Good morning Route 40 Roundupers! Hope you’re enjoying the balmy weather. I wore my 900-octane down midlayer what I purchased at the Columbia outlet at The Walk at a steep, steep discount to drop the kids off this a.m. and it kept me toasty.
I realize the cold is no joke, particularly with so many people sleeping rough–or semi-rough–but hey we try to keep morale up around here.
In realer news, homicides were down 12% last year statewide! That’s compared with a 7% drop in major cities across the country. In Atlantic County there were 15 homicides in 2018, down from 21 in 2017.
https://www.nj.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/01/665c28868e3370/homicides-dropped-again-in-2018-heres-how-many-each-county-reported.html
PFAS
The Cumberland County Improvement Authority backed out of a deal to take 4,500 tons of contaminated soil from a military base in Pennsylvania. “To haul in PFAS-contaminated soil from Willow Grove and dump it in South Jersey would have been a slow-moving disaster,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. In related news, the Spotlight is great and you should support them.
https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/19/01/30/south-jersey-landfill-cancels-pfas-contract-amid-rising-public-concern/
LABOR
This is not really a local story, but Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary, was on Chris Hayes last night to talk about the Foxconn plant and subsidies, and my favorite part is around the the 4:15 mark where he talks about how manufacturing jobs today pay about half what they did a few decades ago, adjusted for inflation, so “even if they were being created, they’re not great jobs.”
Did Phil Murphy put them up to this?
For more feats of journalism…
VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY: OCEAN CITY’S JOHN BRUNO HAS ENJOYED THE MILES, MEMORIES THAT LED TO 400 WINS–Basketball and softball, like most other sports, are numbers games. How many points are you scoring per game? How many rebounds? What’s your batting average? How many strikeouts does a pitcher have, and in how many innings? What’s your RBI total? Numbers help us measure things, like how good a player is, how valuable he or she is in certain situations, what role a particular player might be best suited for. glorydaysonline.com
MURPHY URGES FULL FRACKING BAN IN DELAWARE RIVER BASIN–Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday called for a full fracking ban in the Delaware River Basin, urging fellow members of the Delaware River Basin Commission to prohibit all activities related to the controversial technology that’s used to drill for natural gas. www.njspotlight.com
Unauthorized immigrant fired from Trump N.J. golf club invited to attend State of the Union address as Democrat’s guest–Victorina Morales, an unauthorized immigrant who recently lost her job at President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club, will get a chance to see her ex-boss in person next week. www.nj.com
Vintage N.J. photos of bars and taverns–Do you like beer? More specifically, are you a fan of the lesser known varieties? If so, you're in the right state. According to newjerseycraftbeer.com, as of Jan. 2019 there are 100 microbreweries and 18 brewpubs in a state known more for its tomatoes than its hops. www.nj.com
Marvin Burroughs announces candidacy for Atlantic City Council–New York Avenue School teacher and former Villanova University quarterback Marvin Burroughs is a product of the city’s public school system. www.pressofatlanticcity.com