Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/category/roundups/page/21/)
Got a bike that’s suffering from rust because of the tough Absecon Island climate? We spoke to the owner of AAAA Bike Shop in Ventnor, Mike Wiesen, about how to protect your bike from rust or clean up an already-rusty one. Also – read Nanette LoBiondo of Downbeach Pilot on AAAA Bike Shop’s 40th anniversary.
Phil Murphy did an interview with The Record and NorthJersey.com where he was asked about pardoning marijuana offenders, given his efforts to legalize recreational marijuana.
Under a few current proposals, offenders would be able to petition to have prior convictions expunged, but it costs money to hire a lawyer, pay court fees and take the time to go to court. In California, a few district attorneys have been working to automatically expunge or downgrade offenses–within their jurisdictions.
Student Visas
Vincent Jackson has a cool story about what might happen to the summer economy if employers couldn’t get enough student visas for workers. “With the anti-immigration rhetoric coming out of Washington, D.C., there had been concern over possible change to or limits on the J-1 student work and travel visa program.” Legal Cannabis
The influential Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger said marijuana will be legalized in New Jersey, it’s just those crafty politicians in Trenton are risk-averse and right now it’s safer to let the other guy take responsibility. Vikings Softball
The Atlantic City Vikings softball team could become a factor in the Cape Atlantic League under new coach Anthony Nistico, who’s stockpiling talent, Glory Days’ Dave O’Sullivan writes. Elsewhere, Margate’s Glenn Klotz says the new drainage pipes on the beach are a “developing emergency.”
If any sheet-metal workers, ironworkers or teamsters out there were considering giving money to a Phil Murphy Super PAC they should definitely not because it was established to push “Governor Murphy’s Agenda” and “can and undoubtedly will be used” to hurt the feelings of Senate President Steve Sweeney, etc., according to a letter from our current favorite CRDA board member William Mullen. (h/t to the Playbook)
“All we do is Build,” they say. When they’re not f*&#$-ing around in Trenton I guess. Elsewhere in my god are we in high school, the NJEA said it would review member conduct after Project Veritas (last seen trying to set up The Washington Post by selling it fake Roy Moore accusers) entrapped union officials into “discussing how they use questionable means to defend teachers accused of wrongdoing” (NJ 101.5’s words). Meanwhile back on planet earth, “New Jersey’s public school system continues to be among the most segregated in the nation.”
Everyone’s a Suspect
County Prosecutor Damon Tyner told the Philly Inquirer he would be ready to prosecute lower-level participants in the big prescription health-benefits scheme after the feds are done with the big fish. “Nobody should be comfortable,” Tyner reportedly said. PILOT Details
Dennis Levinson, in a letter to county mayors, gave the terms of the PILOT settlement with the state. Michelle Brunetti Post at the AC Press has the deets. 20.4%
For a few hours yesterday “something momentous” happened in New Jersey when more than 20% of the state’s electricity was delivered by solar energy, the valuable NJ Spotlight reports.
Not SAFER
The state doesn’t want Atlantic City to apply for federal grants that would pay for some of its firefighters’ salaries, David Danzis reports for The Press. My memory might be getting foggy, but I remember last year’s incarnation of state overseers also objected to the use of federal money to pay for municipal firefighters. The state says that the federal grants don’t cover 100 percent of new hires’ salaries and the city would be on the hook down the road. But the grants can be rolled over, so turning down the chance to apply doesn’t make a whole lot of immediate sense to me, unless it’s about reducing the state’s future pension liability, which – I think that horse bolted. PSEG Files
Meanwhile, on the topic of state funds…
Mini-Golf Scope Softening
The great Margate mini-golf war is settled, declares the Inquirer. Changes included lowering the course’s “cave structure” and softening “the project’s overall scope”, according to Margate businessman Ed Blumenthal who brokered the deal. Soccer
Atlantic City’s only pro-sports team is gearing up for its debut – we caught up with players and the team’s development director yesterday. Read our story and watch the video here. Garces
The top chef behind restaurants in the Atlantic City Tropicana is being sued in Philadelphia by investors who want to remove him from having managerial control of three restaurants (Amada, Village Whiskey, and Tinto), the Inquirer reports.
Matt Skoufalos at NJ Pen published part I of a series on the “challenges behind municipal mergers” and the roots of home rule in New Jersey, a big topic that touches on a lot of issues close to everyone’s hearts, including why we pay so much property taxes and how do we finance your spouse’s job with the government?
Part I of Big Skouf’s series is on roads and how we went from 125 towns in 1834 to more than 540 by the 1920s.
File Under Every Accusation is an Admission
The former Port Authority commissioner who told Tenafly police officer(s) “You may shut the f— up” among other delights in an approximately eight-minute rant lovingly captured on the dash cam has now said the Tenafly PD should “review best practices with respect to tone and de-escalation.” We’re all going to have our favorite moments in this video, but mine’s when she tells the cops the kids in the car are PhD students at Yale and MIT. I went to Yale by accident (football recruit) and used to wonder how many of those grad students skulking around in their stevedore costumes had parents like this lady. Almost all of them, it turned out! Elsewhere in class consciousness, Steve Sweeney told the NJ Spotlight he’s opposed to the millionaires tax because he’s “trying to take the burden off of the middle-class people of this state.”
Amy Rosenberg at the Philly Inquirer dove deeply into the petition by Glenn Klotz to extend the boardwalk from the Fredricksburg Avenue border, where it currently ends, to stretch across Margate atop the dunes. There are many fun details in this story, e.g. that Glenn is the son of Red Klotz, who played point guard for the Washington Generals until he was 63 and sunk the winning basket against the Harlem Globetrotterson January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee. The Generals were supposed to lose of course, as they’d done the 14,000 or so other times they’d played the Globetrotters, but Red hit a two-hander with ten seconds left and they won by one point by accident. “Let me tell you, beating the Globetrotters is like shooting Santa Claus,” Red reportedly said. Elsewhere in ‘Winning’
Imagine a world where government officials promise to give a private business $7 billion if they will build a headquarters in your state and transparency activists have to sue to even see the plans.