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- Interstate Waste Services has filed a lawsuit alleging the Hudson County Improvement Authority violated local public contract laws when it awarded the county’s garbage disposal contract to Advance Enterprise, the second lowest bidder.

- The family of a woman who died last year in Hudson County jail is seeking answers about her death — but jail security video doesn’t exist and emergency calls have been purged.

- Mayor Healy, for one, seemed pleased with Gov. Corzine’s budget proposal unveiled yesterday (see below for more on that). “His budget last year was tougher on cities than this year,” Healy told Politicker. “I give the governor credit. He cut spending by a billion. You’d almost have to call that ‘monumental.’ He’s cut it down to even less than what it was when he came into office.”

- The Insider claims that $2 million in funding set to come to the city for the Operation Ceasefire anti-violence program is no longer available, and he sees politics as the reason why the program never got off the ground under Mayor Healy. Mayoral candidate Lou Manzo was a sponsor of the legislation creating the program on the state level.

- Parents were recently told a trip for schoolkids to see the “Max and Ruby” musical in Montclair may be called off because there’s no busing available. Turns out the school officials scheduled the trip on the same day that buses are being inspected. The tickets cost the school $1,440 and are non-refundable.

- Mayor Healy has joined Building America’s Future, a national coalition comprised of state and local officials that is pushing for a renewed federal commitment to infrastructure.

- Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson will be signing autographs today between 11:30 am-1 pm for customers at his recently opened restaurant on Greene Street, Magic Johnson Marketplace.

In statewide news:

- The big news around the state is that Gov. Corzine unveiled his fiscal year 2010 budget in a speech yesterday. The autere $29.8 billion budget is $1 billion less than it was in 2006, Corzine’s first year as governor. The budget, among other things, would eliminate property tax deductions on state income taxes next year; cut arts funding by $5.2 million, reducing it to 2004 levels; levy additional taxes on cigarettes and liquor; add 0.75% of income tax for one year to families making more than $500,000 per year; and eliminate property tax rebates to most NJ homeowners, with the exception of seniors and low-income families. Of course, the budget has political implications this election year. Leading Republican gubernatorial candidates Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan both criticized Corzine’s proposal yesterday. Check out a map showing which words were used by Corzine most often here.