As President Joe Biden stepped up to deliver the State of the Union, Americans are increasingly skeptical about the direction of the country and unhappy with the current leadership in Washington. Barely four in ten Americans believe the state of the union is strong, falling from a majority who felt it was in 2018, according to a Monmouth University Poll released Feb. 7. Public opinion on the job the Congress is doing overall stands at 19%; President Biden has a job approval rating of 43% approve—nearly 20 points better than any other leader in Washington. But most alarming is that only 24% of respondents believe America is headed in the right direction. North-JerseyNews.com
President Joe Biden challenged the new House Republican majority to work together with him to “finish the job” of repairing America’s unsettled economy and fragile democracy even as GOP lawmakers geared up to try to force him to change course. Heckled during the State of the Union address when he spoke about fentanyl and when he accused Republicans of threatening Social Security and Medicare, Biden said “fighting for the sake of the fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere… we’ve been sent here to finish the job, in my view.” The New York Times
North Jersey lawmakers had different takeaways to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union depending on what side of the aisle they reside. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. said after the address that President Biden “missed a crucial opportunity to choose a better path forward for our country tonight (by) doubling-down on the policies that have failed Americans the past two years.” Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Pascrell offered that the President “effectively framed the two competing visions of our country. The President has laid a blueprint for America’s tomorrow that builds on these successes and we are acting upon it.” North-JerseyNews.com
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) called embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) “a sick puppy” who should resign after positioning himself in a prime camera-ready spot during the State of the Union. “I didn’t expect that he’d be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and the president of the United States,” Romney said afterward to reporters who asked about the incident, which was captured on camera and erupted on social media. “Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the President and people coming into the room.” The New York Times
The Howell veteran who accused Rep. George Santos of scamming him out of money raised for his dying dog has been interviewed by the FBI, he said. Richard Osthoff—a U.S. Navy veteran—has accused Santos of pocketing money he was supposed to be raising to help the veteran save his dying service dog in 2016, saying that Santos was operating under a different name then. New Jersey Herald
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare trip abroad to the U.K. Feb. 8, as he steps up demands for more military aid amid a mounting Russian offensive and divisions in the West over whether to give his country a host of new weapons, including jet fighters. The British government said it would begin training Ukrainian jet-fighter pilots and marines as well as provide Ukraine with longer-range capabilities to strike Russian targets. The Wall Street Journal
Transporting international aid and rescue workers to the quake-stricken areas of Turkey and Syria has become a huge logistical hurdle as time is running out to find survivors, two days after an earthquake hit the two countries and left more than 11,100 dead. Crews have rescued more than 8,000 people in Turkey alone. But the chances of unearthing people still alive in the heaps of rubble dropped quickly as the third day of rescue efforts dawned on Feb. 8. The situation in Syria is even more dire, relief officials said, as there is a severe lack of fuel, the authorities do not have enough machinery to dig through the debris, and frequent power cuts are making it difficult to keep clinics running. The New York Times
China’s defense minister rejected a request from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak immediately after the U.S. downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Both governments have kept some channels open—the U.S. State Department said it notified Beijing after the downing of the balloon. In return, a Chinese vice foreign minister lodged a protest with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington said its top diplomat did the same with the State Department on Feb. 7. The Wall Street Journal
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-27) will not seek re-election to the seat she’s held since 2007, becoming the 15th member of the New Jersey Legislature to give up their seats in advance of this year’s midterm election and the 10th to retire from the legislature entirely. The 71-year-old chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, Jasey was first elected in a 2007 special election convention to replace Assemblyman Mims Hackett, who resigned after his arrest on bribery charges. New Jersey Globe
Mendham Township former Committeeman Thomas Baio voluntarily dismissed his election challenge against Lauren Spirig, the Democrat who defeated him, after a Superior Court judge dismissed his election challenge. “I am absolutely thrilled that this very long process is over, and now we can focus on the business of serving the community,” Spirig said after the hearing had concluded. “I’m excited that democracy prevailed.” Spirig defeated Baio, a first-term Republican committeeman, in last year’s election by a two-vote margin, 1,473 to 1,471. A recount was held at Baio’s request, but it didn’t change the result, instead removing one vote from Baio’s count and increasing Spirig’s margin to three votes. The Daily Record
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora is calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to require state government employees to return to work in person full time to boost local businesses nearly three years after the coronavirus pandemic began upending daily lives. Gusciora said he wants to “make the capital city relevant,” noting that local merchants frequently tell him how much business they’ve lost because many state workers are still allowed to work part-time at home. NJ.com
The percentage of homeschooled students in New Jersey quadrupled during the 2020-2021 school year, according to data released by the state Department of Education. But the number of homeschoolers in the state is only a quarter of a percent of all school students, or about 5,326 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Home-schooling organizations note that the increases in enrollment seen during the pandemic have not dissipated since public schools reopened. NJ Spotlight News
Bogota voters will be asked next month to decide on a $20 million bond measure for new school district athletic fields, art classrooms, science labs and media centers, and the renovation of a former Masonic lodge to use for a technical studies program. School officials say the improvements are necessary for the growing district, which has experienced a jump in enrollment in recent years, and whose aging school buildings first opened more than a century ago. The Record
School districts throughout the state began applying for construction grants to upgrade their campuses and as a way to keep taxes down in local communities. The Murphy Administration is offering a total of $350 million in grants for high-priority capital projects to the over 550 school districts in New Jersey. The grants, made possible through legislation signed in 2022, are being offered to address critical operational building needs—including school facilities projects, emergent needs, and capital maintenance requirements. “The Debt Defeasance Fund provides a financial cushion that protects taxpayers as well as resources for investments in primary needs, including school construction, repairs and upgrades,” said State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-36). North-JerseyNews.com
Most civil and divorce trials in six New Jersey counties will soon be suspended until further notice as the state continues to be plagued by a high number of judicial vacancies, the state’s chief justice announced Feb. 7. The counties affected are Hunterdon, Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem, Somerset, and Warren. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner warned that halting cases in other parts of the Garden State could be on the horizon and called on Gov. Phil Murphy and top state lawmakers to address the “crisis” by appointing more judges. The Record
Sen. Bob Menendez, along with 27 of his U.S. Senate colleagues, introduced legislation Feb. 7 to ban high-capacity magazines, which can be used on the type of semi-automatic firearm that is typically used in most mass shootings. The bill, known as the Keep Americans Safe Act, if passed into law would authorize a buyback program for high-capacity magazines, using grants, and require any devices manufactured after the law passes to have serial numbers engraved on them and the date of manufacture in order to help law enforcement identify restricted magazines. The bill would grandfather in high-capacity magazines that were purchased before the law goes into effect. New Jersey Monitor
People won’t be allowed to carry a gun inside an Atlantic City casino despite a recent order from a federal judge that dealt another blow to New Jersey’s sweeping new concealed carry restrictions. The Casino Association of New Jersey that represent all nine gambling meccas announced Feb, 6 that “the safety and well-being of our guests and employees is a top priority for the Atlantic City casino industry. Considering the Court Order temporarily restraining enforcement of the State law prohibiting the carrying of concealed firearms in public places, including casinos, all of the Atlantic City casinos are exercising their rights, as private property owners, to prohibit the carrying of firearms on their premises.” NJ.com
And finally…The Killers and the Foo Fighters will headline the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park this September. NJ1015.com
