A recent poll of New Jerseyans shows they want Democrats to retain control of Congress—but at a much closer margin than would be expected for a blue state. The Monmouth University Poll of Garden State residents released April 7 found just over half of New Jerseyans either prefer (43%) or lean toward (9%) keeping the Democrats in power in Congress. About 4 in 10 want to switch to Republican control (34% prefer and 7% lean). In 2020, North Jersey congress members swept the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Congressional Districts. But since then, the district maps have changed and the GOP scored key victories in state house and local races last November. “There should be some close House races, depending on how the President is doing in the Fall and the impact of redistricting,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray. North-JerseyNews.com
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky praised President Joe Biden for accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine, describing the remarks as “true words of a true leader,” as investigators accelerated their efforts to collect evidence of alleged Russian atrocities outside Kyiv. President Biden, who previously called President Vladimir Putin of Russia a war criminal, for the first time on April 12 accused him of carrying out a genocide but made clear his remarks did not constitute a legal designation but were based on his personal belief “that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.” The New York Times
Congressional Democrats want the U.S. to take a tougher stance on Saudi Arabia, citing that country’s refusal to cooperate with Washington over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a range of human-rights issues. The lawmakers note that Saudi Arabia had rejected U.S. calls to produce more oil to lower prices driven up by the war, and that the kingdom had entered talks with Beijing about pricing a portion of oil sales in yuan. “We stand at an inflection point: The United States can continue our status-quo of broad support for an autocratic partner, or we can stand for human rights and rebalance our relationship to reflect our values and interests,” the lawmakers wrote. The Wall Street Journal
The New York Police Department has identified Frank R. James as a “person of interest” in the mass subway shooting April 12. Police detailed that as a crowded N train approached the 36th Street station in Brooklyn, a gunman donned a gas mask, tossed two smoke grenades on the floor and fired 33 shots before fleeing the scene. In addition to the 10 people hit by gunfire, five of whom were critically injured, at least 13 others suffered injuries related to smoke inhalation, falls or panic attacks. The New York Times
The man accused of a multi-hour antisemitic crime spree in Ocean County April 8 allegedly told family, “it’s going to be a blood bath” and called Jews “the real devils,” according to police documents. Authorities charged 27-year-old Dion Marsh with multiple offenses, including attempted murder and bias intimidation for the violence that included stabbing an Orthodox Jewish man in the chest, a carjacking and hitting pedestrians with a car Lakewood and Jackson. NJ.com
Sean Caddle, the political operative who pleaded guilty to hiring hitmen to kill Michael Galdieri in 2014, had his sentencing hearing rescheduled to Dec. 7. The six month delay comes as Caddle is on house arrest due to his cooperating with the FBI in an investigation that is unknown to the public. The Daily Record
New Jersey on April 12 reported seven confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 1,488 confirmed positive tests as the transmission rate continues to climb well above the key benchmark that indicates the outbreak is expanding. New Jersey’s transmission rate increased to 1.29 from 1.23 the day before. The statewide daily positivity rate for tests conducted April 7, the most recent day available, was 5.01%. There were 388 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases across 69 of the state’s 71 hospitals. North-JerseyNews.com
Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, both received a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot April 12. The move comes nearly two weeks after the governor tested positive for the coronavirus for the first time. Murphy is 64 and considered high risk because he had a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney on March 4, 2020, the same day the state reported its first known case of COVID-19. NJ.com
While COVID-19 booster rates among healthcare workers have increased, thousands of hospital and nursing home employees have still not received the shot as Gov. Phil Murphy’s extended deadline passed April 11. The New Jersey Hospital Association reported many hospitals had between 95% and 100% of staff with boosters, with RWJBarnabas at 96%, St. Joseph’s Health at 89% and Hackensack Meridian at 88%. The percentage at long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, was 79%. New Jersey Herald
