administration’s decision to lift an order blocking asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border during the coronavirus pandemic. But both Democrats are urging restrictions on asylum seekers to be lifted in phases rather than all at once on May 23 as planned by the Biden administration. “We are glad that the Administration has made the decision to end Title 42 expulsions,” said Menendez and Booker. ”While we support ending Title 42, extending this policy until the end of May will only incentivize more irregular migration to the border and create an unnecessary bottleneck effect when it finally sunsets. We hope the administration will expand exemptions to the original order and start lifting Title 42 in phases.” North-JerseyNews.com
Black, multiracial, and Hispanic Democratic voters in New Jersey tend to be more moderate on a range of issues than Democrats as a whole, according to a recent Stockton University poll. Among other issues, the poll showed 64% of Black and multiracial respondents supported legalizing marijuana for recreational use, compared to 70% of Democrats; 73% of Democrats supported making it harder to buy guns, while 65% of Black and multiracial voters did; and half of Democrats said immigration should be made less difficult, compared to 38% of Black and multiracial voters. InsiderNJ
As they work to settle on a campaign strategy for November, Democrats said they need to better sell the public on what they see as President Joe Biden’s wins, chiefly pandemic stimulus and infrastructure spending, while making clear they will work to bring prices down. The Republican strategy is already unfolding, with constant reminders about inflation and higher energy costs, while Democrats are portrayed as soft on crime and immigration. Covid protocols and school-curriculum issues also weigh heavily. The Wall Street Journal
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) will convene in a special meeting April 11, with the start of recreational sales at center stage. At the March 24 meeting, CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said the alternative treatment centers were 100,000 pounds shy of meeting the anticipated demand for both the medical and adult recreational markets and thus could not move forward. A number of insiders predict that some—not all of the alternative treatment centers—will get approved Monday to start recreational sales. NJ.com
Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal. A panel that screens investments for the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund cited concerns about the proposed deal with Kushner’s newly formed private equity firm, Affinity Partners, but was overruled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Ethics experts say that such a deal creates the appearance of potential payback for Kushner’s actions in the White House — or of a bid for future favor if Donald Trump seeks and wins another presidential term in 2024. The New York Times
A law to build a regulatory framework for the growing cryptocurrency industry in New Jersey was moved forward in the State Senate and Assembly. According to lawmakers in Trenton, the goal of the Digital Asset and Blockchain Technology Act is to provide transparency, consumer protections, and a licensing structure for operators and consumers of virtual currency transactions in the Garden State. State Sen. Nellie Pou (D-35) said it was “imperative that we establish appropriate measures to effectively regulate this industry as we see more companies begin to shift towards offering cryptocurrency for purchase.” North-JerseyNews.com
The New Jersey State Health Planning Board has rejected the recommendation of the state’s Department of Health and delayed the approval of CarePoint Health’s planned sale of an additional 39.1% share of its ownership of the operations of Bayonne Medical Center to BMC Hospital, LLC. The delay is a result of after the application being advanced, it was learned that CarePoint had unilaterally started the process of divesting itself of a controlling interest in Bayonne Medical Center by transferring those shares to an unfunded not-for-profit entity. Because the commencement of the non-profit conversion materially changed CarePoint’s ownership structure and source of operating funds, and is the subject of a newly-filed certificate of need application that has not been deemed complete, the board rejected the DOH’s recommendation. Hudson Reporter
A work crew recently removed rocks from the Delaware River that were dumped there by the New Jersey Department of Transportation when it completed some work alongside Route 80 in the Delaware Water Gap. Two federal agencies agreed last week that the NJDOT had not obtained the proper permits for the work and was required to remove the rocks. The violation was “small and minor” and was “resolved voluntarily,” according to an Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson. New Jersey Herald
The Federal Transit Administration will invest about $834.6 million to support public transit across the Garden State stemming from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. NJ Transit is expected to buy new buses and railcars with the funding as well as repair backlogs, modernize fleets, and transition to new technologies to address the climate crisis. “This funding will help ensure that NJ Transit and communities across the state have the necessary resources to get residents safely where they need to go, keep essential workers on the job, and move our economy forward,” said Sen. Bob Menendez. North-JerseyNews.com
Bergen County county lawmakers and local leaders from Oradell, New Milford, and River Edge will hold a press conference this morning to address the major flooding issues from over the weekend. As the Hackensack River couldn’t handle the three or so inches of rain that fell last week, homes were flooded and rescues were made on Harvard Avenue and Columbia Street in New Milford as well as dozens of buses were underwater at the New Jersey Transit bus garage in Oradell. News12 New Jersey
Mayor Andre Sayegh’s allies failed on April 9 to convince a judge to disqualify Councilman Alex Mendez from Paterson’s May 10 mayoral election. A lawyer representing the Sayegh side questioned the validity of more than 350 of the councilman’s voter nominating petitions. But the judge repeatedly ruled against Parikh’s requests, including allowing about 100 instances in which voters signed nominating petitions for Mendez as well as for one of the other candidates to count as part of Mendez’s total. The Record
Republican congressional candidate Robert Shapiro can use the slogan “Let’s Go Brand*n” on the June primary ballot after dropping the portion that says “FJB.” Shapiro, a South Jersey attorney challenging Rep. Christopher Smith in the 4th district, told election officials that “FJB” were “just letters of the alphabet,” rather than an acronym for “Fuck Joe Biden.” New Jersey Globe
Former North Bergen municipal court judge Nino Falcone was “pervasively dishonest” during a hearing into allegations he groped an employee of a client and should be “permanently disqualified from holding or securing future judicial office for his conduct,” the state Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC) recommended. The committee said it found “clear and convincing” evidence that the 80-year-old Falcone had inappropriately touched the woman, who is 45 years younger, in his office, including admitted to the acts in phone conversation with the victim, which was recorded by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, two weeks after the Aug. 29, 2019 incident. The Jersey Journal
And finally…The Masters winner Scottie Scheffler is a Ridgewood native. NJ.com
