The final moments of the standoff between Najee Seabrooks and the Paterson Police Department captured by police body camera recordings were released March 16 by the New Jersey Attorney General’s office. The attorney general’s office said the video shows Seabrooks lunging towards the officers with a knife in his hand before he was shot. Three of the recordings captured the sound of the gunshots that killed Seabrooks. In two of those videos, he could be seen emerging from the bathroom but did not clearly show him with a knife. But the knife was visible in Seabrooks’ hand in at least one of the other recordings that showed his last minutes. NJ.com
Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Executive Director Jeff Brindle filed a lawsuit against Gov. Phil Murphy and three of his top aides, alleging a conspiracy to force Brindle out of his longtime post over his efforts to shine a light on “dark money” in politics. The lawsuit, filed in Mercer County on March 16, mostly recounts allegations that Brindle was summoned to the governor’s office in November 2022, where Parimal Garg, Chief of Staff George Helmy and Chief Ethics Officer Dominic Rota demanded he resign over an allegedly anti-gay email he authored, allegedly threatening to make the email public if Brindle refused. The lawsuit added a new allegation that the Murphy administration sought to force Brindle out over a satirical op-ed he wrote that was critical of groups that engage in political activity but do not publicly disclose the identity of their donors. PoliticoNJ
The State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee passed the delayed Elections Transparency Act on a largely party-line vote that will overhaul the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), the state’s campaign finance watchdog. ELEC’s four commissioners, who have the power to choose the executive director, are currently subject to senatorial approval. The bill would instead make them appointed directly by the governor and sweep out the three current commissioners, all of whom are on holdover status; it would also establish a $30,000 stipend for commissioners. New Jersey Globe
State Sens. Anthony Bucco (R-25) and Jon Bramnick (R-21) are teaming up to force New Jersey state agencies to simply answer the phone when Garden State residents call for help. The State Senators’ legislation would establish the independent State Office of the Consumer in the legislative branch, responsible for conducting phone call assessments of local government, school district, and state offices on routine, periodic, and random timelines. “Passing our bill is the first step in making sure New Jerseyans get the help they need in a timely manner,” said Bucco. North-JerseyNews.com
The Assembly Education Committee unanimously approved a measure that would eliminate the high school proficiency exam as a standard for graduation. New Jersey is currently one of fewer than 10 states that still require students to pass an exit exam in order to receive a diploma. “The test is really useless,” said Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-28), a sponsor of the measure. NJ1015.com
The New Jersey Department of the Treasury is arguing the state’s budget surplus is below the national average. According to the latest figures from the National Association of State Budget Officers, the national average for fund balances for states is 24.7% and the median is 26.9%. The $10 billion surplus Gov. Phil Murphy suggested in his 2023 budget address would be 18.9% of the budget. ROI-NJ.com
The biggest banks in the U.S. swooped in to rescue First Republic Bank with a flood of cash totaling $30 billion, in an effort to stop a spreading panic following a pair of recent bank failures. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. are each making a $5 billion uninsured deposit into First Republic, the banks said in a statement. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are kicking in $2.5 billion apiece, while five other banks are contributing $1 billion each. The Wall Street Journal
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Russia from March 20-22, his first visit to Russia since the country launched its invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. “President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia this time is also for peace,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin when asked whether Xi would try to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a political settlement with Ukraine. “China’s proposition can be summed up in one sentence, which is to persuade peace and promote talks.” The New York Times
State-sponsored hackers from China have developed techniques that evade common cybersecurity tools and enable them to burrow into government and business networks and spy on victims for years without detection, researchers with Google found. Over the past year, analysts at Google’s Mandiant division have discovered hacks of systems that aren’t typically the targets of cyber espionage. Instead of infiltrating systems behind the corporate firewall, they are compromising devices on the edge of the network—sometimes firewalls themselves—and targeting software built by companies such as VMware Inc. or Citrix Systems Inc. These products run on computers that don’t typically include antivirus or endpoint detection software. The Wall Street Journal
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin this week issued a new, statewide law enforcement directive that aims to help preserve DNA evidence collected in sexual assault cases, expanded to 20 years from the current five-year period. The directive intends to ensure sexual assault survivors have access to medical, investigative, and supportive services they need. “We recognize that sexual assault is one of the most traumatic events an individual may experience and it is imperative that we preserve survivors’ right to pursue justice at a time when they feel ready,” said Platkin. North-JerseyNews.com
An international team of virus experts said on March 16 they found genetic data from a market in Wuhan linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the worst pandemic in a century could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade. The genetic data was drawn from swabs taken from in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market starting in January 2020, shortly after the Chinese authorities had shut down the market because of suspicions that it was linked to the outbreak of a new virus. By then, the animals had been cleared out, but researchers swabbed walls, floors, metal cages and carts often used for transporting animal cages. The New York Times
The Catholic Archdiocese of Newark is lifting coronavirus pandemic restrictions on drinking Communion from a shared chalice as of April 6. Parishes can then begin offering the traditional “Blood of Christ” for worshippers at Mass. The diocese, home to 1.3 million worshippers in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties, encouraged churches to restore other traditions that have been curtailed during the pandemic, such as the use of lay readers during Mass. The Record
Leaders of the state’s Catholic dioceses have all issued dispensations this year allowing worshippers to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day. “For those members of the faithful celebrating this Solemnity and who desire it, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin has dispensed the penitential obligation to abstain from meat on Friday, March 17,” the Newark Archdiocese announced in a statement on its website. “A substitution should be made in the form of fasting, prayer and/or almsgiving.” The Daily Record
A mile of Lakeview Avenue in Clifton, from Crooks Avenue to Clifton Avenue, will get a redesign to improve safety using a $5.8 million federal grant awarded to Passaic County. This is the second grant for Lakeview Avenue—the first grant of $8.8 million was received in 2020 and was to improve Lakeview Avenue from Crooks Avenue to Market Street in Paterson. That funding comes from the federal government’s Highway Safety Improvement Program, part of a bundle of $188.3 million for 19 projects approved by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. The Record
The head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection laid out general plans for the revitalization of Liberty State Park March 16, but he was specific in saying there would be no major commercialization or privatization of the state park on the Hudson River waterfront. That includes no plans for a a 5,000-seat sports arena or f a 7,000-seat concert venue. The Jersey Journal
And finally…15th seeded Princeton pulled off the upset in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. when they defeated Arizona 59-54. The Record