Gov. Phil Murphy says the state will “almost certainly” provide some sort of relief at the gas pump for residents. “The pain is real,” the governor said during his regular call-in show on News12 New Jersey April 11. “Gas prices have come down a little bit…down 16 cents over the past couple of weeks. (But) they’re still at astronomical levels.” Murphy has said it would be difficult for New Jersey to take a gas tax holiday as the 42.4 cents a gallon is dedicated to helping fund major transportation projects in the state. “Even if we could take a holiday, those projects would be a lot more expensive when we restarted them. So we’re trying to figure out some other creative thoughts,” said Murphy. NJ1015.com
The sale of legalized recreational marijuana took another step forward, with regulators and lawmakers forecasting sales beginning possible by the end of the month. The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission on April 11 approved seven medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling adult recreational weed. Shops in North Jersey that could soon sell legal weed include GTI stores in Bloomfield and Paramus; Ascend locations in Fort Lee, Rochelle Park, and Montclair; and TerrAscend outlets in Maplewood and Lodi. The state has projected 130,000 cannabis patients and about 836,000 recreational customers from New Jersey—around 12% of the state’s adult population—and another 788,000 “tourism consumers” from outside New Jersey. North-JerseyNews.com
Two in five New Jersey voters who are 50 years old or older considered leaving the state to live elsewhere in the last year, according to a new poll commissioned by AARP. The poll found 42% of New Jersey homeowners and 36% of renters who are 50 or older considered leaving the state in the last year. Most— 75%— cite lower property taxes as the top reason to move, followed by 73% who say cost of living, 44% who say better weather, 41% who say better-run government, 22% who say they seek a safer community, 18% who say they want to live closer to family, and 11% who say healthcare. NJ.com
Members of the judiciary told the Assembly Budget Committee warned again about the effect of judicial vacancies but stated funding levels proposed by Gov. Phil Murphy would cover the state court system’s costs. Judge Glenn Grant, the administrative director of the courts, told lawmakers 75 seats on the bench — 16% of the judiciary’s 463 judgeships — are vacant with another 22 judges are expected to retire by the end of this year. Grant said the empty seats threaten the court’s’ ability to work through a massive case backlog created by the pandemic. New Jersey Monitor
The Local Finance Board has cleared two former Ridgewood officials of charges they violated state ethics laws by using village funds to finance a video urging residents to vote yes in a parking garage referendum. The board’s final report affirmed Administrative Law Judge Jude-Anthony Tiscornia rulings in November 2020 and October 2021 that former Mayor Paul Aronsohn and a former village manager Roberta Sonenfeld had not violated the Local Government Ethics Law because the video was “not persuasive but informational.” As such, Tiscornia ruled, the petitioners had failed to prove that the officials stood to profit personally from the outcome of the 2016 referendum. The Record
The Bayonne City Council approved a financial agreement to transform a former school into a housing development. The council has adopted a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement (PILOT) between the city and 22nd Street Partners Urban Renewal, LLC for the adaptive reuse of the former School of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at 25 East 25th Street school as a residential building. The old school will be transformed into 31 units. Hudson Reporter
An administrative law judge has determined two candidates do not have enough valid signatures to be a Democratic candidate in the 8th congressional district. Entrepreneur Brian Varela and Seton Hall law professor Eugene Mazo will not be on the ballot for the June 7 primary. Dem voters will now have the choice of three candidates: favorite Rob Menendez, the son of the U.S. Senator, healthcare startup director David Ocampo Grajales and Amistad Commission member Ane Roseborough-Eberhard. InsiderNJ
The Republican candidate for Passaic County Sheriff has been removed from the ballot because he doesn’t meet a residency requirement to hold the office. Troy Oswald, a former Paterson police chief who had been a much-heralded recruit for the Republicans, lived in Sussex and Morris counties before registering to vote from a multi-family house in Clifton on January 3, 2022. State law “requires a county sheriff to “have been a citizen of the United States and a resident of the county for at least three years next preceding his election.” New Jersey Globe
And finally…A movie based on N.J.’s Spirit Halloween is being developed. NJ.com
