The Jersey City Independent "

- Jersey City health department official Joseph Castagna has put in a request to retire. He was among those arrested in July’s federal corruption probe, and he is also under investigation by city police for potentially issuing more food vendor licenses than the city allows. If his request is approved, his pension would be more than $60,000 per year and he would receive a one-time payment of $84,414 for unused vacation and for 80 percent of unused sick time, city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill tells JCI. She explains that if Castagna were to be terminated rather than retire — which would likely happen if he was convicted of any charges — not much would change. He would still retain most of the one-time payment; keeping 100 percent of the unused vacation time but none of the sick time. She says the pension to which Castagna is entitled is governed by state law, and it would be the pension board’s decision to revisit its allocation if he were to be convicted on any charges in the future. The request will be considered at the Sept. 16 meeting of the City of Jersey City Employees Retirement System board.

- Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini and Edward Cheatam have pleaded not guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit extortion in connection to July’s federal corruption probe.

- Environmental advocates say Liberty National Golf Club is a prime example of how the Department of Environmental Protection’s site-remediation program fails to provide proper oversight of contamination cleanups and fails to verify what the developers’ private contractors tell them about the effectiveness of the work.

- A 20-year-old Jersey City woman died in a house fire on Stevens Avenue yesterday.

- John Gomez reports on the impressive Depression-era architecture in Journal Square that has been revealed as one building has undergone a renovation.

- The Black Hollies talk to JCI contributor Jim Testa about their upcoming tour and album. They’ll be at Maxwell’s in Hoboken on Friday night.

- Strategic Storage Trust Inc. has purchased the U Store It self-storage property at 69 Mallory Ave. for $11.6 million in an all-cash transaction.

- An 86-year-old Jersey City man has died after being hit by a SUV, while a 9-year-old on a skateboard has sustained injuries from a collision with a car on Monday.

In statewide news:

- Top Democrats say that Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts is planning to announce today that he will not seek re-election this fall, ending a 22-year career in the Legislature. His replacement on this year’s ballot is expected to be Donald Norcross, co-chairman of the Camden County Democratic Committee and brother of South Jersey political boss George Norcross.

- Department of Environmental Protection scientists are opposing a wind energy development in the Delaware Bay, which could cut down Delsea Energy’s plans for 106 wind turbines there.

- As a result of Gov. Corzine agreeing to take part in a debate with his two opponents on Oct. 1, NJN has withdrawn its request to shift a debate to Oct. 22, a date requested by the governor. After learning of the withdrawal of NJN’s request, the Chris Christie campaign challenged Corzine to another debate on Oct. 22.

- Former Bergen County state senator Joseph Coniglio has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for providing $1 million in state aid to a hospital in return for $100,000 in what was described as consulting fees. Coniglio must also pay a $15,000 fine.

- An appeals court has once again rejected a Perth Amboy man’s efforts to overturn his 1998 conviction for the murder of a 24-year-old woman two years earlier. The court affirmed a lower court’s decision that the 33-year-old man isn’t entitled to a hearing for post-conviction relief because he could only have sought it within five years of his conviction unless he had some significant reasons why the time limit should be relaxed — and he didn’t present any.

- Rutgers University has won three grants totaling $7.65 million from the National Science Foundation for research in clean and sustainable energy resources and ongoing projects in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

- The state Division of Consumer Affairs has released statistics on 2008′s consumer complaints. Complaints against photography studios led the way, buoyed by more than 1,800 complaints against the now-shuttered Celebration Studios. Check out the top 10 categories here.

- Second-quarter earnings at New Jersey’s savings and loans slipped to a combined $143.6 million, down from $177.4 million in the first quarter, according to the Office of Thrift Supervision, as lenders set aside more money to cover possible future bad loans.

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