Menendez to urge Congress to delay increases in flood insurance premiums

Menendez to urge Congress to delay increases in flood insurance premiums (via NJ.com)

BRICK — Though Peggy Molloy’s home in Point Pleasant Borough did not sustain water damage during Hurricane Sandy, she said a looming increase in flood insurance rates may force her to walk away. The 56-year-old resident said she faces paying premiums…

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County ready to battle snowstorm

Public Works crews pre-treating the roads before it snows

Photo via PlowSite.com

FREEHOLD, NJ – Meteorologists predict three to eight inches snow could fall in Monmouth County in the next 24 hours, and the County’s Public Works crews have been busy today applying liquid salt brine and rock salt to the County roads.

“Pre-treating the roads is key,” said Freeholder Thomas A. Arnone, liaison to the County’s Department of Public Works and Engineering. “Magnesium chloride-treated rock salt is much more effective and, therefore, there is a savings in man hours and material. We use 30 to 50 percent less material and require less spreading trips, depending on the snow event, for the same result.”

Road crews from the County’s Department of Public Works and Engineering apply liquid salt brine to the County’s roads, followed by an application of salt treated with magnesium chloride. The pre-treatment prevents the snow and ice from bonding to the road surface, making it easier for the plows to clear the snow. The County maintains about 1,000 lane miles of roads.

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Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, January 3-5, 2014

By Greg Kelly

Friday, January 3

• Health Care Reform: An Overview for Seniors (Shrewsbury) – MORE INFO

• Yoga for Adults (Red Bank) – MORE INFO

• Play Mah Jongg (Shrewsbury) – MORE INFO

• The Underpants at First Ave Playhouse (Atlantic Highlands) – MORE INFO

• Open Skating (Red Bank) – MORE INFO

• jsaPLAY Kids Night Out! (Atlantic Highlands) – MORE INFO

• College Women’s Basketball: Monmouth U vs. Fairfield (WLB) – MORE INFO

The seals are back in Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook to sun themselves on the sandbars for the winter.
Photo Courtesy of Paul Scharff Photography

• Chemtrail at The Saint (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO

• Billy Hector Band at The Wonder Bar (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO

• Blood Drive at Freehold Raceway Mall – MORE INFO

• Ballroom, Latin, Swing, and Salsa Dancing (Sea Girt) – MORE INFO

• Blood Drive (Keyport) – MORE INFO

• Free Sandy Financial Recovery Assistance (Keansburg) – MORE INFO

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Congratulations to the Dohertys. Welcome to the world, Seamus Matthew

Claire and Hannah Doherty welcome their new brother Seamus to the family.
photo via facebook, posted with Dad’s permission.

Congratulations to Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty and his wife Maggie Moran on the birth today of their third child, Seamus Matthew Doherty.

Seamus was born at at 2:40 this afternoon at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.  He weighed in at 8 lbs, 8 ounces and is 20.5 inches long.

Matt reports that Maggie and Seamus are doing great.

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2014 Predictions

Happy New Year MMM readers!  2014 has been a great year so far!

Here’s what we expect in the year ahead.

Senator Cory Booker will narrowly defeat Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick in the U.S. Senate election.  Bramnick will be the instant front runner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the 2016 special election.

Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik will be a speaker at numerous Democratic Clubs throughout New Jersey and will establish himself as a major fundraiser for Democratic candidates on the municipal and county levels.  Hornik will proclaim that the only thing he is running for is reelection as Marlboro’s mayor in 2015.

The 11 incumbent New Jersey Congressmen running for reelection will win. The Republican nominee in the third congressional district seat currently held by Congressman Jon Runyon, who is not seeking a third term, will be elected.  Tommy DeSeno will write a column complaining about gerrymandered districts.

Senate President Steve Sweeney will keep picking on Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. 

Governor Chris Christie will have more public appearances in Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, combined, than he will have Town Hall Meetings in New Jersey.

