New Jersey American Water is urging its customers in Monmouth County to discontinue all nonessential water use and outdoor water use after three water mains collapsed at the company’s Swimming River Water Treatment Plant in Tinton Falls.
New Jersey American Water has also issued a precautionary boil water advisory for customers in Monmouth County.
Please note that this is a standard procedure whenever water pressure is lost as a precaution. New Jersey American Water will provide information as to when the advisory is lifted.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requires that the company issue the following advisory:
New Jersey American Water has determined that a potential or actual threat to the quality of water being provided to you currently exists. Therefore until further notice, bring tap water to a rolling boil for one minute and allow to cool before using for consumption; drinking, ice cubes, washing vegetables and fruit, and for brushing teeth. Please continue to boil your water until you are notified that the water quality is acceptable.
New Jersey American Water also recommends the following steps:
• Throw away uncooked food or beverages or ice cubes if made with tap water during the day of the advisory;
• Keep boiled water in the refrigerator for drinking;
• Rinse hand-washed dishes for a minute in diluted bleach (one tablespoon of household bleach per gallon of tap water) or clean your dishes in a dishwasher using the hot wash cycle and dry cycle.
• Do not swallow water while you are showering or bathing;
• Provide pets with boiled water after cooling;
• Do not use home filtering devices in place of boiling or using bottled water; most home water filters will not provide adequate protection from microorganisms;
• Use only boiled water to treat minor injuries.
Please be advised that the company is doing all it can to ensure your water is of the highest quality. New Jersey American Water will notify customers immediately when the advisory is lifted.
New Jersey American Water is working on temporary measures to restore normal operations at its Swimming River Water Treatment Plant. The plant delivers 36 million gallons of water each day to 55,000 customer accounts.
Amends Budget to Restrict Spending to Lower Levels than FY2008 and FY2009 Budgets, Provides Sound $600 Million Surplus
Press Release
Trenton, NJ – For the third year in a row, Governor Chris Christie today signed into law a constitutionally balanced budget that delivers on key priorities for the people of New Jersey without raising taxes. The Governor’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget as enacted spends $31.7 billion, which is lower than the Governor’s originally proposed budget as delivered in February 2012 and lower than the budget passed by the Legislature. This year’s budget continues the return to fiscal discipline and controlled spending, while focusing on funding critical priorities that speak to the needs of all New Jerseyans. The Fiscal Year 2013 Budget is smaller than both fiscal years 2008 and 2009, while still increasing aid to schools to the highest level of state spending on K-12 education in the state’s history.
Governor Christie said, “The budget the Legislature sent me violated two core priorities of this Administration – it denied tax relief to our hard working, middle-class families while proposing an $800 million tax increase and rejected fiscal responsibility by including millions in new spending that threatened to undo the hard won progress of the last two years. I am unwilling to surrender the gains we have made to establish fiscal responsibility in the state budget by raising taxes on our people at a time when they need and deserve tax relief. The budget I am signing today reverses irresponsible funding decisions, establishes funding levels based on realistic and responsible revenue assumptions, and increases our surplus to a healthy level that paves the way for continued economic growth.”
“The revised budget I signed today would continue to fuel the New Jersey Comeback if it included immediate tax cuts for New Jerseyans. After two hard years of shared sacrifice we’re no longer on the brink of fiscal catastrophe. Because of the tough and difficult choices we’ve made, this year’s budget allows us to make an unprecedented commitment to education, make one of the largest pension payments in our state’s history and fund critical programs that protect our most vulnerable,” said Governor Christie.
Governor Christie put Corzine Democrats on their heels by vetoing $361 million in unnecessary or unsupported spending that threatened to reverse the renewed fiscal health, economic growth and investment of the last two years. In addition to piling on new spending in the budget, Corzine Democrats tried to circumvent the tough choices required to meet a balanced budget by passing additional spending bills outside of the process. As Governor Christie has repeatedly said, spending needs to be accounted for as part of a comprehensive budget plan.
“This spending as usual is just more of the same mentality that plagued the eight years before I became Governor when there was reckless spending and a cycle of raising taxes and fees every 25 days. We cannot go back to the old way of doing things which got us into a fiscal mess in the first place. Corzine Democrats need to realize that they cannot add millions of dollars in spending outside of the budget when every homeowner, student or family faced with financial choices is spending within their budget,” said Governor Christie.
