OPINION: Time for New Leadership in Congress. Just 36% of the public describes the American system of government as basically sound, declining from 44% in 2021 and 55% in February 2020, according to a recent Monmouth Poll. Strikingly, just over four decades ago, 62% said the American system was sound. No matter the results of the elections this coming Fall, voters are calling for a new direction. We believe that starts with each party electing new leaders in the House and Senate. What is driving this call is that we are nearly a quarter into a new century but the leadership in the U.S. Senate and House are not, leading to a hardening on both sides playing to their bases and not moving the country forward. We do not need a rerun of the McConnell-Pelosi show in 2023. The U.S. needs representatives who grew up in the internet age for the challenges we face now and in the future, whose lives have been shaped in much different ways than the current generation of leadership. We need new ideas to take on our biggest challenges and new voices to provide them, playing to the center of the country. North-JerseyNews.com
President Joe Biden is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, as 64% of Democratic voters saying they would prefer a new standard-bearer in the 2024 Presidential campaign, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, as voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33% job-approval rating. Widespread concerns about the economy and inflation have helped turn the national mood decidedly dark, both on President Biden and the trajectory of the nation. More than three-quarters of registered voters see the United States moving in the wrong direction, a pervasive sense of pessimism that spans every corner of the country, every age range and racial group, cities, suburbs and rural areas, as well as both political parties. The New York Times
The American public is losing faith in democracy, the institutions that hold it together and the people occupying the offices. President Joe Biden’s overall job rating continues to trend downward, with only 36% approving of the job he is doing in a recent Monmouth Poll while 58% disapprove in a poll taken in late June. Additionally, just 10% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction while 88% say it is on the wrong track. Negative public opinion of the Supreme Court after the abortion ruling was leaked held steady after their ruling was official released. A total of 53% currently disapprove of the job the court is doing, compared with 41% approving, largely unchanged since the leak. North-JerseyNews.com
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, told the Jan. 6 House Select Committee he is willing to testify, reversing course as he faced trial for contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the panel. According to a letter from Donald Trump to Bannon posted by the former president on his social-media site Truth Social, Trump said he would waive any privilege claim, citing what he called unfair treatment of Bannon and mounting legal fees his former adviser was facing. With that claim waived, Bannon’s lawyer told the committee he would be “willing to, and indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing,” according to the text of his letter. The Wall Street Journal
The day before Cassidy Hutchinson was deposed for a fourth time by the Jan. 6 committee, she received a message that committee members consider witness tampering. In a phone message, an undisclosed person told Hutchinson that someone had “let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. (Donald Trump) wants me to let you know he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal. And you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.” At Hutchinson’s deposition the next day, committee members investigating the attack on the Capitol were so alarmed by what they considered a clear case of witness tampering — not to mention Hutchinson’s shocking account of President Donald J. Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6, 2021 — that they decided in a meeting on June 24, a Friday, to hold an emergency public hearing with Hutchinson as the surprise witness the following Tuesday. The New York Times
Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-21) is renewing her push for bills she introduced over a decade ago that would have prohibited sick-leave payouts after a watchdog report revealed those payouts cost the state millions of dollars. The bills Munoz introduced in 2008 and 2012, respectively, would bar payouts to public employees for accumulated unused sick time (A220) and ensure that sick-leave payouts don’t count toward compensation when public employee pension benefits are calculated (A221). Neither bill has moved out of committee since it was reintroduced at the start of the session in January. New Jersey Monitor
Two New Jersey military bases would get billions in dollars in next year’s defense policy bill. Almost $2.7 billion would be spent on new refueling planes at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst under legislation setting defense policy for the next federal fiscal year. And Picatinny Arsenal will get a share of the $16 billion going for research and development into new munitions, including a long-range cannon that can hit targets at least 1,000 miles away. NJ.com
Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Albio Sires applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling ending the “Remain in Mexico” policy instituted by the Trump Administration. The Remain in Mexico policy had forced asylum seekers from a third country who passed through Mexico to remain there as they await the adjudication of their asylum case in what critics call an enormously backlogged asylum system. “This cruel policy has forced migrants to stay in cramped, unsafe conditions while waiting for their case to be heard across the border,” said Sires, an immigrant from Cuba himself. “The decision is a step forward, but there are many more steps we need to take to have a just, humane, and orderly immigration system.” North-JerseyNews.com
Elon Musk is seeking to terminate his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter nearly two months after saying the deal was “on hold” over his questions about the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter “is in material breach of multiple provisions of that agreement,” according to a letter from Musk’s lawyer filed with securities regulators. The letter accused the company of making “false and misleading representations” when entering into the agreement. Twitter said it intends to close the transaction at the agreed price of $54.20 a share, setting up a possible legal battle over what comes next for the social-media platform. The Wall Street Journal
