The Jersey City Independent "

- At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges yesterday, as did suspended building department employee John Guarini and political operative/Municipal Utilities Authority commissioner Joe Cardwell. Vega*’s trial is set for Feb. 24. Meanwhile, former city planning aide and Ward E City Council candidate Guy Catrillo is due to be the first person sentenced in the corruption sweep today; he pleaded guilty in September.

- One city resident is rallying the troops for a protest of the municipal budget before next week’s City Council meeting.

- The amount of dangerous PCBs that have polluted the Hudson River upstream in New York for decades is much greater than originally suspected, according to a federal report released Thursday. Officials do not believe there are significantly more PCBs in North Jersey’s portion of the waterway, as the extra amount had been entombed under a layer of river debris in upstate New York and did not migrate southward.

- Goldman Sachs, one of the largest “Wall Street West” employers, announced it earned $4.79 billion in the fourth quarter, and paid out $16.2 billion in salaries and bonuses for 2009, up 47 percent from 2008.

- Sections of the salvaged “Miracle on the Hudson” Airbus A320 plane that was ditched in the Hudson River last January are on the auction block.

- The Brandon Tierney Show, which airs on ESPN Radio, will broadcast live from St. Peter’s College next week, in conjunction with the show’s College Basketball Campus Tour 2010.

- Chilltown Lunch reports that the grocery store at 77 Hudson is not coming for another “six months to a year, if at all,” but a gastropub by the “owner of several Jersey City bistros” is coming to 70 Hudson by summer’s end.

In statewide news:

- Budget battle: Gov. Christie and former Gov. Corzine are engaged in a dispute over the state of New Jersey’s budget, with Christie saying the state faces a $1.3 billion shortfall and Corzine saying he left a $496 million surplus. As the Ledger points out, the fight has deeper consequences than politics, as investors and lawmakers are dependent on accurate financial information.

- Meanwhile, Christie is promising to eliminate a number of New Jersey boards and commissions where political appointees are then able to pad their public pensions, in some cases mostly for attending monthly meetings.

- State investment officials say it would be irresponsible and expensive to build an in-house staff to invest in emerging markets, despite protests from state union workers and an audit that says the state could save $5 million by doing so.

- New Jersey’s comptroller says his office will increase its scrutiny of sick time usage by public employees to make sure those days are not being used for personal business.

- A set of pro-business bills that drew the ire of environmentalists and were vetoed this week by former Gov. Corzine will likely be reintroduced in hopes that Gov. Christie will sign them.

- A U.S. Supreme Court decision on campaign financing will permit corporations to spend more freely during 2010 midterm elections, including the New Jersey congressional contests on the ballot this November.

- A new poll finds that New Jerseyans, including Republicans, oppose Gov. Chris Christie’s idea of expanding charter schools, while they support merit pay for outstanding teachers and making it easier to fire bad teachers.

- New Jersey Republicans are ecstatic that, for the first time in recent memory, their senate leadership PAC finished the year with more cash on hand than their Democratic counterparts. But, as Matt Friedman points out, the reason has more to do with internal Democratic drama than with a Republican fundraising resurgence.

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