The Jersey City Independent "

- Several advocates point to the latest corruption arrests as proof that there are serious problems with the way development happens in New Jersey, while Mayor Healy and others are quick to defend the city’s record on development.

- Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who last week announced he would not resign his spot in Trenton in the wake of the scandal, says that he “is going to continue to serve whatever needs [his constituents] may have.”

- Meanwhile, the Insider seems to agree with the administration’s assessment that the protests and calls for resignations will die down in the coming weeks, saying: “Sorry folks, you ain’t Hoboken.” But the editorial board on which he sits sounds a different, less cynical, note today, calling again for Council president Mariano Vega*’s resignation and saying that if he doesn’t step down, “the calls for the councilman to remove himself from office will be loud and ugly enough to affect even the November gubernatorial race in this county.”

- Record columnist Charles Stile talks to former mayor Bret Schundler about the corruption scandal. “[Healy] should go out and say, ‘This is what was said to me, this is what I did and didn’t know,’ ” Schundler tells him. “If he actually has a defense, he should share it with us.”

- A decision is expected soon from the Rent Leveling Board on whether to allow building owner Joseph Ehrman to raise rents in a rent-controlled building on Garrison Avenue by 25 percent. City law governing rent-controlled buildings mandates that yearly hikes are limited to 4 percent, but Ehrman has filed a hardship application, claiming that he is losing $21,000 per month. Many of the residents in the building would have trouble making the rents if a 25 percent increase were to be adopted, according to their attorney.

- United Healthcare Workers East, part of Local 1199 SEIU, went on strike Friday against Harbor View Health Care Center on Ogden Avenue, as well as two other facilities in Hudson County owned by the Omni Corporation and operated by Avery Eisenreich. The one-day strike came on the heels of two years of unsuccessful contract negotiations. Now that the strike is over, Omni says the workers may have put their jobs in jeopardy by striking.

- New Jersey City University, along with Kean University in Union County, is being heralded for serving the greatest percentage of minority and working-class students of any of the state’s public four-year schools.

- In the wake of this weekend’s mid-air collision over the Hudson River, there are calls for more regulation of air traffic in the area. Meanwhile, the search continues, aided by crews from Jersey City and other HudCo municipalities.

- A state grand jury has indicted an alleged pimp who is charged with running a human trafficking and prostitution ring in Society Hill in which scores of women were induced to use heroin and cocaine and were beaten if they did not turn a daily quota of tricks.

- The owners of a home in Country Village where firefighters rescued a man from a fire in an illegal basement apartment early last week have been fined $10,000.

- An off-duty Hudson County sheriff’s officer was arrested Saturday night after allegedly threatening the manager of the Ole restaurant on Washington Boulevard with a gun.

- About $300,000 worth of artwork was stolen from a Duncan Avenue warehouse yesterday when a man posing as the truck driver sent to pick up the containers simply drove away with the art pieces.

In statewide news:

- As New Jersey continues to reel from the recession, Gov. Corzine and Republican rival Chris Christie are jockeying to control the gubernatorial campaign debate about the economy.

- Legislation that does away with the requirement of mailing sample ballots to inactive voters was signed into law Friday; it is estimated that nearly 320,000 inactive voters in the state receive annual confirmation notices and do not respond.

- New Jersey residents who left the state for college are transferring to schools back home in record numbers, drawn by the chance to save thousands of dollars on tuition, housing or both.

- Court documents that have been unavailable for public viewing for decades will come into the sunshine next month when a new rule recently adopted by the state’s highest court to goes into effect.

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