JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy today announced his knucklehead hall-of-fame, which included three large house parties, two of which resulted in COVID-19 outbreaks.  He also mentioned last weekend’s 700 person “mansion” party as part of his list.

“A house party attended by teens in Middletown last week has now been linked to 50 new positive cases of coronavirus in attendees between the ages of 15 to 19,” Murphy said. “A party on LBI has now sidelined nearly three-dozen lifeguards who have tested positive. This weekend, there was a massive house party in Jackson that had an estimated 700 people – and which took nearly the entire Jackson Township police force to break up. We don’t even know yet how many new coronavirus cases may ultimately be the outcome of this party.”

“This is no time for anyone to be vying for induction into the Knucklehead Hall of Fame,” Murphy said. “Coronavirus is more easily transmitted indoors. Crowded indoor house parties are not smart or safe.”

The Jackson Township party represents the largest incident cited by Murphy, but could Jackson be the next COVID-19 hot spot?  Chances are low as the majority of partygoers at the mansion party in that town were from out of town. The LBI and Middletown parties were mostly local teens and young adults.

“I get that we’ve all had our routines turned upside down for the past four months, and we want to blow off some steam with friends,” Murphy said. “I understand the desire to escape the heat and head into the air conditioning. But, indoor house parties spread coronavirus more efficiently.”

Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

WEST DEPTFORD, NJ – If you were one of the lucky ones to be able to get inside the West Deptford Department of Motor Vehicle office since its reopening, you might want to run down and get yourself one of Phil Murphy’s free COVID-19 tests.

According to the agency, the center is closed due to an employee testing positive for COVID-19, and will reopen when contact tracing clears staff to resume operations.

Today, the nightmare at the commission statewide continued as Bakers Basin, Bayonne, Randolph, Wayne, Lakewood, Hazlet, Trenton and South Brunswick offices were closed to new customers shortly after the doors opened.

The following is an article written by Randy Bergmann, former AP and Asbury Park Press editor. Republished with permission.

JACKSON, NJ –  Reason, intelligent planning and responsiveness from Jackson officials were absent once again at Monday night’s planning board hearing on a new warehouse/indoor recreation building proposal for the second phase of the $500 million Adventure Crossing project on Route 537.

The biggest adventure on the stretch of Route 537 incorporating Adventure Crossing, Great Adventure, Hurricane Harbor, the proposed Trophy Park mega-sports park, eight fast food restaurants, four hotels and 500 apartments – will be motorists heading home trying to make it safely and before the sun comes up the following day.

Given Jackson officials’ predilection for paving over the town, the outcome Monday seemed inevitable. The skids for approval of the plan on a site totally unsuited for it were greased back in February, when the zoning board approved a zoning change that made warehouses a permitted use.

It was done after a neighborhood group, Jackson Neighbors Unite, sued to block an earlier plan that included a multi-story golf driving range and bar, and two exits that would have fed onto Anderson Road – a two-lane residential road incapable of handling what it has now.

The settlement allowed the developer, Cardinale Enterprises, to come back with a revised plan – and it did, seemingly with a vengeance. Warehouses don’t belong anywhere adjacent to a residential neighborhood or, for that matter, anywhere between Great Adventure and I-195.

The developer’s planner, engineer and traffic consultant spent about 90 minutes putting the best spin on their plans, minimizing or ignoring legitimate concerns about the environment, traffic and the adverse impact it would have on nearby residents’ quality of life. No one should have to deal with the noise, dirty air and light pollution from trucks pulling in and out of the warehouses at all hours of the night.

The approval was less surprising than the fact that not a single board member voted against it. The approval will be memorialized at a meeting a month from now, and residents, already beaten down by unresponsive officials and the costs of litigation, will have 45 days to appeal. Unless a benefactor, disgusted by the town’s failure to advocate on behalf of its residents, comes forward, the approval will stand.

At this point, residents in the Anderson Road area can only hope that clear-cutting on the site won’t take place until — or if? — Cardinale finds a tenant or tenants for the warehouses. Jackson should not allow any trees on that site to be bulldozed until contracts with tenants have been signed.

The only probing questions directed at the developer’s “experts” came during the public hearing portion of the meeting. Major holes were poked in the environmental impact statement and traffic studies.

The traffic consultant, John Rea, confined his remarks to the immediate impact the second phase – the warehouses and indoor recreation building – would have on the Route 537 corridor. Lanes will be added to the lone exit for all three phases of the project, and the U-turn west of the site, which people coming from the east must take to enter the site, will be widened.

Rea had nothing to say about how Route 537 east of the site, where two lanes merge into one, would be able to accommodate the additional traffic. Why? Because it won’t be able to accommodate it. And there are no apparent plans to widen the road near the I-195 interchange or make other improvements. It will be a traffic congestion and traffic safety nightmare.

Jackson officials have demonstrated time and again that their loyalties are with the developers and the club of professionals who feed off them, rather than the residents they should be representing.

For those who value Jackson and its quality of life, there are only two ways to fight back: Put up an electoral slate that can remove the current cast of characters, or work to consolidate the efforts of the various neighborhood groups that have sprung up to put o

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Miss May, a 10 foot long great white shark being tracked by OCEARCH has made an appearance off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.   The shark was tracked about twenty miles off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean.  According to OCEARCH, Miss May was the first white shark tagged during OCEARCH’s Expedition NASFA. The 10-foot white shark was named after Mayport, FL which will be OCEARCH’s future home at a joint Jacksonville University and OCEARCH facility.  Miss May was spotted just south of the location where another popular great white shark was last seen in 2017, Mary Lee.

NEWARK, NJ – Rapper Kanye West gathered 1,327 petition signatures, well about the 800 required to be placed on the November ballot for President of the United States.   West also filed proper paperwork in Wyoming, Oklahoma and Missouri.   He does not have a slogan yet in New Jersey for his campaign.

Photo: Kanye West, Facebook

TRENTON, NJ – More than half of America now faces mandatory quarantine restrictions if traveling to New Jersey as the number of places on Murphy’s List.  That now means anyone traveling to the nation’s capital for work, elected duty, protests, etc. has to quarantine when returning to New Jersey.

36 States and Territories Include Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin

Governor Murphy today advised individuals traveling to New Jersey from additional states with significant community spread of COVID-19 to quarantine for a 14-day period from the time of last contact within the identified state. In addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the updated advisory includes 3 additional states – Illinois, Kentucky, and Minnesota, bringing the total to 36 states and territories. The travel advisory applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.

As of Tuesday, July 28, there are currently 36 states and territories that meet the criteria stated above: Alaska; Alabama; Arkansas; Arizona; California; Delaware; District of Columbia, Florida; Georgia; Illinois, Iowa; Idaho; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky, Louisiana; Maryland; Minnesota, Missouri; Mississippi; Montana; North Carolina; North Dakota; Nebraska; New Mexico; Nevada; Ohio; Oklahoma; Puerto Rico, South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Virginia; Washington; and Wisconsin.

“New Jersey’s restart and recovery process relies on our collective effort and commitment to beating COVID-19 and driving down rates of transmission across our state,” said Governor Murphy. “Individuals traveling from these states must remain vigilant in their actions and proactively get a COVID-19 test and self-quarantine to prevent additional outbreaks from spreading throughout New Jersey.”

Travelers and those residents who are returning from impacted states should self-quarantine at their home, hotel, or other temporary lodging. Individuals should leave the place of self-quarantine only to seek medical care/treatment or to obtain food and other essential items.