NJ budget won’t get much help from state economy, expert warns

NJ budget won’t get much help from state economy, expert warns (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — New Jersey is in for another year of lackluster economic growth, and the new spending plan Gov. Chris Christie is proposing widens the shortfall in the state budget to $526 million by summer 2015, the state Legislature’s top financial…

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Wednesday, April 2-Sherlock’s First Adventure at Henry Hudson Regional School

The Henry Hudson Regional Junior Admiral Players Present their annual middle school play.

Beginning tonight at 7PM, SHERLOCK’S FIRST ADVENTURE will run from through Saturday, April 5th at Henry Hudson Regional School, 1 Grand Tour, Highlands.
(All performances begin at 7pm).
Tickets will be sold at the door, and are $7 general admission, and
$5 for students/seniors.
Light dessert refreshments will be available.

TONIGHT ( Wednesday) ALL tickets are just $5!!!!!

The play, by award-winning playwright Craig Sodaro, is a two-act
mystery-comedy inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character, Sherlock Holmes.  The story introduces us to a young Holmes, who,
along with his friend John Watson, unravels his first real case while still a student at a Victorian-era London boarding school.

Featuring a cast of 22, all 7th and 8th graders at Henry Hudson Middle School will present .

For more information, visit the school’s website, at www.hhrs.us or
call, 732-872-0900.

Information Brought to you by
Lynn Humphrey, Administrator/Owner
BizEturtle:Events in Monmouth
contact me at [email protected] or 732-759-0485

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Jury to decide if man intentionally killed his 2-year-old daughter

Jury to decide if man intentionally killed his 2-year-old daughter (via NJ.com)

FREEHOLD – A jury will have to decide if the man who killed his 2-year-old daughter did so intentionally or if he acted recklessly. Arthur Morgan III, 29, whose last known address was in Eatontown, decided not to testify at his murder trial and left…

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Port Authority business model is broken, report says

Port Authority business model is broken, report says (via NJ.com)

NEWARK — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is broken, according to a report issued yesterday, and unless its mission is drastically reshaped, the bi-state agency’s fortunes are more dubious than a ride on the Pulaski Skyway. The George…

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Monday, April 1-Sneak Preview of PBS Civil War Series which highlights New Jersey Regiments

The New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association will co-host with
Great Divide Pictures and theMonmouth County Library, a Sneak Preview screening of the upcoming PBS mini-series Civil War: The Untold Story, tonight at 6:30 PM at the Monmouth County Library Main Branch,
125 Symmes Drive in Manalapan.

The Untold Story covers the often overlooked battles of the western
theater of the Civil War.  Subjects covered include the control of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Shiloh, General  Grant’s siege of Vicksburg,
the Battle of Chickamauga, and the occupation of Atlanta, General Sherman’s March to the Sea and the eventual surrender of the Army of Tennessee in North Carolina. New Jersey units, including the 13th, 33rd
and 35th New Jersey Infantry Regiments and the 2nd New Jersey Cavalry, were actively engaged in the fighting in the west in 1864 and 1865. Chris Wheeler, the film’s producer, will be on-hand to add
commentary, conduct a question, and answer session after the
presentation. This event is free to the public.
For further information, see Great Divide’s web site

Information Brought to you by
Lynn Humphrey, Administrator/Owner
BizEturtle:Events in Monmouth
contact me at [email protected] or 732-759-0485

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Curley to run for Monmouth GOP Chairman

Freeholder John Curley

Freehold, April 1 –Monmouth County Freeholder John P. Curley announced this morning that he will seek the Chairmanship of the Monmouth County Republican Organization when the GOP County Committee convenes to reorganize on June 10.  Curley urged current Chairman John O. Bennett, III to not seek a second term.

“Throughout my public service I have promised to bring my experience in career proven business practices to place in making Monmouth County an affordable place to live and do business.  We have made great strides and are in better shape that most counties in the country, but we can do better,” Curley said.

“We must measure our success not against the mediocrity of other government entities or other political organizations, but against the requirements of the people we serve.   We must stamp out the remnants of the culture of cronyism from our party and make service our sole focus.

“When I was elected Freeholder in 2009 I brought forth a 23 point plan to create greater efficiency and reduce the size of government.  This has been a work in progress slowed by bureaucratic inertia and political cronyism.  We can do better and we can do better faster.  I will provide the leadership to bring the Monmouth GOP and Monmouth’s county and municipal governments into the 21st century.”

“We know the Democrats are going to attack us this year based upon the Lucas and Brookdale/Burnham scandals.  I am the Republican who brought those scandals to the prosecutors and ultimately, the perpetrators to justice.  If I am leading the Monmouth GOP, the Democrats attacks will ring hollow.  The attacks will be laughable.”

” Chairman Bennett has had a distinguished career as an Assemblyman, Senator, Senate President and Acting Governor. When John ran for Chairman two years ago, he said he promised to remove perceived and real conflicts from County politics and said serving as Chairman would be a nice way for him to cap off his career.

