OPINION: Jan. 6 Committee is Doing its Job, Will DOJ do Theirs? Its formal name is the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. While both Democratic and Republican members are charged with explaining the events that happened that day, there is one question that is starting to come to the forefront that will have to be answered by them and officials in Washington at some point: Should charges be brought against Donald Trump and those he worked with to overturn the 2020 Presidential election? The time is coming soon where Attorney General Merrick Garland must not be influenced by the political ramifications on either side in whether to charge those involved in promoting The Big Lie at the highest levels of government. To truly be a country guided by its laws and not men, we must not be afraid to enforce them no matter the consequences. In this instance, the consequences of not moving forward could lead to another assault on democracy—one we might not be unable to withstand the next time. North-JerseyNews.com
The Texas Republican Party made a series of far-right declarations as part of its official party platform over the weekend including claiming President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected in 2020. The state party’s resolution embracing the 2020 stolen-election claims stated that “substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of” President Biden. The state party, the resolution continued, rejected “the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.” The New York Times
A New Jersey resident who was next to the Jan. 6 rioter shot dead by a police officer, and who showed her blood on his hand in a TV news interview, was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison and one year of supervised release for his role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Federal prosecutors had argued for four months in prison for 30-year-old Thomas Baranyi, an Ewing resident they said he was part of a violent wave of Capitol attackers, and made dangerous statements afterwards, and needed to be punished for his actions with time behind bars. NJ.com
NJ Transit’s locomotive engineers union members are temporarily barred from instigating any future strikes, according to an emergency order issued by a federal judge June 19. The order, signed by U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn, requires the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen to “immediately” inform its members to “cease and desist” any activity related to the work stoppage due to union members not having Juneteenth as holiday in their contract. The order comes after 255 locomotive engineers did not show up to work Friday, forcing the agency to cancel nearly 300 scheduled trains, and locomotive engineers continued calling out at unusually high numbers Saturday and Sunday. The Record
The Hoboken Municipal Supervisors Association reached an agreement with the city for its first contract in four years and was given the Juneteenth holiday on Friday. The union, the last Hoboken municipal union without a new contract, agreed to a six-year contract that retroactively begins in 2018 and ends in 2023. Members will see a wage increase of 15.5% over the course of the contract, with a 12.5% increase as of June 1 and a 3% increase next year. The city had told the union it would not get the holiday off unless an agreement was reached before June 17. The Jersey Journal
Federal policy makers should consider a temporary gasoline-tax holiday to ease the burden of soaring fuel prices, said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on June 19. “Gas prices have risen a great deal and it’s clearly burdening households. That’s an idea that’s certainly worth considering,” Yellen said on ABC’s “This Week.” The Secretary’s comments come as several states, including Connecticut and New York, have completed plans to temporarily halt gasoline taxes at the state level. But in the U.S. Congress, Democratic-led efforts to temporarily stop collecting the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents a gallon have yet to gain traction. The Wall Street Journal
Gas prices in New Jersey have continued their steady decline, and have now dropped below $5 per gallon for regular. AAA puts the state average at $4.99 a gallon, after peaking at $5.05 on June 13. Crude oil prices have been falling, but still remain near $110 per barrel. Analysts are predicting whatever price drops we see in the next week or so, will not last as demand increases. NJ1015.com
Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a Springtime resurgence of cases, people are dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic. The spread of the virus and the number of deaths in its wake, two measures that were once joined together, have diverged more than ever before due to so many Americans being vaccinated, infected, or both, resulting in the number of people whose immune systems are entirely unprepared for the virus significantly dwindling, according to scientists. The New York Times
New Jersey on June 19 reported three new COVID-19 deaths and 1,918 new confirmed cases. There were 723 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in the 70 of 71 state hospitals that reported. Of those hospitalized, 78 were in intensive care and 31 were on ventilators. New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 0.82 with the positivity rate at 8% for tests conducted on June 14. NJ.com
