A majority of New Jersey residents continue to approve of the job Gov. Phil Murphy is doing. That’s according to the most recent Monmouth University Poll released Jan. 11, which found the current governor enjoyed a 53% approval rating among New Jersey residents; 35% of those polled said they disapproved of Murphy. When dissected by registered voters, 52% approved of the current governor while 36% disapproved. These results were both in line with ratings over the past two years, including before and after his re-election victory in 2021. North-JerseyNews.com
Gov. Phil Murphy gave “a cold-blooded assessment” of the economic challenges facing New Jersey, predicting a meaningful, but shallow, short-lived recession in remarks at the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey event in Mount Laurel Jan. 11. “We all have to accept the fact when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates at the clip that they’re raising them, and (when) we’re dealing with real inflation and affordability challenges that we haven’t seen in 40 years, not only do we have to acknowledge that there’s pain at the kitchen table, but it’s axiomatic that the economy is going to slow down,” he said. “What’s around the corner is what we have to be concerned about.” ROI-NJ.com
Inflation continued to slow on an annual basis in December. The Consumer Price Index climbed by 6.5% in the year through last month, down from 7.1% in the 2022 November reading, as prices declined slightly on a monthly basis. The annual inflation rate was the slowest since October 2021, a pullback that came as gas prices dropped and airfares declined. Economists and Fed officials are more acutely focused on a so-called core inflation measure, which removes food and fuel prices to get a sense of underlying price trends. That measure climbed by 5.7% in December from a year earlier, compared with 6.0% previously and in line with what forecasters had expected. The New York Times
The State of New Jersey issued a new cybersecurity directive to prohibit the use of high-risk software and services on state devices, including the popular social media video platform TikTok. Gov. Phil Murphy positioned the directive as a way to protect the safety and welfare of New Jersey, stating “the proactive and preventative measures that we are implementing today will ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and safety of information assets managed by New Jersey State government. This decisive action will ensure the cybersecurity of the state is unified against actors who may seek to divide us.” North-JerseyNews.com
Senior House Republicans plan to introduce legislation Jan. 12 to ban federal employees from pressuring internet platforms to suppress lawful speech. The bill addresses what its supporters claim to be efforts by the Biden Administration to influence content on social-media platforms, including attempts to block speech on COVID-19 vaccines that runs counter to White House policy. It would bar federal employees from ordering or advocating for “the removal or suppression of lawful speech” from internet platforms. The Wall Street Journal
President Joe Biden’s aides have reportedly found a new batch of classified documents at a second location. It is not clear where or when the records were recovered. But President Biden’s aides have scoured various places since November 2022, when his lawyers discovered a handful of classified files, including briefing materials on foreign countries, as they closed a think tank office in Washington. The Justice Department is reviewing the discovery to determine how to proceed. The New York Times
Two Palisades Park employees are suing the borough and a former mayor, accusing him of discrimination, political retaliation and breaking their employment contracts. Borough Administrator David Lorenzo and Director of Public Works and Deputy Borough Administrator Austin Ashley recently filed separate lawsuits within days of each other. Lorenzo and Ashley, who serves as the Democratic club’s treasurer, say they were targeted after choosing not to endorse former Mayor Christopher Chung, who lost the Democratic Party’s support in the 2022 primary election. The Record
State Sen. Jean Stanfield (R-8) won’t pursue reelection. “Most of my adult life has been dedicated to public service, and I’ll be forever grateful to have those opportunities and to the people who helped me along the way. This will be my last year in public office. It’s time to see what else life has in store,” Stanfield said, who served as an assemblywoman in 2019 and was elected to the Senate in 2021. Prior to entering the statehouse, she was the sheriff of Burlington County for 18 years. InsiderNJ.com
Republican officials in New York said Rep. George Santos (R-NY) should resign from Congress amid investigations into the freshman lawmaker, who has faced scrutiny for his campaign finances and lies he told during his campaign. In a tweet, Santos said he would not resign. “I was elected to serve the people of [my district] not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living.” The Wall Street Journal
Along party lines, the House approved a measure on Jan. 11 that could subject doctors who perform abortions to criminal penalties. The measure, the second policy bill Republicans have brought to the floor since taking control, would require that infants born alive after an attempted abortion receive the same protection under the law and degree of care as any newborn, and threaten medical providers with up to five years in prison for failing to resuscitate babies born alive during abortions. The New York Times
