The Jersey City Independent "

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- Jersey City, like all other New Jersey municipalities, will get less state aid from the budget this year — nearly $2 million less, a 2.5 percent reduction from last year’s package. While the cuts are not as drastic as they might have been, this year’s reductions in municipal aid come on top of bigger reductions last year. City business administrator Brian O’Reilly foresees a worst-case scenario of a 40-cent tax increase in Jersey City to make up the gap.

- Earl Morgan comments on Obama’s (sort-of) recent warning to mayors about misuse of the stimulus package with a Jersey City history lesson about LBJ’s ill-fated Model Cities program.

- The Insider reports on which candidates have enough certified petitions to appear on May’s municipal ballot. Those who have said they would run for municipal office but haven’t yet been certified include many of those announced as part of mayoral candidate L. Harvey Smith’s slate: at-large council hopefuls Ronnie Greco, Frank “Pizza Man” Scalcione, and Noemi Velazquez; and Ward D council challenger Jose Munoz. Also notably missing from Augie’s list: mayoral candidate Phillip Webb; at-large council candidate Abdul Malik; Ward A council candidate David Hoffman; Ward D council candidate Sean Connors; and Ward E council candidates Joshua Levitt, Tony Torres, and Jaime Vazquez. Hopefuls have until Thursday at 4 p.m. to file the required number of valid petitions.

- The discovery process in the trial of Susan Kolb’s dogs moved forward a bit yesterday when the defense received photographs of the injuries the dogs allegedly inflicted on James Joyce.

In statewide news:

- Bidding on two segments of the new Hudson rail tunnel was opened to contractors yesterday. Construction on the much heralded tunnel, which will alleviate access problems for trains crossing under the Hudson River between Manhattan and North Bergen, is set to begin in the spring.

- Assemblyman Joe Vas, standing accused of corruption, yesterday withdrew his candidacy for reelection as the 19th District Assemblyman.

- The Star-Ledger has won a prestigious national journalism award for its investigation into Rutgers University football. The paper took first place for “Distinguished Service to the First Amendment” in this year’s Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards for the “Big Time, Big Costs: The high price of Rutgers sports” series.