Tag: N.J

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N.J. has no policy on officials’ use of personal emails nearly a year after call for a ban

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N.J. has no policy on officials’ use of personal emails nearly a year after call for a ban

MARCH 11, 2015, 11:32 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015, 11:45 PM
BY MELISSA HAYES
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

Nearly a year before revelations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her personal email account for official business, the Christie administration was chastised because members of its own staff communicated through private emails. And that criticism came not from Governor Christie’s political foes, but from lawyers hired by his team to investigate the burgeoning George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.

The lawyers called for the administration to impose an immediate ban on the practice. After all, the most notorious email to emerge from the GWB scandal — the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” message that a deputy chief of staff sent to a Port Authority official — was written on her private email account.

Yet just shy of 12 months after the lawyers’ recommendation, which was contained in the so-called Mastro report on the lane closings, the state has yet to change its written policies on the use of such email accounts. In fact, the current policy on “electronic mail/messages” is silent when it comes to public workers doing state business on private email.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-has-no-policy-on-officials-use-of-personal-emails-nearly-a-year-after-call-for-a-ban-1.1286854

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After transforming the region, Hartz is looking beyond N.J.

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After transforming the region, Hartz is looking beyond N.J.

DECEMBER 15, 2014, 10:17 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014, 10:31 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Soggy marshes don’t usually provide a good foundation for construction, but in the past half century, Hartz Mountain Industries Inc. has created a multibillion-dollar real estate empire in North Jersey’s Meadowlands, transforming the region. Now the Secaucus-based company is in the final stages of a tumultuous shift that has taken it down the East Coast and as far west as Seattle.

Hartz, one of the largest privately owned real estate companies in the nation — with about 38 million square feet of properties — is diversifying and expanding into the red-hot industrial and multifamily residential real estate markets. The company has “a billion-dollar pipeline” for projects under development or planned, Hartz Managing Director Gus Milano said at a conference in September.

Major changes are taking place within the company as well. This month, sources said Milano, 61, who helped steer Hartz into new markets, will become the company’s president and chief operating officer next year. Emanuel “Manny” Stern, 51, will relinquish those titles to Milano and become vice chairman. The company declined to comment on the changes, but real estate industry insiders predict Stern will continue to run the evolving company, in close counsel with Milano.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/after-transforming-the-region-hartz-is-looking-beyond-n-j-1.1154964

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N.J. bill would turn the tables on stalkers

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N.J. bill would turn the tables on stalkers

DECEMBER 11, 2014    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014, 12:14 AM
BY KAREN SUDOL
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The stalking began several years ago, when an older man entered a store and spoke with a female college student from Morris County who worked there. He returned three or four times before the student called the police. They told the stranger to stay away from her.

Since then, the man has repeatedly followed the young woman. She quit her job and eventually transferred to another college, her parents, Roger and Ann Kriete, said. He was arrested in New Jersey, made bail, found her at her new address and was arrested again, they said. Her life has been turned upside down. She is afraid to go out with friends, walk the dog at night or go out by herself.

“It was like she was the criminal who was restrained,” said Roger Kriete, who requested that his daughter’s name not be used. “It’s heartbreaking to see someone’s youth being taken away.”

Now they’re hoping to get some peace of mind for their daughter and other victims of stalking. They plan to testify at a hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee today to push for a bill that would allow judges to order stalkers to wear electronic monitors after a second stalking conviction.

“The intent is to protect those who are stalked,” said Assemblywoman Nancy F. Munoz, R-Union, who introduced the bill in October.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-bill-would-turn-the-tables-on-stalkers-1.1150035

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N.J. to allow Medicaid to cover in-home elder care

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N.J. to allow Medicaid to cover in-home elder care

NOVEMBER 30, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY COLLEEN DISKIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

In its latest move to promote alternatives to nursing homes, the Christie administration will enact a new funding measure on Monday that will allow more elderly and disabled people to apply for Medicaid assistance to pay for care at home or in non-institutional settings.

This newest amendment to the New Jersey’s Medicaid program will allow those who earn too much to qualify for full assistance — but who can’t afford the cost of the care they need — to receive help through the creation of a trust account at a bank.

Any income an elderly or disabled person receives above the Medicaid eligibility limit of $2,163 a month will be deposited into these irrevocable trust accounts, with withdrawals allowed for qualified living expenses as well as for the portion of their care that individuals can afford. Medicaid will then pick up the rest of the tab for their care, whether it’s in a nursing home or their own home.