As a result of Governor Christie’s actions, the budget signed into law today maintains a sound, responsible surplus of over $600 million – more than double the Fiscal Year 2013 projected ending fund balance from the Governor’s originally proposed budget and exceeds the levels in the budget as passed by the Legislature. This sound surplus and the fact that the Administration aggressively manages government throughout the year is a signal that the state’s fiscal health is on strong footing.
In today’s deeply disappointing decision on Obamacare, a majority of the Supreme Court actually got the Constitution mostly right. The Commerce Clause — the part of the Constitution that grants Congress the authority to regulate commerce among the states — does not authorize the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance. The Court, in a 5–4 decision, refused to join all the august legal experts who insisted that of course it granted that authorization, that only yahoos and Republican partisans could possibly doubt it. It then pretended that this requirement is constitutional anyway, because it is merely an application of the taxing authority. Rarely has the maxim that the power to tax is the power to destroy been so apt, a portion of liberty being the direct object in this case.
What the Court has done is not so much to declare the mandate constitutional as to declare that it is not a mandate at all, any more than the mortgage-interest deduction in the tax code is a mandate to buy a house. Congress would almost surely have been within its constitutional powers to tax the uninsured more than the insured. Very few people doubt that it could, for example, create a tax credit for the purchase of insurance, which would have precisely that effect. But Obamacare, as written, does more than that. The law repeatedly speaks in terms of a “requirement” to buy insurance, it says that individuals “shall” buy it, and it levies a “penalty” on those who refuse. As the conservative dissent points out, these are the hallmarks of a “regulatory penalty, not a tax.”
The law as written also cuts off all federal Medicaid funds for states that decline to expand the program in the ways the lawmakers sought. A majority of the Court, including two of the liberals, found this cut-off unconstitutionally coercive on the states. The Court’s solution was not to invalidate the law or the Medicaid expansion, but to rule that only the extra federal funds devoted to the expansion could be cut off. As the dissenters rightly point out, this solution rewrites the law — and arbitrarily, since Congress could have avoided the constitutional problem in many other ways.
Governor Chris Christie took his tax fight to a standing-room-only town hall crowd in Brick Township (Ocean County) yesterday afternoon.
And at that Brick gathering, my dear Save Jerseyans, we caught a welcome glimpse of the no-nonsense style of politics that quickly transformed Chris Christie into a national figure; you’ll likely remember his viral warning to beachgoers in the run-up to Hurricane Irene:
Surely, the contrast between Christie and Corzine in Election ’09 couldn’t have been clearer. I was proud to have been one of his earliest and most vocal grassroots supporters. I still am.
But what is our state party’s winning contrast with the liberal legislature right now in this ongoing budget fight?
The Joe Kyrillos for U.S. Senate Campaign launched a new website yesterday, CheapTalkBob.com
The site centers on a video of Bob Menendez’s constant chatter about the middle class, with facts that prove he does nothing to help the middle class.
Six years ago, Senator Menendez campaigned on a message of job creation for the middle class, but instead gave us a national unemployment rate that ballooned from 4.7% to 8.2%, a national debt that has nearly doubled, and a deficit which has more than quadrupled. Talk is cheap and Bob Menendez’s inaction continues to make things worse for the middle class.
Middle class families need a real reformer like Joe Kyrillos. Senator Kyrillos doesn’t just talk about reform, he’s implementing it for middle class families across New Jersey. Senator Kyrillos, under the leadership of Governor Christie and with the help of like-minded reformers, has worked to balance the state’s budget without raising taxes, cut spending, stopped borrowing, and reformed programs like the pension system. Election year rhetoric, like Bob Menendez’s cheap talk about the middle class, is no excuse for consistently voting to raise taxes, explode debt and stifle job creation.
“Bob Menendez thinks that if he talks enough about helping the middle class, people will start to believe that he actually is,” said Senator Kyrillos. “But you can’t hide from the facts. Bob Menendez has been consistently making things worse. He is making it harder for businesses to expand, and create more jobs. He is making families insecure about their financial decisions because of the frailty of the economy. He is hurting our friends, families, and neighbors, who have worked hard to succeed but have fallen on hard times. Those that want a better job, and to make a better living for their families. His constant talk about making things better for them is just that—talk.”
