The Jersey City Independent "

- The jurors in the federal corruption trial of suspended deputy mayor Leona Beldini asked for four things during deliberations yesterday; as the Journal notes, some were important, some not so much. Meanwhile, the jurors will have a snow day today and are set to resume deliberations on Thursday if the weather cooperates.

- In other corruption news, former City Councilman, acting mayor and state Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith was indicted yesterday on charges he accepted bribes from FBI informant Solomon Dwek during last year’s mayoral race.

- The state Department of Education released its annual School Report Card yesterday, and Jersey City was among three Hudson County districts to buck the trend and actually decrease spending per student, from from $18,545 in 2007-2008 to $17,094 in 2008-2009.

- A 39-year-old JCPD officer working a security detail at the construction site at 6th Street and Washington Boulevard has been hospitalized after being struck by a car yesterday morning. He was listed in stable condition, and was kept at the Jersey City Medical Center overnight.

- A pre-trial hearing scheduled yesterday in Mercer County Superior Court for Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone and his wife, who are facing theft and official misconduct charges, has been postponed until March 9.

- Two letters to the Journal tackle the city’s budget problems, with Shelley Skinner lamenting the City Council’s “steaming heap of ‘business as usual’” when it voted to renew two MUA board appointees, and Peter O’Reilly calling for a prohibition to keep government employees from collecting more than one taxpayer-funded salary.

- The two Jersey City men arrested last weekend in the double-homicide of cousins Mileak Richardson and Lester “Bleek” Thompson made their first appearance in court yesterday.

- Jersey City’s Provident Bank has been named the New Preferred Lender Program Bank of the Year by the state Economic Development Authority.

Today’s Best Bets:

- With the snow coming down, your real Best Bet is to call all venues to make sure any events are still happening. But theoretically, you can check out the appropriately titled 1943 film Stormy Weather at the Five Corners Branch Library (1 pm) and head over to Boca Grande tonight for a free show by a Bryan Beninghove-led jazz quartet (9:30 pm).

In statewide news:

- Snowpocalypse Watch: State offices are closed, and officials are urging residents to stay home as snow storm builds; and Continental Airlines has canceled all flights at Newark Liberty International Airport.

- Gov. Christie has ordered the state government’s role in providing affordable housing halted, an action called illegal by housing activists who quickly filed a request with the state Appellate Court to schedule a hearing the move.

- State Sen. Ray Lesniak and five other directors of an Elizabeth bank that collapsed last year borrowed more than $2 million in mortgages and commercial loans from the thrift, records show. Some of those loans came after First BankAmericano was put under a July 2007 federal order to stop what authorities described as unsound banking and loan practices

- New reports show that the federal economic stimulus bill signed into law a year ago created 9,800 jobs in the transportation construction industry in New Jersey, and 280,000 nationwide. In other jobs news, Manufacturers’ News Inc. has released a report showing industrial jobs have shrunk by 6.4 percent in the Garden State since the start of the recession.

- A rail link that would connect Northeast Pennsylvania and Hoboken has been denied federal funds, causing a roadblock in its progress. Work has already begun on the rail line in New Jersey, but Pennsylvania’s portion needs “much more money and political effort.”

- The nonprofit Legal Services of New Jersey says New Jersey needs to coordinate programs to fight poverty that disproportionately affects children, minorities and households headed by women.

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