Analysis: What sunk Ted Cruz?

Cruz Zigged While the GOP Electorate Zagged

By Patrick Murray

The Cruz campaign’s attempt to coalesce the #NeverTrump movement around their candidate #NeverHappened.  In hindsight, the attempt to position him as the establishment alternative may not have been the wisest move.

Ted Cruz entered the 2016 presidential race with a reputation as the Senate Republican conference’s enfant terrible.  He ended his campaign as the establishment’s last hope to deny Donald Trump the party’s nomination.  The problem is that GOP voters’ desire for a political outsider intensified just as he was making this pivot.

Exit polls conducted by the national media’s National Election Pool asked voters in 24 different contests this year whether the next president should have experience in politics or be from outside the political establishment.

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What happened to Christie’s Bridgegate cell phone?

TRENTON — What happened to the cell phone Gov. Chris Christie was using during the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge is becoming a crucial part of the criminal defense of a key Bridgegate defendant. During a Monday afternoon Statehouse press conference, the governor told reporters it “doesn’t matter to me” if defense attorneys for… Read the rest of this entry »

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Empty boxes: A list of the 20 N.J. towns where a Sports Authority will close

The announcement this week that Sports Authority will close all its stores nationwide sent another jolt through the commercial real estate industry. The nationwide retailer had originally released a smaller list of stores that it planned to close, but on Monday announced it would liquidate its holdings at auction May 16 and close all 140 stores… Read the rest of this entry »

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Is an NJ Transit strike still possible after 2 unions reject deal?

The sigh of relief that came from commuters in March at the news that a potential NJ Transit strike has been averted evaporated to a groan this weekend after two rail unions rejected a tentative agreement. What happened and what’s next? Here’s what we know so far. Q: Which rail unions rejected the contract? A: Members… Read the rest of this entry »

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Everything you need to know about the big changes coming to Newark airport

In the fall, the federal government will lift the cap on the number of hourly takeoffs and landings at Newark-Liberty International Airport. The reclassification, from a Level 3 airport to a Level 2 facility, will open up Newark to more carriers — potentially low-cost airlines — that were previously kept out by Newark’s flight restrictions. JetBlue… Read the rest of this entry »

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Blasting the myths and making the case for reasonable speed limits

By Declan O’Scanlon

The Asbury Park Press editorial board recently took a position AGAINST setting speed limits based on engineering criteria and FOR setting limits based on the hunches of unqualified elected officials and bureaucrats.  The position is so fundamentally flawed, so based on decades-old defunct myths, so devoid of any basis in actual fact, that it’s hard to decide where to begin.

My speed limit initiative is a simple one – set speed limits based on sound engineering criteria.  I would remove uninformed or profit-motivated elected officials and bureaucrats from the process. Traffic laws shouldn’t be based on the random hunches of any of us. Setting any law by hunch only diminishes the public’s confidence in ALL laws. That’s not a way to enhance safety anywhere. Why should the public take a 25 mph school speed limit seriously when we randomly post such speed limits all over – including stretches of roadway that should be posted at 40?  Don’t even get me started on the damage random limits have on the image of our police – who become the face of these arbitrary laws.

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Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, April 29-May 1, 2016

By Greg Kelly

Like this?

Friday, April 29

• The Little Mermaid at Count Basie Theatre (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Crossing Delancey by Center Players (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• Arbor Day Tree Walk on Sandy Hook – MORE INFO
• New Jersey Marathon Weekend – MORE INFO
• Running Through Fire by Lighthouse Productions (Monmouth Beach) – MORE INFO
• NJHDA New Jersey Shipwreck Symposium (Wall Twp.) – MORE INFO
• Daffodils & Daiquiris: A Spring Open House (Middletown) – MORE INFO

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Judge: Belmar’s new pay to pay ordinance, “Matt’s Law” is not law

Doherty’s lawyer asks Court for a gag order

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty

Freehold-Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Katie Gummer ruled Wednesday that the new pay to pay ordinance in Belmar, dubbed “Matt’s Law” in honor of Mayor Matt Doherty who the measure would  immediately benefit, is not law, has never been law and will not become law unless approved by Belmar voters in a referendum or unless the Court rules otherwise in coming weeks as a suit regarding a protest petition filed under the Falkner Act is further litigated.

For now, Doherty, who is running for Monmouth County Freeholder, and all candidates for office in Belmar are bound by the pay to play ordinances, passed in 2004 and amended in 2005 and 2011 (the current ordinance), that restrict campaign contributions from Belmar vendors, developers, liquor license holders and professionals to $300 and/or require that the office holders to recuse themselves from matters regarding the contributors that come before them.

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Joe Woerner resigns from Asbury Park Council to focus on his son’s health

Asbury Park Councilman Joe Woerner announced his resignation from the city’s governing body this evening in a poignant post on facebook wherein he publicly disclosed his family’s struggle with his son Michael’s genetic mutation which was diagnosed the month following his election in 2014.

Michael’s condition has recently taken a turn for the worse.

Woerner’s posted as follows:

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Twin Light Museum Reopens On 123rd Anniversary Of The Pledge Of Allegiance

By Muriel Smith

Senator Joseph Kyrillos, Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholders Serena DeMaso, Director Tom Arnone, Lillian Burry and John Curley and Highlands Business Partnership President Carla Braswell at the Twin Lights reopening with World War II and Korean War veteran Dick Seuffert of Middletown. Photo by Ken Braswell, ShoreGrafx.

HIGHLANDS – Close to 100 people joined Sheriff Shaun Golden and students from Rumson Country Day School in pledging allegiance to the flag in front of the Twin Lights, a scene enacted for the first time publicly at the same site 123 years ago April 25.

In a formal ceremony officially reopening the Museum at the historic lighthouse, Mary Jo Kenny, president of the Twin Lights Historical Society, welcomed guests to the 2016 season at the state-owned museum and introduced the program which followed the US Coast Guard honor guard presentation of the flag.  Golden led the group in saying the pledge as it was first recited at the site 123 years ago, and the current day passage, adopted in 1954.

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