Wednesday Morning News Roundup

By • May 5th, 2010 • Category: Blog

- Kenny Sentenced: Former Ward B councilman Phil Kenny has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for accepting two bribes from a would-be developer. He must also serve two years of probation; he will report to prison by June 21. The sentence is six months less than the minimum recommended under the guidelines, and if you’re wondering about the 1 day added to the year sentence, that’s so Kenny can get time off for good behavior.

- Healy Asks City to Withdraw Formula One App: Mayor Healy has asked the city’s tourism office to withdraw a proposal to Formula One that could bring a Grand Prix race to Liberty State Park. If an application was made directly to the Department of Environmental Protection, which controls the park, it could still happen, but the DEP says they haven’t seen anything yet.

- Weapons Charges for Alleged Gang Members: Two juveniles have pleaded guilty on weapons charges, a year and a half after a crackdown on alleged members of the 52 Hoover Street Gangsta Crips gang based in Jersey City’s Booker T. Washington housing complex. In addition, two defendants who were juveniles when arrested have been cleared to be tried as adults.

- Foul-Smelling Green Liquid Removed: A contractor for the Department of Environmental Protection has removed barrels containing inks and used solvents on a lot owned by Galaxy Recycling on Johnston Avenue. A DEP spokesman says the liquids were pollutants, but didn’t pose an immediate hazard to people in the area.

- NTSB Releases Recommendation from Hudson Landing: The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued more than two dozen safety recommendations related to the airliner that ditched into the Hudson River after colliding with geese last year. They include making aircraft engines more bird-resistant, equipping every passenger-carrying plane with life vests and requiring enough life rafts for all passengers and that they be accessible.

- Valeri Larko Exhibition at Morris Museum: The new “Valeri Larko: Two Decades” mid-career retrospective at the Morris Museum features plenty of Larko’s work from her formative years as a painter in Jersey City (she now lives in New Rochelle). She moved here in the 1980s, and found her stride painting the industrial decay she saw around her. In a review, the Record calls her a “poet of the industrial sublime,” while the Ledger says “her long and low canvases can suggest a 16th-century Dutch painter parachuted into the contemporary Jersey Rust Belt — the Vermeer of America’s productive decline.”

- Adamek Wants Title Shot: Jersey City boxer Tomasz Adamek wants a shot at a heavyweight boxing title, saying in a conference call Tuesday that he will take on Britain’s David Haye or either of the Klitschko brothers Vitali or Wladimir to wear a championship belt.

- JCMC’s Cardiac Surgery Mortality Rate: The Jersey City Medical Center’s cardiac surgery mortality rate in 2007 was slightly better than the statewide average, according to a report released yesterday. The hospital’s 1.91 percent was a pinch less than the state’s 2 percent, which is the lowest leve since the state began publishing data on this 15 years ago.

- Teen Shot: Cops say a 17-year-old Jersey City boy was shot in his right ankle in the area of Pearsall and Ocean avenues Monday night. He was taken to the hospital and released yesterday.

Today’s Best Bet:

- The place to be this evening is the Grove Street PATH Plaza, as the 2010 Groove on Grove live music series kicks off with a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta (6 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Senate Says it Won’t Hold Nomination Hearing for Court Nom: Senate president Steve Sweeney says the Senate will not hold any confirmation hearings on Anne Patterson, Gov. Christie’s nominee to the state Supreme Court. The move reiterates Democrats’ opposition to Christie’s decision to not renominate Justice John Wallace, the only black member of the state’s highest court. The unprecedented battle may leave the Supreme Court in limbo.

- Commission on Higher Ed: Gov. Christie plans to create a higher education commission this week to examine a series of issues ranging from rising tuition costs to the controversial proposal to merge University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with Rutgers and New Jersey Institute of Technology. The panel will be led by former Gov. Tom Kean.

- Republican Calls for Raising Gas Tax: Monmouth County Republican state Sen. Sean Kean says some type of fuel tax increase will be needed to replenish the New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is projected to be insolvent in the middle of next year. He suggests a single-digit increase on the fuel tax to prevent an economic hardship on drivers; all calls to raise the tax — which hasn’t increased in 22 years and remains among the lowest in the nation — have been roundly rebuffed by Gov. Christie and Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson.

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is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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