The Jersey City Independent "

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- Furloughs Set to Begin: Jersey City workers (with the exception of the police and fire departments) have received official notice that they will be forced to take 12 days off without pay, as the city grapples with a crushing budget deficit. The first furlough day will be Dec. 24. The Insider says that the city is “clueless” about the true budget situation, and that the administration should give strong consideration to layoffs. “Every day they delay layoffs, there will be more people without a job,” he writes.

- Speaking of jobs, Jersey City’s unemployment rate continues to climb, hitting 12 percent in September.

- A 29-year-old Jersey City man died in the hospital after being shot in the thigh outside a BG’s Tavern on Communipaw Avenue early Saturday morning.

- The Journal has a report from the scene of the AIG protests we told you about last week.

- An employee of Provident Bank’s Bergen Avenue branch has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the accounts of senior citizens and bank customers who had recently died.

- The leader of a large-scale counterfeit check ring based in Jersey City has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

- More than 300 people attended St. Peter’s College’s 38th Annual Regents Business Symposium, which had the theme “Restoring Confidence: From Crisis to Recovery” and featured speakers like CBS Evening News reporter Byron Pitts.

- A fire shut down Ellis Island over the weekend, but it’s all systems go at the historic tourist landmark as of this morning.

- Crystal Ramirez of Jersey City has received $2,000 for her college education, via the Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey scholarship.

- Crime blotter news: A carjacking, a DUI-related car crash, a stolen-vehicle car crash, and a domestic dispute involving a flower pot.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Contemporary art scholar Eleanor Heartney will be at NJCU to give a talk at noon as part of the NJCU Visiting Artist Program’s “Distinguished Lecture Series,” and the Warehouse is screening another documentary for free at 8:30 pm — the enthralling Man on Wire.

In statewide news:

- Election reaction: Christie could become the most conservative governor in New Jersey’s modern history, and some hard-line right-wingers see his victory as part of the same Tea Partying, Death Paneling conservative backlash to the Obama administration that has come out of the woodwork in the past half year or so. Yet some conservatives acknowledge that they’re still a little wary of Christie. Meanwhile, organized labor, fearing job cuts and concessions under the Christie administration, look to make nice with the incoming governor. And whether or not the state can move forward in attacking any of its major problems next year seemingly depends on one key thing: Republicans and Democrats working together.

- New Jersey has been hit particularly hard by the recession, in part because it was exhibiting slower growth than other states even during the boom years.

- From the ‘Did You Know?’ Department: Trenton was once the capital of the United States, but only for 54 days in late 1784. New Jersey Monthly has more.