January 29, 2018
Mostly cloudy with rain and snow tonight. High temperatures in the mid-40s.
U.S. REP. SIRES BOYCOTTING STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
When President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union Address on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires of West New York will not be in attendance, NJ.com writes. "The congressman is not attending the State of the Union because many of his constituents are offended by the president's rhetoric and behavior," said Erica Daughtrey, a spokeswoman for Sires. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross of Camden and Analilia Mejia, executive director of the New Jersey working families alliance, wrote in a guest column on NJ.com that they intended to be in the audience for Trump’s speech.
NJ JOINING NY, CONNECTICUT IN LEGAL CHALLENGE TO TRUMP TAX LAW
The governors of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut said they are forming a coalition to file a lawsuit over the federal tax overhaul enacted late last year, The Washington Post reports. Specifically, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut contend that the portion of the law that limits the amount of state property tax that can be deducted is unconstitutional.
ARRESTS OF IMMIGRANTS SPARK PROTEST IN METUCHEN
U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone of Long Branch and Bonnie Watson Coleman of Ewing Township joined hundreds of people demonstrating in Metuchen on Sunday to protest the arrest of two Indonesian immigrants after they dropped of their children at school last week, Patch.com writes. And last week Attorney General Gurbir Grewal called for a federal review of the arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers of the immigrants, Roby Sanger of Metuchen and Gunawan Liem of Franklin Park, The Record reports. Grewal says the arrests violated ICE’s policy of prohibiting enforcement action at sensitive locations.
GARDEN STATE HAS HIGHEST FORECLOSURE RATE IN U.S.
New Jersey’s foreclosure rate was the highest in the country for 2017, the Press of Atlantic City reports. New Jersey, which had 1.61 percent of its properties with a foreclosure filing, came in ahead of Delaware at 1.13 percent and Maryland at 0.95 percent, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, which curates a property database. Atlantic City had the highest rate of foreclosure of any metropolitan area in the country.
NJ RESIDENTS NOT VERY CONCERNED ABOUT OPIOIDS, STUDY SAYS
A new study says that most New Jersey residents are not very concerned about the dangers of prescription opioid drugs, myCentralJersey.com reports. The study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey finds that only 17 percent of the survey participants were very concerned about opioid drugs and 29 percent were somewhat concerned. In the final months of his tenure, Gov. Chris Christie made opioid drugs a signature issue.
NJSPCA MUST COMPLY WITH OPEN RECORDS LAW, COURT RULES
The state Open Public Records Act applies to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, even though it is a private, non-profit group, a state appeals court ruled on Friday. The ruling came in a case related to the society’s takeover of an animal shelter in Middlesex County, the New Jersey Law Journal says. But the court ruling might not apply later in the year when the society loses its law-enforcement authority.
