January 8, 2018
Partly cloudy with high temperatures in the low 30s. Wintry mix of precipitation in the late afternoon.
BRENDAN BYRNE REMEMBERED AS CARING AND DECENT
Three former governors offered their memories to NJ Spotlight of former Gov. Brendan Byrne, who died Thursday at age 93. Gov. Chris Christie will give the eulogy today at a memorial service for Byrne at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, according to The Associated Press. All the living former governors are expected to attend the service, which was planned by former Gov. Richard Codey, the Daily Record reports.
CHRISTIE SAYS NEW JERSEY WILL MISS HIM WHEN HE’S GONE
In a three-hour interview with Matt Arco of NJ.com, Gov. Chris Christie said state residents will miss him when his term comes to an end later this month. He also said there are some parts of being governor that he will miss. Reflecting on his time in office, he gives himself a grade of B-plus with “A moments."
CAN LOCAL TAXES BE CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS?
Three municipalities are looking at a way to get around the new federal tax law that limits deductions for state and local taxes, Nick Corasaniti and Alan Rappeport report for The New York Times. Paramus, Park Ridge and Fair Lawn announced on Friday that residents will be able to donate the same amount as their local tax bills to a town-run charity instead of paying property taxes.
ACLU CHALLENGING NJ PRISONS’ BAN ON ‘THE NEW JIM CROW’
State prisons in Trenton and Delmont have banned inmates from reading “The New Jim Crow,” an award-winning book published in 2010 that links racial discrimination and the rate of incarceration, Ryan J. Reilly writes for HuffPost.com. The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it will send a letter today demanding access to the book. New Jersey’s prisons have the worst black-white disparity in the country, the ACLU says.
PROSECUTOR SAYS PROGRAM DISRUPTED HEROIN CYCLE
Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal says a week-long program aimed at breaking the cycle of heroin addiction has been successful for some people. The effort involved arresting county residents caught buying heroin in open-air drug markets in Paterson, Passaic and Newark, and encouraging them to participate in a hospital-based detox program. “The way I measure success," Grewal told Steve Janoski of The Record, "is if we break the cycle for one person, that’s one less potential overdose, that’s one less potential death. And I think we’ve seen that happen here.”
