photo by Art Gallagher. Click on image for larger view.
Governor Chris Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie visited Highlands Elementary School this morning to accept a $4.5 million dollar gift to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba made the presentation and, along with the Christies, met with students of the school’s Summer Camp Program.
The UAE Embassy gift, made on behalf of the people of the UAE, will help address critical technology needs, such as infrastructure construction to increase internet bandwidth capacity, wiring and hardware for instructional areas, acquisition of mobile computing devices for faculty and students, and additional training for teachers and administrators.
Matthew Morehead, dog groomer and Democratic candidate for Assembly looking confident. facebook photo
Optimism among New Jersey consumers rebounded strongly over the last six months, according to a survey released by the FDU Public Mind Poll this morning.
37% of the 588 residents surveyed said their finances are better than they were a year ago, up from 18% in January and 26% last July.
51% believe their finances will be better in the year to come, up from 34% in January and 38% in July, 2012.
“We’ve not seen numbers this good in quite some time,” said Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind and professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University. “Despite Hurricane Sandy and an unemployment rate that has left many in the state without work or underemployed, the past year has been good for many Garden State residents.”
72% expect the value of their homes to rise over the next year, compared to only 48% who thought so in January.
“This is an election year, and what people think about their finances is often a big consideration when choosing for whom to vote. Time will tell how strong an influence pocketbook issues will be in shaping the outcome of upcoming elections,” said Jenkins. “One thing is for certain, however, and that’s the rosier view people seem to have these days about the state of their own bottom lines.”
And…he was a Republican in he youth? Yes, according to his Wikipedia page, Pallone was a member of the Young Republicans while a student at Middlebury College in Vermont. (h/t The Auditor)
Even as a Democrat, Pallone, who now has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood used to be strongly pro-life. He was endorsed by New Jersey Right To Life in his 1988 race for congress against the late Captain Joe Azzolina.
No news. Empty newsstands stored in the Asbury Park Press’s empty parking lot in Neptune.
In their editorial posted last evening, the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board The Neptune Nudniks lecture New York City voters on character and morality.
As if they are an authority on character and morality and have readers from New York! Maybe they are hoping some bennies here for the weekend will read their paper instead of Greg’s List.
The Nudnik’s homily bemoans the fact that former Congressman Anthony Weiner and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer are doing very well in the polls in their campaigns for municipal office in New York.
Former Governor Jim McGreevey is back in government service, according to a report in The Jersey Journal.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop appointed McGreevey to the position of Executive Director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Commission. The commission is apparently a new venture of Fulop’s who made job creation and the establishment of a re-entry program for ex-offenders a major plank of his recent election campaign. There is no information about the commission on the city’s website.
Fulop’s spokesperson, Jennifer Morrill, did not know what McGreevey’s salary will be when we asked her. She promised to get back to us with that information and whether or not the job is pensionable.
UPDATED: Morrill said that McGreevey’s salary is $110,000. The commission is an independent authority, which is why there is no information about it on Jersey City’s website.
Mark W. Holmes, 52 of Lawrence Township (Mercer County), the former Executive Director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority, was arrested yesterday and charged with Second Degree Theft By Deception, according to a statement released by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiconni.
The charges allege that Holmes, also a former Mayor and Councilman in Lawrence Township, stole in excess of $75,000 while directing Asbury Park’s 587 public housing units. The funds came from a $99,897 Department of Labor and Work Force Development grant that was intended to pay for computer training and other marketable skills for the public housing residents.
Additionally, Holmes is charged with using the Housing Authority’s debit card and an American Express for personal expenses of almost $20,000 and for submitting reimbursement vouchers for $3,397.28 in expenses he charged to the American Express card.
The investigation was conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office of Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau. Assistant Prosecutor John Loughrey, director of the bureau, is prosecuting the case.
Holmes is currently living in public housing at Golden’s Palace in Freehold. His bail is $70,000 with a 10% cash option. If convicted, he faces 5-10 years in State Prison.
Holmes resigned his job suddenly in June of 2011. In July of 2011 the Housing Commissioners asked federal housing officials and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to investigate financial mismanagement under Holmes’ watch. Holmes had held the job since late in 2008.
For the last several years this site has derided the Asbury Park Press Editorial BoardNeptune Nudniks for their ignorance of the facts and processes about which they opine, and for their religious bigotry.
APP reporter Suzanne Cervenka reported the story accurately on July 4. Middletown Township Committeeman Tony Fiore made an OPRA request for emails between O’Neal and Baum. Baum took the issue to Court, arguing that the emails were private, had nothing to do with library operations and that she in no way acted as an agent of the library. Judge Lawrence M. Lawson ruled that, as a matter of law, the emails were government documents subject to OPRA and ordered them released.
In their editorial, the Nudniks said that Fiore took the matter to Court when in fact Baum took the matter to Court. They said Lawson should have refused to hear the matter. If Lawson kept the Court out of it, the emails would have been released without Baum being heard on the matter. The Nudniks said Fiore was being petty for following his instincts that O’Neal was undermining the public’s oversight of the $4.6 million dollar operation she directs.
Monmouth and Ocean County citizens deserve better from their largest newspaper/news site. We’ve deserved better for a long time. We should demand better.
Teenagers are allowed to perform construction work as volunteers for non-profit organizations assisting New Jersey residents in rebuilding from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy thanks to an Executive Order signed by Governor Chris Christies yesterday.
Many of the young people assisting homeowners clean up and rebuild over the last 9 months have been doing so in violation of New Jersey’s Labor Law which prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from coming within 30 feet of construction work. As the law became more common knowledge, charities were turning young volunteers away.
Assemblywomen Mary Pat Angelini (R-Monmouth) and Marlene Caride (D-Bergen and Passaic) proposed legislation last month that would permit youthful good works, but the bill could take a year or more to pass and become effective.
Christie’s order, which can be viewed here, permits minors between 14 and 17 years of age to volunteer for non-profits engaged in housing construction through the end of this year.
When the NJ Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling upholding the award of $375,000 to a Harvey Cedars couple for the loss of their view to a beach replenishment project, homeowner Phyllis Karan was captured on video by NJ.com likening the taking of her land to “Nazi Germany.”
Meanwhile, Lauren Wanko of NJTV has video capturing the happy reactions of Harvey Cedar’s mayor and Karan’s neighbors who credit the dunes, built in 2010, with saving the town from damage by Superstorm Sandy. Tony Auth pokes fun at the Karans with a cartoon showing cash raining down on a beachfront house and copy reading, “Had the court sided with the couple, the entire project to protect the Jersey Shore would have been in jeopardy.” Auth’s headline: “Harvey Cedars decision shows Jersey Shore is stronger than greed.”