A new drug delivery van will provide driveway service to clients of Zufall Health Center through a federal grant secured by Rep. Josh Gottheimer which provides three years of assistance for a driver and two pharmacists staffing the new vehicle. Zufall has seven clinics in northern New Jersey providing medical, dental and behavioral health services to underserved families and individuals in Northwestern Jersey. The van service began in November 2022 with a second-hand vehicle repurposed for drug deliveries. The new van will include refrigerated cases to deliver drugs, as well as hold vaccinations for the pop-up clinics which Zufall holds. New Jersey Herald
As part of a nationwide settlement with pharmacies CVS, Walgreens and Walmart and drug makers Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan, New Jersey will receive up to $508.1 million over claims that the companies helped to fuel the nation’s opioid crisis. The state and its municipalities would receive a maximum of $143 million from Walgreens, $131.5 million from CVS, $99.8 million from Teva, $74.4 million from Walmart, and $59.4 million from Allergan. The settlement directs the funds to be used to prevent opioid misuse, addiction and overdose deaths and related programs. NJ.com
New Jersey will be the first state to receive an EPA loan under the new State Infrastructure Financing Authority Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (SWIFIA) program. The federal agency will send $500 million to the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank to modernize wastewater and drinking water systems in the Garden State. “This funding will create hundreds of jobs and advance water infrastructure projects to address contaminants in drinking water, install water filtration systems, and replace lead pipes across our state,” added Sen. Cory Booker. North-JerseyNews.com
New Jersey officials say they’re contemplating a new tax break designed to lure companies interested in having their staff work from home rather than in the office full time. Under the broad outlines sketched by New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan, the state would offer tax breaks to companies willing to buy small, satellite offices in New Jersey to serve as occasional workspaces for their local employees. Currently, those employees may be classified as working in New York, Philadelphia or wherever else their main offices are located. Under Murphy’s vision, they’d be considered New Jersey workers, steering more tax revenue toward the Garden State. The Daily Record
A second wind energy firm has signed on to lease space at the New Jersey Wind Port. Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind on Jan. 11 signed a letter of intent that will eventually see the firm lease 35 acres of the offshore wind marshaling port in Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County. The firm, a joint venture between Shell New Energies and a renewable energy subsidiary of the French utility EDF group, also holds a contract to stand up a 1.5-gigawatt wind energy plant miles off of New Jersey’s eastern shore. New Jersey Monitor
A state law requiring large companies in New Jersey to pay their workers severance during mass layoffs will soon go into effect in 90 days. The new severance-pay mandate — which includes the requirement that companies with 100 or more employees pay severance whenever a mass layoff includes 50 or more employees — was originally drafted by state lawmakers in 2018, as a response to mass closures that had hit the Wayne-based Toys ‘R’ Us retail chain. NJ Spotlight News
When students return to the campuses of Rutgers University next week to begin the Spring semester, they will not be required to mask-up. Faculty unions have lost their case to allow individual professors to decide if masks would be required in their classrooms and lecture halls. In a unanimous decision, the state Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) ruled in favor of school officials’ decision to universally lift the mask mandate. NJ1015.com
The bike-sharing service Citi Bike has increased its fees, citing inflation, supply chains disruptions and shipping costs. Popular in both Hoboken and Jersey City, non-member single-ride fees increased from $3.99 to $4.49 on Jan. 5. Day passes and annual memberships will be increasing on Jan. 29, with day passes increasing from $15 to $19, and annual memberships rising from $185 to $205. The Jersey Journal
Newark Liberty International Airport is still feeling the effects from Jan. 11’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) computer outage. The FAA says the technical issues were caused by a damaged database file. The system went down after 8 p.m. the previous night and the backup did not work. Most of the delays at Newark Liberty airport on Wednesday were at least 60 to 90 minutes. Others were over four hours. Those delays continued into Thursday morning. News12 New Jersey
After a delay last month, Newark airport’s new Terminal A opens today. The $2.7 billion Terminal A finally opens to air travelers after its opening was delayed from Dec. 8 to square away issues with fire alarms and other safety systems. NJ.com
And finally…Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were spotted rehearsing at N.J. theater for their new tour. NJ.com