CarePoint Health has been granted a hold on a transaction to transfer ownership of Bayonne Medical Center’s operations to its chosen successor. The move to pause the sale of a 39.1% ownership stake to BMC Hospital LLC comes after the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) changed course and recommended the rejection of the transaction. NJDOH cited the lack of a certificate of need application for the transfer of 61.6% of operations ownership to the non-profit known as CarePoint Health Systems, Inc. in its rejection and for a new application for this ownership transfer to be submitted after the transfer to the non-profit was approved by the department. Hudson Reporter
Legislators looking to add more mental health professionals statewide have allocated a combined $9.6 million in the new state budget to expand training programs to meet the demand. Of the amount budgeted, $4 million will go to the Psychiatry Residency Expansion Program and will be available to existing accredited New Jersey psychiatric residency training programs that have maximized Medicare funding. The remaining $5.6 million will go toward the Mental Health Professional Capacity Expansion Initiatives as part of a grant to the Department of Human Services, including $4 million going toward adding 10 medical residency positions. NJ Spotlight News
The state budget Gov. Phil Murphy signed last month dedicated $50 million toward a new University Hospital in Newark, the only public hospital in New Jersey. But more is wanted by the union representing 1,400 nurses and other medical workers who frequently must dodge plumbing and electrical problems and manage an emergency department running at twice its capacity. Additionally, the hospital’s former CEO Shereef Elnahal said in 2020 the facility needs about $20 million in “emergency” repairs every year for the foreseeable future. NJ.com
New Jersey on July 10 reported two new COVID-19 deaths and 2,573 new confirmed cases. There were 901 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in the 71 state hospitals that reported. New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 1.02 with the positivity rate at 11.8% for tests conducted on July 7. NJ.com
Abbott Laboratories has reopened its biggest factory after a shutdown last month that dealt another blow to efforts to replenish the country’s short supply of baby formula. Abbott on July 1 reopened its plant in Sturgis, MI, following a nearly three-week closure that stemmed from severe thunderstorms that blew through southwest Michigan. The company has restarted production of its EleCare formula, a formula for babies with digestive issues, and will begin shipping in the next few weeks. Abbott is working to restart production of its formula Similac as soon as possible. The Wall Street Journal
Sen. Cory Booker is stepping up his push to get President Joe Biden to reclassify cannabis and pardon people with convictions for nonviolent offenses related to the drug. In a letter with five of his colleagues, Booker wrote that the Biden Administration has the authority to start the process to deschedule cannabis and called its response in April to their similar request made last October “extraordinarily disappointing….The administration’s failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research, and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes. We ask that the Biden administration act quickly to rectify this decade-long injustice harming individuals, especially Black and Brown communities.” NJ1015.com
The Hoboken Planning Board allowed the Blue Violets cannabis dispensary application to proceed to a public hearing at its meeting July 7. The micro-dispensary planned for 628 Washington St. has faced questions of legality due to its proximity to two schools — Hoboken Charter School and All Saints Episcopal Day School — and the timing of its application submissions. The prospective owners said they are interpreting the boar’s decision to mean those concerns will not be used to disqualify their application. “We understand that with this decision now made, we’ll move to the full hearing and be reviewed against the ordinance we applied under in February,” said co-owner Max Thompson. The Jersey Journal
Cashless tolls went into effect at the George Washington Bridge over the weekend, which eliminated the carpool discount. For drivers who do not have an E‑ZPass, they will get their plates photographed and will be billed by mail. The Lincoln Tunnel is slated to implement the same thing by the end of the year, and it’s already been in effect the past two years at the Holland Tunnel. News12 New Jersey
Developers behind the proposed 880,000-sq.-ft. warehouse complex on Demarest Road will submit a revised site plan to the Sparta Planning Board after officials questioned parts of the initial proposal. Diamond Chip Realty agreed to submit an updated proposal for the Diamond Chip Logistics Park complex, at the request of the board’s attorney and members following several questions about the existing plan this week. Chairman Drew Reina said the application appeared to contain “material design flaws that are not congruent” with the township’s ordinance concerning a plan of that scale. New Jersey Herald
The River Edge Borough Council is looking into a $3 million plan to renovate Veterans Memorial Park to add a girls’ softball field, improve Little League fields and relocate basketball courts and a hockey rink. The plan would take a portion of the park, adjacent to the Little League field to the south, and remove the basketball courts and hockey rink, which would both be rebuilt in a later phase of the project. A girls’ softball field would replace this area. The Record
Jack Zisa won a third term as Bergen County Republican Chairman, defeating challenger Raymond Herr, 391 to 192, 67%-33%. A former mayor of Hackensack, Zisa was first elected in 2018 without opposition after Paul DiGaetano declined to seek re-election. New Jersey Globe
And finally…Actor Tony Sirico, who played unforgettable Mafia soldier Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri on “The Sopranos,” was 79 when he died Friday. NJ.com
