Gov. Phil Murphy highlighted his plan to increase school aid by an additional $1 billion dollars over last year’s budget, bringing the total school aid package to $20.5 billion in school funding. In North Jersey, all seven counties are slated to receive more state aid then they did last year. Essex County will receive the most aid at $1.8 billion, a rise of 9.5%. Morris County will have the largest percentage increase at 16.1%, receiving $30.6 million more from last year for an overall total of $220.9 million. In order of greatest aid after Essex, Passaic County will receive $1.0 billion, up 7.7%, followed by Hudson County at $810.6 million (up 0.7%), Bergen County at $451.2 million (up 13.4%), Warren County at $111.6 million (up 6.1%), and Sussex County at $82.5 million (up 2.2%). North-JerseyNews.com
A Toni Morrison novel that a New Jersey parent said was “emotionally traumatizing” for children to read in a ninth grade English class is no longer part of the curriculum—a move that’s caused a stir in the community and some calls for reconsideration. The discussion surrounding “The Bluest Eye” started last year, when a parent lodged a complaint with Washington Township High School officials saying the book’s depictions of child sexual abuse and incest were inappropriate for the ninth grade honors students that have had it as an assigned reading since at least 2018. NJ.com
OPINION: Fox News Leadership Proves They Are Not Journalists. For those of us who cherish straight news, something we here have strived to provide as we start our fourth year, it has been a disheartening week. It started with the revelations from the Fox News depositions in regards to the Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. But it is the actions that Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch, owner of the channel and other conservative outlets, did in the lead up to the election that forever removes any credibility the channel will have until new ownership and management is in place. He confirmed that he gave Jared Kushner “confidential information” about then-candidate Joe Biden’s ads “along with debate strategy” in 2020, a filing said, offering Donald Trump’s son-in-law “a preview of Biden’s ads before they were public.” North-JerseyNews.com
Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker joined their New York counterparts to advocate for new legislation that would close the funding gap in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP). Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and other legislators announced on Feb. 28 the bipartisan 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2023 to ensure the WTCHP is fully funded. “We made a promise 22 years ago to never forget the events of 9/11. That means making sure that all survivors and first responders who endured the tragedy are cared for,” said Booker. North-JerseyNews.com
President Joe Biden this week will release his annual budget blueprint that is expected to map out a plan to lower the deficit by $2 trillion over 10 years and extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by at least two decades, pledging to achieve those goals without cutting Social Security or Medicare benefits or raising taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year. President Biden is expected to call for raising taxes on wealthier people, including a plan to impose minimum taxes on very wealthy Americans who often pay little in taxes if they don’t sell their investments and realize income, and corporations to help pay for his proposals. The Wall Street Journal
Rep. Josh Gottheimer recently announced two bipartisan bills aimed at incentivizing more research in rare diseases. One of the bills would give companies longer exclusivity to sell drugs for a rare disease. The other bill would restore the so-called Orphan Drug Tax Credit, which gives companies tax breaks for research and development in rare diseases. NJ Spotlight News
President Joe Biden told a crowd gathered to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday that the right to vote was “under assault” as Republicans have introduced laws to restrict ballot access and redraw voting districts. President Biden took aim at efforts by Republican politicians—most notably Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is pondering running for president in 2024—to restrict how race-related issues are taught. “We can’t just choose what we want to know and what we should know,” he said. “We should learn everything. The good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation. Everyone should know the truth of Selma.” The New York Times
State Sen. Gordon Johnson (D-37) has released a bill that would phase out New Jersey’s Prohibition-era liquor license limits over the next six years that includes laxer rules for breweries and wineries, provisions that would allow towns to reclaim inactive licenses, and tax credits for existing license holders. If approved, the bill would loosen New Jersey’s license limits by 10% at a time until being phased out altogether in January 2029. New Jersey Monitor
When it comes to modifying New Jersey’s plastic bag ban, residents continue to be fairly split. A recent Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) Poll, found 40% said the existing ban should remain as is. Smaller numbers called for it to be modified (26%) or overturned entirely (33%). The FDU Poll found a partisan bent in the results, with Democrats largely wanting to keep the ban intact while most Republicans wanted to see it overturned. “When the ban passed last year, it was contentious, but politicians figured that people would get used to it,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the director of the poll. “Nine months later, people are still arguing about it.” North-JerseyNews.com
