Explaining the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature banks. The federal government took over the California-based Silicon Valley Bank that catered to the tech industry on March 10, the first bank to fail in the U.S. since 2008. On March 8, SVB’s parent company said it would undertake a $2.25 billion share sale after selling $21 billion of securities from its portfolio at a nearly $2 billion loss. Meant to shore up its balance sheet, it actually had the opposite effect as clients began to withdraw their money. Days later, New York state regulators shut down Signature Bank, which had become an important lender in the crypto industry. North-JerseyNews.com
Biden Administration officials entered last weekend unsure of whether the federal government needed to explicitly rescue Silicon Valley Bank’s depositors before markets opened on Monday morning. In the White House and the Treasury, some officials initially saw the bank’s swift plunge to insolvency as unlikely to spark an economic crisis—particularly if the government could facilitate a sale of the bank to another financial institution. They quickly changed their minds after signs of nascent bank runs across the country—and direct appeals from small businesses and lawmakers from both parties—convinced them the bank’s problems could imperil the entire financial system, not just rich investors in Silicon Valley. The New York Times
Investors resumed their search for shelter from the banking storm, after shares of Credit Suisse fell sharply, leading other European bank stocks lower as retail sales in the U.S. declined in February. U.S. stock futures slid, with all three major indexes down around 1%. A rebound in regional bank stocks also lost steam and investors resumed their flight to government bonds, with yields falling across the board. Spending at stores, online and in restaurants fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in February, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. January sales were revised up to a 3.2% gain. The Wall Street Journal
Gov. Phil Murphy said the mini-banking crisis is a reason for states to have a large reserve like the one he has proposed in his Financial Year 2024 budget. “If we were to spend this money down right now, it wouldn’t be available to mitigate even a slight recession,” said Murphy at the ReNew Jersey Business Summit & Exposition at Harrah’s in Atlantic City March 14. “That’s exactly the way the prior government, governors and legislators acted. It’s exactly why in past recessions we were slow to act, and even slower to recover.” ROI-NJ.com
Morris County Republican Committee chairwoman Laura Ali denounced a social media post by a candidate for 24th Legislative District for its lewdness. Warren County Commissioner Jason Sarnoski wrote an instagram post Feb. 27 about Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia’s support for the gas tax that in part stated “Dawn was more than happy to bend over to the special interests,” and “protect your wallets from the sticky fingers of big daddy government.” Ali stated that “no man running for office would ever be subject to this kind of lewd, sexual innuendo, but for some reason Commissioner Sarnoski thinks it’s okay to apply them to Dawn Fantasia…I am sorry, this is no coincidence. This sexually-charged language is intentional.” North-JerseyNews.com
A Princeton University student was arrested March 14 on charges that he joined other rioters in pushing against police officers guarding an entrance to the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack, court records show. Larry Fife Giberson, 21, of Manahawkin was at the front line of the mob’s fight against police in a tunnel when one of the officers was briefly crushed between rioters and tunnel doors, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. Giberson waved other rioters into the tunnel before joining a second round of “heave ho” pushing against police and allegedly tried in vain to start a chant of “Drag them out!” while cheering on rioters using weapons and pepper spray against police in the tunnel. NJ1015.com
Protesters voiced their outrage and frustration over the police fatal shooting of Najee Seabrooks at a Paterson city council meeting March 14. The highly charged night included a near-confrontation between Councilman Michael Jackson and Paterson Finance Director Javier Silva as well as Councilwoman Lilisa Mimms accusing Business Administrator Kathleen Long of making a disparaging comment. The turmoil overshadowed comments by people who came to demand punishment of the police officers involved in the Seabrooks shooting, as well as the release of video recordings of the incident. The Record
The man accused of the attempted murder of two New Jersey State Troopers in Paterson was stopped by police canvassing the area less than an hour after he wounded one of the officers but evaded capture because he ditched a disguise, according to court documents. Surveillance video and a cooperating witness who identified him by name led detectives to Jocquise R. Timmons, who was arrested after authorities launched a national search that ended in South Carolina a day later, according to a police affidavit. NJ.com
A Russian warplane struck a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on March 14, hitting the drone’s propeller and causing its American operators to bring it down in international waters, according to the Pentagon, in the first known physical contact between the Russian and American militaries since the war in Ukraine started last February. The downing of the MQ-9 Reaper immediately escalated tensions between the White House and the Kremlin as U.S. officials accused the Russian forces involved in the incident of behaving dangerously. The New York Times
