Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/category/roundups/page/3/)
Payton Guion at NJ.com has some details on the marijuana bill set to go to the legislature, which includes “several social justice provisions aimed at helping people who have been negatively impacted by marijuana prohibition.”
The New Jersey Department of Education released its School Performance Reports for 2017-2018. The valuable Spotlight has a tool that let’s you search by county, district or school, while NJ.com notes the rankings are often criticized as overly simplistic.
Everybody’s reporting that March 25 is the day the state legislature will vote on marijuana legalization, though NJ.com, citing unnamed sources, say the leaders of the pro-legalization side are still many votes short, and if they can’t whip their colleagues into position, the vote could be delayed.
Guy Gargan at the Press has a nice story on the fundraiser for Stockton’s crew program where they honored rowing coach Stan Bergman and announced the Alton and Endicott families will provide funds for two new boats, which cost about $40,000 a piece, the Press reports.
New Jersey A.G. Gurbir Grewal is suing ExxonMobil, which is the ninth-largest corporation on the planet or something, for dumping toxic waste in a tidal zone in East Greenwich Township, NJ.com reports.
You may recall Chris Christie let Exxon pay $225 million to settle a $9 billion lawsuit in 2015 when he wanted to be president.
Lobbyists spent $2.8 million last year to stop legislation to give PSE&G $300 million in subsidies. We did that sh*t for free, so let this be exhibit 11,000 in the PowerPoint presentation I am preparing for myself titled: Why You are in the Wrong Business.
Phil Murphy made his budget speech yesterday and the valuable Spotlight says it got a “far less hostile response from fellow Democrats than his budget last year,” while Matt Friedman at Politico says, “Senate President Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Coughlin, both houses’ majority leaders and both budget chairs all said they were in a better place than last year.”
David Danzis at the Press reports the city cut the amount it pays in legal services by $500,000 for the upcoming year, which is something we’d been meaning to follow up on since Council President Marty Small mentioned it in a council meeting a few months back. They’ve also not approved a change order for legal services since 2016, according to Small.
Healthcare
Colt Shaw of the Press of AC reports on cuts to Atlantic City’s healthcare department that have left the city with a fraction of its previous support for services such as cancer screenings and immunizations. Funnily enough, over the period of time the cuts were being implemented, emergency-room visits in Atlantic City increased, Shaw found. Back Bay Flooding
New Jersey’s coastal communities could see $1.6 billion a year in damages from back bay flooding if action isn’t taken soon, according to last week’s Army Corps of Engineers report written up here by the Inquirer. The engineers believe flood gates could be possible in some inlets (including Absecon and Great Egg Harbor), Avalon Zoppo reports. The Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public comment on the report (full version here).
David Danzis at the Press of AC reports on Carl Icahn, who has effectively taken control of Caesars Entertainment Corp. after getting three new directors on the board–maybe four, depending on how the CEO search works out.