The American manufacturing sector is starting to show signs of weakness after two years of strong growth, as higher interest rates and a slowdown in exports threaten production. The Fed’s aggressive pace of interest-rate increases to fight inflation has made it more expensive to borrow for big-ticket items such as consumer appliances or business machinery. The combination of elevated inflation and high interest rates has made some consumers think twice about buying big-ticket items such as power tools. The Wall Street Journal
The wreckage from a Norfolk Southern train derailment on March 4 in Ohio — the second such crash in the state in just over a month — was cleaned up by Sunday afternoon as investigators set out to determine what led 28 cars to leave the tracks. No hazardous materials were involved in the derailment, which happened about 80 miles northeast of Cincinnati, officials said. The New York Times
Environmental authorities ordered a Texas chemical company last week to design a cleanup plan for a 9-mile stretch of the polluted Passaic River whose remediation has been tied up for years because of a dispute over who will pay for the massive project. Under the order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Occidental Chemical Corp. must perform what is likely a multi-year investigation of a portion of the river below the Dundee Dam, which spans the river between Garfield and the city of Passaic, including sampling the contaminated riverbed. The Record
Incumbents were the big winners March 4 as the Morris County Republican selected their choice for the county line in this year’s June primary. During the GOP’s Committee Convention, District 26 State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio easily tuned back a challenge by Morris County Commissioner Tom Mastrangelo, while County Commissioner Director Tayfun Selen held off two challengers, former Congressional candidate Paul DeGroot and Anthony Somma. Other results included District 26 Assemblymen incumbents Jay Webber and Brian Bergen winning by a wide margin over former Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce and the ticket headed by Assemblyman Parker Space, running for State Senate in the 24th Legislative District, winning by a wide margin over a slate headed by former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan. The Daily Record
Former Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee is exploring a bid for the open State Assembly seat in the 28th district, setting up a possible off-the-line Democratic primary challenge in a solidly-Democratic district. Essex County Democrats have tapped Garnet Hall, the deputy county clerk and the Maplewood Democratic municipal vice chair, as their candidate to replace Mila Jasey (D-28), a seven-term assemblywoman who is not seeking re-election. McGehee, a 50-year-old corporate marketing executive, was elected to the Maplewood Township Committee in 2016 and re-elected in 2019. He served as mayor from 2020 to 2022, with the COVID-19 pandemic occupying much of his term. New Jersey Globe
Palisades Park council members will appeal a judge’s ruling on a vacant council seat that was ultimately filled by the town’s Democratic Committee. A council vacancy was created when Democratic Councilman Chong “Paul” Kim won a mayoral election in November 2022. The center of the legal battle is who was allowed to make the final decision on the vacancy, the Democratic County Committee or three members of the council, who believe former councilman Andy Min sworn in during a Jan. 31 council meeting, is the rightful councilman for the vacancy, due to the timing of when the seat opened. Suk Min, the resident whom the Palisades Park Democratic County Committee selected to fill the vacant seat, took his council seat last week after the judge’s ruling. The Record
Energy company PSE&G is going to pay for putting Hoboken residents and businesses through a grueling three-day water main break last week. In an online update, Mayor Ravi Bhalla thanked residents for their patience and volunteers for their service, and then went after the power company whose contractor ruptured the 16-inch main at Observer Highway and Madison Street. The Jersey Journal
New Jersey officials are rolling out a plan to stop deaths at recently identified “overdose hotspots.” For the next six months, state Department of Health officials said they will be teaming with community organizations to spread education and resources such as naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips to quell deadly overdoses in at-risk areas. The outreach initiative will prioritize areas with high rates of overdose among Black residents, such as urban communities in Passaic, Camden, Atlantic, Monmouth and Essex counties. The Record
A dead 30-foot humpback whale that turned up at an Ocean County beach last week showed signs of being struck by a vessel, according to the results of a necropsy. Investigators found several injuries both on the inside and outside of the animal—wounds including a fractured skull, bruising on the head, and cuts on the whale’s right side likely caused by a propeller strike. At least 13 whales have washed up along the New Jersey or New York coastline since December. NJ1015.com
And finally…FDU men’s basketball team earned an NCAA Tournament berth after a stunning turnaround. The Record
