Gov. Phil Murphy and state Democrat legislators agreed to a deal restoring over half of the school aid funding cut announced earlier this month. The bill, passed by the State Senate March 20, allows school districts that will see a reduction in school aid in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget to request an additional amount of aid equal to 66% of the difference between the amount they received last school year. The restoration total is $102 million. “Now is not the time for more uncertainty, nor the time for districts to be asked to do with less at the precise moment they are trying to recover some sense of normalcy,” said State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11), chair of the State Senate Education Committee. “This restoration of funding will ease some of those pressures.” North-JerseyNews.com
State education aid cuts are making property tax bills rise in New Jersey’s development-restricted northern Highlands, including West Milford, Lakeland Regional, Ringwood, Wanaque and Bloomingdale school districts. Ringwood’s school board this month proposed a budget that would usher a $132 tax increase to support the 2023-24 school budget, while West Milford residents would be hit with a $235 increase and cuts more than a dozen teaching positions. The Daily Record
The Sparta Board of Education voted 6-3 to approve a preliminary budget that would raise taxes by $258 for the average homeowner but keep educational programs intact despite rising costs. Sparta is dealing with increases in areas such as transportation and staff contracts, along with the loss of grants now that emergency COVID funding from the federal government is running out. “These are the challenges that we faced when we went to create the budget: how do we maintain programming, maintain as much staffing as we can to maintain that programming, yet make up for these losses or for these raises?” Superintendent Matt Beck said. New Jersey Herald
Executive Director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Jeff Brindle filed a lawsuit against Gov. Phil Murphy and members of his inner circle, alleging “a conspiracy” to force Brindle out of his longtime post over an alleged anti-gay email attributed to Brindle as well as a satirical op-ed article titled” How Not to Enter Politics (A Satire).” On Nov. 1, 2022, Brindle was summoned to a meeting in the governor’s office with Murphy chief of staff George Helmy, Chief Counsel Parimal Garg and Chief Ethics Officer Dominic Rota where he alleges they demanded that he resign over the email. “Such actions by Rota were illegal and illicit in that they represented a direct form of interference in the independent operation of ELEC that is to be insulated from control or supervision by any other agency or officials of the state,” the lawsuit filed March 16 asserts. North-JerseyNews.com
The State Senate approved a controversial overhaul of New Jersey’s campaign finance system that could allow lawmakers to enact larger contribution limits and weakened oversight in advance of this year’s legislative elections. The bill, which cleared the 21-vote threshold needed to pass the Senate in a 23 to 12 vote that fell mostly along party lines March 20, would increase the amount political donors can contribute to campaigns and parties, remove towns’ ability to enact their own pay-to-play laws, and allow the governor to appoint new commissioners to the state’s campaign finance watchdog without Senate approval. New Jersey Monitor
The legal fight over Jersey City’s new ward map is continuing more than a year after its passage, with a coalition of community groups asking an appellate panel to reinstate their case against the redrawn districts. Councilman Frank Gilmore and more than a dozen community groups are appealing the dismissal of lawsuits that asked the court to overturn the reconfiguration of the city’s six wards, arguing that a Superior Court judge failed in his responsibility to consider the complaint. The Jersey Journal
As China’s leader, Xi Jinping, held a second day of meetings in Moscow on March 21, including more talks with President Vladimir Putin, Japan’s prime minister made an unannounced visit to Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. At the start of his second day in Moscow, Xi said he had invited Putin to visit China, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and accused him of war crimes. Ukraine said that Russian forces were reprising brutal tactics in an intensifying assault on the eastern city of Avdiivka, throwing waves of soldiers toward Ukrainian defensive lines in an attempt to encircle the long-battered city. The New York Times
Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. recently introduced a resolution recognizing the sovereignty of Ukraine and support in its fight against Russia as the role of the U.S. is being debated by GOP hopefuls looking to run for President in 2024. Kean’s bipartisan resolution proclaims continued support for Ukraine from the U.S. and urges its European neighbors, allies and partners to increase and continue financial and military aid to the beleaguered nation in order to safeguard Europe’s security. The resolution last week was proposed at the same time that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said that “while the U.S. has many vital national interests…becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.” North-JerseyNews.com
A jury on March 20 convicted four people affiliated with the Oath Keepers of conspiring to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, capping a more than monthlong trial that highlighted the far-right militia group’s role in the Capitol attack. The trial was the third to feature the Oath Keepers and allegations that the group plotted to forcibly keep former President Donald Trump in power. Of six defendants currently on trial, four—Sandra Parker, Laura Steele, William Isaacs, and Connie Meggs—were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The jury remained deadlocked on whether another defendant, while clearing a sixth. The Wall Street Journal
President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency March 20, rejecting a Republican-led measure that would overturn a regulation allowing retirement-plan managers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance guidelines (ESG) in their investment decisions. Guidelines regarding ESG have been targeted by conservatives, who have been arguing they are part of an effort by progressives to promote “woke capitalism.” Defenders of the regulation say ESG simply adds another factor for managers to consider when making investments. “This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like,” President Biden said. The New York Times
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is leading discussions with the chief executives of other big banks about fresh efforts to stabilize troubled First Republic Bank. The discussions, while preliminary, have focused on how the industry could arrange for an investment that would boost the bank’s capital—including an investment in First Republic by the banks themselves. The Wall Street Journal
With nurses leaving the hospital bedside in droves, New Jersey should require health facilities to maintain minimum staffing levels to ease burnout and bolster morale. A coalition of labor unions said mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios not only would help hospitals retain nurses, but would improve care and cut down on unnecessary costs associated with poor quality. The Daily Record
DeCamp bus lines will cease all commuter service effective April 7 after 153 years of ferrying commuters from Montclair to Manhattan. With buses to New York operating at only 20% or less of pre-COVID levels, and state and federal pandemic subsidies ending, the commuting part of the business is no longer sustainable according to the company. “It was exactly three years ago when we stopped service because of the pandemic,” said Jonathan DeCamp, the company’s chief operating officer. “The commuting landscape literally changed overnight….We have survived two world wars, the Great Depression, fuel embargoes, 9/11, economic collapse, the bubble housing market, but I never in a million years thought I’d see a time when people aren’t going to work and going into the city.” The Record
A bill that could spare drivers from hundreds of thousands of summonses for displaying a license plate frame that partly covers the words “New Jersey” or “Garden State” passed the State Senate and now goes to Gov. Phil Murphy for a final decision. The measure would allow license plate frames that obstruct or conceal parts of the license plate as long as the words “New Jersey” can still be reasonably identified by police. The State Senate voted 32-0 to pass it at the Statehouse in Trenton. The state Assembly approved it 77-1 last year. NJ.com
Mayor Andre Sayegh is “vehemently opposed” to having the United States Justice Department intervene in the Paterson Police Department in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Najee Seabrooks. Sayegh said his administration already has implemented “significant police reform measures,” such as equipping cops with body cameras and conducting a performance audit. The mayor also asserted that the Police Department has been “policing themselves,” crediting Paterson’s former police chief, Troy Oswald, for contacting the FBI in a previous case that eventually resulted in criminal convictions of eight city cops from 2018 through 2022. The Record
Former Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee has decided to mount an off-the-line bid for State Assembly in the 28th district. The retirement of seven-term Assemblywoman Mila Jasey created an open seat, which party leaders choosing Garnet Hall, the Essex County Deputy County Clerk and the Maplewood Democratic municipal vice chair. Hall is running on the county line with incumbent Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker. New Jersey Globe
And finally…New Jersey legislators are considering a proposal that would expand the eligibility of alcohol sales at food courts in shopping malls. NJ1015.com
