TRENTON, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy today applauded his Democrat colleagues in Trenton and handed out pats on the back for tackling the very serious and fast growing problem of hunger in the Garden State. “The legislation signed today addresses New Jersey’s hunger crisis by coordinating efforts between government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, and the Office of the Chief Innovation Officer. The legislation confronts food deserts in New Jersey communities and hunger among students at the state’s colleges and universities, spreads information about resources through state websites, and discourages food waste, among other efforts,” Murphy’s administration said in a press release today.
What does the “Anti-Hunger Bill Package” do to actually help hungry New Jersey residents today?
The answer is essentially nothing. Let’s pick through the bills and examine what each one does.
AJR-172 (Downey/Johnson/Holley) Designates Thursday of the third week of September of each year as “Food Waste Prevention Day” in New Jersey. This one essentially just puts another date on the calendar to announce at a future legislation or senate hearing. “Food Waste Prevention Day” should have been called “Hunger Prevention Month” and it should have started now…today…when hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents can’t afford to put food on the table for their family.
AJR-174 (Mejia/Benson) Urges large food retailers in State to reduce food waste. Another empty bill that accomplishes absolutely nothing. Do they really think these retailers are in the business of throwing away food? In local communities many are already donated their excess usable food to the local food pantries.
A-4707 (Tucker/Downey/Calabrese) Directs Dept. of Agriculture to establish public awareness campaign for food waste. The translation here is, Trenton is going to set aside a chunk of money to pass through one of their friends or family members marketing agency to begin a campaign to raise awareness, but we’re all aware already, especially those who actually need the food and wait on long lines every weekend at the local food pantry.
A-4708 (Houghtaling/Land) Establishes Farm Liaison in Department of Agriculture. No words.
A-4704 (Taliaferro/Murphy/Verrelli) Directs Department of Agriculture to establish food desert produce pilot program. We all know everything in Trenton takes years to come to light, if ever. Another pork barrel bill that will accomplish nothing more than the state’s past “food desert” programs, like the one passed in 2017 that still hasn’t helped anyone.
A-4701 (Spearman/Chiaravalloti/Mukherji) Requires DHS to establish electronic portal to promote surplus food donation collaboration among nonprofit organizations, gleaners, and food retailers. There is already a line of communication between food banks and farmers in the state and wholesalers. They don’t need DHS to create anything because nobody uses the archaic websites created by the state that probably won’t even launch for another 2-3 years. The people are hungry TODAY.
A-4706 (Lampitt/Pintor Marin) Transfers authority over special nutrition programs from DOH to DHS. This sounds like a bureaucratic lateral pass at their own 20 yard line.
4703 (Lopez/Holley/Kennedy) Requires Chief Technology Officer to establish “Anti-Hunger Link” for all State websites, providing information on emergency food services. Click here if you’re hungry!
AJR-175 (Chiaravalloti/Spearman/Mosquera) Urges Chief Innovation Officer to prioritize enhancement of NJOneApp to include all State anti-hunger programs. What is a Chief Innovation Officer and does anyone actually use the NJOneApp?
A-4702 (Wimberly/Jasey/Mukherji) “Hunger-Free Campus Act”; requires Secretary of Higher Education to establish grant program to address food insecurity among students enrolled in public institutions of higher education; appropriates $1 million. Great, but nobody is school right now and these kids are hungry today.
A-4700 (Coughlin/Egan Jones/Mukherji) “Food Desert Elimination Act”; provides incentives to supermarkets and grocery stores that locate in “food deserts.” This bill is a dinosaur. It’s been back and forth in the legislature for some 3 to 4 years now. It’s basically a bunch of feel good nothingness, which is why it never saw the light of day until now.
AJR-60 (DeAngelo) Designates November of each year as “Food Pantry Donation Month” in New Jersey. Huzzah!
This “Anti Hunger Bill Package” is about as empty as the toilet paper aisle at Shop-Rite on any given Sunday.
, 
, 
and yes, we watched both 
movies, so we were ready. We knew the importance of the double-tap and how to make a fully functioning energy reactor out of rubber tires and scrap metal laying around the neighborhood. We were set. We were ready. When the coronapocalypse finally hit, we were disappointed to learn that our cases of ammunition and MRE’s were absolutely worthless. We sold the value of toilet paper and hand sanitizer short. We planned safe routes to important areas of interest and even made sure our home was equipped with Ring doorbells and upgraded locks. It turns out, all we needed was a freezer full of 
has been making some odd remarks under stress and duress during the COVID-19 
. Nobody in 
would probably deny that. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy, responding to a reporter’s question about residents being upset over the unemployment benefits fiasco that has been going on raising the bar on insensitivity and reckless behavior by an elected official. There has been a widespread call for the resignation of Robert Asaro-Angelo, New Jersey’s head of the Department of Labor, this is what Murphy had to say.
run states across America? It would not be the first time Murphy told people if you don’t like his socialist style of governing, you’re free to leave New Jersey. He’s the guy who once told resident, if you don’t like 
, you’re probably not going to like New Jersey.
, but not at the request of the newly-resigned Jackson Township Councilman, Barry Calogero, who called for a 
military deployment. Instead, Murphy has deployed medical members of the National Guard to be deployed to assist the state’s nursing homes which have been the root source of more than 60% of all 
fatalities statewide. National Guard troops will provide relief to overworked healthcare workers at facilities that have been hit hard with COVID-19 outbreaks. One hundred and twenty National Guard troops will be on the ground across New Jersey this weekend, according to the Governor.
, 
responds to 
; calls for him to drop out of the presidential race. “Let’s talk about what he said because he went on TV last Friday yeah and said, first of all, it never happened period end of report this did not happen,” Kelly said to Reade. “He did say that in his view accusers should start off with the presumption that they’re telling the truth do you think he’s afforded you that presumption?”
have been saying really horrible things about me and to me on social media, he hasn’t himself,” Reade said. “But there’s a measure of hypocrisy with the campaign saying it’s safe it’s not been safe you know all my social medias been hacked all my personal information has been dragged through every person that maybe has, you know, a gripe against me, an ex-boyfriend, or an ex-landlord or whatever it is has been able to have a platform rather than me talking about things that have nothing to do with 1993.”
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shoppers at a Burlington County store coronaraged, and it was caught on 
. The argument seemed to start between a man and a woman over changing lines at a Walmart checkout. Words can’t describe the incident, so just watch below. On the bright side, most were wearing their Murphy required face coverings during the altercation.