The Jersey City Independent "

- Guy Heading to Prison: Former city worker and Ward E City Council candidate Guy Catrillo reports to the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in South Jersey today; he’s the first person swept up in the federal corruption probe to head to prison, where he will spend 18 months.

- Storm Wreaks Havoc: Emergency services in Hudson County responded to hundreds of 911 calls as rain and winds from a nor’easter lashed the area over the weekend.

- CREATE Gets ‘Motion of Reconsideration’: The state Department of Education has informed CREATE Charter School that it will be given a “motion of reconsideration” of the department’s decision to close the school this summer.

- Cutting Sports to Save $: The mayors of all 12 Hudson County municipalities want to do away with the entire athletic programs at County Prep and High Tech high schools, claiming it would save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

- International Custody Fight: A 45-year-old Jersey City man shares the story of his erstwhile son, who was taken to Slovakia by his ex-wife in 2005 and never brought back.

- Pols Not Lining Up Behind Perez: Hudson County Sheriff Juan Perez continues to receive word from Hudson County Democratic Organization folks that they aren’t backing him for re-election.

- Some of Jack Shaw’s Last Words? Longtime Jersey City political operative Jack Shaw reportedly told Lou Manzo that he had been interrogated for several hours by federal officials last summer, as they tried to get him to give up then-Division of Community Affairs head Joe Doria in the corruption sweep. “Guantanamo’s got nothin’ on these guys,” Shaw reportedly told Manzo as they shared a holding cell together.

- Direct Edge’s Exchange Gets SEC Approval: Jersey City-based Direct Edge’s application for exchange status for its electronic communications networks has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It will become the fourth official U.S. stock market.

- Doc’s License Revoked: The state Board of Medical Examiners has revoked the license of doctor who practiced in Jersey City and surrounding areas, finding he willfully performed grossly negligent exams and electrodiagnostic testing using fabricated data, issuing misinterpreted reports and billing at inflated fees.

- Luxury Rental Market Doing Well: There were reportedly “big flurries of rental activity” this winter at Jersey City luxury rental buildings like 50 Columbus and Grove Pointe.

In Statewide News:

- Capping Property Tax Hikes: Gov. Christie will propose a constitutional amendment to cap municipal property-tax increases at 2.5 percent per year in his budget speech tomorrow.

- Layoffs May Hit Nonunion State Workers: Gov. Christie is leaving open the possibility of laying off thousands of nonunion workers come July to close a multibillion dollar budget gap.

- Affordable Housing Transfers Failed: A new analysis of publicly available data on prior state-approved so-called Regional Contribution Agreements, an arrangement that enabled wealthier suburban towns top sell their affordable housing requirements to poorer cities, reveals that 25 percent of the money was never used by urban officials to produce housing.

- On ‘Pension Envy’: As New Jersey’s unemployment hovers at 10 percent and 401(k)s are dented by stock-market losses, retired public workers are finding themselves on the receiving end of a public backlash. Meanwhile, the Record reports that the current pension payouts will continue for decades, even if proposed legislation to “fix” the underfunded system passes.

- Tax Revenues Down: New Jersey’s tax revenues for the year are down by nearly a half-million dollars, a drop the Christie administration said it had seen coming.

- Rutgers Giving Buyouts to Longtime Profs: Rutgers University says it will offer buyouts to veteran professors to clear the way for younger replacements as part of a way to trim salaries. But the Christie administration is questioning whether the university has the authority to make such an offer without legislative approval.

- Preservation Takes a Hit: Tough economic times are prompting some counties to scale back popular open space and farmland preservation programs.

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