Archive: February, 2013
NJ Spotlight TV presents highlights of Gov. Chris Christie's budget address, as well as the responses of several Democratic lawmakers, including Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), majority leader, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), and Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Casino tax revenues are predicted to almost double in Gov. Chris Christie’s FY2014 budget, growing from $235.4 million to $435.8 million -- which would make it the highest year for casino tax receipts since before 2008.
How can Christie make such an optimistic claim? Internet gaming. On Tuesday, Christie signed a revised version of an Internet gambling bill that would allow Atlantic City casinos to operate online games in restricted areas. Revenues from online gambling would be taxed like other casino revenues.
The Christie administration is estimating that the state will garner about $180 million in new tax revenue from online gambling. It is also touting new marketing efforts by Atlantic City to turn around the fortunes of the beleaguered gambling resort. Casino revenues have steadily declined in the past five years due to increased competition.
» Click here for the full postCarmen Barbosa says she has felt invisible since coming to the United States about eight years ago.
Speaking through an interpreter, the diminutive Costa Rican immigrant explained that she lacked identification, which has made it difficult to interact with the larger community.
“Everywhere you go you need an ID,” she said on a recent Saturday afternoon in the offices of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund
» Click here for the full postPerhaps New Jersey is getting it right after all, in its efforts to nurture an offshore wind industry along its coast.
A new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council suggests that the state’s proposal to finance offshore wind by offering developers Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates (ORECs) for the electricity their turbines produce ought to be copied by other states along the Eastern Seaboard.
The findings may bolster the state's efforts to promote offshore wind when it is struggling to get developers, electric utilities, and power suppliers to line up behind the latest version of a funding mechanism to jumpstart its efforts. The plan, developed by a state-retained consultant, won a lukewarm response from various stakeholders last week in a meeting with state regulators.
» Click here for the full postNearly 60 districts will be eligible for federal recovery grants to help cover the costs of damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy, the state said yesterday.
The state Department of Education released a list of 57 districts that will be eligible to apply for $1.25 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) program, a program created almost a decade ago to address school safety.
The funds can be applied to a variety of short- and long-term costs, from overtime and substitutes to emergency transportation, the announcement said. The districts have until March 21 to apply.
» Click here for the full postRutgers University -- long a center for research into childhood autism -- could also become a leader in studying the challenges faced by autistic adults.
Two families with children with autism are endowing a faculty position at the New Jersey school that will be dedicated to academic research on adult autism and to training people who will provide services to these adults.
Stanley Messer, dean of the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, said the new chair will dovetail with ongoing state efforts to treat children with autism with applied behavior analysis -- an intensive approach to modifying behavior – and to help families of adults with autism once they no longer attend school.
» Click here for the full postOn the eve of Gov. Chris Christie’s budget address, a far smaller crowd than the one expected in the Statehouse today came to Newark last night to hear two key figures involved in the landmark Abbott v. Burke rulings on equitable school funding.
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Speaking to about 20 people gathered at Rutgers Law School were Paul Tractenberg, founding director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, which has led the school-funding litigation for more than 40 years, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, who served 10 years on the state’s top court and wrote two of the Abbott case’s 21 opinions to date.
» Click here for the full postVerizon invested $627 million in New Jersey's wireline and IT infrastructure last year, according to the telecommunications giant, which said that will ensure the state stays in front when it comes to state-of-the-art communications for consumers and businesses.
Verizon recently sent out press releases hailing its investments in a variety of states, and New Jersey appears to be at the forefront. The telco company says it has invested $525 million in Pennsylvania; $600 million in Maryland and Washington D.C., combined; $347 million in Florida; $1.5 billion in New York and Connecticut combined; $752 million in Virginia; and $105 million in Delaware.
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