The State Senate Education Committee approved along party lines on a Democratic-sponsored bill requiring school districts publish their health and sexual education curriculums online in the Summer. The vote came after two hours of testimony that often strayed from the purpose of the bill from some parents, conservative groups, and religious leaders who voiced fear about children being exposed to topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and pornography under New Jersey’s new sex education standards. NJ.com
A bill requiring that New Jersey school districts provide feminine hygiene products in school bathrooms for grades 6 through 12 was passed by the State Senate Education Committee, with the state picking up the costs. “No child should miss valuable class time due to lack of access to menstrual products,” Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-29), the bill’s prime sponsor, said in a statement. “This legislation will keep students in the classroom by making supplies readily available to those who need them.” But Republicans on the committee objected to the bill’s gender-neutral language and its implicit relation to transgender issues, which they believe mandates menstrual products in both women’s and men’s bathrooms. New Jersey Globe
The Ridgewood school district has distributed surveys seeking input from community groups on a proposed later start to the class day for middle and high school students. The surveys, due May 20, were sent after the Board of Education originally planned to collect community opinions in December but delayed distribution of a questionnaire to avoid holiday conflicts and to hire a consultant to determine effective surveys. There are six versions tailored to interests of a specific group: parent/guardian of a current student, parent/guardian of a future Ridgewood student, employee/parent/guardian of a current student, resident, business owner or “none of the above.” The Record
Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed a bill extending New Jersey’s bribery laws to candidates for political office who don’t hold elected office. The governor’s proposed changes are focused on tightening language to eliminate any potential legal loopholes. “While I am confident that New Jersey’s highest court will ultimately affirm the Appellate Division’s well-reasoned ruling, that does not mean that we should forgo the present opportunity to strengthen the bribery law, to even more definitively foreclose the possibility of an incorrect interpretation,” the governor said in his veto statement. New Jersey Monitor
Americans itching to travel this Summer are facing a new disruption to plans: the rising cost of travel. Inflation rose to 8.5% in March compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s consumer-price index—the highest rate in four decades. Gas prices are up about 50% from a year ago. hotel costs jumped nearly 30%, and airline fares rose 24%, while vehicle-rental costs jumped nearly 14%. The Wall Street Journal
Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced last week a new “Stay in Jersey” campaign to urge companies that employ Jersey residents who used to commute to New York City every day prior to the pandemic be allowed to work from home or relocate offices to North Jersey. To that end, Gottheimer, working with State Sen. Joe Lagana (D-38) and Assemblyman Chris Tully (D-38), wants to create a tax incentive program to have some of the offices in New York City move across the Hudson River. “That’s why I’m encouraging New York-based businesses to expand flexibility and opportunities for our working moms and dads by setting up regional hubs in New Jersey,” Gottheimer said. “We need to fill up the empty spaces we have in office parks. We have many and they can be repurposed for many businesses’ needs. Law firms, accounting firms, financial firms, and the like, can easily set up a regional hub for their employees.” North-JerseyNews.com
An estimated 1.6 million low-income New Jersey residents will be able to afford a high-speed internet connection under a plan rolled out May 9 by President Joe Biden. Funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program was included in the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last year, including $65 billion to provide subsidies of $30 per month to offset the cost of high-speed internet. Twenty providers, including Comcast and Verizon in New Jersey, would provide such connections for no more than $30 per month, meaning it wouldn’t cost anything for low-income households to go online. NJ.com
President Joe Biden signed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, which paves the way for more weapons to be delivered quickly to Ukrainians for their fight against Russia. The House this week is expected to consider an emergency $39.8 billion package of military and humanitarian aid — $7 billion more than what President Biden had requested. The New York Times
The Biden administration says a possible coronavirus wave this Fall could infect 100 million people. Officials say the projection is based on an underlying assumption of no additional resources or extra mitigation measures being taken, including no new COVID-19 funding from Congress, and the possibility of new variants. The White House earlier this year requested $22.5 billion in supplemental COVID-19 relief funding or testing, treatments, therapeutics, and preventing future outbreaks. News12 New Jersey
New Jersey on May 9 reported one new COVID-19 death and 1,817 new confirmed cases. There were 609 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases across the state’s 71 hospitals and of those hospitalized, 74 were in intensive care and 28 were on ventilators. New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 1.23 with the positivity rate for tests conducted on May 4 was 10.0%. North-JerseyNews.com
