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- In the course of outlining his agenda for his next term (see next item), Mayor Healy told the Journal he’d like to make legal the thousands of illegal apartments in the city to increase the tax base. But city planning director Bob Cotter says the move might put huge strains on his department — and could be illegal anyway. Several representatives from neighborhood association are also against the plan.

- Other than the illegal apartment issue, much of what Healy proposes for the next four years is more of the same, specifically in the areas of fighting crime and luring development. He did say that furloughs for every department but police and fire are possible “if things continue in a downward trend,” and that layoffs can’t be taken off the table.

- Ward F City Council candidate LaVern Webb-Washington’s challenge of Ron-Calvin Clark’s second-place finish on three grounds was rejected by a county judge yesterday. Clark will face incumbent Viola Richardson in a June 9 runoff.

- The state Supreme Court upheld Gov. Corzine’s new school funding formula, which effectively scraps the Abbott funding system that poured extra money into Jersey City for the past few decades. While Mayor Healy’s office said he hadn’t yet reviewed the court’s decision, he expressed concern. “The Abbott program has been successful in Jersey City and to lose any portion of this funding would be disconcerting,” he said.

- Hudson County executive Tom DeGise fires back at the Journal editorial page today. Yesterday the paper implied the county hadn’t been actively seeking the best deal on the formerly contamined Koppers Koke site in Kearny, and that this lax attitude was contributing to the county’s fiscal problems. Not so, says DeGise: “The picture presented of our administration’s handling of the issue is simply at odds with the facts.” He goes on to lay out the history of the county’s involvement with the site and preview what might come next.

- The world’s best golfers will be on hand when Liberty National Golf Club hosts the 2009 Barclays tournament in late August. The tournament has teamed up with local nonprofits and charities to let them benefit from the tourney as well, through the Tickets Fore Charity program, which donates 100 percent of ticket cost to charities. For more on the program visit this site.

- “The Division Bell: Black and Blue,” an exhibition that looks through artists’ eyes at the prejudices and stereotypes that U.S.-born black people have about black immigrants, and vice-versa, is currently showing at the es oro gallery on Brunswick Street.

In statewide news:

- As Tuesday’s primary election approaches, a new poll has Republican Chris Christie leading his closest GOP challenger, Steve Lonegan, by 11 points. Meanwhile, Christie has raised more than $2.2 million in contributions and has received $3.1 million in public matching funds, while Lonegan has raised nearly $1.3 million and has received $1.5 million in matching money. Christie is also facing — and dodging — questions about an adviser’s part-time political job that keeps him in the government pension system, something the candidate has campaigned against.

- An audit released yesterday finds that taxpayer dollars may have been used to buy fuel for the personal vehicles of state child-welfare workers and to pay their parking fines.

- An allergist at UMDNJ says global warming is making this year’s allergy season worse.

- A shortage of qualified nursing educators in New Jersey is leading to tough competition for few spots in this state’s four-year nursing programs.