This story requires one to consider social mores, conservatism, government powers, libertarianism, class, classlessness, tradition, expression, subsidiarity, humility, pride and manners. In other words, it’s practically the reason Ricochet.com was created.
My beloved little city of Asbury Park, NJ made national headlines in 2010 when a local storekeeper, while attempting to drum up business, made a push for the City by the Sea to have a nude beach. The measure was ultimately rejected. That it was seriously considered at all shows how liberal Bruce Springsteen’s adopted hometown has become (of the 5,418 registered voters, only 390 are Republican).
What a difference two years makes though. Former councilwoman and Republican Committeewoman Louise Murray has found a 50 year old ordinance on the books that says people in Asbury Park may not wear bathing suits on the boardwalk. At a recent council meeting she pleaded with the City to once again enforce it. Her plea has been picked up as newsworthy locally, regionally, and nationally now that Drudge has given it a headline. The City Council is considering her request.
I don’t know if there is a social conservative backlash to the Obama Administration going on in this country but this might actually be proof of it. Here is an exchange between Ms. Murray and Asbury Park Deputy Mayor John Loffredo as reported by a local website, www. moremonmouthmusings.net:
“I’ll be darned if I want to be standing at a bar and have somebody slither up in a Speedo or bikini that shouldn’t be in a bathing suit,” Murray said. “It’s disgraceful … I implore you to enforce this, but do not amend it.”
Deputy Mayor John Loffredo responded, “I honestly don’t disagree with you.”
Why is that exchange important? Loffredo is one of New Jersey’s first openly gay elected politicians and a Democrat. He’s a liberal. He supports Asbury Park’s annual Gay Pride Parade (and you know how they dress marching in that). Yet he doesn’t disagree with Ms. Murray about this. A shift in social mores?
A bit of history about Asbury Park for context. It was founded as a Methodist retreat in the late 1800s. It had been a dry town where certain sports were originally banned as they might attract bettors. This one square mile City still has nearly 40 churches. So full of elegance was it that when I was a boy people would dress up to walk downtown and women working at the local department store were forbidden from wearing pants.
30 Shore Law Enforcement Agencies Will Participate in “Cops in Shops” Stings
BELMAR – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa gathered in Belmar today with state and local officials, as well as members of the liquor and prevention industry to outline his plans to stop underage drinking on the Jersey Shore.
“We all look forward to soaking up the fun of the Jersey Shore this summer, but we’re focused today on a serious mission: keeping the good times safe for our teens and young people,” Chiesa said. “Simply put, I consider underage drinking a threat to the health and well-being of our youth in New Jersey.”
The keystone of the Shore efforts is the “Cops in Shops” program, which is run by the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
“Cops in Shops” is a program designed by the Century Council, a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers. Under the program, local police officers work undercover in participating retail locations. Law enforcement officials either pose as store employees or are positioned outside the establishment to apprehend adults who attempt to purchase alcohol for underage drinkers. The New Jersey Cops in Shops program is recognized nationally as a successful program.
“One Shore teenager told us that it was common for her and her friends to wait outside a liquor store for a sympathetic adult to buy them alcohol. She called this ‘Going Fishing,’” Chiesa said. “My message for those teens and adults of a similar mind is this: Simply don’t do it.”
President Barack Obama has long tried to distance himself from the “Fast and Furious” scandal at the Justice Department, which stems from a program under which Mexican drug cartels were allowed to acquire U.S. firearms that were later used against U.S. law-enforcement personnel. By invoking executive privilege to stymie congressional investigation of the case, the president has placed himself squarely in the center of it.
President Obama, who had been a bitter critic of the Bush administration’s use of executive privilege, today through his representatives protested that he is only doing what the Bush administration did before him. The same man who once accused President Bush of “hiding behind executive privilege” is now hiding behind George W. Bush.
Executive privilege serves a necessary function in our constitutional order, reinforcing the separation of powers and protecting sensitive deliberations within the executive branch, and it is especially strong when the president or his closest advisers in the White House are involved in the communication. In this case, the administration has long denied that the president was directly involved. Instead, Attorney General Eric Holder wasted everyone’s time invoking a spurious form of deliberative privilege that was completely decoupled from executive privilege. Such a privilege has no force vis-à-vis Congress. By finally invoking executive privilege yesterday, the president belatedly acknowledged that his attorney general was full of it.
