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- The City Council is expected to name David Donnelly, a special aide to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the new Ward B councilman at this week’s meeting. The anointment of Donnelly, who was hand-picked by Healy to fill the seat, troubles Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, who says the appointment should come from “outside of the mayor’s office.” The seat became vacant last week when Phil Kenny resigned after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

- The City Council has approved a resolution to submit a federal transportation grant application to fund the entire Jersey Avenue Extension project, which would take the thoroughfare over the Morris Canal into Liberty State Park via a two-lane road. The project has been eyed for years but has been opposed by a number of community groups. It seems as if many of the groups’ concerns have been heard and the project in its current form has the support of several who previously sat on the other side of the fence.

- Parents and Communities United for Education thinks it knows how to improve Jersey City’s abysmal 74 percent graduation rate.

- A reputed mob “capo” who was born and raised in Jersey City has been indicted by federal authorities in New York.

- The Port Authority launched a new website last week. Among the improvements are a bus route finder (Mobilizing the Region has more on that) and the ability to watch board meetings live, or recorded, on the site.

- The works of Jersey City fashion designer Elizabeth Rynish will be featured alongside Marissa Erskine and Project Runway finalist Kenley Collins, in an upcoming fashion show at NYC’s Metropolitan Pavilion.

- Jersey City-based Hudson Holding Corp., the parent of Hudson Securities, Inc., has hired Tony Sanfilippo as its new CEO.

- The blogger Mr. Snitch takes the Jersey Journal to task for its recent bouts of outrage over the situation in City Hall: “You don’t get a situation this bad unless you have a God-awful newspaper. The kind that’s regularly ‘shocked and surprised’ by revelations of corruption. But the Journal would be surprised much less often if it were not so busy willfully turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption taking place all over the county, every single day.”

Today’s Best Bets:

- As part of the Pride Connections Center of New Jersey’s 2nd anniversary celebration week, they are hosting a transgender panel discussion tonight at 6 pm that is slated to feature an original transgender version of The Vagina Monologues. If that’s not your thing, check out a free screening of the documentary Pane Amaro (Bitter Bread): The Italian American Journey from Despised Immigrants to Honored Citizens at St. Peter’s College at 7 pm. The filmmakers will be on hand for a Q&A session after the film as well.

In statewide news:

- New Jersey has replaced its absentee ballots with a “vote by mail” program that starts this year. What it means for you: no longer do you need to give a reason why you’re not voting in person, and instead of requesting ballots one at a time, you can get ballots via the mail for all future elections.

- Gov. Corzine has signed the so-called “EnCap Reform bill,” which requires businesses receiving any combination of government financial assistance totaling more than $50 million to file independently audited financial statements annually with the state treasurer. The state chapter of the Sierra Club, for one, is not too happy with the legislation.

- Turning to the gubernatorial race: The Record takes a closer look at the three candidates’ plans for combating the ever-present New Jersey scourge of high property taxes; Corzine says he’d consider raising the state’s gas tax — which is the lowest in the nation — during a second term or diverting money from other programs to keep the Transportation Trust Fund afloat; and New Jersey Citizens Action has endorsed Corzine for re-election.

- Whoops! The Star-Ledger has been forced to withdraw its sponsorship of Friday night’s gubernatorial debate after the paper endorsed independent candidate Chris Daggett this weekend. The endorsement is an apparent violation of state regulations, which called on them to wait until after the completion of the debate to issue an endorsement.

- Pedestrian deaths so far this year have jumped 34 percent statewide, the highest number of such fatalities in New Jersey since the turn of the century.