Construction projects across the U.S. are running short on labor just as $1 trillion in federal infrastructure money starts to kick in, leading companies to get creative in their quest to attract and retain workers. In Southern states, contractors advertise sunny weather and 12 months of work on help-wanted websites in the frostier Northeast and Midwest, where highway construction goes dormant during the winter months. Project managers in remote areas are luring employees with signing and referral bonuses and per diems for housing, knowing they won’t be able to find enough workers locally. The Wall Street Journal
A proposed wind farm off the Jersey Shore could significantly affect local fisheries and boat traffic but generally have little impact on tourism and marine life while helping to move away from oil and gas, according to the draft environmental impact statement released June 17 by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The significant impacts on fisheries could be attributed to ongoing regulations, climate change and the disruptions to operations by the construction and installation of the turbines, the report said. In addition, the new structures would force changes in navigation routes and could increase congestion and the chances of accidents along the borders of the wind farm. ROI-NJ.com
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), along with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, filed suit against the Ford Motor Co. on June 16 over its contamination of hundreds of acres of soil, water, wetlands and other natural resources in Passaic County. The lawsuit seeks compensation for natural resource damages (NRDs) caused by the Detroit car maker’s disposal of toxic paint sludge and other pollutants within a former iron mining area known as Ringwood Mines over many years. “To other corporate polluters and anyone else so inclined, our message is simple: treat New Jersey’s air, land, and water like your own private dumping ground and we will not look the other way. We will hold you responsible, and we will make you pay,” said Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin. North-JerseyNews.com
A proposed restructuring of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical facilities would disrupt care for North Jersey veterans. The Paterson clinic would close with patients instead treated in Hackensack and veterans with spinal cord injuries would have to travel to a medical center in the Bronx instead of being treated in East Orange. A new medical center would be established near Camden and a new clinic in Toms River. The changes being proposed are part of a massive overhaul of the VA health care system that agency officials said would better reflect the needs of current veterans and build facilities where they’re living now. NJ.com
Two bills that address school safety and expand students’ mental health access advanced in the New Jersey Assembly last week. One bill would require New Jersey public schools to create threat assessment teams to identify students who may pose a security risk, consisting of a school psychologist or counselor, a teacher, a school resource officer, a principal or administrator and the school’s safety specialist. The second bill would instruct school counselors to refer students who need mental health services beyond what the school can offer, to private professionals. New Jersey Herald
An Assembly panel will weigh most bills included in Gov. Phil Murphy’s latest gun control package this week. The Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 22 is scheduled to consider five of the bills the governor first announced in April 2021, including setting storage regulations for firearms, requiring residents who purchase firearms outside of New Jersey to register them and obtain a firearms purchaser identification card, and raising the age to purchase long guns to 21 (with an exemption for members of the military). The State Senate has not indicated when they will take up the legislation. New Jersey Monitor
Two former mayors of West New York are set for a collision course in the upcoming municipal election. While outgoing Rep. Albio Sires recently announced he is planning to run for mayor in 2023, Dr. Felix Roque previously alluded to challenging current Mayor Gabe Rodriguez for mayor and recently chided the current administration for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, crime and garbage issues. Hudson Reporter
Michael Johnson, a former Haledon councilman, has ousted four-term Mayor Domenick Stampone in the Democratic primary. Johnson won by 25 votes, 305 to 280 (52%-48%). Johnson will now face former two-term Mayor Kenneth Pentigore, a Republican who was unseated by Stampone in 2006 by a 53%-47% margin, in the general election. New Jersey Globe
American Dream, the Meadowlands mega-mall and entertainment complex, made a belated $13.9 million deposit to bondholders last week, but a bank trustee said the East Rutherford business remains behind on its payments. The mall’s developers still owe interest on the bond payment they missed on June 1, leaving them in default, the U.S. Bank Trust Co. said in a notice to bondholders June 16. The developer is also challenging the current tax assessments of its interests in the project, U.S. Bank said in its notice, which could affect future payments to bondholders and local taxpayers. The Daily Record
Union Beach Police say they prevented a pop-up from happening on June 18 after they intercepted social media chatter about a planned event. People did start arriving in town to party, but officers were sending them away after an invitation was shared on social media by a 17-year-old Union Beach resident. Police say they issued 15 summonses, but did not say what they were for, or if the 17-year-old was charged. NJ1015.com
And finally…The Summer solstice will occur June 21 at 5:14 a.m., the first day of Summer. NJ.com
