Prosecutorial Panache
Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner, who’s demonstrated a real flair for this kind of thing in a short time, announced that an employee of the Atlantic County Office of the Superintendent of Elections is under criminal investigation, though the prosecutor didn’t say which employee or what he/she/it’s under investigation for.
Tyner also released more/all the body-cam footage from the Dr. James Kauffman arrest. You can check out the whole thing on the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office blog-type thing.
Blogging! It’s not just for wannabe Journalists like me anymore.
Bail Maps
The valuable NJ Spotlight has another interactive map, this one on the percentage of criminal defendants in New Jersey who are held without bail, county-by-county, and I could be wrong but it looks like Atlantic County is the big winner with 34.4% of defendants detained pending trial. This is interesting because bail reform was supposed to take the bias against the poor out of the system, but a year after it was enacted, concerns linger that whether or not you get detained, “depends more on what part of the state is handling the case.”
They’re Probably Wrong
Moody’s, the ratings agency that did not forestall the financial crisis (God that was ten years ago? Feels like it never ended!), said the recent GOP tax scam reforms could “result in the average value of a New Jersey home dropping by 7.5%” which shouldn’t it be “average value of a home’s dropping by 7.5%?” I was taught to use the possessive with a gerund at Our Lady Star of the Sea. Those nuns didn’t mess around.
Anyway. Something else jumped out from this report by James Nash at NorthJersey.com. The outgoing Christie administration touted an 8.7% increase in certain tax revenue, but the Moody’s report pins that “surge” to a “2008 federal law that gave hedge fund managers a Dec. 31 deadline to pay back offshore windfalls and another consequence of the law signed late last year: taxpayers moving up payments to get around changes in the federal tax code,” Nash writes. I think the hedgies do better under this most recent legislation.
Meanwhile, the 7.5% drop in the value of their homes will leave non-hedge-fund-type persons “with less wealth and disposable income, depressing retail sales” unless of course they live in someone else’s freezing-cold beach house, like I do.
Moody’s–that bastion of anti-capitalist sentiment–telling it like it is.
Gorsuch at Stockton
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch gave a talk at Stockton on civility and civics yesterday and this is another one of those times where you can’t tell if they really believe this stuff or you’re being gaslit.
Anyway. Gorsuch attended prep school in D.C. with Bill Hughes Jr., the son of Bill Hughes Sr., the former congressman, and the interview was sponsored by the Hughes Center, named after Hughes Sr.
See, they shooooled together, darling. It’s fabulous!
Women Hold Up Half the Sky: 2% Edition
Anyway. While the old boys were yucking it up at Stockton, the blogger formerly known as “Wally Edge” reported that New Jerseyans have elected 304 men and six women to the U.S. House of Representatives since we started electing people in the year 1180 A.D. That’s 98%.
New Jersey’s 3rd-Largest Employer
In small business news, Johnson & Johnson reported a fourth-quarter loss of $10.71 billion. Wait, what?
I’m Not Crying. You’re Crying.
The great Dave O’Sullivan at GloryDays has a profile of Absegami High School senior Stanley Adams. I didn’t cry. Ok maybe I cried.
Kushners’ N.J. Towers Get New Life–A troubled Kushner Cos. development in Jersey City, New Jersey, could be back on track after a recent meeting between patriarch Charlie Kushner and the city’s mayor. www.bloomberg.com
‘Moores of Greenland’ Celebrates Local Black History at Camden County Historical Society–Since 1899, Camden County has charted the passage of its local history on the grounds of Pomona Hall, a colonial mansion nestled in the heart of Camden City. www.njpen.com
What happens when the chief is accused of being a bad cop?–HADDON TOWNSHIP – It was a text message that started the unraveling of a police department. www.courierpostonline.com
The 16 N.J. towns with the most single people–Looking for love? New Jersey isn't a bad place to visit. www.nj.com
Family of N.J. trooper killed on duty will receive $2.3M, attorney says–The family of a state trooper killed on duty at the scene of a highway crash in 2016 will receive almost $2.4 million in a lawsuit settlement, the family's attorney announced. www.nj.com
TRUMP’S 30% SOLAR TARIFF LIKELY TO BOOST PRICES, SLOW GROWTH IN U.S. MARKET–The state’s thriving solar sector is facing an uptick in costs thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on imported solar panels, a step that could lead to job loss in the industry. www.njspotlight.com
Gov. Murphy Orders Review Of State’s Medical Marijuana Program–Obstacles for patients seeking medical marijuana could get cleared under New Jersey’s new governor. breakingac.com