FLEMINGTON, NJ – The state’s property taxes are the highest in the nation, and they were also the target of the gubernatorial candidates who gathered here last week in a forum to discuss the issues facing Garden State voters.
The forum sponsored by Progressive Hunterdon Democrats featured three Democratic gubernatorial candidates and spokespersons for two others.
Debbie Wisniewski spoke on behalf of her husband Assemblyman John Wisniewski.
“There are nearly 1,400 different forms off government all with the authority to tax,” she said. “If we truly serious about property tax reform, then we need to get serious about … consolidation.”
By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 03, 2017 at 1:54 PM, updated May 03, 2017 at 4:09 PM
TRENTON — More than half of New Jersey voters are happy to have Cory Booker in the U.S. Senate — but nearly the same percentage doesn’t want to see him run for president.
That’s according to the findings of a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday that looks at the approval ratings of Booker; the state’s other Democratic U.S. senator, Robert Menendez; and President Donald Trump.
The survey shows 57 percent of Garden State voters approve of the job Booker has done as one of the state’s two members of the Senate.
But the poll found 54 percent of voters say he should not seek the White House in 2020, while 33 percent say he should.
Booker has been mentioned as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
Hackensack NJ, according to the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, email threats were received against three Bergen County sites , the courthouse, the County administration building and Lyndhurst and Paramus campuses of Bergen Community College . The threatened sites were evacuated at 11am this morning.
Bomb-sniffing dogs have been brought into the buildings by the Bergen Bomb squad. The Hackensack Fire Department responded to the Bergen County courthouse.
PARAMUS — After stringing the media along for more than six months, comedian Joe Piscopo on Wednesday finally put an end to the self-driven speculation that he would run for governor as an independent.
Instead, the former Saturday Night Live cast member will settle for the role of “cheerleader” for Republican candidate Kim Guadgano — the lieutenant governor of New Jersey — whom he endorsed.
Ridgewood NJ, The Water and Wastewater Systems Sector provides millions of people in New Jersey with drinking water and wastewater removal services vital to public health. As if Ridgewood does not already have issues with water, these facilities may be targeted by terrorists looking to disrupt a sector on which the public heavily relies
The Water and Wastewater Systems Sector consists of drinking water and wastewater systems that treat, transmit, store, collect, and distribute water across the nation.
The water sector in New Jersey includes about 600 community drinking water systems. The 20 largest systems collectively serve roughly 3.8 million people and support water service to another 140 systems in the state.
Wastewater systems include treatment plants, pumping stations, collection systems, and sludge management processes. There are approximately 350 wastewater facilities, which vary in size and function. The largest 50 facilities process and treat 88 percent of the sludge residuals and 90 percent of wastewater generated in New Jersey.
THREAT
Cyber: Moderate
The threat to the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector is moderate because of the known targeting of critical infrastructure by both state and non-state actors capable of conducting disruptive, manipulative, or destructive attacks. While there are no specific threats to this sector in New Jersey, numerous incidents over the past decade have demonstrated the vulnerability of industrial control systems (ICS) that regulate various components of water and wastewater operations. In 2015, the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector reported 25 cyber incidents to the US Department of Homeland Security ICS Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), a roughly 80 percent increase from 2014.
Terrorism: Low
Terrorists have not targeted the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector in the last decade in the United States. Internationally, drinking water sources remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks because of limited security. In January 2016, Turkish intelligence officials reported individuals affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria plotting to poison the water supply using tularemia, a bacterial disease found in animals that is transmissible to humans.
Natural Hazards
During Superstorm Sandy, 427 community water systems in New Jersey lost power. The heavy reliance on electric power makes any water or wastewater system vulnerable to extreme weather. Ninety-one wastewater treatment facilities were affected by flooding or power loss, resulting in reduced treatment capacity and discharging as much as five billion gallons of raw sewage into state waterways. Additionally, coastal flood waters damaged water utility infrastructure, leaving the communities they serve without clean water.
There are currently no credible threats to the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector in New Jersey.
(CNN)Experts say the United States is in the throes of an opioid abuse epidemic, causing 91 overdose deaths each day. Yet the total number of opioid-related deaths may still be underestimated, suggests new research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In early spring, the Minnesota Department of Health was notified of an unexplained death: a middle-aged man who died suddenly at home,” said Dr. Victoria Hall, a CDC field officer based in Minnesota. He’d been on long-term opioid therapy for back pain, and his family had worried he might be abusing his medication. The medical examiner assigned to the autopsy tested for and diagnosed both pneumonia and a toxic level of opioids.
New Jersey gasoline prices dropped more than 3 cents in the past week and are expected to continue falling because of a glut of inventory, an analyst said Monday.
An oversupply of gasoline exists as refiners ramp up production, said Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, a price-tracking website. The peak driving time in the U.S. is in the summer, when gasoline is generally more expensive than in the winter.
New Jersey’s new Uniform Crime Report found crime in the Garden State is on the decline. The latest official numbers, which cover 2015, show a 5 percent drop in overall crime and a one percent drop in violent crime.
Preliminary data for last year shows a similar downward trend.
For the past several months, Gov. Chris Christie has focused his energy and attention on combating New Jersey’s opioid and heron epidemic.
The effort has included numerous appearances at drug clinics and rehabilitation centers around the state, as well as ads on radio, TV, and in print.
But is it making a difference?
Last year in Ocean County there were 209 overdose deaths and 505 naloxone revivals. According to Ocean County Prosecutor Joe Coronatom so far in 2017 the numbers are very similar to where they were at this time last year, but he said increasing attention and exposure about the epidemic is vitally important.