State lawmakers hoping to get jobless residents their unemployment benefits faster advanced two bills aimed at improving New Jersey’s unemployment system that came under fire during the coronavirus pandemic. The State Senate Labor Committee unanimously passed one bill that would make about a half-dozen changes to how the Department of Labor processes unemployment benefits, while the other would require an annual report of the department’s work. “We have struggled through this process for a long time… I’m sure (the bills) will be much appreciated by our residents and will help make this process a little more bearable,” said State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-25). New Jersey Monitor
Gov. Phil Murphy is in Miami to talk about climate change May 10 while he attends a conference on the subject hosted by the Aspen Institute. Among the things Murphy will do during the trip is take part in a discussion about climate change with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. The conversation will be about “what works, what doesn’t, and what it takes to make a real difference at the state level,” according to the Aspen Institute. NJ.com
New Jersey offshore wind developer Ørsted recently inked a deal to use all union labor for its projects along the East Coast. The National Offshore Wind Agreement has the support of the South Jersey Building and Construction Trades Council, 15 international union presidents and their locals, and includes all contractors and subcontractors that will work to build the company’s wind farms between Maine and Florida. NJ Spotlight News
Gov. Phil Murphy announced his intention to appoint Terry Schuster as head of the New Jersey Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson May 5, a re-envisioned role to help internal investigations following the plethora of issues uncovered at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. Schuster previously served as manager for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project overseeing a team of data and policy analysts focused on reducing correctional populations. Schuster and team helped bipartisan coalitions pass and implement 10 bills in Louisiana to reduce the state’s prison and probation populations, and 20 bills in Michigan to reduce arrests and county jail populations. “I believe the solutions to problems like institutional violence are built on good will, diplomacy, and listening to the people who work and live in our state prisons,” said Schuster. North-JerseyNews.com
The leadership of the Palisades Park Police Department is changing as Capt. Anthony Espino, who is currently suing the town, steps into the officer-in-charge role previously held by Capt. Shawn Lee —whom he is also suing. Borough officials said Lee and Espino would alternate as leader until a decision could be made on promoting a permanent chief of police after the retirement of Capt. Anthony Muccio at the end of 2021. The Record
The owners of CarePoint Health have transferred its three Hudson County hospitals to a new non-profit entity headed by CarePoint’s CEO, company officials announced May 9. CarePoint Health officials are hopeful that this move will sway the state Department of Health (DOH) to approve the sale of 39.1% of Bayonne Medical Center to BMC Hospital LLC, a group made up mostly of surgical center owners. The sale—which would give BMC Hospital LLC a 49% share of the hospital—was put on hold at the state DOH Planning Board meeting in April, citing the ongoing transfer of majority ownership. The Jersey Journal
Montclair is looking to allow the sale of legalized recreational marijuana starting next month. The Township Council adopted a resolution last week allowing Ascend Wellness, which currently sells medical marijuana in town, to also sell adult-use cannabis. The best-case scenario is that the “second reading” of the amended ordinance takes place at the next council meeting, on May 17; the final vote could then happen at the June 14 meeting. Ascend’s application for a state license is now with the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, and company officials hope it will be approved at the CRC’s next meeting on May 24. The Record
A recent poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) sought to answer a question that has loomed over American politics since November 2020: What is the crossover between those who believe the Presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump and other conspiracy theories. Americans who say that the 2020 election was stolen are much more likely to think that COVID was created in a lab: 88% who say that Trump really won in 2020 also say that COVID was made in a lab, compared with 55% among those who don’t think that the election was stolen. Those Americans who think it’s “very likely” that the 2020 election was stolen are seven points more likely to believe in Bigfoot than those that don’t (21% versus 28%). “Even the wildest theories about the 2020 election don’t include Bigfoot,” said Cassino. “But people are really trying to be consistent, and so endorsing one set of false beliefs makes them more likely to endorse another, even if it’s pretty far out there.” North-JerseyNews.com
The Morris Canal Manor project is again facing a legal challenge, with a lawsuit seeking to repeal recent amendments made regarding the Bergen-Lafayette project. The Morris Canal Community Development Corporation and their executive director, June Jones, have sued Jersey City over the project, arguing that the amendments were a case of “improper and illegal government activity to benefit a private developer at the expense of the broader community.” Hudson Reporter
And finally…Rutgers-Newark professor Salamishah Tillet won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism for what the judges called “learned and stylish writing about Black stories in art and popular culture.” NJ.com