Anna Little will seek the Republican nomination for Congress in the 6th district, hoping for a third shot at Congressman Frank Pallone.  Little will lose at the Monmouth and Middlesex nominating conventions and wage a primary. The Bayshore Tea Party Group will sit out the 6th district primary, citing their commitment to Dr. Alieta Eck’s campaign in the 12th district.  Eck will be unopposed for the 12th district nomination to take on Congressman Rush Holt.

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Keyport Councilman Clem Toglia Passes Away At 53

facebook photo

Keyport Councilman Clemente Toglia passed away yesterday.   He was 53 years old.

Former Keyport Mayor Bob McLeod said Toglia had a heart attack while driving home from his office at Dominion Financial Group in Tinton Falls.

“He was a vibrant young man, ” McLeod said,”friendly, started of couple a businesses, played in a band, self-employed.”

Tinton Falls Police confirmed that Togila was involved in a two car accident on Shrewsbury Ave at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon.

He was pronounced dead at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank at 4:34 PM.

Toglia was reelected to his second term on the Keyport Council last November.  He would have been sworn in today.

“Clem was an excellent man and an excellent public servant,” Mayor Harry Aumack said, “He was, a very good listener.  When he did speak up, everyone listened. He will be missed.”

Toglia is survived by his wife, Danielle.

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AP Top Stories December 31 P

AP Top Stories December 31 P (via AP Video)

Here’s the latest news for Tuesday, December 31, 2013: People around the world celebrate the New Year, Colorado prepares for the legalization of marijuana, Obama’s health benefits take effect tomorrow, and the Australasian researchers wait to be rescued…

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Winners and Losers of 2013, Part 3

Monmouth County’s Biggest Losers

Vin Gopal. When you’re twenty-eight years old and the most popular governor in the nation singles you out as a practitioner of the “politics of yesterday,” twice in four months, you’re having a bad year.

Worse for the Monmouth County Democratic Chairman, he doesn’t have the juice to enforce the retribution he promised to Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long and Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, two Monmouth County Democrats who endorsed Governor Chris Christie’s reelection.

When you’re a twenty-eight year old County Chairman and the elite statewide power players of your party convene for dinner in your county, twice, and you’re not invited, you’re having a bad year.

When, after a devastating county-wide electoral loss, a member of your party leaks your declaration of victory taking credit for wins in races you lost and for a victory in a non-partisan election you weren’t involved in, you’re having a bad year.

But none of those things are what landed Vin Gopal on MMM’s biggest loser list.

Gopal in on this list because of his reckless, mean-spirited and false attempted character assassination of a Republican candidate for Red Bank Borough Council.

Gopal launched his inaccurate attack against Sean DiSomma in a press release late on a Friday afternoon in October.   He encouraged reporters to print his allegations on over the weekend and do their fact checking on Monday, after the story had legs.  Some did, to their own detriment.

In his desperate zeal to win in a Democratic town where he was losing, Gopal ruined his credibility with members of the media who had come to rely upon him as a reliable source.

The Bayshore Tea Party Group.  Once respected as a powerful and principled political force, Barbara Gonzalez , Bob Gordon and their shrunken band of zealots traded their welcome at Republican power tables where they could have made a difference for the road less taken of self-righteous irrelevancy.

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CNN Poll: Christie Beats Clinton As Presidential Favorite

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Monmouth County Government to Reorganize on Thursday

Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso with Sheriff Shaun Golden

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders will hold their annual reorganization meeting on Thursday, January 2, 2014, 4 PM, at the Biotechnology High School, 5000 Kozloski Road, in Freehold Township.

Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso will be sworn into their new terms of office, as will Sheriff Shaun Golden.

Freeholder Lillian Burry is expected to be elected Freeholder Director for 2014.  Freeholder Gary Rich is expected to be elected Deputy Director.

The 2013 Freeholder Board will hold a Sine Die meeting to conclude the years business at 2PM on the 2nd, at the Monmouth County Hall of Records.

The Latin term Sine Die means the final adjournment of a legislative session, without adjourning to a specific time or date; literally it means “adjournment without a day.”

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