newjerseynewsroom.com

A fine family vacation ... maybe

BY LORI SENDER

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Once again, I'm struck by how difficult socializing is. I have this intractable, yes, as my mother would say, selfish side that wants to be in the thick of it ... only I can't quite get a group mobilized to form that reasonable periphery.

So I become the joiner in. The friend of the friend for the weekend. This might, in theoretical terms, succeed, if it was a t...

Senate committee OK's Dow as N.J. attorney general

Full upper house expected to approve nomination Feb. 22

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Gov. Chris Christie’s nomination of Paula T. Dow as state attorney general was unanimously approved Monday by the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

The nomination is expected to be affirmed by the full Senate on Feb. 22.

Dow, of Maplewood, has been serving as acting attorney general for over two weeks. The f...

Al Gore is a fraud … and global warming is hogwash

BY RICH LUONGO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

The snow we've been experiencing is definitely awe-inspiring. Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't it show how powerful Nature is and how she doesn't care who you are ... because she'll dump on you without prejudice? She also has a sense of humor. Why isn't Al "I Invented the Internet" Gore laughing? Why isn't he defending his global warming thesis? "Well, this ...

Senate committee approves sports betting-related bill, Assembly version delayed

The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee Monday approved legislation (SCR-49) that proposes a constitutional amendment that would authorize the Legislature to allow in-person betting at Atlantic City casinos and race tracks and via on sporting event.

The Assembly version (ACR-98) was scheduled to be heard in the lower house's Regulatory Oversight and Gami...

New Jersey legislature refreshed by a visit from the public

BY PETER J. McDONOUGH

COMMENTARY

Legislators turned the tables last Tuesday; instead of talking, they listened.

At the urging of Union County Assemblymen Jon Bramnick, a Republican, and Joe Cryan, a Democrat, the Assembly leadership held its first bipartisan, unrestricted public hearing on the things that citizens think are wrong with New Jersey.

It could have been a food fight; could have been a free...

Justice Stein: Constitutional grounds for the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United are weak and unpersuasive

BY GARY S. STEIN

COMMENTARY

The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off the decade that began in the year 2000 with a 5-4 decision by the court's conservative majority in Bush v. Gore that stopped the Florida recount and assured the election of George W. Bush as president. That decision's principle holding has since been repudiated by both liberal and conservative legal scholars.

The court has launched the cur...

New Jersey’s great expectations of Chris Christie

BY JOSH McMAHON

COMMENTARY

It comes as no surprise that the public's expectations of what Gov. Chris Christie can do is out of whack with reality.

In fact, those expectations seem to be out of whack with themselves.

Taxpayers are adamant in their demand that he do something to control property taxes and yet less than half think he can succeed.

Nearly everybody sees a need for reduced state spending but...

Maj. Gen. Reith approved to head New Jersey’s Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs

Will continue to command National, Air Guard

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The Senate Judiciary Committee Monday voted unanimously in favor of the reappointment of Maj. Gen. Glenn J. Reith as adjutant general of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Gov. Chris Christie's nomination of Reith, who has held the post since 2002, is expected to be approved by the full Senate on F...

Dismantle the N.J. DEP? Christie camp has environmentalists worried

BY VIOLET SNOW

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It's a blueprint for devastation," said William "Captain Bill" Sheehan, executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, expressing his opinion of the provisions suggested by Governor Chris Christie's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Transition Subcommittee report.

"It looks like they're trying to disable the DEP," declared Sheehan, referring to the commi...

Lesniak sets vote to abolish New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing

Committee to address Senator's co-sponsored bill on March 8

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), chairman of the upper house's Economic Growth Committee, said Monday the panel can be expected to vote March 8 on legislation he is co-sponsoring that would abolish the state Council on Affordable Housing and give cities and towns more control over providing middle...