Scattered showers with high temperatures near 60. Colder weather ahead.
INSIDE BLOOD-TESTING SCANDAL: BRIBES FOR DOCTORS
Ten months after the head of a medical laboratory testified in federal court in Newark that his company bribed doctors to get business, Ted Sherman reports for NJ.com that the scheme to pay off doctors was even wider than initially disclosed. Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services paid off dozens of doctors, NJ.com says, with expensive cars, concert tickets, trips to the Caribbean and prostitutes. Although 38 doctors have been convicted in the case, many more may have been involved.
CHRISTIE OPTIMISTIC AFTER SUPREME COURT HEARING ON GAMBLING
After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in New Jersey’s lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Gov. Chris Christie expressed optimism about the effort to legalize sports betting in the state. "I thought the hearing went great," Christie said outside the courthouse in Washington, according to The Record. "We're going to do well." Although the governor stopped short of predicting an outcome in the case, he did say that if the state prevails it would take about two weeks before gamblers could start wagering on sports. A ruling in the case is expected before the court’s term ends in June.
DEMOCRAT STEPS FORWARD TO CHALLENGE MENENDEZ IN PRIMARY
A former member of Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff is stepping forward to challenge Sen. Bob Menendez in the Democratic primary. CBS News reports that Michael Starr Hopkins, a lawyer, filed a statement of candidacy for Senate with the Federal Election Commission on Nov. 30. He also wrote an Op-Ed article published by The Hill on Monday citing Menendez’s recent corruption trial, in which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. “I’m taking the first steps towards challenging Bob Menendez because I believe New Jersey deserves a fresh start, the chance to vote for someone who hasn’t been tainted by the culture of corruption in Trenton and Washington, someone who doesn’t owe any favors to the political establishment or powerful interests,” Hopkins wrote.
DEMOCRATS: TAX OVERHAUL WOULD RAISE COSTS FOR STUDENTS
The federal tax overhaul passed by Congress would force graduate students to pay thousands of dollars more in taxes and could discourage them from seeking advanced degrees, Democrats said Monday. Students, administrators and Democratic officials, speaking at the Newark campus of Rutgers University, predicted the state could lose teachers in training, graduate students doing science research and future doctors, according to Hannan Adely and Dustin Racioppi of The Record. “We’re going to constrict the number of people who can go to graduate school, except the personally wealthy,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat from Paterson. “The proposal will be a devastating blow to students, especially in graduate school, and make it more expensive and further out of reach for the low- and middle-income families of America.”
NJ SCHOOLS VOTE TO CHANGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Change may be coming to the way the New Jersey state football playoffs are conducted. Members of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association voted Monday to allow high school football teams to schedule 10 regular-season games instead of the current nine, Greg Tufaro reports for MyCentralJersey.com. That change is expected to bring changes to the football playoffs format, which the NJSIAA executive committee may consider in April.
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