Garden State residents want the Murphy Administration to immediately halt construction of offshore wind farms—especially with the unresolved question of work currently being done contributing to the death of whales and dolphins. The poll, released by Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) May 11, found that 39% of New Jersey residents want the state to stop the development of offshore wind farms, while 35% believe the project should continue unobstructed. When the question is linked to the death of whales and dolphins, 46% want it stopped. “The argument that the wind farms are hurting cute, smart animal’s just craters support,” said FDU’s Dan Cassino. North-JerseyNews.com
Saturday’s “Mother’s Day of Action” in Morristown was part of a nationwide movement organized by Moms Demand Action to promote stricter gun control measures in the United States. The Morristown gun control rally was one of eight that took place in New Jersey as Jersey City and Paterson also hosted demonstrations, along with Pennington, Princeton, Metuchen, Mount Laurel and Camden. “These are weapons of war, designed to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible,” said Rep. Mikie Sherrill. “There is simply no reason they should ever be on the streets in civilian hands.” The Daily Record
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley refused to endorse a federal abortion ban at a specific number of weeks’ gestation, saying that to do so would be to lie to the American people about what is politically possible. Haley said during a Sunday morning show appearance May 14 that the Senate filibuster makes it impossible to pass a federal abortion ban as strict as the ones that many Republican-led states have passed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, and that any anti-abortion president will therefore need to find a “national consensus.” The New York Times
Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Rob Menendez sounded the alarm on the environmental impacts of New York City’s congestion pricing plan for New Jersey commuters. Gottheimer argued the plan would have serious environmental impacts, and that the MTA admitted as much in their own report on the $23-a-day plan. Menendez highlighted the fact that a potential solution, the expansion of New York City Subway’s 7 line to Secaucus Junction which had been previously floated by New York and the MTA, was not included in the plan. “Instead of working with us to support the new Port Authority Bus Terminal, PATH service, and to expand the NYC Subway’s 7 line to New Jersey, New York is working to shift revenue to the MTA to the detriment of our bus and train commuters,” concluded Menendez. North-JerseyNews.com
Gov. Phil Murphy has launched an advertising campaign pushing back against congestion pricing. Murphy aims to hit back against the State of New York with a series of billboards encouraging residents to move themselves and their businesses to New Jersey. The billboards are in locations like George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Queensboro Bridge, Robert F Kennedy Bridge, spots along the West Side Highway and the Major Deegan Expressway. News12 New Jersey
NJ Transit and Amtrak rail passengers, who were plagued by two days of delayed and canceled trains last week, had a normal rush hour on May 15 after signal repairs were completed on the Portal Bridge that carries the Northeast Corridor line over the Hackensack River in Kearny. The signal problem affected the two-track, 112-year-old swing bridge for all New Jersey rail traffic to and from New York Penn Station. Late Thursday morning the signal problem resulted in suspended service, and work crews were able to restore some service, with delays, cancelations, and rerouting trains to Hoboken Terminal, which continued through the Friday commuter rush and into Saturday. NJ.com
New subpoenas have been served in connection with an ongoing federal criminal probe of Sen. Bob Menendez. While the scope of the probe involving Menendez remains unknown, two sources with knowledge of the latest subpoenas say that some of the questions now being raised by investigators relate to Fred Daibes, an Edgewater-based developer whose high-end projects transformed the Hudson River waterfront. NJ.com
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) took a veiled shot at the electoral record of Donald Trump and some of his high-profile endorsees while campaigning in Iowa this weekend. “We must reject the culture of losing that has infected our party in recent years,” DeSantis said, before suggesting 2024 could be a strong year for Republicans. “If we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past, or on other side issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again and I think it will be very difficult to recover from that defeat.” The Wall Street Journal
Turkey’s presidential election appeared headed for a runoff after the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, failed to win a majority of the vote. The outcome of the vote set the stage for a two-week battle between Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition leader, to secure victory in a May 28 runoff that may reshape Turkey’s political landscape. With the unofficial count nearly completed, Erdogan received 49.4% of the vote to Kilicdaroglu’s 44.8%, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. The New York Times
The U.K. said it would give hundreds of long-range attack drones to Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Britain on May 15, part of a tour of European allies aimed at replenishing the country’s war chest ahead of a well-flagged counteroffensive. Zelensky began his tour of European leaders meeting with the German chancellor, during which Berlin committed an additional $2.9 billion of military aid to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal
Michael Noriega is Gov. Phil Murphy’s choice to serve as an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, giving the top court Hispanic representation. Murphy will announce the nomination of Noriega May 15, a former public defender and immigration rights advocate who handled litigation for the American Civil Liberties Union and a partner at a law firm headed by State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-21). If confirmed by the State Senate, the 45-year-old Union County Democrat would replace Barry Albin, the court’s liberal lion who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in July 2022 after nineteen years on the state’s highest court. New Jersey Globe
The New Jersey Supreme Court last week denied a motion from the nonprofit Education Law Center to force the state to step in and fund school construction in New Jersey’s poorest urban schools under the monumental Abbott v. Burke education funding cases. The Attorney General’s Office, arguing on behalf of the Murphy Administration, said there was no need for intervention: The SDA continues to build schools, and the agency has already alerted the Legislature about its need for more money. The Daily Record
Christopher Tully, the Democratic deputy majority leader of the state Assembly, has been dismissed from his position as Dumont’s borough administrator. The borough council, which in January underwent a political shift when Republicans Doreen Aponte and Donald Morrell took office, voted to terminate Tully’s employment unanimously as administrator as of last month with no reason given publicly. Mayor Andrew LaBruno, a Democrat, said the council’s decision to dismiss Tully was political and lacked transparency. The Record
A panel of Assembly lawmakers unanimously approved a measure that would require election officials to report results daily starting on the day of the election. The bill would require county clerks to post unofficial results daily by 9 p.m. until all votes are counted and until 11:59 p.m. to post the preliminary results on Election Day. The measure would require election officials to post in a single report the number of ballots they have received, those they’ve counted, and those they’ve left to count. That includes the number of mail-in ballots received, tallied, or still need to be processed. New Jersey Monitor
The New Milford school district will eliminate 22 staff positions, consolidate some jobs, lay off at least five people and make other cuts to cover a loss in state aid and increased operating expenses for the upcoming school year. There will be cuts in expenses for professional development, supplies, transportation and energy. In addition, the district will cut by half the costs related to its contract with CarePlus for mental health and counseling services. The cuts in the 2023-24 district budget were prompted by a drop of more than $600,000 in state aid. The Record
Child care centers in New Jersey are struggling to hire and keep qualified workers as many counties brace for a boom in their population of young children over the next several years, according to a report newly released out of Rutgers University. As of 2021, home- and center-based child care had nearly 4,000 fewer spots open for children compared to 2019. And the issue of fewer spots are usually related to not enough staff to handle more kids. Historically, wages in the child care sector have struggled to keep up with pay in other sectors such as retail. NJ1015.com
Hoboken Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher announced she will be seeking re-election for a third term in November. Fisher, who represents the city’s northeast corner as the Second Ward, said she’s running again “so that we can finish the important work we have started and ensure the brightest future possible for our community.” The Jersey Journal
And finally…Rutgers grads end a rollercoaster four years with a commencement speech from Sheryl Lee Ralph. NJ.com
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