The Jersey City Independent "

Remember: City Hall is closed today, and there is no street sweeping. Trash collection proceeds as usual. Enjoy your Memorial Day.

- Ward F City Council candidate LaVern Webb-Washington, who fell just two votes short of second place (and the chance to enter a runoff with incumbent Viola Richardson), will challenge the results in Superior Court. She says she is challenging second-place finisher Ron-Calvin Clark’s residency, on disputed ballots and on a broader claim of election fraud.

- Ward A runoff candidate Rolando Lavarro, who will face off against incumbent Michael Sottolano, says he’s proud of the work his team did during the general campaign but that there’s obviously more to be done. “My very worn out shoes tell the tale of how hard we walked the streets and neighborhoods,” he tells the Asian Journal. If elected, Lavarro would become the first Filipino-American elected official in Jersey City.

- JCPD chief Tom Comey says that crime is declining, and he is upset that the media and some candidates running for office in recent months implying the police were not doing enough to stop crime.

- A Jersey City building inspector was fired this week after pleading guilty in federal court to using his position in a scheme to extort money at construction sites.

- Two men were shot early Saturday morning near Exchange Place.

- A man wearing a hat and shirt with JCPD logos and wielding an Uzi robbed a man of more than $10,000 on a Downtown street Friday.

- Two more cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Hudson County.

In statewide news:

- Republican gubernatorial frontrunners Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan both oppose a proposal likely to be on November’s ballot asking voters to approve borrowing $600 million to preserve open space. Christie says the state should fund such purchases without debt, while Lonegan opposes the concept itself.

- Meanwhile, Christie and Lonegan have both thrown out ideas on the trail about how to dramatically remake state government, but insiders say most of the ideas can’t be accomplished by a governor alone — even in a state with the most powerful chief executive in the nation.

- Smaller pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms are flourishing in New Jersey even as the big pharma companies struggle.

- Most observers say that businesses at the Jersey shore are likely to struggle again this year as the recession shows no real signs of ending.

- While the state’s financial situation is grave right now, some say its not nearly as bad as the 1936 crisis that sparked the “Siege of Trenton.”

- More cash-strapped New Jersey public schools are joining their private brethren in the hunt for public and private money to expand programs or fill holes.

- As handfuls of car dealerships are being closed across the state, what will become of their real estate?

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