Politico is reporting that a bill creating a “Garden State Growth Zone” out to the airport is set to move forward after Notorious Jeff Van Drew and Steve “Suspenders” Sweeney agreed to changes put forward by the governor. (Paywall)
1.1 Gigawatts!
The BPU is seeking bids for offshore wind turbines for up to 1,100 megawatts of capacity. Another 110 megawatts and Doc Brown can send his souped up DeLorean back to 1985!
New Jersey had 39% turnout in the 2017 gubernatorial election, an historic low, according to this person, who is a program associate with the League of Women Voters, and who wants to end gerrymandering, the process by which politicians pick their own voters by cunningly drawing their own voting districts.
Ending gerrymandering would be great. The problem is a whole bunch of weirdos and grifters have a vested interest in keeping you gerrymandered, so you’ll never feel the inspirational energy of representative democracy and be inspired to vote. That way they and their fellow weirdos and grifters will keep a disproportionate share of the cake. Who’s going to win this fall? The grifter-weirdo cabal? Or you, Mr. Apathetic Voter? I watch too much TV.
For more feats of journalism from across your region, see below:
Carranza Road Repaving Put Off In Hopes Of Extending Its Scope–TABERNACLE—Residents who have long been awaiting the repaving of Carranza Road will have to wait a while longer, despite a New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) grant awarded to Tabernacle Township earlier this year to cover a substantial part of the project. pinebarrenstribune.com
Can N.J. labor unions survive major blow from Supreme Court?–New Jersey labor leaders say membership in their unions remains strong and they haven't seen a big fallout from a U.S. Supreme Court decision that handed public-sector unions a major loss by declaring they could not collect fees from employees who choose to not join. www.nj.com
NJ SPOTLIGHT: THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC IN NJ — ADDICTION TREATMENT–New Jersey continues to be a national leader when it comes to opioid addiction — both in the scope of the impact on the state and in the public and private response to the disease. More than 1,600 state residents died of opioid-related issues in 2016. www.njspotlight.com