Lawmakers vote along party lines to permit at least $5 billion in new debt to deal with economic fallout of pandemic
BY JOHN REITMEYER, NJSpotlight
Legislation that would give Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration the authority to borrow billions of dollars to help offset projected revenue losses brought on by the ongoing pandemic cleared the Assembly Thursday in a party-line vote.
May 2020 was a deadly month at the Care One at King James long term care facility in Middletown.
On May 1 there were no positive cases of COVID-19 reported at the facility. By June 1, there was 90 positive cases reported among the facility’s 100 residents and 44 of the 154 staff members tested positive. 17 residents died, according to documents obtained by MMM.
New Jersey’s response to the pandemic inside nursing homes was “an unmitigated failure” that led to “preventable deaths,” a group of anonymous health department employees charged in a letter to lawmakers Monday. Moreover, the administration “is making things up as they proceed” in order to reopen the economy, the writers also allege.
The letter, sent to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union and obtained by NJ Advance Media, also calls for the resignation of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli and an investigation into other top admin… Read the rest of this entry »
Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso and Senator Declan O’Scanlon standing with restaurateurs in Sea Bright, May 29, 2020. Photo by Art Gallagher
Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso have blasted Governor Phil Murphy’s slow reopening of the New Jersey restaurant industry, calling the governor’s rules a “slow death” for the small businesses.
Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger and Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone issued the following statement:
When the State of New Jersey ordered our business community to shut down for a two-week quarantine period, we agreed that it was in the best interest to do so for the safety and well being of our residents, business owners and their employees. Now, ten weeks later, our small businesses remain shut down without any guidance from Trenton as to when they can reopen their doors, bring back employees and attempt to move forward in the wake of a significant loss of revenue.
Masked legislators, restaurateurs and supporters gathered in Sea Bright on May 29 to plead with Governor Murphy to allow them limited reopening on June 5.
Governor Phil Murphy will announce today that he will allow outdoor dining at New Jersey restaurants starting on Monday, June 15, MMM has learned.
The NJ Restaurant and Hospitality Association has pleaded with Murphy to open restaurants on June 5. Murphy’s action will cost these small businesses and their employees 10 days of business, including two traditionally busy late spring weekends.
Ray Cosgrove, owner of Bahrs Landing in Highlands, center, at Woody’s in Sea Bright for the NJRHA press conference on Friday, May 29. Photo by Art Gallagher
Chef David Burke speaking during the NJ Restaurant and Hospitality Assoc press conference in Sea Bright, May 29, 2020. Photo by Art Gallagher
Monmouth County has reported a total of 8,253 positive cases on COVID-19, according to an announcement by Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Sue Kiley on May 31. The NJ Department of Health reports that 597 County residents have succumbed to the virus.
A town by town breakdown of positive cases since March is as follows:
Governor Phil Murphy announced school funding cuts in the amounts of $336 million due to the pandemic related revenue shortfall, northjersey.com reports.
New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli and senior officials in Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration clashed behind the scenes over the cost of a $500,000 contract for a consultant the state hired to help navigate the deadly coronavirus crisis inside the state’s nursing homes, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Murphy announced May 6 that Persichilli had retained Manatt Health, a national health advisory consulting group, to assess the state’s response to the coronavirus in long-term care facilities, where one in 13 residents have died in the pandemic. And Persichilli seemed in full accord wi… Read the rest of this entry »
