The Jersey City Independent "

- Mayor Healy announced his City Council slate last night. As expected, he replaced Ward B Councilwoman Mary Spinello with Phil Kenny, an employee of the County Freeholders’ office and a friend of District 2 Freeholder Bill O’Dea. In Ward C, businesswoman and community activist Nidia Rivera Lopez, wife of former Councilman Benjamin Lopez, will vie for the seat Steve Lipski is vacating. And against Steven Fulop in Ward E, Healy will run Guy Catrillo, a Planning Division staffer and community activist. It’s not immediately clear whether Healy expects Catrillo, a Republican who has run for public office before, to be competitive against Fulop, who is considered a shoo-in to renew his term. For the At-Large seats and the remaining wards, Healy will run with the incumbents.

- Mayoral candidate Lou Manzo got in on the ticket-announcing action yesterday, too. Former County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy and former Jersey City Public Works director Betty Outlaw will run for At-Large council seats on Manzo’s slate. They will join the candidates Manzo has already unveiled: Jimmy King in Ward C, James Carroll in Ward D and Lori Serrano for At-Large.

- Municipal Court Judge Wilson Campbell faces an ethics complaint for allegedly carrying on an affair with a bailiff assigned to his courtroom. Four other municipal judges have been charged with corruption in an unrelated ticket-fixing scandal.

- It’s the end of the Armanious family murder trials as the charges against Hamilton Sanchez are dropped. Prosecutors tried in vain to persuade Sanchez’s codefendant Edward McDonald, who has already been convicted of the crime, to testify against him. McDonald refused, saying that Sanchez had threatened him. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means that he could be indicted again if new evidence comes to light, but prosecutors acknowledged that McDonald’s testimony would have been the crux of the case against Sanchez.

- The Journal editorializes against the city’s plan to ease concerns over rising property taxes early in the year by lightening the load later in the year. According to Business Administrator Brian O’Reilly, property owners “pay the lion’s share of the taxes in the first and second quarters.” If that’s always the case, the JJ asks, then why not distribute the tax burden equally over the whole year? Here’s a hint: It may just have something to do with the fact that Jersey City typically doesn’t adopt a budget for a given fiscal year until that year is almost over.

- The corruption case against Jersey City bounty hunter Adel Mikhaeil got stronger yesterday when James Irizarry, an associate of Mikhaiel’s, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Mikhaeil. Irizarry, the third person to admit to accepting bribes from Mikhaeil, took money in exchange for signing false documents that stated Mikhaeil had brought in fugitives that he hadn’t. Mikhaeil contends he was giving money to Irizarry as a friend. Two former Hudson County sheriff’s officers and a former detective in the prosecutor’s office are also implicated in similar bribery schemes with Mikhaeil. (The Journal’s report is not available online.)

- Two of the partners in the proposed Journal Square towers development are among those bilked by Bernie Madoff’s $50b Ponzi scheme. Their company’s spokeswoman says the project is undeterred. Two other Jersey City entities made the list.

- A Jersey City man has been arrested and charged on two counts of false public alarm after he allegedly phoned in bomb threats to the state building on Summit Ave. in Journal Square.

In statewide news:

- Governor Corzine sounded economic alarm bells yesterday, saying that if the federal economic stimulus package fails to pass, state budget cuts will be “dramatically more serious” than expected. Corzine also made some key changes to his pension-payment deferral plan in hopes of reviving it. Many municipalities, including Jersey City, are counting on the scheme to pass in order to meet operating costs.

- Playing to Gov. Corzine’s weaknesses, gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie vowed yesterday that, if elected, he will “gut COAH and … put an end to it.” COAH, the Council on Affordable Housing, is the state agency charged with seeing that New Jersey’s municipalities meet their affordable housing obligations. Its requirements have been a major political sticking point, especially as New Jersey’s municipalities are feeling the pinch of state budget cuts.

- Critics of the National Fugitive Operations Program, which aims to track down and deport undocumented immigrants with a serious criminal record, say that the program is flawed, and is inappropriately deporting undocumented immigrants without criminal records.

- Gov. Corzine gave residents of poor communities a boost when he updated the Environmental Justice Advisory Council, which is charged with advising the state Department of Environmental Protection on ways to lessen the effects of pollution on such communities.

- The state Supreme Court ruled that the use of a giant inflatable rat at labor union protests is protected speech which cannot be prohibited by Lawrence Township.

- The state Attorney General’s office has called false advertising on businesses around the state, including one in Jersey City, that promise “instant,” “same-day,” or  “1-” or “2-day” tax refunds. Businesses that offer refund anticipation loans, which often come with high interest rates, must make that clear in their advertising, or risk being cited and fined.

- State Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney has proposed a resolution calling for the resignation of Rutgers University President Richard McCormick. Many are calling for McCormick’s dismissal in the wake of his abrupt decision to fire Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy.

- Ticketmaster has apologized to Bruce Springsteen and his fans over its role in a ticket-gouging scheme.

- The origin of Manhattan’s “maple syrup events,” during which a strong sweet smell would permeate the air, has been traced to a North Bergen fragrance factory. The episodes have troubled Manhattan residents for years.

- The state Assembly passed a bill that requires landlords of multiple-dwelling units to act immediately on reports of bedbug infestations.

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