Obama diverts $1 billion in Sandy funds away from New Jersey

Kyrillos and Holzapfel cry foul

Sen. Joe Kyrillos

President Barack Obama announced that he is diverting nearly $1 billion in Hurricane Sandy recovery funds away from New Jersey and New York to fund a nationwide resiliency competition that will ostensibly help the winning communities build infrastructure to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Obama announced the competition last weekend at the University of California Irvine’s commencement, according to The Star Ledger. 

“In some parts of the country, weather-related disasters like droughts and fires and storms and floods are going to get … harsher and they’re going to get costlier,” Obama said during the speech. “That’s why today I’m announcing a new one billion dollar competitive fund to help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change and build more resilient infrastructure across the country.”

State Senators Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)and Jim Holzapfel (R-Ocean)l condemned the diversion of recovery funds away from their constituents.

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Fisherman discovers dead body off Sandy Hook

Fisherman discovers dead body off Sandy Hook (via NJ.com)

SANDY HOOK – A fisherman discovered a man’s dead body in a shipping channel off Sandy Hook on Monday morning. At approximately 6:30 a.m. Monday, a fisherman from Staten Island discovered a dead body in the Ambrose Channel – a major shipping channel…

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Why this year’s National Geographic Traveler photo contest bans New Jersey residents

Why this year’s National Geographic Traveler photo contest bans New Jersey residents (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — National Geographic Traveler’s annual photo contest is open until June 30, but don’t submit that gorgeous Shore picture just yet. According to the rules, the contest bans entries from Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Cuba, Syria — and New…

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Christie, in California, chides potential presidential opponent and takes to Facebook

Christie, in California, chides potential presidential opponent and takes to Facebook (via NJ.com)

By Matt Friedman and Brent Johnson/The Star-Ledger TRENTON — Campaigning for Republican candidates in California, Gov. Chris Christie on Friday criticized remarks made by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a potential opponent in his party’s 2016 presidential…

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Middletown Planning Board Rejects Trinity Hall Application

All Girls School Says It Will Appeal

Trinity Hall, the all girls private school currently operating from Croydon Hall in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, had its plans to develop a campus in the Chapel Hill neighborhood of the Township rejected by the Planning Board at 1am this morning, according to a report in The Asbury Park Press.

The board of trustees of Trinity Hall plans to appeal this decision, according to a press release posted on the school’s website.  They are confident in the merits of their case and anticipate this decision will be reversed. The Middletown Planning Board had directed the application be submitted without variance from the ordinance and that Trinity Hall accept reasonable additional conditions or amendments, which the application did follow.

“As a Middletown resident and Trinity Hall board of trustees member I am disappointed in the decision of the Middletown Planning Board, which seems arbitrary and contrary to Township ordinance,” said Donna Winchell. “The school is committed to being a good neighbor and has given back to the community through almost 500 hours of community service in just nine months.”

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Assembly bill would make sex with animals a crime

A bill that criminalizes bestiality passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee yesterday by a 6-0 bipartisan vote.

Illustration by Megan Archer

 Use, or cause or procure the use of, an animal or creature in any kind of sexual manner or initiate any kind of sexual contact with the animal or creature, including, but not limited to, sodomizing the animal or creature.  As used in this paragraph, “sexual contact” means any contact between a person and an animal by penetration of the penis or a foreign object into the vagina or anus, contact between the mouth and genitalia, or by contact between the genitalia of one and the genitalia or anus of the other.  This term does not include any medical procedure performed by a licensed veterinarian practicing veterinary medicine or an accepted animal husbandry practice.

Penalties for those convicted include fines up to $15,000 and imprisonment for as long as five years. Additionally, the bill directs the courts to impose Community Service for up to 30 day at a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or a municipality”s animal control program.  Is that a good idea?

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Christie orders flags at half-staff in honor of fallen Union Beach firefighter

Christie orders flags at half-staff in honor of fallen Union Beach firefighter (via NJ.com)

TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie has ordered flags at half-staff in honor of the Union Beach firefighter who died Sunday night while battling a four-alarm fire in the borough. Volunteer firefighter Robert “Hawk” Meyer, 54, collapsed outside the fire…

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Christie dancing with the star

Governor Chris Christie danced with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show last night and said that “hypothetically” he could beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election.

The appearance made me feel nostalgic for the #Stonger Than The Storm ad campaign and Jay Leno.

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Approved NJ Senate bills call for agencies to buy American products

Approved NJ Senate bills call for agencies to buy American products (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — The New Jersey Senate today approved a package of bills that calls for state agencies and bi-state commissions, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to buy products made in America. If approved by the Assembly as well…

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Smith’s Autism Bill Passes House Energy and Commerce Committee

Congressman Chris Smith

Bi-partisan legislation authored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ4) that provides $260 million per year over five years to fund research into autism and that urges federal agencies to examine and anticipate needs for autistic children who are “aging out” of current programs and need different assistance as adults, the “Autism CARES (Combating Autism Authorization) Act”, HR 4631, passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday on a voice vote and is headed to the full House.

“My bill begins the conversation on how we as a society can best address the aging out crisis—that every year 50,000 youths with autism enter into adulthood and communities unprepared to support them—which will be augmented by a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the efficacy of the services landscape,” said Smith who, along with the bill’s Democrat cosponsor Rep. Mike Doyle, founded and co-chairs the bipartisan Coalition on Autism Research and Education (C.A.R.E.). “The research authorized in this bill through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is helping families better understand and assist children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).”

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