Turtle Trade
Avalon Zoppo at the Press has another cool story, this one about the illegal trade in terrapin turtles from South Jersey marshes.
The turtles are caught and sold as pets, or smuggled out of the country where they’re served in restaurants that are into that kind of thing.
Football
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association passed new rules to limit contact in practice for football teams to 15 minutes per week. The group says regulations are the most restrictive anywhere at any level.
Predatory Priests
Catholic Diocese in New Jersey released the names of 188 clergy who were “credibly accused” of sexual abuse against children. A lot of them are local. I know I recognized a few.
Redevelopment
My colleague/spouse (Happy Valentime’s!) Elinor at Route 40 has a honking story, imo, about the state tax incentive programs that everyone’s fighting over. A disproportionate number of them were allocated to Camden and Atlantic City.
Now I know many of you will roll your eyes and say, “Tell me something I don’t know! Camden and Atlantic City get free stuff is not news.” But I urge you, gentle reader, to consider that narrative in light of the recent analysis by the comptroller.
Are the good people of Atlantic City, for instance, really the intended beneficiaries of these programs? Or is the poverty and disinvestment in a place like Atlantic City just the *occasion* to give out tax breaks and no-bid contracts to wealthy people with suction?
For more feats of journalism…
NJ SEEKS ADVISOR FOR POTENTIAL DEALS INVOLVING STATE ASSETS–Several months after a group of fiscal-policy experts urged the state to catalog all its real estate, roads and other assets to see if any could be used to help plug New Jersey’s notorious pension-funding hole, Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration is moving ahead with a plan to do just that. www.njspotlight.com
Gun groups sued Murphy’s AG over N.J.’s new gun law. Then things got a little weird.–A bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in November aimed at cracking down on untraceable guns is under fire in federal court, where a coalition of gun rights advocates is claiming the new law is unconstitutional. www.nj.com
Margate lifeguards get new 4-year contract–MARGATE – Lifeguards in Margate will be getting a 1.5-percent increase in their daily rates of pay over the next four years in a new contract the Board of Commissioners approved on Feb. 7. www.downbeach.com
Ticket-fixing judge faces disbarment; NJ board cites ‘shocking abuse’–TRENTON - A former municipal court judge who pleaded guilty to falsifying records as part of a scheme to rake in revenue for the towns he served was recommended for disbarment after what a state disciplinary board called "large-scale fraud" and a "shocking abuse" of judicial power. www.app.com