New Jersey News

Select outdoor farmers markets in New Jersey began accepting food stamps as payment for produce Thursday under a pilot program rolled out by the state that aims to provide low-income residents with better food choices.

New Jersey will get $10 million in federal funds to help prepare for the fall influenza season.

New Jersey is overhauling its driver testing system. The Motor Vehicle Commission announced Thursday that Robbinsville-based New Jersey Business Systems has been awarded a contract valued at about $4 million to modernize the system.

Senator Kevin O’Toole, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, called on Governor Corzine to expand the mandate of his Commission on the Horse Racing Industry to include finding solutions to the problems of New Jersey’s entire sports entertainment industry.

O’Toole expressed alarm over published reports that New Jersey’s sports entertainment industry is near collapse. Horse racing, pro-football, basketball and hockey attractions are all facing economic and cultural challenges that were not evident a decade ago, threatening vitally needed jobs and economic growth during this recession...

What Happened to Governor’s Promise of 2-Year Budgets?

Senator Anthony Bucco was disappointed, but not surprised by Governor Corzine’s evasive and irresponsible responses to Republican calls for a special session seeking solutions to the unprecedented $7 billion to $10 billion budget deficit expected next year...

Does Governor Still ‘Like the Revenue Projections?’

Senator Kevin O’Toole issued this statement after reading reports that the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority is “effectively operating at a deficit” and that the long-delayed Xanadu project will not open until at least next year...

Just the Latest to Express Her Disgust with Democrats’ Tax Increases?

According to reports on politickernj.com, Democrat Jersey City councilwoman Nidia Lopez may be the latest casualty to lose her job because of high tax policies embraced by Governor Jon Corzine. Nidia Lopez won election to the Jersey City Council despite possibly having unlawfully claimed her residency as Florida – a low tax state where New Jersey residents frequently move to avoid high taxes...

Cold Hard Facts Contradict Governor’s Political Rhetoric

Senator Joe Kyrillos, the senior Republican Member of the Senate Economic Growth Committee, issued the following statements regarding Governor Corzine and his surrogates on their false claims of private-sector job creation:

“Governor Corzine has the audacity to claim he has ‘created’ thousands of jobs. The only jobs he’s created are in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and all the other states that have stolen our businesses and our jobs with the governor’s help...

Senator Steve Oroho, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement regarding remarks made by Senator Steve Sweeney on NJ 101.5 yesterday:

“I am heartened by my friend Steve Sweeney’s remark that we need to stop spending more than we collect. The current budget enacted by Governor Corzine is propped up by billions of dollars of one-time revenues and billions of dollars in deferrals of spending until another year...

Senator Marcia Karrow, R-Warren and Hunterdon Counties, said this in response to insensitive comments made by Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Lou Greenwald on New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio. Greenwald reportedly said that if the economic crisis “is solved too quickly, people believe the pain was not real, and I think it will be very easy for elected officials to fall into old habits and bad habits. We need true reform.” ...

Special Summer Legislative Session Needed

Republican Senate Budget Officer Anthony Bucco (R-Morris) called on Governor Jon Corzine to call an emergency session of the Legislature this summer to address the largest budget deficit in history. Estimates of next year’s budget shortfall range from $6 billion to more than $10 billion...

“The state has spent $89.2 million to outsource legal work in the last four years, most to large firms with political connections...”

From the Trenton Times article, “State Paid $89.2M to Law Firms With Political Ties,” Dec. 28, 2008

Senator Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen County, asked today whether the Corzine administration finally will take actions that match its election-year hyperbole about the evils of hiring politically connected law firms...

Senator Marcia Karrow, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, offered the following observation regarding President Obama’s visit to Rutgers University for a rally with Governor Corzine:

“I hope the state employee unions don’t threaten to picket during Obama’s visit, because who knows what Corzine will give them...

The New Jersey health authorities on Wednesday reported that in the past week the death toll from the A/H1N1 flu virus had risen to 10 with 130 new cases, bringing the total cases to 1,289 in the state.

A Rahway man hunted by the FBI who was captured in September as he was about to rob the Unity Bank in Middlesex Borough admitted Wednesday to committing a dozen bank robberies throughout New Jersey.

When Andy Nardelli and Frances Gdowski started at the State Police crime lab in 1969, it was a shoestring operation run out of a converted office building in West Trenton.

Row, row your boat. Though not gently down the stream - more like from the Toms River to Barnegat Bay and back.

An independent candidate for governor of New Jersey said Tuesday that he has raised enough money to qualify for taxpayer matching funds.

TRENTON - Officials are not sure why more pedestrians are dying on New Jersey roads.

An aggressive agenda to scrap and remake America's health care system is being planned in Washington right now.