Wednesday Morning News Roundup
By Jon Whiten • Apr 21st, 2010 • Category: Blog- School Board Results: As we reported last night, it looks like two of the three incumbents running for the Board of Education have been ousted, and the budget has been approved. Gerald McCann and Terry Dehere are far behind Sterling Waterman, Angel Valentin (also an incumbent) and Carol Lester, with 97 percent of the votes in. Lester is the only candidate that appears to be in any jeopardy of not hanging on, as she leads Sebastian “Chips” D’Amico by just over 400 votes. All three winning candidates were backed by Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, and two of the three — Waterman and Valentin — were backed by the local teachers’ union, as was the fourth-place candidate D’Amico. So far, twice as many votes have been cast in this year’s BOE election than last’s. “Clearly it was a win for Steve Fulop,” McCann tells the Journal. “He spent all the money and it paid off. His candidates all won.”
- Budget Vote Tonight: The City Council will consider the fiscal year’s budget tonight in what could be a contentious vote. Protests are also scheduled for before the meeting.
- Cammarano Pleads Guilty: Former Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano has pleaded guilty to taking $25,000 from FBI mole Solomon Dwek, becoming the 17th public official in the operation to plead guilty. Cammarano says he accepted the bribe through former Jersey City Housing Authority official and former Board of Education member Edward Cheatam and longtime political consultant Jack Shaw.
- Transit Fare Hikes & NJCU: The Gothic Times student newspaper takes a look at how NJ Transit’s fare hikes and service cuts will affect the largely commuter-based university. One junior who commutes from North Arlington says the reduced service will be a killer. “That’s a huge increase [in waiting],” the 20-year-old says. “I wait for the bus [to get to campus] for half an hour, if that. It’s not like minute wait.”
- Sharpton Comes to Town: The Rev. Al Sharpton will be the featured speaker at the community forum in Jersey City tomorrow night on “community violence, youth, education, and unity.”
- Freeholders Back Palisades Development: The Hudson County Board of Freeholders have voted to affirm the county Planning Board’s June 2008 ruling in favor of building a Walgreens, bank and coffee shop on River Road across from the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen. The plan has been opposed by environmentalists.
- Moody’s Upgrades Port Authority Bond Rating: An upgrade of the Port Authority’s bond rating from Aa3 to Aa2 was one of the few bright spots cited in a report by Moody’s Investors Service today that painted a gloomy picture of the overall municipal credit market during the first quarter of 2010.
In Statewide News:
- School Board Results Across the State: Unofficial results show that New Jersey voters rejected 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties. The heated political atmosphere around the districts’ budgets may have brought many first-time school board voters out.
- Supermarket Liquor Law Reintroduced: Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis Greenwald says he has reintroduced legislation to allow the sale of beer, liquor and wine in supermarkets. The measure has been strongly opposed by the New Jersey Liquor Store Association since Greenwald initially introduced the measure four years ago.
- Fixing Gubernatorial Debates: The Election Law Enforcement Commission plans to create a task force to study how to improve gubernatorial debates in time for the 2013 election, after hearing testimony from campaign officials and voter advocates about their concerns with the debate system during the 2009 election.
- Hospital Staffer Speaks Up, Gets Fired: A social worker at Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital was stripped of her duties last week after a letter she wrote opposing Gov. Christie’s plan to close the facility was read by a lawmaker at a Senate Budget Committee hearing.
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.
Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
Email this author | All posts by Jon Whiten

