LET ME FINISH: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the power of in-your-face politics, former Governor Chris Christie’s memoir and plea for a political future is not likely to change any minds about him. If you’re one of the 15% of New Jersey residents who admire Christie today as much as you did during the early aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, you will love the book and your admiration for Christie will grow.
If you believe that Christie knew about and was involved in the George Washington Bridge scandal known as Bridgegate and that he closed New Jersey’s beaches for all but his family on the July 4th weekend in 2017, his book will tell you why you’re wrong. Christie is the victim of the two events that define his legacy so far; Bridgegate and Beachgate.
Federal authorities on Thursday arrested a contractor accused of bilking victims of Hurricane Sandy out of more than $1.5 million by skipping out on repair jobs after taking their money. Jamie Lynn Lawson, 42, was arrested early Thursday morning at an extended stay hotel in Florence, SC, by U.S. Marshals in that area, said Michael Schroeder,… Read the rest of this entry »
A state program to lend more than $400 million in taxpayer dollars to replenish affordable housing lost during Hurricane Sandy so far has assisted fewer than two dozen victims of the storm, state statistics show. The Fund for Restoration of Multifamily Housing began disbursing zero- and low-interest loans in 2014 in the nine counties most affected… Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for the contractor helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency review Hurricane Sandy damage claims has demanded that a whistleblower and a law firm stop contacting its employees to bolster allegations that storm victims were shortchanged. The letter from Optimal Solutions and Technologies referenced Jeff Coolidge, a whistleblower who worked for a company… Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — A government watchdog found that Federal Emergency Management Agency did not properly regulate the private companies who provide flood insurance, whose failure to adequate reimburse Hurricane Sandy victims for their losses led to the agency agreeing to reopen thousands of claims. The report by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general said FEMA did… Read the rest of this entry »
TRENTON — Five people were charged on Thursday with filing falsified applications to get tens of thousands in federal Hurricane Sandy aid, state officials said. The charges bring to 50 the number of people who have been accused by the state Attorney General’s Office since March 2014 of trying to cheat the government out money meant… Read the rest of this entry »
When we first met Joseph Ready, his Sandy-wrecked home in Union Beach was jacked 20 feet in the air, uninhabitable for his family, but open to feral cats and vandals. The cats left bird carcasses on his floors and the vandals clogged the toilet. He was living in a FEMA trailer, paying $850 a month in… Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — New Jersey’s U.S. House delegation split along party lines in questioning whether Gov. Chris Christie or the Obama administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development was at fault for the state getting just $15 million of a $1 billion program carved out of funds originally earmarked for Hurricane Sandy aid. The six Democratic lawmakers… Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — Members of the New Jersey delegation want to ask U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro why their state got just $15 million in disaster preparedness funds under a program funded in the Hurricane Sandy aid bill. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who arranged a meeting last March with Federal Emergency Management… Read the rest of this entry »