The Jersey City Independent "

- Get ready for a fare hike: NJ Transit’s nearly 900,000 bus, train and light rail riders could be hit with a fare hike as soon as May, the agency’s executive director said yesterday after the NJ Transit board meeting. The increase, which would be the fourth in the past eight years, comes as a result of Gov. Christie’s decision to cut nearly $33 million (about 11 percent) of the state funding for the agency.

- The Downtown Jersey City daycare center Our Little Rugratz left a 2-year-old girl behind at Madison Square Garden after a field trip last week, leading to criminal charges against the owners. Daycare operators from around the county say you just can’t be too cautious when you’re out on a field trip.

- A group of about 60 people gathered at Liberty State Park yesterday morning to rally for immigration reform by walking 10 miles from Jersey City to the Elizabeth Detention Center.

- Walgreen Co. says it is buying rival drugstore chain Duane Reade Holdings Inc. for $1.08 billion to expand its reach in the metropolitan area. Duane Reade operates three stores in Jersey City (at the Grove Street and Journal Square PATH stations and on River Drive in Newport), while Walgreens owns one at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Communipaw Avenue.

- Some good nightlife news: The renowned New York comedy club Catch A Rising Star is expanding to Jersey City, monthly shows to be held at Michael Anthony’s restaurant in Newport starting this month.

- A 29-year-old Jersey City man has become the second person charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the killing of a New York man found dead in an Atlantic City motel room last month.

- Jersey City-based professional boxer Tomasz Adamek was nearly on the plane that crashed at a Wall Township airport Monday, killing all five people aboard. His friend from Kearny had invited him to come along; he declined. And so he lives, but is mourning the loss of friend.

- Congrats to the NJCU women’s bowling team, which captured the Division I Northeast Conference championship in its first year as an associate member. The team went a perfect 7-0 in match play.

Today’s Best Bets:

- An opening reception for the “Go Figure” exhibition, which features work by Robert Piersanti, Norm Kirby and Matt Cap, is at Fish With Braids Gallery at 6 pm. Up at the county courthouse, a Black History Month Celebration with music and spoke word performances is also at 6 pm.

In statewide news:

- With school districts still reeling from the midyear budget cuts he announced last week (Jersey City will lose $3.565 million), Gov. Christie says he has also asked districts to prepare for a 15 percent reduction in state aid in the budget he will propose next month.

- Speaking of budget cuts, yesterday an Assembly panel heard testimony from scores of folks from around the state about how Christie’s proposed cuts — to education, transit, health care and more — would impact their lives. Meanwhile, Christie now acknowledges that he can’t implement his cuts by executive order alone, and needs approval from the Democratic Legislature.

- Four bills that would reduce New Jersey’s future obligation to its underfunded pension system are scheduled for a public hearing in the state Senate today.

- The New Jersey state Council on Affordable Housing has approved a resolution supporting Gov. Christie’s executive order that halts any action by the agency pending the result of a review by a new task force of the state government’s role in providing affordable housing.

- A group of dolphins has been spotted in the Hackensack River upstream near Teaneck, Bogota and Hackensack, prompting concerns that they may not survive being so far from the sea.

- A new study finds that New Jersey has the nation’s highest percentage of public schools with very few poor students.

- Three separate bills that would ban smoking on New Jersey’s beaches will likely be consolidated into one and then heard by the state Senate’s Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens committee today.

Like what you've read here? Please consider making a donation or becoming a sustaining member. As a grassroots news organization, we rely on community support -- as well as paid advertising -- to survive.