News Round-up for Thursday, May 4

by: Sharon GR

Thu May 04, 2006 at 08:38:51 AM EDT

• In an effort to rely less on one-shot budget tricks, the Corzine administration has dropped its appeal of an August Superior Court decision which blocked the state from adding $150 million from debt refinancing to the general fund. Chalk one up for fiscal responsibility!
• Ridership may be up on NJ Transit, but rates look to be headed for an increase. Under proposed funding levels, rates may rise about 7% next spring. Gov. Corzine has said he would work to avoid the fare increases. The last fare increase was in July 2005, and the possible increase would match the rate of inflation for the last two years.
• Avian flu worries: the Governor and his cabinet went through a drill yesterday to test their readiness to deal with an avian flu pandemic in Our Fair State. The test showed weaknesses in responses, even in the departments with the most prior preparation. This test was done on the day the White House reported that due to the nature of the disease, local governments would do most of the work in the event of an outbreak, and two days after a mild form of the disease was found in a Camden bird market.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on six bills regarding corruption. Attorney General Zulima Farber and the Director of Criminal Justice Gregory Paw will also discuss plans for reorganizing the Department of Criminal Justice. The agenda for this meeting is here. Don't forget to contact your senators with your opinions on these bills (and, well, on anything else they can or should do.)
• The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association yesterday voted to set up a plan to begin testing high school athletes for steroids at the state tournament level. If found with the banned substances, students would be suspended from school for one year and lose all athletic awards they've recieved. If approved, the plan could go into effect as early as next fall.
• New Jersey Leads the Nation Yet Again: Last year, Gov. Codey spearheaded an initiative that school students across the state wouldn't have access to soda, junk food and candy on school grounds by Sept. '07. The nation has followed with a watered-down version of our policy: the largest beverage distributors will stop selling sugary sodas to high schools, and only sell juice, milk and water to elementary and middle schools.
• Remember that missing Anthrax? Well, they found it, mislabeled, among other samples. Still waiting for news on the terrorist who planted it in the first place.