Executive privilege has legitimate uses — and illegitimate uses. For instance, it is not intended to be used merely to protect the president from political embarrassment stemming from grievous errors in judgment by members of his cabinet or officers of the departments over which they preside. There is good reason to believe that in this case the privilege is being abused.
Before running for Congress I was like so many people who had strong opinions on the way our country was being run, but I was contented doing my part as a conservative columnist and as a philanthropist. One evening in March, I was asked to do more for my community, when friends and acquaintances approached me to run for the Republican nomination for Congress. The opportunity would not have presented itself had I not been the writer of the Justified Right column in the TriCity News. My readers earned me that opportunity.
It’s important to mention that no elected Republican official or anyone else of note wanted the role. In fact, my former opponent, who won the primary, was registered at that time, and was still registered as a Senate Candidate and not a Congressional candidate with the Federal Election Commission on Election Day. When I was recruited to run it was apparent that the Republican Party had no one to represent the party in the race for Congress and so I took up the mantle.
Since that evening I have had a crash course on the inner-workings of the Republican Party, the various Tea Party groups, as well as grass roots organizations all across the 6th Congressional District, which now covers all of coastal Monmouth (from Asbury Park) through Middlesex County, ending in South Plainfield. But what made an impression upon me most was how too few people are involved in our two party system and how that reality means that voters have less and less of a significant voice in how their country is run.
For example out of the 95,071 registered Republicans in Monmouth County only 5,829 or about 6% voted for U.S. House of Representatives in Congressional District 6. So not only did no one want the job, but too few felt compelled to vote for either candidate.
I have to admit that I was once part of the overwhelming majority that did not vote in primaries, but if this country is going to salvage both its liberty and its free markets then more of us who are apathetic must become more involved in deciding who our candidates are going to be.
The Republican Party gets a bad rap in the press for being an old white guy’s club, but the party as a whole was one of the most inviting and supportive organizations that I have ever been a part of.
Further testing to be conducted for cause of illness
FREEHOLD, NJ – The Monmouth County Courthouse will remain closed tomorrow for additional testing of allergens – substances derived from plants, animals or items that can be found on people’s desks. Once the testing is complete, the courthouse will be cleaned again.
“All the tests so far have ruled out the most probable causes for the symptoms that were reported by employees and other individuals with business at the courthouse,” said William K. Heine, director of Public Information for the county. “We have ruled out possible causes that could be related to housekeeping, construction and general building maintenance.”
Tuesday night, the courthouse was tested for the presence of dust, pollen and mold on carpeting, chair fabric, desk surfaces and underneath desks. Nothing out of the ordinary was found. Levels of dust, mold and pollen were lower inside the building than outside the building.
To date, the county has checked the construction area of the courthouse’s East Wing and found nothing that would contribute to the symptoms of illness reported by the employees. Likewise, the heating and ventilation systems have been checked for leaks and none were found. The air filters in entire building were changed over the weekend and again on Tuesday. The county has also determined that there has been no change in the regular cleaning of the building.
“The county continues to work with the state Judiciary to resolve this issue,” Heine said.
On Monday, more than 60 courthouse employees reported symptoms of illness that included shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations, rash and dizziness. A triage and treatment area was established outside of the courthouse where all individuals with symptoms were properly evaluated by emergency medical professionals. Thirty people were taken to area hospitals with symptoms that included rash or hives, elevated blood pressure and difficulty breathing.
After the courthouse was closed at 1 p.m. on Monday, the State Police Hazardous Materials Unit tested the building’s interior for 25,000 different compounds and found nothing that would have contributed to the reported symptoms of illness.
The situation developed on Friday when 17 courthouse employees reported the same general symptoms of illness. Several individuals were confirmed to be diagnosed with allergic reactions. The affected area of the courthouse was thoroughly cleaned last weekend.
“If a courthouse employee or anyone having business at the courthouse is experiencing any of the symptoms, we encourage them to go to the emergency room or their private physician,” Heine said. “We also ask that they contact the county health department at 732-431-7456 to report any symptoms.”
It is believed that there is no danger of person-to-person transmission. Anyone who was inside the courthouse since Friday should launder the clothes that they wore separately from other items. Individuals should also shower with soap and water as well.