In Bergen County the deer are plentiful and the number of dead ones collected by the Department of Transportation from its roadways back up that fact. In 2016 308 deer carcasses were picked up. That’s 43 more than were removed in 2015
Updated May 01, 2017
Posted May 01, 2017
Bill Gallo Jr. | For NJ.com
There was a time in New Jersey and the northeastern U.S. when white-tailed deer were a rarity. A little over a century ago local newspapers heralded the news when the state Game Commission sent deer for release in local woods. A deer sighting was an item of note. How times have changed. Today deer are everywhere in New Jersey from the most rural to residential and even urban areas.
Accidents involving deer common
Deer cause millions of dollars of damage to crops in New Jersey, according to one Rutgers University overview of the population. They can also carry tick-borne illnesses. One of the greatest dangers, however, is when deer and motor vehicles meet. Especially in rural areas of the state, motor vehicle accidents involving deer are commonplace, sometimes resulting in major damage and injuries. In many cases, the deer becomes the victim when it runs into a road into the path of an oncoming vehicle. One of the most dangerous times for motorists — and deer — is in the breeding or rutting season from mid-September through November.
New Jersey is clearly moving to join the many states that have legalized recreational marijuana – eight in just the last five years.
We could do this in two ways: either by making pot a legal substance and taxing it, or by permitting people to possess a small amount, instead of arresting them.
So now that a renewed effort is underway to reform our failed marijuana policy, time to revive that critical debate: legalization, or decriminalization?
Company head continues to sound drumbeat for nuclear subsidies, even though plants will remain profitable through 2019
Oyster Creek nuclear plant
The closing of nuclear power plants serving New Jersey could lead to higher electricity prices for consumers, according to Ralph Izzo, chairman, CEO, and president of Public Service Enterprise Group, the owner of the units.
Izzo, speaking Friday on a quarterly earnings call for the Newark energy company, continued the drumbeat of lobbying for incentives to subsidize the operation of the three units run by the company’s subsidiary, PSEG Power, in South Jersey.
“You cannot remove 40 percent of the supply without having an increase in prices in New Jersey,’’ Izzo said, in response to a question from a Wall Street analyst. “And that’s something New Jersey consumers should not like.’’
In an editorial a year ago, NJBIZ noted that Sports Authority was hitting the showers and closing its stores. Sports Authority stores? No offense intended, but who remembers them now?
Since then, the drop in brick-and-mortar retail sales and the closing of stores throughout New Jersey has become what we feared just 12 months ago — the new normal.
Reports of store closings come almost daily now. J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Payless, HHGregg, Rue21, Bebe — they all have closed stores in New Jersey and elsewhere in recent weeks. And the pace is accelerating. Credit Suisse has said that more than 8,600 stores will close in 2017 — a deluge worse than the record 6,163 stores that closed in the recession year of 2008. That would translate into 147 million square feet of retail space, the brokerage firm said in a research report. Sears, which owns Kmart — Sears! — has said it has “substantial doubt” that it can survive.
It all reminds us of Ernest Hemingway’s famous line in “The Sun Also Rises” about how a character went bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” Online commerce, of course, is the culprit. Approximately two-thirds of American consumers prefer to shop online, according to surveys.
The bad news about retail stores in New Jersey has been somewhat mitigated by the opening of seven Amazon warehouses in the state in recent years and plans to open three more. The largest so-called Amazon “fulfillment center” opened in Carteret less than two weeks ago, with more than 2,000 employees working in a 1-million-square-foot facility.
The lives of more than 80 wildlife species in New Jersey are either in immediate danger or close to it.
Bobcats, bald eagles and multiple species of snake, sea turtles and birds should have a healthy presence in the Garden State, but they’re struggling to survive, according to the latest endangered and threatened list from the state Division of Fish & Wildlife.
The database describes endangered species as those whose prospects for survival in New Jersey are bleak “because of a loss or change in habitat, over-exploitation, predation, competition, disease, disturbance or contamination.” Threatened species may become endangered if conditions around them begin to or continue to worsen.
Several species on New Jersey’s list are endangered federally as well.
The piping plover, a small shorebird on both the state and national list, is considered “one of New Jersey’s most endangered species,” according to the division. “Without intense protection and management, it is unlikely that the piping plover would survive in New Jersey,” the species description states.
Ridgewood NJ, Bergen County Parks Department initiated a master planning process for the Bergen County Park system. The goal is to identify the characteristics of the Bergen County recreation and open space system, accommodate the needs of current residents, and respond to projected future growth of the County.
WHO: All Bergen County residents interested in parks YOU’RE INVITED!
WHY: Topics for discussion include: • balance of nature conservation and active recreation • environmental & historical stewardship • enhancement of existing park facilities • multi-modal transportation • potential green connections • events and concessions management …and more!
This is your opportunity to voice any ideas, concerns and desires for the future of County parks. Please join us for some more great conversations!
At this second series of Community Meetings, we will discuss conceptual ideas for the parks using what we learned from 8 Public Information Sessions in Jan/Feb and more than 2100 survey responses. To help create a Master Plan for parks & recreation in the future.
5/9 HACKENSACK Two Bergen County Plaza (next to the Bergen County Court House) 7-10 PM
5/10 WYCKOFF James A. McFaul Environmental Center 150 Crescent Avenue 7-10pm
5/11 LYNDHURST Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands 1280 Wall Street West, (5th Floor) 7-10pm
