The smoky and hazy conditions stemming from the Canadian wildfires prompted Gov. Phil Murphy to issue an Air Quality Action Day for Particulate Matter that will last until Thursday. Murphy looked to link the weather conditions with climate change, saying “Make no mistake, from the wildfires in Canada to those cropping up with increasing frequency and severity in our own backyard, these extreme weather events are tangible—and devastating—evidence of the intensifying climate crisis. We will continue to do our own part by pursuing the bold action our climate reality demands.” North-JerseyNews.com
New Jersey school districts announced closures and early dismissals for Thursday, June 8, due to smoke from raging wildfires causing poor air quality across much of the state. Newark, the largest school district in the state, was closed. North Jersey schools closing early include Clifton, Manchester Regional, Montclair, Wallington, Wayne Township and West Orange. The Record
Forecasters say the worst of the bad air will dissipate Thursday morning, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to resume normal outdoor activities. Health experts say people should continue to remain indoor as much as possible as smoke and haze will thicken again late Thursday. AccuWeather.com says air quality will no longer be hazardous by Thursday night along the Interstate 95 corridor, “though it will take until Friday for there to be significant improvement…by Saturday, winds may send some smoke farther east once again meaning air quality could worsen again just as the weekend gets underway.” NJ.com
Does Chris Christie want to be President? Or is his bigger desire to stop Donald Trump from being the Republican nominee in 2024? According to Christie, it is both. “’Christie doesn’t really care about winning, all he cares about is destroying Trump’,” the former New Jersey governor said, imitating pundits who have questioned his motives for running. “How are those two things mutually exclusive? Let me be very clear. I am going out there to take out Donald Trump, but here’s why: I will win. And I don’t want him to win.” North-JerseyNews.com
Federal prosecutors have informed the legal team for former President Donald Trump that he is a target of their investigation into his handling of classified documents after he left office, according to two people familiar with the matter. The notification to Trump’s team by prosecutors from the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, was the clearest signal yet that the former president is likely to face charges in the investigation and that prosecutors working for Smith had largely completed their investigation as they move toward bringing an indictment. The New York Times
Former Vice President Mike Pence joined the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race June 7 and immediately questioned the conservatism and leadership of his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump. “On that fateful day, President Trump’s words were reckless and he endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol,” Pence said in his announcement speech speaking about Jan. 6. “On that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the constitution and I always will.” Pence, who turned 64 years old on the day of his announcement, cast himself as a conservative on economic, security and social issues. The Wall Street Journal
Gov. Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, former software executive and billionaire, announced on June 7 he would run for president on his economic record, entering an increasingly crowded race as the candidate of business and technology. “If you want more small-town common sense in Washington and our big cities, we’ll make that happen,” Burgum told the crowd at a rally in Fargo, ND. “We need the governor and business leader who understands this changing economy. I want to earn your vote.” He acknowledged the ground he would need to make up to gain his party’s presidential nomination but said he had been underestimated before. The New York Times
A recent Monmouth Poll shows Americans have a stronger conviction of who they will not vote for versus a candidate they will support in the 2024 Presidential election. In hypothetical scenarios involving President Joe Biden running as the Democratic nominee against three different Republicans, just under half the electorate says they have definitely ruled out supporting the incumbent. But the numbers are nearly identical to the number who have ruled out voting for former President Donald Trump, but higher than opposition to either Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former Vice President Mike Pence should either of them become the Republican nominee. North-JerseyNews.com
Cuba has reportedly reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island. An eavesdropping facility in Cuba, roughly 100 miles from Florida, would allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic. Officials familiar with the matter said that China has agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars to allow it to build the eavesdropping station. The Wall Street Journal
President Joe Biden on June 7 vetoed legislation that would have canceled his plan to forgive student debt. If enacted, Biden’s plan would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year. “It is a shame for working families across the country that lawmakers continue to pursue this unprecedented attempt to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents,” Biden said in a statement when announcing his veto. News12 New Jersey
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) canceled the rest of the votes planned for this week and sent House members home after failing to resolve a standoff with extreme right Republicans who charge he violated a January agreement with them that cleared the path for him to win his job. The insurgents are upset over the outcome of the recent debt-ceiling battle, saying they were left out of the key decisions and faced threats for opposing the bipartisan legislation, which they said did too little to cut government spending. Now that Congress is starting the appropriations process, the far-right conservatives are calling for more cuts to spending, and want promises that they will be involved in negotiations on that and other issues. The Wall Street Journal
Since announcing her candidacy for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district last week, Sue Altman raised $102,083 in her first seven days. In comparison, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. filed his campaign committee in July 2021, he raised $48,642 during the first seven days after he launched his rematch with then Rep. Tom Malinowski with now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at his side. New Jersey Globe
Bayonne Board of Education Trustee Mary Jane Desmond and Jersey City Board of Education Vice President Noemi Velazquez are seeking the two Assembly seats in the 31st Legislative District as independents. Desmond, a former Hudson County deputy clerk and city councilwoman-at-large, returned to the school board in January after being the top vote getter in November. Velazquez, who was first elected to the Jersey City BOE in 2019, was successfully re-elected last Fall with 17,539 votes, making her the top vote getter in her contested school board race. HudsonCountyView.com
The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee advanced a measure on June 5 that creates an annual sales tax holiday for residents who purchase disaster preparedness supplies and equipment that last 10 days of September. The bill targets items that can help residents preparing for or responding to a fire, flood, storm, tidal wave, earthquake, or blizzard and include such items as batteries, phone chargers, self-powered light sources, radios, gasoline containers and portable generators. NJ1015.com
Washington School, the 109-year-old elementary school that closed five years ago in Little Ferry due to its deteriorating condition, will be demolished this Summer to make way for a new school building. Washington School closed in June 2018 after the district spent more than $130,000 on emergency repairs, when officials learned that it would take millions more to fix the aging building. Officials plan to ask voters in a referendum sometime next year to fund the construction of a new middle school at the Liberty Street site. The Record
The use of facial recognition technology as a law enforcement weapon took another hit when a New Jersey appellate court ruled that the NYPD must hand over reams of detailed data on the software’s accuracy and how it identified a man later charged in a West New York armed robbery. The arrest of Francisco Arteaga in late 2019 is believed to be the first in the state using facial recognition technology (FRT). Ironically, the New Jersey Regional Operations Intelligence Center’s FRT program failed to find a match when analyzing a screenshot taken from a surveillance camera at the West New York jewelry store. The Jersey Journal
And finally… A N.J. arrest almost derailed his Hall of Fame career WWE legend Iron Sheik. NJ.com
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