The Jersey City Independent "

- Six potential jurors were selected yesterday from a total pool of 60 as the prologue to the federal corruption trial of suspended deputy mayor and former Healy campaign treasurer Leona Beldini got underway. Jury selection will resume today.

- A 43-year-old Jersey City man was arrested yesterday for allegedly stabbing his 45-year-old brother to death during an alcohol-fueled fight in their Heights home.

- Yesterday’s strong winds caused a little bit of havoc, as construction debris flew through the air in Downtown Jersey City, closing some streets and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail for a while. No injuries were reported.

- The trade publication Facilities Online takes a look at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre, including the plans for further renovation.

- Animal Control officers removed a 3-foot pet rattlesnake from a Jersey City home yesterday.

- New Jersey Newsroom sets the record straight about Nellie Bly’s famed 1890 journey around the world in 72 days — it began in Hoboken and ended in Jersey City, not New York City as is usually reported.

- Congrats to Jersey City Free Public Library PR person Michele Dupey; she recently earned a master’s degree in Library & Information Science from Rutgers University. Dupey was able to take the graduate courses through a federal Institute for Museums & Library Services’ scholarship.

Today’s Best Bet:

- The opening reception of “STUMBLE,” a site-specific sculpture installation by the Montreal artist Stephen Schofield, is at NJCU this evening from 5 to 8 pm; the artist will be on hand for a chat at 7 pm.

In statewide news:

- After a week of Gov. Christie and former Gov. Corzine sniping over the health of New Jersey’s budget, a nonpartisan legislative office says Christie’s $1.3 billion projected revenue shortfall is reasonable. Both men say the testimony by an Office of Legislative Services budget officer “confirmed” their side of the spat.

- Gov. Christie says he’ll let a tax hike on businesses take effect if the federal government doesn’t help the state replenish the unemployment fund.

- The state Senate will begin the 2010 legislative session by seeking swift action on measures that would complete a sweeping overhaul of the public employee pension and benefits system first proposed nearly three years ago.

- Laying the groundwork for an expansion of the nuclear-power industry, PSEG has opened a high-tech energy-education center in Salem to prepare the public for plans to build a fourth reactor at its generating complex on the Delaware Bay.

- Gov. Christie has named Sussex County Freeholder Hal Wirths as commissioner of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Lori Grifa as commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs.

- New Jersey company TerraCycle Inc. has entered into a partnership with Newell Rubbermaid, a maker of writing instruments, to reuse discarded pens and makers.

- A 61-year-old South Jersey man has been arrested for delivering a fake horse’s head to the Gloucester County office of Senate President Steve Sweeney.

- A state audit of the Department of Environmental Protection finds that 32 percent of New Jersey’s potentially hazardous dams are overdue on inspections.

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