JCP&L Takes Another Run at Spinning off Transmission Assets

 Jersey Central Power & Light is still trying to win regulatory approval to spin off its transmission assets into a separate company. In an amended petition, the state’s second-largest electric utility is slightly modifying a previous proposal rejected earlier this year by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. In denying the spin-off, the board balked… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, July 29-31, 2016

By Greg Kelly

Like this?

Friday, July 29

• Leader of the Pack by Spotlight Players (Matawan) – MORE INFO
• Monmouth County Fair (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• Red Bank Sidewalk Sale – MORE INFO
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Holmdel Theatre Company – MORE INFO
• Butler by NJ Repertory Company (Long Branch) – MORE INFO
• “And Then There Were None” by Center Players (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• The Little Mermaid at Algonquin Arts Theatre (Manasquan) – MORE INFO
• “Presidents at the Monmouth County Shore” Exhibit (Ocean Twp.) – MORE INFO
• “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” Art Exhibit (Belmar) – MORE INFO
• Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Cuba: It’s more than cars!

By Muriel J. Smith 

(photos Tricia Curtin and Nancy Zockoll)

Indeed, they really are all there, those classic American-made cars of the 1950s. They’re all over the well paved and not so well paved roads of Cuba, and most of them are taxis.

There are thousands of them, all brightly painted, the sun bouncing off shiny chrome; all with their windows down…pre-air conditioning days, remember…their interiors either plush or vinyl cleverly patched or taped to look good, and who knows what under the hoods to keep them purring, or growling gently as they navigate the streets.  The cars presumably date back to the 1950s when they were new, Cuba and the USA were friends, and Cubans enjoyed a middle class status that enabled them to purchase foreign cars.  For good reason, most chose American rather than Russian vehicles, though some of them were also available during ‘the special period,’ the time in the 1960s when Russia was the alleged friend of Cuba. The vehicles have been handed down from father to son, and with an embargo prohibiting the import of car parts, have been kept in running condition through ingenuity and a strange conglomeration of makeshift and re-made parts.  Cuba is on good terms with Venezuela, so fuel for the vehicles is no problem. Nor do they spend a lot of time or effort on repairing windows that no longer rise or close, given those 90 degree sun-filled days.

But there’s so much more to Havana than cars.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Moran donates to Wasserman Schultz’s reelection campaign

Maggie Moran, the Managing Director of the Asbury Park based Democratic consulting firm Kivvit and the wife of Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty, announced on facebook yesterday that she has donated to the reelection campaign of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Wasserman Schultz is the Chair of the Democratic National Committee until Friday. She announced her resignation after DNC emails that proved she rigged Hillary Clinton’s Democrat nomination for president were released.  She was then named Honorary Chair of Clinton’s campaign.

That’s perfectly consistent with the Monmouth County Democrats’ ethos that it is OK to cheat and the ends justifies the means.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie says Sweeney and Prieto have not shared their gas tax plan with him

MMM file photo

Brian T. Murray, Governor Chris Christie’s spokesman, told MMM in an email that Christie has not seen the Transportation Trust Fund legislation that Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced today.

New Jersey’s infrastructure construction projects have been shut down since July 8 when the TFF was down to a $10 million balance which being held for emergency projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

DNA evidence clears Long Branch Man of 1992 rape conviction

Dion Harrell of Long Branch spent four years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced this afternoon that a recent DNA test proved the Harrell was not the source of the biological evidence found in the 17 year old victim of the 1987 rape.  Gramiccioni sad that Harrell’s conviction will be vacated.

Harrell was convicted on March 26, 1993 and released from prison in 1997.  He turned 50 years old last week and is homeless, according the the New Jersey Sex Offenders Registry.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Beck Opposes Sweeney/Prieto Gas Tax Plan

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), the leading opponent of a gas tax increase in the legislature, announced her opposition to the compromise legislation out forth by Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.  Beck says the Sweeney/Prieto plan is just as bad for taxpayers as the Senate plan that failed last month.

“The tax plan announced by Democrats today would still raise the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon, just as the last failed plan would have,” said Beck. “The cosmetic changes that the Senate President and Assembly Speaker have agreed to are just window dressing on the core $1.2 billion tax increase on drivers that remains largely unchanged from the previous version of the legislation.”

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Sweeney and Prieto Agree On A Transportation Trust Fund Deal

Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto have a compromise deal on the Transportation Trust Fund, according to an announcement on the NJ Senate Democrats website.

“We have an agreement on a plan that is needed to address the state’s critical transportation needs at the same time it provides targeted tax savings for retirees, the working poor and middle class families,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Salem/Cumberland/Gloucester). “This is a bipartisan plan that supports a $2 billion a year Transportation Trust Fund and provides affordable tax cuts that will allow us to meet the state’s pension obligations without creating a fiscal crisis. This is an investment plan that will create jobs and support immediate and long-term economic growth.”

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie makes Senate new offer to end N.J. road project shutdown

TRENTON — After calling the Senate president’s proposal to end a stalemate over funding for construction projects “ridiculous” earlier this week, Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday delivered a counteroffer. No details of either proposal are known, but a spokesman for Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he is reviewing the latest proposal. The governor and Senate are… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Split Over Transportation Funding in New Jersey Appears To Be Growing

Now nearly three full weeks old, the political impasse in Trenton over transportation funding is no closer to being resolved, and there are some signs key leaders may actually be moving further apart Reports out of Cleveland,… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet