The Jersey City Independent "

- An appeals court has ruled against The Friends of Liberty State Park’s challenge to prevent the state’s planned “Empty Sky” 9/11 memorial from being built on the park’s waterfront. The group, which filed a petition arguing the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) didn’t allow enough public comment on the memorial, was told that it didn’t file that petition in a timely manner. The Friends’ attorney hints to the Journal that they may appeal to the state Supreme Court; meanwhile, a spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial Organization says “Empty Sky” is in its third phase of construction and the two 30-foot-high, 200-foot-long walls will be erected soon.

- Jersey City police seized four computers from the Division of Zoning Enforcement office yesterday morning; few details have emerged as to what the JCPD is investigating.

- Representatives from the state Department of Transportation took a Journal writer and photographer along on a tour of the massive four-year, $200 million project to change the traffic patterns around the Tonnelle Circle. The story is not available online, but several nice photos are.

- Gov.-elect Chris Christie may take a second look at the state’s fledgling red light camera experiment. Under the five-year pilot program, Jersey City is set to get one red light camera, at Tonnelle Circle.

- State Sen. Brian Stack of Union City says the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) shouldn’t waste its time trying to fight state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, who is increasingly becoming a target for some of the old-guard HCDO leadership because of her ties to Christie and a dust-up with county executive Tom DeGise.

- GlobeSt.com says the recent deal Broadridge Financial Solutions inked to renew and expand its lease at 2 Journal Square mirrors a statewide trend of commercial tenants renewing their leases early in exchange for reduced rent in this tough economy.

- PSE&G is offering free energy audits and other services to eligible customers in 25 Urban Enterprise Zones, including ones in Jersey City.

- Two women from New Jersey City University — Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center director Karen DeAngelis and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies chair Dr. Catherine Raissiguier — are among the recipients of 2009 Elizabeth Cady Stanton “The World is Moving” Awards, given out by the Women’s Rights Information Center.

- Two Jersey City men, one an inmate at the Monmouth County Jail, have been indicted on charges they conspired to smuggle two cell phones into the jail last summer.

In statewide news:

- Here come more subsidies: Christie says he will seek to designate areas where state and local taxes on businesses would be reduced to as little as zero to defray start-up costs and spur development; he may model his program after Pennsylvania’s Keystone Opportunity Zones, where businesses are exempt from corporate, income, sales and local levies for as long as a decade.

- New leadership in the state legislature: As expected, state Sen. Steve Sweeney was elected Senate president yesterday; earlier in the day, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver was elected Assembly speaker by the lower house’s Democratic majority.

- Advocacy groups and individuals were out in force in Trenton yesterday lobbying and rallying for a same-sex marriage bill. Politicker has a report, and Blue Jersey has some video. All the while, a few Democratic legislators appear to be wavering in their support of the bill.

- The state Senate Health Committee has approved a bill that would require fast food and restaurant chains to post calories on their menus.

- Taxpayers are subsidizing The New Jersey Association of Counties, a private lobbying group, even as it sometimes fights proposed laws designed to help bring down the country’s highest property taxes.

- Controversial former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs is not ruling out a run for one of New Jersey’s two U.S. Senate seats. “Do I seek to have some influence on public policy? Absolutely,” he tells Reuters. “Do I seek to represent and champion the middle class in this country and those who aspire to it? Absolutely. And I will.”

- Attorney General Anne Milgram has issued a policy that allows law enforcement officers the use of electronic stun guns in limited circumstances involving emotionally disturbed individuals.

- Millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds awarded to New Jersey months ago for “shovel-ready” county road projects won’t be used until next year because of the increased documentation and review the projects now face.

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