TRENTON, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy takes a lot of hits from the media, but we feel credit is due to the Governor for keeping alive the memories of those who we’ve lost, sometimes, even months after their passing.  The Governor’s daily tribute is a touching reminder of those who we lost during the height of the pandemic and without his reminder, many would have forgotten.  It wasn’t until July 6th when we realized Governor Murphy was pulling memorials from the archives.

On that day, Jazz prodigy Wallace Rooney III was memorialized by the governor.  I had to do a double-take, because Rooney passed away nearly four months earlier and I remembered reading his story in the New York Times back in March. It was then I realized that the governor’s daily roll call of COVID-19 victims and memorials was not tied at all to the rest of the press briefing, overnight deaths, etc, but a nice memorial tribute to those who died during the height of the pandemic.

On Monday, the Governor took a moment to remember Elana and Aurora Alvarez.

“Both came to the U.S. from their native Peru as young children. They both had careers as cosmetologists. Elena is being remembered for her pleasant smile, her ability to make everyone laugh, and her zest for life,” the Governor said about the two women.  Alvarez passed away on Tuesday, May 28th, two and a half months ago.

He also recognized former Atlantic City security guard Arthur Tolbert who passed away May 12th.

“We remember Arthur Tolbert, whose home was Atlantic City. He worked in the casinos, and then as a security guard for the Atlantic City Housing Authority. Arthur loved sports, chess, playing the drums, solving crossword puzzles, and spending time with his family,” Murphy wrote.

Dr. Arnold Demain, 92, died back on April 3rd, but Murphy kept his memory alive at his July 10th press briefing.

“We remember Dr. Arnold Demain. He was a proud World War II veteran, and a research microbiologist and university professor. Arny was a true pioneer in the life sciences who wrote or edited countless books and articles, and received numerous awards,” the governor wrote.

Two days earlier, on July 8th, the Governor remembered Vincent Buchinsky, Jr., 70.  Buchinsky passed away on April 6th, so it was a fitting way to remember this New Jersey resident three months after his passing.

“We remember Vincent Buchinsky Jr., an award-winning artist and educator. For thirty years, he taught & inspired thousands of students in his classrooms in Harrison High School and Sussex County Community College. In retirement, he taught art classes to seniors,” Murphy said.

That same day, he remembered Joyce Brauchle, who passed months earlier, on April 3rd.

“Joyce Brauchle, who was born in Newark, raised in Caldwell, and called Pine Brook home for the majority of her life. She was a compassionate soul who did whatever she could to brighten someone’s day, and found her inspiration in her faith. May God bless Joyce,” the Governor said.

Say what you want about Governor Phil Murphy, we may not like his public policy in any way, but he does take the time to remember people who otherwise would have been forgotten, the blessed souls we lost at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

TRENTON, NJ – We called it earlier today. Governor Murphy followed the lead of New York Governor Cuomo and added four more states to the self-quarantine list.

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. The updated advisory includes four additional states – Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin – with Delaware removed from the list. 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 14, there are currently 22 states total that meet the criteria stated above: Alabama; Arkansas; Arizona; California; Florida; Georgia; Iowa; Idaho; Kansas; Louisiana; Minnesota; Mississippi; North Carolina; New Mexico; Nevada; Ohio; Oklahoma; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; and Wisconsin.

“We must remain vigilant and committed to our collective effort of beating COVID-19 and reducing the rate of transmission throughout New Jersey,” said Governor Murphy. “In order to continue moving forward with New Jersey’s restart and recovery process, I strongly urge individuals arriving from these 22 states to self-quarantine and proactively get a COVID-19 test to prevent hotspots from flaring up across our state.”

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.

It is expected that individuals will follow the public health advisory to self-quarantine. The list of states will be updated on a rolling basis and is accessible here.

Photo – screen capture, NBC Today where Murphy first hinted at quarantines for out-of-state travelers.

TRENTON, NJ – New York State now requires a mandatory quarantine for visitors from half of the United States.  Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo added Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and New Mexico to the quarantine list.  New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy usually follows the lead of the New York Governor, so we can expect Murphy to also add those four states the 18 other states in the New Jersey quarantine list.

Delaware has been removed from New York’s quarantine list.

“New Yorkers showed incredible courage and resiliency throughout this pandemic and nowhere is their work more evident than in the numbers we release every day, including in New York City, once a global hotspot,” Governor Cuomo said today. “However, the success of our efforts depends on citizens’ willingness to comply with state guidance, socially distance, wear masks and wash their hands, and rising cases around the country continue to threaten our progress, which is why four new states have been added to New York’s travel advisory.”