A federal judge is set to hear arguments in Texas March 15 on whether to block sales of a medication used in more than half of the abortions in the U.S., the first public hearing in a case that has drawn national attention. Antiabortion medical groups and individual physicians filed a lawsuit in November, arguing that the Food and Drug Administration exceeded its authority when it approved the sale of the abortion-inducing pill known as mifepristone under a process meant for treatments of serious or life-threatening illnesses. The judge is now weighing whether to issue a preliminary injunction blocking sales of the pill while litigation continues. The Wall Street Journal
Saddle Brook School District has received voter approval to borrow funds through a bond referendum to fix its current school buildings and update safety features, according to preliminary election results. With the passage of the bond referendum, the school district can now finance the $14.4 million project costs with the assistance of $4.2 million in state aid to help offset the cost to taxpayers. Among the projects include an athletic turf field and lights at the middle/high school, renovations at Washington Elementary School and interior restoration of Coolidge School. InsiderNJ.com
Jersey City public school district’s proposed budget for the 2023-24 school year surpassed $1 billion for the first time ever, but the school tax is expected to fall. The district said it has a $77 million surplus from the current school year and plans to use $89 million it was awarded in Maintenance of Equity funding, money the U.S. Department of Education told state officials must be distributed to ensure that its poorest school districts “receive at least the same amount of funding in fiscal year 2022 and 2023 as provided in fiscal year 2019.” Residents with a home valued at $470,000 would see a $51 decrease in taxes if the budget is approved. The Jersey Journal
Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, will be added to the Ramapo Indian Hills high school calendar for 2023-2024. Superintendent Rui Dionisio said a day will be added to the end of the school year to accommodate the new holiday usually falling in April. It is unclear if the grade schools of the sending districts in Franklin Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff will add Eid al-Fitr to their calendars as well. The Record
Residents of Newark’s South Ward, who asked for rail service as part of a proposed PATH line extension to serve Newark Airport, will get a rail station sooner and not have to wait for the larger project to be funded and built. Port Authority commissioners are scheduled to vote March 16 on authorizing $12 million for preliminary design and planning work for a new South Ward multi-modal station on the Northeast Corridor Line to serve south Newark and Elizabeth, dubbed the EWR Station Access Project. However, it will be a NJ Transit train taking them to and from the airport instead of PATH. NJ.com
Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a bill championed by Assemblyman Kevin Rooney (R-40) that brings clarity to E-ZPass toll discounts. The bill, signed March 13, directs the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to notify existing and potential customers of toll discounts advertised by operators outside its jurisdiction that may not be available for New Jersey users. Currently, the existing website lists available plans and honored discounts by agencies that control some interstates and bridges that connect New Jersey to Delaware and New York. “The assumption E-ZPass customers have is that as a customer, they are entitled to any advertised discounts. That makes sense, but is incorrect, as prices are set by each individual agency that uses E-ZPass, as are discount parameters. The disparities can be quite steep,” said Rooney, who will be retiring at the ned of this term. North-JerseyNews.com
Nearly 1 in 6 New Jersey legislators will not seek another term this year, and the exodus from Trenton may grow still before a March 27 election filing deadline. Altogether, 17 seated lawmakers have said they will not seek another term in the Legislature, a swell of retirements poised to be the largest in decades. “Once the districts have been redrawn and it’s tougher and you’re going to have to learn a whole new district, you’re going to have to work a lot harder to get reelected,” said FDU’s Dan Cassino. “That’s a different proposition, and it can make retirement seem a lot more compelling.” New Jersey Monitor
A federal judge pushed Sean Caddle’s sentencing for his role in a murder-for-hire scheme to June 29, the third delay since the ex-political consultant pleaded guilty in January 2022 to hiring two hitmen to murder Michael Galdieri. Caddle has been under house arrest with electronic monitoring since his guilty plea. He is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s office on a different investigation. The judge ordered Caddle’s attorney and prosecutors to confer on the issue of a new co-signor of a $1 million unsecured bond no later than next Tuesday due to the death of Caddle’s mother, Diane, who died in in a car accident Feb. 27, who had been co-signor of his bond. New Jersey Globe
An appeal seeking to reverse the appointment for a vacant Palisades Park Borough Council seat was denied by the state Superior Court’s Appellate Division on March 14. A council vacancy was created when Chong “Paul” Kim, then a Democratic councilman, 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, due to the timing of when the seat opened. Last month, state Superior Court Judge Peter Geiger ruled for the committee and its selection of Suk Min, just hours before the Feb. 27 council meeting. The Record
Aiming to create a “gateway” to the city, Hoboken officials are envisioning transforming a downtown CVS pharmacy and an adjacent parking lot into a massive mixed-used development a block from the Hoboken Terminal and just across the street from City Hall. Officially titled the Washington Observer Gateway Redevelopment Plan, city officials envision two new buildings, a pedestrian plaza and potentially a performing arts center on a 70,000-square-foot, L-shaped block at Newark and Washington streets. The Jersey Journal
And finally…FDU will face off against No. 16 seed Texas Southern in a NCAA Men’s Basketball play in game tonight. The Record
