The Jersey City Independent "

- The body of an adult woman was found in a room at the Skyway Motel on Tonnelle Avenue yesterday. Her death was listed as suspicious pending the results of an autopsy to be performed today.

- Shots fired in a Greenville park yesterday ended with three teenagers being struck by bullets. The shooting, at Ferris Triangle Park (Danforth Avenue near Old Bergen Road) sent a 15-year-old girl and two 17-year-old boys to the hospital. The girl, who was shot in the stomach, remained hospitalized but in stable condition last night while the boys, who were shot in the legs, were released. All three victims are not cooperating with police thus far and none were charged with any crimes.

- Green Faith, a New Brunswick-based coalition of religious groups, has received a $20,000 grant from the federal government to monitor the pollutants in the air at Port Newark and to map the truck routes into the port.

- Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop traveled to Trenton yesterday with education advocate (and his campaign manager) Shelley Skinner to advocate for more state funding of charter schools. They were specifically asking the Assembly Committee on Education to maintain the levels of funding from last year.

- The “controversial” billboard in Hoboken placed by Jersey City developer Jamie LeFrak has been replaced with the old “Newport (Hearts) Hoboken” one, which promotes the soon-to-be-unveiled pedestrian bridge between Newport and the Hoboken train station.

- JCPD director Samuel Jefferson and JCPD chief of police Tom Comey respond to a recent letter by Sgt. Ed Carattini that charged the department (and the fire department) with not working to reflect the diversity of the city, especially in management positions.”Perhaps the true impetus for the sergeant’s letter was his disappointment that he did not score high enough on the recently expired lieutenants list,” the two write. Ouch!

- In celebration of Women’s History Month, the city honored 27 women last night at its 11th Annual “Women of Action” Awards Ceremony.

- Liberty Humane Society expects its intake of cats to more than double by June 2009 as a result of the birth-giving season combined with the recession.

- Christ Hospital CEO Peter Kelly has an op-ed urging state lawmakers and Gov. Corzine to improve charity care payments and raise reimbursements through Medicaid. He says that doing so will protect programs, like Christ’s cardiac diagnostic program, that are at risk from declining revenues.

In statewide news:

- The NJ police union says it will sue the state to block public employee furloughs.

- State election commission records show that Christopher Christie has accepted campaign cash toward his race for governor from a lawyer he previously awarded a multimillion-dollar contract.

- Up to 1,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel seeped into the soil along the banks of the Passaic River in Newark, though authorities said the spill was largely contained before it reached the river.

- The attorney general’s office is scouring information received yesterday from AIG, looking for fraudulent statements that could be used in a lawsuit again the beleaguered insurance giant.

- The U.S. Department of Energy says NJ will receive $75.5 million in federal grants for energy conservation projects.

- Former union leader Carla Katz was expelled from the Communications Workers of America Wednesday after an internal union tribunal unanimously found she was guilty of mismanaging the nation’s biggest local.

- Newark Mayor Cory Booker has turned down offers to be Gov. Jon Corzine’s running mate in NJ’s first year with lieutenant governor candidates on the ballot.

- Municipal leaders want relief from state mandates that are straining their budgets as they cope with a recession and less state aid.

- More TV producers are heading to NJ from NY.

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