The Jersey City Independent "

- Running Out of Snow $$: The head of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority says that after this current storm, the agency may only have $100,000 or so left to clear snow. The same situation is being felt in municipalities all over New Jersey, and the region, as we’ve been hit with more snow than usual this year. Here’s hoping it doesn’t snow in March.

- Board Benefits Compromise: While legislation pushed by Ward E councilman Steven Fulop to strip Jersey City Incinerator Authority and Municipal Utilities Authority board members of health insurance failed to gain any traction at the City Council meeting this week, a set of ordinances proposed by the Healy administration — which would force the board members to pay 20 percent of the cost of the premium and would limit who could get the benefits — passed its first council hurdle. We’ll have much more on that and all the other council action later today in our Council Report.

- Bye-Bye Banana Leaf: The city has permanently revoked the itinerant food vendor license issued to Shaik Manzoor, operator of the Banana Leaf truck that sold Indian food at Exchange Place and other Downtown locations. Manzoor’s license had been temporarily yanked in January after a raid of his home found unsanitary and illegal food-preparation conditions.

- PATH Contract for WTC Station: The Port Authority has awarded a $542 million contract to build a new PATH station as part of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The work includes construction of four rail platforms and the installation of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems; plumbing work, fire protection, architectural finishes, and handicapped-accessibility measures for the facility estimated to eventually serve 200,000 commuters.

- Hudson County Soldier Dies in Afghanistan: A 22-year-old North Bergen man died Sunday in a training exercise at Kandahar Air Base.

- Quigley Handicapped Parking Bill Moves Forward: The Assembly has approved legislation designed to restrict the towing of handicapped vehicles and to require 24-hour access to towed vehicles. The measure, which passed by a vote of 70-3-2, is co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Joan Quigley. It now moves to the Senate.

- Victims Turn Against Each Other: The attorney for the Bayonne woman horribly injured by a drunk driver in Jersey City last year says she cannot claim insurance money because the attorney for a less severely injured victim refuses to provide information about his client’s injuries.

- A Groundbreaking Pilot: The Journal has the story of Jersey City native Robert Ashby, who broke ground as a Tuskegee Airman, and as one of first black pilots to fly for a commercial airline.

- Governance by PT Barnum?: “I don’t know if there really is a sucker born every minute,” blogger and NJCU professor Thurman Hart writes. “But Jerramiah Healy is determined to govern, not only as if it’s true, but as if all of those suckers just happen to be his constituents.”

In statewide news:

- Christie Wants to Cut Unemployment Benefits: Gov. Christie is looking to soften a scheduled business payroll tax hike by enacting several changes to unemployment beneifts, including lowering the $600 maximum weekly benefit to $550 for anyone who loses his job after the changes would go into effect. Those who lose their jobs would also be forced to wait one week before they can claim benefits. The changes would not apply to anyone currently on the unemployment rolls. Senate president Steve Sweeney calls the proposal, which would have to be OK’ed by the legislature, a “total nonstarter.” AFL-CIO president Charles Wowkanech is urging elected officials to oppose the plan.

- Pension Underfunding Gets Worse: A new analysis by the Treasury Department finds that New Jersey’s pension system is underfunded by nearly $46 billion — a more than 30 percent increase in a year.

- Pension Bills Introduced in Assembly: Assembly leaders have introduced their versions of pension bills passed by the Senate earlier this week — and said they would add three more proposals to the mix.

- Lautenberg Leaves the Hospital: Sen. Frank Lautenberg was released from the hospital yesterday, more than 10 days after being admitted after suffering a fall. After that fall, the senator was also diagnosed with a treatable form of lymphoma. He has already begun chemotherapy.

- Court Will Hear Labor Challenge to Christie: A state Appellate Court has agreed to hear an appeal by four New Jersey public employee unions that challenges Gov. Christie’s executive order that they argue limits their ability to make political contributions.

- They’re Watching Christie in Illinois: One political columnist takes a look at how the success or failure of Gov. Christie’s slash-and-burn approach to taming our budget problems may affect the next gubernatorial election in the Land of Lincoln.

- Hanging with the Snow Plow Drivers: How do snow plow drivers feel about their jobs? Mark DiIonno tries to find out. “Everybody thinks it looks like fun. And it is. The first time you do it,” one says. “The novelty wears off 10 minutes after you turn the key,” another chimes in.

- No Snow Day for These Workers: The Record has a piece on folks whose “work must continue in spite of even the direst of conditions.”

- Tea Party Not So Popular Here: New Jerseyans have a less favorable impression of the Tea Party movement than other states, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll made public Thursday.

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