Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing: 1/11/2024

Below is Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing:

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again – and that’s more important than my own personal ambition.” – Former Governor Christie ending his presidential bid

TOP STORY: Newark Takes an ‘Historic’ Step with Voting Age Overhaul

AROUND THE WEB:

Chris Christie caught on hot mic saying Nikki Haley is ‘gonna get smoked’

Brent Johnson, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

• Chris Christie’s exit from the presidential race came with a hot-mic moment about his now-former rivals. As Christie prepared to announce Wednesday night he has ended his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, the former New Jersey governor was unwittingly heard on a livestream apparently dismissing the chances of United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Congresswoman Watson Coleman Addresses Immigration, Voter Apathy at Plainfield Reorg

David Rutherford, TAPinto Plainfield

• To most attendees, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Colement was a surprise guest at Sunday’s Plainfield City Council reorganization meeting where Councilwomen Julienne Cherry and Darcella Sessomes were swore into their first terms in office, and Steve Hockaday was elected as the governing body’s president for 2024.

Legislature and business community: Perfect together?

Tom Bracken, roi-nj.com

• Gov. Phil Murphy’s State of the State address emphasized affordability and continuing to grow a fair, strong and inclusive economy to create the best state to raise a family. He mentioned several times the need to “work together” to achieve those goals. We congratulate the governor and the Legislature on the accomplishments of the last six years that have made economic progress.

Menendez case puts focus on foreign-agents law

Benjamin J. Hulac, NJ Spotlight

• In the 86 years since Congress established a law to track foreign agents and propaganda efforts within American borders, no sitting member of Congress had been charged with working as an asset for another country. That changed in September with the indictment by officials in the Southern District of New York of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who is accused of working for years to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar by trading sensitive information and using his position of power in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.

‘Entire neighborhood on edge’: North Jersey residents face more hardships from flooding

Stephanie Noda, Amanda Wallace, Gene Myers, Lucas Frau, NorthJersey.com

• Peggie Maisch of Harding Avenue in Westwood saw around 3 feet of water Wednesday outside of her property and water made its way to her basement. The same was true for many of her neighbors. The flood had ruined her snow blower and lawn mower that went completely underwater during the storm.

Charter schools impact on high school basketball getting a closer look by NJSIAA

Steven Falk, Asbury Park Press

• Small public schools will be able to remain in their group and section for the state playoffs and not get bumped to a different classification by a charter school, under a change approved by the NJSIAA Wednesday. Now, the organization will first set up groups and sections for public schools, then add in the lower-enrollment charters and cooperative programs.

New Jersey storm causes flooding, wind damage across Jersey Shore

Asbury Park Press

• Many Jersey Shore residents woke up to power outages and storm damage on Wednesday, after high winds and heavy rains swept into the area starting Tuesday night and into overnight hours. As of 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, Jersey Central Power & Light reported over 26,000 customers being affected by outages statewide, with 10,341 in Monmouth County and 2,735 in Ocean.

Here are five takeaways from Gov. Phil Murphy’s State of the State address | Stile

Charles Stile, NorthJersey.com

• Here are five takeaways from Gov. Phil Murphy’s State of the State address, which he delivered to a joint session of the Legislature at the Statehouse in Trenton on Tuesday.

NJ flooding is getting worse. Saturation Point series traces impact, inspects solutions

James M. O’Neill, NorthJersey.com

• In light of the growing threat of more intense storms that generate increasingly common flood damage, NorthJersey.com has launched a series that drills down on what can be done to mitigate floods from future storms. This series is exclusive to our subscribers, so be sure to subscribe (or stay subscribed) to NorthJersey.com and The Record.

The SATs are now optional for NJ colleges. This is how each school handles them

Lucas Frau, NorthJersey.com

• Universities across the country are no longer requiring applicants to submit standardized tests, such as the SAT and ACT, in their application information. A majority of schools in the Garden State have made their admission process test optional.

America a richer country because of its immigrants | Quigley

Joan Quigley, For The Jersey Journal

• If immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” as Donald Trump told a campaign rally late last year, I wonder what he really thinks about his kids, four of whom got their blood from his immigrant wives. Ivana Trump — mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, and Melania, mother of Barron, was a newcomer from Slovenia. Trump’s own mother was an immigrant from Scotland and his grandfather came from Germany, reportedly to escape mandatory service in the armed forces.

We should be paying important people more money

Jeff Edelstein, The Trentonian

• There’s a bill that passed in the New Jersey legislature that would give its members a hefty pay raise, from $49,000 a year to $82,000 a year. It awaits the Governor’s signature. It’s not enough. Yes, that’s right. I sit here before you today and say we should pay our legislators more money. In fact, I’d pay them enough so that they don’t even need to take another job. (There’s a push for that, by the way, but come on: You can’t live the good life on $82K in New Jersey.)

Manalapan funeral home that buried Lakewood woman in wrong cemetery fights lawsuit

Kathleen Hopkins, Asbury Park Press

• As about 60 of Janet Kay’s loved ones gathered at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Marlboro for the 82-year-old Lakewood woman’s burial in October 2020, it became apparent something was terribly wrong. First, there was a prolonged delay. Then, the funeral director started asking the 85-year-old widower questions that indicated the body of his late wife had been lost.

(Visited 477,671 times, 5 visits today)