Mythbuster Grant Imahara has died at the young age of 49.  One of the stars of the hit Discovery Channel series was a special effects engineer who worked previously at THX and Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm subsidiaries.

“We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers. We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” said the Discovery Channel.

Initial reports say Imahura died of a brain aneurysm.

RARITAN, NJ – The commute to work for millions of New Jerseyeans who managed to not lose their jobs during the Phil Murphy shutdown will not have a “new normal” as things get “back to normal” aboard trains, busses, light rail vehicles and access link vehicles.   The order comes as Murphy shut down indoor dining and has declared “flareups” of COVID-19.  The move could soon be related to Governor Murphy’s order to send sick COVID-19 patients to their deaths in nursing homes statewide.

The science behind Murphy’s latest executive order doesn’t seem to exist…but you’ll be safe locked for an hour or more in booked to capacity trains, busses and light rail vehicles knowing that to protect your safety, the consumption of food and drinks will be strictly prohibited.

Murphy who always raves about “Economic wealth starts with economic health” is once again contradicting his own science to benefit the bottom line for NJ Transit.

Not only does this measure contradict every bit of science Phil Murphy claims he’s operating in guidance of, it also will create havoc on the Governor’s army of contact tracers.  At this point, if travel is allowed in packed trains, you might as well just open everything up, because there’s no better example of a virus dispersal vehicle than mass transit.   It’s why mass transit is one of the highest bio-terrorism targets in the world.

No this is one more example of the governor picking winners and losers during the COVID-19 pandemic.  If you can sit in a packed train, you can sit in a half empty movie theater, you can sit in a 25% capacity restaurant and ya, you can even go to the damn gym already.

Governor Phil Murphy today signed Executive Order No. 165, which lifts 50 percent capacity limits on NJ TRANSIT and private-carrier buses, trains, light rail vehicles and Access Link vehicles, and now requires that NJ TRANSIT and private-carriers limit vehicles to the maximum seated capacity, effective at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15.

“As we continue on our road back, we are seeing increases in ridership which are quickly approaching 50 percent of the stated capacity of NJ TRANSIT and private-carrier vehicles,” said Governor Murphy.“To ensure New Jerseyans can get to and from their jobs and that the system continues operating efficiently, we are allowing our transit providers to resume operations at full seated capacity.”

The Governor’s Executive Order continues mitigation efforts that were previously implemented, including requiring workers and customers to wear face coverings while on all buses, trains, light rail vehicles, and Access Link vehicles. This Order extends face covering requirements for workers and customers to the indoor premises of trains, buses, stations, or facilities owned or operated by NJ TRANSIT or private-carriers, as well as the outdoor portion of stations where social distancing is not practicable. The only exceptions for these face-covering requirements are when wearing a face covering would inhibit that individual’s health or where the individual is under two years of age.

The Order also explicitly prohibits the consumption of food or beverages and smoking in all trains, buses, and vehicles that are operated by NJ TRANSIT, private carriers, and Employer Provided Transportation Services.

The Order also imposes certain mitigation efforts on employers that provide transportation services to workers or employees to get to, return from, or move within or among worksites that are not otherwise available to the general public.

For a copy of Executive Order No. 165, please click here.

Stock Photo by Eldon Vince Isidro on Unsplash

#fckstuartmeissner

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The Press of Atlantic City has reported that mail-in-ballots in Atlantic County have been incorrectly read by scanners that automatically process those ballots.  The Atlantic County Board of Elections says at least 1,200 ballots will be recounted.    The error is not likely to affect the Democrat primary election results there.  Election workers will now go through questionable ballots by hand.

Not to mention the ballots burned in a fire last month, there’s a lot of ways the ballot you mailed out might not be counted.

With over 750,000 ballots counted so far, it is estimated that as many as 75,000 votes will be invalidated statewide for errors or fraud.  The May 2020 mail-in ballot election saw a 10% rate of rejection for ballots, meaning in New Jersey, every vote no longer counts.

Some common errors include forgetting signatures, improperly marked ballots and accidental overvoting, if a voter for two candidates in the same election.   Overvoting is not possible during in-person voting on voting machines, because the machines do not allow for two votes in one race.

If you accidentally overvoted, your vote does not count.

