Wednesday Morning News Roundup
By Jon Whiten • Dec 30th, 2009 • Category: Blog
- The Journal has more on the lawsuit filed by former Jersey City Parking Authority head Mark Russ that alleges Mayor Healy wrongfully terminated him after he failed to obey orders not to issue tickets after 6 pm.
- Speaking of the Parking Authority, it is not enforcing meter rules or alternate side parking rules until Monday. Consider it a holiday gift.
- As of Dec. 21, Hudson County was on track to see a drop in its murder rate, with 32 as compared to 35 in 2008. The trend mirrors the rest of the state, which is set to see a decline in the number of murders for the third straight year.
- But you can add one more to that number, as the death of a 41-year-old Jersey City man on Christmas Day has been ruled a homicide by medical examiners yesterday. (Story not online.)
- Hundreds of mourners came out on Monday to pay their final respects to the late Tom Fricchione, a former City Council member who passed away on Dec. 22 at his Jersey City home from natural causes at the age of 64.
- Jersey City resident Eddie Chang is a contestant on the Food Network’s upcoming food competition show Worst Cooks in America.
- The Puerto Rican Family Institute will use a $30,000 grant from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey for its Diabetes Outreach Program.
- The Journal runs down what it thinks were the top stories in Hudson County this year; here’s hoping they don’t forget half the year, like they did yesterday when its listing of the most read stories online at only included the last six months. We’ll have our top stories and the rest of our Year in Review goodness for you all tomorrow.
In statewide news:
- More people were killed while walking New Jersey’s streets this year than in 2008, according to State Police data released Tuesday. The 2009 total sits at 155, compared to 138 last year. That number includes 12 pedestrian deaths in Hudson County.
- A new study finds the sea level is rising faster in New Jersey than anywhere else along the East Coast.
- A coalition of environmental groups says a bill making its way through Trenton would undermine water quality and promote sprawl throughout New Jersey by pushing off new sewer and septic regulations for more than two years.
- A new report finds that some of New Jersey’s poorest residents — the children of undocumented immigrants — are ineligible for in-state tuition rates at state-run universities and colleges, making higher education unaffordable.
- State attorney general Anne Milgram begins her exit from the “all-encompassing” role as New Jersey’s top cop.
- Is the worst over for New Jersey’s office real estate market? Some experts seem to think so.
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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