The Jersey City Independent "

- COAH Updates: The state Senate is set to vote today on a bill overhauling the state’s affordable housing system by abolishing the state Council on Affordable Housing. Jersey City housing advocates are urging state Senators to vote against the measure. Meanwhile, Gov. Christie on Friday rescinded a February executive order that had halted COAH’s activities just a few days before a scheduled court hearing on whether or not that move was constitutional.

- Beldini Looks to Have Verdict Dismissed: A brief filed Friday by former deputy mayor Leona Beldini’s attorney argues that campaign law violations are not a federal crime. The filing is part of the attempt to have the guilty verdicts against Beldini dismissed. And new court documents show that FBI informant Solomon Dwek stashed as much as $1 million to hide it from authorities, should they ever come looking for him. You may remember that Dwek’s FBI cooperation sprang from his 2006 arrest on federal bank fraud charges. The documents also allege that Dwek was laundering money and bribing pols before he ever did so for the FBI.

- Census Push in Undercounted Nabes: The Healy administration, in its efforts to get a full and accurate count in this year’s Census (and the funding largesse that could accompany it), the city is focusing on outreach in the Newport, Greenville and Heights neighborhoods. Meanwhile, at least one Jersey City woman is upset over the Census form’s use of the word “Negro.”

- Not Guilty Verdict in Murder Case: Two 21-year-old Jersey City men have been acquitted in the January 2008 killing of an alleged drug dealer at his Old Bergen Road apartment.

- Guilty Plea in Shopping Cart Murder: The last of three Jersey City residents charged with a December 2008 homicide, in which a man was nearly decapitated before he was stripped and stuffed into a shopping cart, pleaded guilty Thursday in Hudson County Superior Court. The man, who is reportedly homeless, and the two others who have pleaded guilty, will be sentenced April 23.

- Hudson County Gets an Arena: Officials in Harrison are hoping Red Bull Arena, the new home for Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls, will jump-start long-stalled redevelopment in the city.

- Mulshine Attacks Jersey City Teachers: The Ledger‘s resident conservative curmudgeon didn’t like what he saw from the city’s teachers at last week’s contentious Board of Education meeting.

- Hamilton Park Progress: A construction worker in Hamilton Park, which has been closed for its renovation for nearly a year, tells Dislocations the park should be reopened in about two months, just in time for summer.

- New Public Art Near JSQ: Dylan of the Jersey City Mural Arts Project has a nighttime shot of the latest mural to go up in town, a giant rooster on what appears to be the corner of Stuyvesant Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard.

- Two Men Shot on Central Avenue: Two Jersey City men aboard a Suzuki GSX motorcycle on Central Avenue were shot early yesterday morning; one is in critical condition.

- Pit Bull Attack: Jersey City police shot and killed a pit bull yesterday morning in Lafayette Park to stop the dog’s attack on a nine-year-old girl. The dog’s owner says it escaped from a backyard; prosecutors say she could be charged.

- Newest Art World Celeb: The 29-year-old performance artist Ann Liv Young, who became the talk of the art world a few weeks back when P.S.1 director Klaus Biesenbach ordered the electricity shut off during her performance piece there, is “by day is a benign-looking Jersey City mom of a toddler,” according to the New York Observer.

- Science Fair Begins Today: The Jersey Journal’s 52nd Annual Hudson County Science Fair kicks off today at the Liberty Science Center.

- JCMC Gets Top Honors: In a new survey, doctors and patients have ranked Jersey City Medical Center as the top hospital with less than 350 beds in the state.

Today’s Best Bet:

- An intimate (and free) concert of avant-classical/jazz-tinged works — Hear in Now — is at Kanibal Home at 8 pm. The show is put on by Con Vivo; for more on the classical music collective, check out today’s feature story on the group.

In Statewide News:

- U.S. House Passes Health Care Bill: The House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill late last night by a 219 to 212 vote. The Ledger‘s Tom Moran has more about the role New Jersey lawmakers played in the process, and Blue Jersey has reaction comments from Reps. Holt and Pallone and Sen. Menendez.

- Pension Reform Vote Today: The full Assembly is prepared to vote on — and is expected to approve — a package of five bipartisan bills sponsors believe will reform taxpayer-funded public employee pensions and benefits.

- Community Colleges Fight Budget Cuts: The state’s community college presidents hope to come up with a plan to save the NJ STARS scholarship program in time for this year’s high school graduating class. The program, which guarantees students in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class free tuition and covers fees at local community colleges, has lost funding for new classes of students in Gov. Christie’s proposed budget.

- Plan to Close Psych Hospital Criticized: Mental health advocates say Gov. Christie’s plan to close Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County is a reckless move that could harm the elderly patients there and worsen an already stressed system.

- Debt Collection Bill Gets Hearing: Today the Assembly will consider legislation — the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act — aimed at combating harassing consumer debt collection practices in New Jersey. The bill is pretty much a lock; it was overwhelmingly approved by the Assembly last July, but the Senate failed to vote on it before the legislative session ended this January.

- New Jersey and Reality TV: Jerseylicious, which premiered last night on the Style Network, is the latest in a string of shows that have transformed the Garden State into what the Star-Ledger dubs “a reality-TV mecca.”

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