At least 100,000 ballots remain to be counted statewide, including provisional ballots and mail-in ballots that were received after Tuesday of last week.  Still, there’s another possibility that your ballot may not be counted.  If you mailed your ballot on Election Day, many county election boards did not process or receive ballots on Friday and many were returned as undeliverable to the post office.  Those returned ballots have until tomorrow night to be returned to the election board offices in order to be eligible to be counted.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – New Jersey Senator Michael Testa, a Republican, today declared the vote-by-mail election held last week has been plagued with fraud, failure and it is broken.  This comes as his party’s own U.S. Senate election race hangs in the balance as hundreds of thousands of ballots remain uncounted and many ballots are not being counted.

In response to various vote-by-mail issues during this year’s primary election, Testa emphasized the need to ensure New Jerseyans are allowed to vote in-person at their local polling places in November’s general election.

“The many failures of New Jersey’s vote-by-mail scheme, including voter fraud and errors in counting ballots, are on full display and must not be repeated,” said Testa. “Our upcoming general election is too important to entrust to a broken vote-by-mail system. Ensuring that future elections are held in-person will restore New Jersey’s election integrity and voter confidence in our democracy.”

As a result of Governor Phil Murphy’s executive orders, residents were restricted from voting in person in New Jersey’s primary election with few exceptions. Testa had called upon the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey to monitor this election to prevent voter fraud and ballot tampering.

That help never came.

He, Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, and Assemblyman Erik Simonsen outlined the recent and numerous cases of voter fraud in New Jersey.

“The recent revelations of alleged voter fraud in several cities in New Jersey spurred us to call on the federal government to protect the sanctity of voter choice in our upcoming elections, which will be dominated by mail-in ballots,” said McClellan. “Every voter counts and their vote should be counted, too.”

“Our aim is to get the full Legislature to say, with one bi-partisan voice, that we will not allow voter fraud to disenfranchise voters in any city, township or borough in our state,” said Simonsen. “Voter fraud should be condemned across the aisle. We hope our colleagues will endorse this resolution and stand with us for fair elections.”

In Atlantic County, more than a thousand mail-in ballots cast in the recent primary were misread and must be recounted according to news reports.

New Jersey’s primary election – historically held in early June – was pushed back to July 7, the same date that Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) agencies opened for the first time in months.

“It was hypocritical for the governor to force people to wait in long lines outside crowded MVC agencies while simultaneously saying it was too dangerous to let them quickly cast a vote at a local polling center,” added Testa. “We continue to see story after story detailing how New Jersey’s flawed vote-by-mail process continues to be wrought with errors. There’s absolutely zero excuse to not let voters cast their ballots in-person through the proven process that everybody trusts.”

Photo by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash

TOMS RIVER, NJ – An associate of the DeCavalcante crime family was sentenced today to 76 months in prison for possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the course of a drug crime, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Mario Galli III, 28, of Toms River, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession of a FEG 9mm Model PGK-9HP gun, loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition, by a convicted felon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Judge Thompson imposed the sentence by videoconference today.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Galli was previously convicted in 2016 for conspiracy to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine and served 30 months in federal prison on that charge. He was placed on supervised release in 2019 and then arrested in Ocean County in September 2019. Investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office executed search warrants on Galli’s residence and the residence of a conspirator, finding collectively 400 to 500 grams of cocaine, the weapon and ammunition.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson sentenced Galli to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI’s Organized Crime Task Force under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Denahan in Newark; and investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

ASBURY PARK, NJ – The U.S. Attorney’s Office has reached an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) settlement with Madison Asbury Convention Hall LLC, the owner of the historic Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, New Jersey, to ensure physical accessibility for people with disabilities, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

“This agreement begins a new era for the historic Paramount Theater, which will enable all audiences, with or without disabilities, to enjoy the venue and its performances,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. “We commend the Paramount Theater for making the changes necessary to come into compliance with the ADA.”

The agreement requires, among other things, the installation of wheelchair spaces and companion seats, tactile signs with raised characters and Braille identifying all exits and restrooms, accessible ticket and concession stands, and at least 47 assistive listening receivers.

This agreement was reached under Title III of the ADA, which prohibits places of public accommodation from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will actively monitor compliance with the agreement, which will remain in effect for three years.

Individuals who believe they may have been victims of discrimination may file a complaint with the U.S Attorney’s Office at Civil Rights Enforcement . Additional information about the ADA can be found at ADA, or by calling the Department of Justice’s toll-free information line at (800) 514-0301 and (800) 514-0383 (TDD).

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Michael Campion, Chief of the of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Pascal, Deputy Chief, Civil Division.