The change is a response to years of lobbying from advocates who said old Medicaid rules were having the unintended effect of forcing people into nursing homes prematurely, because the state offered no help in paying for home health aides, adult day care programs or assisted living residences.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/n-j-to-allow-medicaid-for-in-home-elder-care-1.1143762

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Bergen County Zoo program shares insights on bears in N.J.

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Bergen County Zoo program shares insights on bears in N.J.

OCTOBER 5, 2014, 3:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2014, 7:19 PM
BY ANDREW WYRICH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

PARAMUS — Waving your arms up and down, banging a can of nails or loudly ringing bells are the most effective ways to handle a possible encounter with a bear, a guest speaker from a New Jersey bear education group that teamed up with the Bergen County Zoo to host a “Bear Aware” event said Sunday.

The daylong event was aimed at educating both adults and children about the black bear population in New Jersey — something that has become increasingly important after a string of bear sightings in Bergen County and the death of a Rutgers student in West Milford, organizers said.

Held in the Education and Discovery Center at the Bergen County Zoo, the “Bear Aware” event was planned months in advance of the recent bear-related incidents, but organizers said teaching the public about the characteristics of the animals and what to do when encountered by one is always worthwhile.

“There has been a rise in bear sightings in our area over the last five years,” said Carol Fusco, the education coordinator at Bergen County Zoo and an event organizer. “It used to be that you’d only see bears in a few counties in the state, but now it’s safe to say that every county has had sightings. We feel that education, both for adults and children, is key.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-zoo-program-shares-insights-on-bears-in-n-j-1.1102957#sthash.fikETcSz.dpuf

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N.J. led nation in construction-job loss last year

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N.J. led nation in construction-job loss last year

APRIL 23, 2014    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

* Job losses tied in part to a very tough winter

Despite hopes that rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy would boost New Jersey’s construction industry, that sector shed more jobs in the past 12 months here than in any other state in the nation.

From March 2013 through March this year, New Jersey lost 4,600 construction jobs, a 3.4 percent drop year-over-year, according to an analysis of federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Associated General Contractors of America, a trade group. New Jersey construction employment sank to 131,500 from 136,100 during that 12-month period, the trade group said.

Economic experts blamed the Northeast’s particularly severe winter with putting a damper on construction in New Jersey, as well as the red tape and bureaucratic delays that have thwarted the reconstruction of homes and businesses damaged by Sandy. In addition, the state’s office market is depressed, capping that kind of development.

Charles Steindel, chief economist for the New Jersey Department of Treasury, was one of the experts who blamed the tough winter for resulting in construction-job losses. In a normal year the number of construction workers on the job in New Jersey in midwinter is more than 10 percent lower than in the fall, he said.

“The numbers everybody looks at are corrected for this normal seasonal variation,” Steindel said. “But this winter has been far from normal. The average temperature in New Jersey from December to March was 31.7 degrees, 4 degrees colder than the average for the last 20 years. With such bitter cold, compounded by the heavy snowfalls in January and February, construction was at an unusually low ebb. We anticipate that the spring thaw will be reflected in better construction numbers.”

Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for the Arlington, Va.-based AGC, also said that even though the labor statistics are seasonally adjusted, based on averages from prior years, this year that may not have been enough to offset the impact of the winter.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/bleak-construction-figures-for-state-1.1000998#sthash.OgFEQxpp.dpuf

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N.J. Legislative panel urged to look into other allegations of corruption

CORRUPTION

N.J. Legislative panel urged to look into other allegations of corruption 

Now this is starting to get interesting

The subpoena power bestowed on the Legislature’s joint investigative committee, which is currently focused on the George Washington Bridge scandal, has prompted requests that the panel look into unrelated allegations of corruption.

On Thursday, two state senators, Republican Samuel Thompson from Middlesex and Democrat Ron Rice of Essex, asked the joint investigative committee to look into a comptroller’s findings that some public officials in Newark had used taxpayer money for personal expenditures.

The comptroller investigation found that between 2008 and 2011 the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation, a non-profit charged with administering Newark’s water assets “improperly spent millions of dollars of public funds with little to no oversight by either its Board of Trustees or the City.”

Specifically the report said the non-profit’s executive director, Linda Watkins-Brashear, wrote $200,000 worth of checks from public accounts to herself, awarded no-bid contracts to friends, used petty cash recklessly and was involved in conflicts of interest. The agency as a whole was also severely mismanaged, the report said. (Phillis/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Legislatures_investigative_panel_urged_to_look_into_other_allegations_of_corruption.html#sthash.9jQ1Seem.dpuf