The Jersey City Independent "

- Students Not Graduating: About 2,900 New Jersey high school seniors did not graduate last month because they did not pass the state’s alternate high school exit exam, known as the Alternate High School Assessment. Students in about 65 districts were affected, including Jersey City, Paterson, New Brunswick, East Orange, Newark and Union City, according to the education department.

- New 14th Street Viaduct: After years of planning, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders is taking steps to replace the 14th Street Viaduct that carries traffic between Hoboken and Union City/the Heights. The freeholders are looking to float a $58.6 million bond to get work started next spring; the funds will be reimbursed with a federal Transportation Improvement Program grant, and the project should take about 30 months to complete. No closures are expected.

- More on Tuesday’s Shooting Death: The victim in Tuesday night’s shooting death at Holland Gardens has been identified as a 33-year-old Newark man, and a preliminary autopsy report completed yesterday indicates he was shot eight times. Investigators have established no motive for the killing, and say the investigation is ongoing.

- Taco Truck’s Storefront Location Opens This Week: The storefront location of the Taco Truck, which serves street food in Jersey City and Hoboken, will open in Hoboken this Friday. (The proprietors will continue operate the truck as well.)

- New Street Art: Dislocations has a post about the new “Drill, Baby, Drill!” street art that’s popped up near the intersection of Jersey Avenue and Columbus Drive in Downtown Jersey City.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Free live jazz gets rolling at the J. Owen Grundy Pier today with John Christian gracing the stage for the first of the Jazz for Lunch free concerts that run for eight weeks (noon). There are two film screenings of note this evening: the excellent Cache is being shown for free at the Warehouse (8 pm), and MoveOn.org is sponsoring a screening of Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story at Barrow Mansion (6:30 pm). Meanwhile, Con Vivo Jersey City is back at Kanibal Home for a free performance of classical music by Antonin Dvorak, Zoltan Kodaly and Bohuslav Martinu (8 pm), and the Just Add Sound open mic takes over the Grassroots Community Space for a night of free expression (9 pm). And the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Annual Family Festival kicks off a two-week run tonight in Marion (6:30 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Mayors Protest Property Tax Cap Without ‘Toolkit’: New Jersey mayors told the Assembly Budget Committee yesterday they were “putting the cart before the horse” by working to approve a 2 percent property tax cap before tackling a package of bills to help towns control costs.

- Audit Finds Phone-Line Waste: One out of every six state government phone lines is funded but unused, according to a new report from the state comptroller, which finds that disconnecting the phones would save $3.2 million a year.

- How to Finance Transportation Trust Fund Beyond 2011? Gov. Christie and Democratic legislative leaders remain far apart on a long-term solution on how to fund highway, bridge and mass transit construction and repairs. MORE from the Ledger.

- MVC Hours Changing: Effective July 31, state Motor Vehicle Commission offices will be closed on Mondays and hours will be extended on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, which officials say will save the state $4 million annually while extending hours on the most popular days of the week for customers.

- Assemblywomen Still Pushing for Family Planning $: More than 10 Democratic Assemblywomen stormed Gov. Christie’s office yesterday to demand an appointment with him to push for the restoration of $7.5 million in family planning funds he cut from the budget passed last week. But Christie was holding an event at a private residence in Somerset County, and Christie staffers asked the lawmakers to call to make an appointment.

- Who’s Behind Reform Jersey Now? State Democratic chairman John Wisniewski is calling for the advocacy group run by Republicans close to Gov. Christie to disclose its donors, calling it a “shadow arm of the Republican Party.” The group has been heavily pushing Christie’s proposed property tax cap.

- Heat Wave: The state’s largest utilities are predicting we won’t break the four-year peak energy use set during a heat wave four years ago.

- DEP Not Managing Lease Agreements Well: The state is still having trouble managing 236 lease agreements with private companies who are using public property, according to an official audit that was circulated by environmental groups this week.

- Hoax Said Lautenberg, Other Senators Were Dead: U.S. Capitol Police are investigating hoax emails to news outlets and blogs reporting that Sen. Frank Lautenberg and other senators had died.

- No Topless Beach at Asbury: Asbury Park has shot down a proposal to allow women to go topless on one of its beaches.

- High Court Rules on Insurer Overdose Case: New Jersey’s Supreme Court has ruled an insurance company must defend a homeowner who was sued after a woman overdosed on drugs at a party, overturning an earlier appeals court decision.

- U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Highlands Challenge: A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear a challenge to New Jersey’s Highlands Water and Protection and Planning Act is being cheered by environmental groups and the planning council the preservation law created.

- Quality Single Accountability Continuum for Schools: Is it evaluating compliance or education?

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