News Round-up for Wednesday, March 15

by: Sharon GR

Wed Mar 15, 2006 at 10:20:46 AM EST

• The ethics inquiry at the State Department of the Treasury now includes Revenue Director Jack Tully. The expedited inquiry has expanded to include 29 state workers. Tully has been reasigned with no confirmed replacement while Gov. Corzine is in the last days of working on the budget. This is going to get ugly. Well, uglier.
• Gov. Corzine is calling for a complete overhaul of the state corrections system in a speech to the state PBA at their convention in Atlantic City. Considered improvements include increasing identification of gang members and restoring mandantory annual training for officers. The governor also stated that he opposes priviatization of the prison system.
• Assemblyman Peter Biondi's bill A-1327, requiring Internet forum users to register their names and addresses with the forum operators and making the operators liable for defamation damages if they do not enforce the policy; and Assemblymen Wilfredo Caraballo and Upendra Chivukula's bill A-2623, which would require forum operators to immediately remove any material deemed defamatory and to release the name of the poster to the person claiming the defamation, came under well-deserved fire from a coalition led by the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, who state that the bills "run afoul of the First Amendment" and the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. Make your thoughts known about these two bills- write your Assemblyfolk today.
• The NJ Supreme Court yesterday voted that it takes only a "preponderence of evidence" to prove fraud under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, not a tougher standard of "clear and convincing evidence" in civil cases. Insurance thieves, beware!
• A study released by the AFL-CIO reveals that Wall-Mart, the eighth-largest private employer in NJ,  has more has more workers and dependents using state-funded health coverage than any other employer in the state. "This abuse of poverty health care programs means Wal-Mart is directly contributing to the nation's Medicaid crisis," the AFL-CIO said. State Sen. Joseph Coniglio is quoted: "Here's an example where someone has the ability to pay for health care, and they are pushing it off on the states."
• Ain't it great to live in New Jersey? Our economy is gaining strength, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Pensylvania. Although not quite ready to declare it a boom, the bank predicts growth in excess of 3% through this fall. It's certainly not all wine and roses, however; increasing sales taxes, coupled with huge spending cuts, are predicted to be in the budget package proposed next week.
• Some drivers in Our Fair State will be randomly chosen to recieve six-year driver's licences instead of four years, in a program to even out the renewal process for DMV. (Great, now I could be stuck with that unflattering picture for two more years.)