North Jersey was the site for a Congressional hearing seeking ways to combat violent extremism, global and domestic terrorism, and antisemitic threats. Held at the Teaneck Municipal Hall Oct. 3, Rep. Josh Gottheimer hosted the House Homeland Committee hearing in the 5th District district for a two hour plus discussion with expert witnesses who helped to connect the activities of hate groups at the center of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to the rise of bias crimes in New Jersey and nationwide. Testimony from the experts alternated between their personal experiences in confronting antisemitic, how to better combat the increase of bias groups, holding national figures accountable when they use racist and threatening language and expanding anti-racism education to inoculate young people against radicalization. “Over the last years, we’ve witnessed an alarming spike in activity from domestic extremist groups threatening our communities with violence and hate—in person, online, and deep in our communities,” said Gottheimer. “These domestic terrorists have seeped into our communities—putting our families in danger, pitting our neighbors against one another, further dividing our country.” North-JerseyNews.com
“Civil War” references have become increasingly commonplace on the right on social media, intensifying after the FBI searched Donald Trump’s home in Florida for classified documents and after President Joe Biden branded Trump and “MAGA Republicans” a threat to “the very foundations of our republic” in a speech on democracy in Philadelphia. Polling, social media studies and a rise in threats suggest that a growing number of Americans are anticipating, or even welcoming, the possibility of sustained political violence, researchers studying extremism say. What was once the subject of serious discussion only on the political periphery has migrated closer to the mainstream. The New York Times
New Jersey is on the verge of requiring many movie theaters, houses of worship and other public places to create plans for dealing with a potential active shooter and then share them to better prepare police. “We’re all too intimately aware of what’s been going on in this country and around the world in terms of acts against schools, against population centers, and even against religious institutions,” said Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-36), one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “This is a preventative bill. We believe it is a fundamentally necessary bill so that anything that would occur can, in fact, be taken care of easily and quickly.” NJ Spotlight News
One year after a dozen protesters were arrested outside Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s Wyckoff home, 11 of the 12 recently pleaded guilty to borough ordinance violations. In a statement read in court before pleading, Esther Feldman, a 19-year-old Bergenfield native, said she would not apologize for the protest that took place at the Congressman’s home. “After weeks of no response, even rallies at [Gottheimer’s] offices garnered no outreach, and so we had no choice but to bring the urgency of the crisis to his home,” Feldman said in her statement to the court. A spokesman for Gottheimer thanked law enforcement officials for their action, in an incident he described as “(crossing) the line of decency and left Josh’s family concerned for their safety.” The Record
Donald Trump’s lawyers are appealing to the Supreme Court to weigh in on the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago home. In a filing Oct. 4, Trump’s legal team said an appeals court had improperly limited a third-party arbiter’s review of the materials seized during its August search—in which agents removed some 11,000 documents from the Florida resort, including about 100 marked as classified. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta last month sided with the Justice Department and took those classified documents out of the purview of the court-appointed arbiter, or “special master,” allowing prosecutors to resume access to them. The Wall Street Journal
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Oct. 4 heard oral arguments in a case challenging an Alabama redistricting map and could potentially eliminate remaining federal safeguards against racial gerrymandering. The case, Merrill v. Milligan, considers whether the 2021 redistricting map for Alabama’s seven congressional districts violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it dilutes the collective voting power of Black voters. Black voters make up more than a quarter of the state’s population, but only one congressional district—which makes up about 17% of the state’s population—would be majority Black under the Alabama plan, drawn up by the Republican-controlled state legislature after the 2020 census. New Jersey Monitor
America’s gross national debt exceeded $31 trillion for the first time on Oct. 4. The breach of the threshold, which was revealed in a Treasury Department report, comes as historically low interest rates are being replaced with higher borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve tries to combat rapid inflation. While record levels of government borrowing to fight the pandemic and finance tax cuts were once seen by some policymakers as affordable, those higher rates are making America’s debts more costly over time. The New York Times