“I thank Chairman Bennett for his service and urge him to go out on top.”

Curley sent his first mailer to members of the County Committee this week.  He promises a passionate and relentless campaign.

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Red Bank GOP Won’t Challenge Menna For Mayor

Red Bank Mayor Pat Menna

Barring an Independent candidate entering the fray in June, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale “Pat” Menna will be reelected to a third term leading the borough in November unopposed. The Red Bank Republicans have not nominated a candidate to oppose Menna.

But that doesn’t mean the Red Bank GOP has given up on the strides they made last fall when Cindy Burham broke the Democratic grip on the governing body of 6 council members and the mayor and Sean DiSomma came within 1o2 votes of winning a second seat for the GOP.

DiSomma was subject to a malicious smear campaign, over a traffic ticket, by Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal in the final week of the 2013 campaign.

DiSomma is running again this year.  He is joined on the ticket by Brian Hanlon, a former member of the borough’s park and recreation commission.

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Middletown Democratic TC Candidate Lives in Rumson?

One of the Middltetown Democrats candidates for Township Committee says he lives in Rumson.

Criminal defense attorney George Mardinly’s facebook page lists his home as Rumson.

More interesting that Mardinly’s address exaggeration (he actually lives in the graceful Locust section of Middletown, on the north side of the Navesink) is his history of political giving.  Mardinly contributed $2700 to Republican Senator Jennifer Beck’s 2013 reelection campaign and $2000 to Senator Joe Kyrillos’s 2012 U.S. Senate race against Democratic U.S.Senator Bob Menendez.

Maybe Mardinly is angling to be a Judge. Kyrillos and Beck are both members of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary committee and have senatorial courtesy in the

Patrick Short knows he lives in Middletown

appointment of Superior Court Judges in Monmouth County.  Or maybe he just likes Republican legislators.

Neither Middletown Democratic Chairman Don Watson or Monmouth Democratic County Vin Gopal were available to comment of Mardinly’s political giving.

Former Township Committeeman Patrick Short is the Democrats other candidate. Short was elected in 2006 in the wake of Operation Bid rig, and was defeated by Steve Massell in 2009 in the first Christie landslide.  Short ran for Assembly in 2011, losing to Declan O’Scanlon and Amy Handlin.

Short and Mardinly will face off against Republican incumbents Mayor Stephanie Murray and Committeeman Tony Fiore in November.

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Jacobson has his eye on Beck’s Senate seat

Dan Jacobson

Former Assemlyman Dan Jacobson, publisher of the triCityNews weekly newspaper and AsburyParkSun hyper-local news website, launched his campaign to return to the legislature last week with his tCN column urging Senate Jennifer Beck to run for governor.

Jacobson served one term in the General Assembly, 1990-1991.  He was swept out of office, along with the Democratic majority in the 1991 election over Governor Florio’s $2 billion tax increase, including sales taxes on toilet paper and food.  In 2011 Jacobson registered as a Republican in order to challenge then Senator Sean Kean for the 11th district Senate nomination in the GOP primary.  But the legislative redistricting commission foiled Jacobson’s plans by moving Kean’s hometown of Wall out of the 11th district into the 30th, and moving Red Bank, Beck’s hometown into the 11th.

Jacobson didn’t want to run against Beck.  They’re friends and agree on most issues. And Beck’s political stardom is one of Jacobson’s major journalistic accomplishments. Just ask him.  Jen Beck never even would have been elected to the Red Bank Borough Council if not for Dan Jacobson pumping her up in the triCityNews.

So Jacobson ran a pax-on-both houses Independent race for Assembly in 2011 to make a point.  2304 voters, 3%, got the point and have long since forgotten it.  Obviously his heart wasn’t in the Assembly race.  He really wants to be in the Senate, but he doesn’t want to run against Beck.

The obvious solution is for Beck to step up and run for governor.  Jacobson rightly argues that the NJ GOP doesn’t have a viable alternative for a post-Christie candidate.   The NJGOP is actually weaker now than it was before Christie was elected in 2009.

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Fiore and Murray Seek Reelection in Middletown

Middletown Mayor Stephanie Murray and Committeeman Tony Fiore tour North Middletown with Congressman Frank Pallone and U.S. Senator Bob Menendez last week. photo via facebook

Middletown Mayor Stephanie Murray and Committeeman Tony Fiore, a former mayor, will be the Republican candidates for Township Committee this fall, according to an announcement on the Middletown Township Republican Organization’s facebook page this weekend.  If reelected, Murray will serve her second term; Fiore his third.

The Middletown Democrats have yet to announce their candidates.  On Sunday, Party Chairman Don Watson told MMM that he would be filing candidates petitions today, the deadline for candidates seeking a partisan nomination, but declined to name the candidates.  Watson indicated it was possible he could change candidates overnight.

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