There are few new details about the raid yesterday at the mayor’s house. Lynda Cohen reports FBI agents were there for five hours and removed a printer, among other things. The Press says it was a little over four hours, included IRS agents, and they removed an Apple desktop.
A spokesperson for the Northfield FBI office declined to comment beyond confirming what was in plain view. The DCA spokesperson said they were monitoring the situation. The mayor’s chief of staff said the office was open for business yesterday.
David Danzis reports the city has applied for a $1 million municipal aid grant to do up Tennessee Avenue. That would match $1 million from CRDA to pay for a proposed streetscaping and make the land more visually appealing. I think Tennessee Ave.’s visually appealing as-is but I’m a warped individual with bad values.
People who own fancyass beach houses and rent them out on Airbnb formed a support group in response to their egregious taxes, specifically something they call the “New Jersey Shore Tax,” which ranges from 12% to 14% for rentals booked through Airbnb or VRBO but is 0% for bookings made through a licensed real estate professional, another persecuted political constituency, I note.
Naturally we should accept the argument that the tax will result in fewer people coming to the beach, almost like we didn’t have a tourism economy before Airbnb was invented.
Jeff Van Drew wants to exclude shore counties from the tax.
Separately, snowy owls (at least one) are back! And for all the other headlines, see below:
56–The 56 percent turnout this year was 1.3 million votes (or 66 percent) higher than in the last midterm election in 2014, when just 36 percent of voters went to the polls. www.njspotlight.com
Murphy to chair Democratic governors group in 2020, job that could pull him away from N.J.–Gov. Phil Murphy has been steadfast in his statements that he has no plans to seek higher office. www.roi-nj.com
CAMPAIGN RAMPS UP TO LET UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS DRIVE LEGALLY IN NJ–New Jersey will see a boost to its economy and safer roads if it passes legislation that would create a two-tiered driver’s license program for undocumented immigrants, according to advocates. www.njspotlight.com
N.J. tribal nation’s legal victory a win for region, too | Opinion–Every now and again it does the heart good to see a little justice done, especially when it involves an underdog. That's exactly what happened last month for our Native American brothers and sisters in the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, when they won a long and exhausting fight to maintain their status as a recognized tribal entity in the State of New Jersey. www.nj.com