They vowed to act as nursing home deaths soared. Instead, N.J. legislators are ignoring the ‘shocking nightmare.’

The death rate from the coronavirus in New Jersey nursing homes is the country’s highest.

Nearly 6,700 nursing home residents have died in the pandemic and the numbers continue to climb as COVID-19 has run rampant in nursing homes.

This month, more than half of the COVID-19 deaths have been nursing home residents, according to the Department of Health, up from about 40% in the two months since NJ Advance Media published an investigation into the failures and missteps into the state’s response to the deadly pandemic. On Friday, 16 of the 20 deaths reported by the state were nursing home residents… Read the rest of this entry »

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Correction: U.S. Attorney has not opened new Christie investigation into Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office

Governor Chris Christie at Long Branch press conference, August , 2014 photo by Art Gallagher

Contrary to published reports, including one here at MMM, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s office has not opened a new criminal investigation into Governor Chris Christie’s role, if any, in quashing the prosecution of former Hunterdon County Sheriff Deborah Trout.

The initial inaccurate report was published by International Business Times, a content partner of MMM through repubHub.  MMM published the IBT story after noticing it was being cited by other news outlets.

On Friday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show published a report that included a denial from the U.S. Attorney’s office that it is investigating Christie over the Trout issue. (h/t SaveJersey)

“Any characterization that we are investigating the Governor about this is just not true … . [W]e talk to people all the time. It doesn’t mean we’re investigating anybody.”

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Cory Booker, Rand Paul and a Festivus miracle

Cory Booker, Rand Paul and a Festivus miracle (via NJ.com)

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Rand Paul had a Festivus exchange yesterday that could one day lead to drug policy and sentencing reforms. It began with Paul’s “airing of the grievances,” a tradition that is part of Festivus, the fictional Dec. 23 holiday…

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The five best political campaigns of 2013

The five best political campaigns of 2013 (via NJ.com)

If you’re a political junkie or even someone with just a passing affinity for the sport, this year was a goldmine.  It featured several terrific campaigns at every level of government and included some truly virtuoso performances.  Whittling to our…

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The List: Who Spent the Most on Lobbying in New Jersey Last Year?

The List: Who Spent the Most on Lobbying in New Jersey Last Year? (via NJSpotlight)

Lobbying is a big business in New Jersey. The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission reports that more than $58 million was spent last year by businesses, organizations, and lobbyists to try to influence lawmakers, the governor, and the general…

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Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark

Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark (via NJ.com)

NEWARK — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan glided up the red carpet, his wife at his side, and posed as the flash bulbs popped tonight. Then Lonegan, the former mayor of Bergen County’s Bogota, walked inside a Newark restaurant, into…

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Tent City, Three Ways

by Debbie Galant, NJNewsCommons.org

News outlets ranging from the AP to the Lakewood Scoop have covered the ongoing saga of Lakewood’s Tent City, an encampment of about 80 homeless people, which the town has been trying to shut down for years. This spring a deal was struck: Tent City residents will leave within a year if a homeless shelter is opened in Ocean County.  But the story of the tent community has proved more indelible than a series of fleeting headlines.  The makeshift village in the woods, complete with its own upright piano, is now the subject of a book-length poem, a documentary and a series of black-and-white photo portraits.

Copyright 2013 Sherry Rubel

Hank Kalet, an economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight,  was a regional editor for Patch in early 2012 when photographer Sherry Rubel sent over a press release about her Kickstarter campaign to fund a photo project on Tent City. Although the campaign didn’t reach its funding goal, it set an idea in motion for Kalet, who was also working on his MFA in poetry at Fairleigh Dickinson, and in search of a project.

“I was looking for something to sink my teeth into,” Kalet recalls. “Looking for a project to use both parts of my writing self.”

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