World trade in goods is set to slow more sharply than previously expected next year, possibly easing inflationary pressures but raising the risk of a global recession, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the surge in energy costs and rising interest rates weakening household demand, exports and imports should increase by just 1% in 2023, down from a previous forecast of 3.4%, the World Trade Organization said Oct. 5. A slowdown in trade flows driven by weakening demand could help bring down price pressures by unblocking supply chains and reducing transport costs, but comes with an increased risk that the global economy will contract. The Wall Street Journal
Supply shortages have finally caught up with the gasoline market in New Jersey. The average price for regular gasoline moved up a penny to $3.41 per gallon, according to AAA, well below the $3.81 national average. Analyst Patrick De Haan from GasBuddy.com does believe the increases will continue, as prices “could rise 10-25 cents in the next couple of weeks.” NJ1015.com
NJ Transit’s first electric bus made its debut on the street of Camden Oct. 4. The bus is the first of eight new electric buses that will undergo a year’s worth of real world testing in Camden. One of the reasons for deploying the eight buses in Camden, with future plans to test other electric buses in Newark, is to reduce the health effects of air pollution, which urban residents disproportionately bear. The Daily Record
State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-40) is sponsoring bipartisan legislation to amend the current plastic bag ban law. The proposed legislation would require stores within the state to take back excess reusable bags to either be reused or recycled as well as grocery stores to provide other delivery options, including in a cardboard box, in a container left out by the customers, or in paper bags, provided those bags were made of 40% post-consumer recycled content. “The changes we are proposing will prevent people who use grocery services from being stuck with large numbers of reusable bags they don’t need while allowing additional packaging choices that are both convenient and environmentally friendly,” said Corrado. North-JerseyNews.com
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill speeding the delivery of tax credits under New Jersey’s new child tax credit Oct. 4. The legislation corrects an error in the bill, signed in June, that would have delayed the tax credits until 2024. Parents can now receive the credits when they file taxes for the current year. The law provides for a refundable income tax credit of up to $500 for each child under the age of six. The level of the credit is based on a filer’s income. Those making $30,000 or less per year receive the full $500 credit. The credit is just $100 for those earning between $60,000 and $80,000. New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey added 12,628 voters in September and now has 6,488,266 registered voters, but Democrats still lost ground statewide, according to data released over the weekend by the New Jersey Division of Elections. The number of registered Democrats fell from 2,531,848 to 2,530,771, a loss of 1,077, while Republicans climbed from 1,524,185 to 1,525,013, an increase of 828. At this pace, the million-voter advantage that Democrats currently hold would break sometime in November. New Jersey Globe
An effort is underway to change the way Clifton’s mayor is elected to a more direct method. Clifton Citizens for Change, a non-partisan, ad hoc group, was formed for the purpose of collecting about 6,000 registered voters’ signatures needed to force a referendum that seeks to change the process so voters directly vote for a mayoral candidate. The group is also looking to stagger the elections of members of the City Council. Currently, voters elect all members of the City Council every four years, and traditionally, the highest vote-getter is appointed mayor by the elected council members. New Jersey Herald
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office will seek to combat future crime by better addressing the needs of crime victims and trauma survivors, and created a new division to head up this work. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced the new division last month—the Division of Violence Intervention and Victim Assistance (VIVA)—saying it was the culmination of the “innovative work” the state engaged in to combat violence. “Ensuring that we have a systematic, statewide approach for critical victim services is not only the right thing to do for people who have suffered pain and loss, but it is also a proven strategy for making our communities safer,” Platkin said. North-JerseyNews.com
Homelessness in Hudson County has dropped sharply, according to a statewide count conducted annually by the housing advocacy organization Monarch Housing Associates. The reduction in homeless from 882 in January 2021 to 665 this January — the point-in-time count was performed on Jan. 25 — stands in contrast to a 7.5% increase statewide (from 8,057 in 2021 to 8,754 in 2022) in homelessness. Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise credited the county’s distribution of 200 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs), from the federal government and the state, in reducing the number of homeless. Of the state’s 21 counties, Hudson had the highest “conversion rate” of those vouchers. The Jersey Journal
The Hoboken City Council plans to sell $27.5 million in bonds to fund a number of city projects. The council voted at the meeting on Oct. 3 to adopt four bond ordinances that will be used for the acquisition of a rear loader and electric vehicle charger, improvements to city parks, complete various paving, resurfacing and infrastructure improvements, water utility infrastructure improvements, transit vehicles and a parking permitting system. Hudson Reporter
And finally…Yankees’ Aaron Judge hit No. 62 last night against the Texas Rangers. NJ.com
