Lawyers Win AC Takeover
Many people predicted this, but with news yesterday that Atlantic County will follow the Atlantic City Fire Department in taking the state of New Jersey to court over the constitutionality of the state’s AC takeover, it really feels like the only winners now are the lawyers. Taxpayers, who will be footing the bill doubly for the state’s lawyers and the county’s lawyers, are the losers in this equation. We’ll be watching closely to see what burden this places on local budgets – get in touch with us via social media (links above) or email if you have thoughts or comments.
AC Police Get Pay Cuts
Would it be too much to hope for a state takeover team that at least had some class? Their complete lack of it was on display yesterday, when it became apparent that – in the middle of a state of emergency – they imposed pay and incentive cuts across the Atlantic City Police Department. The cuts went into effect today. Lynda Cohen of Breaking AC, has the story here.
Joel Smiler
Photo of Ventnor Pier yesterday during the storm taken by Joel Smiler.
Wind
It’s still windy out there – and it’s going to get worse into the afternoon, the National Weather Service says. They are expecting gusts up to 45-50 mph in and around Atlantic County. That’s not going to be uplifting news for Atlantic City Electric, which is still dealing with a few remaining outages (mostly in Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester counties) from yesterday, along with a newly-reported outage in Mays Landing. You can check their outages map here.
In the rest of today’s headlines, there’s news that you might soon qualify for an NJ tax break if you donate blood or organs, supermarket chain Aldi is hiring in South Jersey, and there’s a bi-partisan effort to end restrictions on medication-assisted treatment in rehab. All that and more below:
Egg Harbor Township 7th-Grader is Queen of the Bee–Alexandria Ciurlino, 13, of Egg Harbor Township won the 2017 South Jersey Spelling Bee Saturday, March 11 at Folsom Elementary School. Ciurlino, a seventh-grader at St. Vincent de Paul Regional School in Mays Landing, correctly spelled the word "congregation" to secure the win. Shore News Today
State overseer cuts Atlantic City police pay, increases hours–Atlantic City’s police will see salary cuts of as much as 30 percent, along with longer hours and increased health costs beginning Wednesday, according to a notice sent from state overseer Jeffrey Chiesa on Tuesday. BreakingAC
Addiction docs, top cops to speak at heroin town hall–High-ranking state and federal law enforcement officers, addiction medicine specialists, recovering addicts and others are scheduled to speak at a conference on the opioid epidemic 7 p.m. Thursday at Monmouth University. Asbury Park Press
Friday Will Be Country Fun Day in Atlantic City With FGL And More–Friday Will Be Country Fun Day in Atlantic City With FGL And More... Cat Country 107.3
Holy Spirit’s Marczyk passed tools for success to Mora–When Peter Mora graduated from Holy Spirit High School in 1961, he possessed a gift that only coach Stan Marczyk could have given him. Shore News Today
Op-Ed: Sale of NJ’s Airwaves Could Address Local News Crisis–Nearly 2,000 journalists and media professionals throughout New Jersey have lost their jobs over the past decade. Dozens of news outlets have shut down. Consolidation has left several swaths of the state without any real coverage. www.njspotlight.com
Cops, Firefighters Could Pull Pensions from NJ Public-Employee System–While New Jersey’s public-employee pension system was recently ranked the worst-funded state retirement plan in the country, the individual fund for police officers and firefighters is not in such rough shape, a fact that often gets overlooked in the ongoing debate about pension reform. www.njspotlight.com
Curtailing Prohibitions on Medication-Assisted Treatment in Rehab–Residential facilities that treat or house individuals with substance use disorders could no longer exclude patients receiving so-called medication-assisted treatment under a bipartisan plan to “remove scientifically outdated barriers” to care that was advanced by New Jersey lawmakers on Monday. www.njspotlight.com
Atlantic County may sue New Jersey over Atlantic City takeover, PILOT Bill–NORTHFIELD — Atlantic County is taking steps to overturn the state takeover of Atlantic City and the PILOT Bill. Press of Atlantic City
Poor, Elderly Stand to Be Hardest Hit Under GOP Healthcare Plan–The lowest-income New Jerseyans of all ages, and most of those 60 and older, regardless of income, would be the biggest losers under the Republican plan to amend the Affordable Care Act, according to a nonpartisan analysis of the issue. www.njspotlight.com
CRDA hopes master plan streamlines development process–ATLANTIC CITY — Live in the city. Work in the city. Play in the city. Press of Atlantic City