Morning News Digest: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

With the PolitickerNJ.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of New Jersey's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

STEVEN LIPSKI

Silent on charge, tells of alcohol battle

Jersey City Councilman Steven Lipski yesterday wouldn't give his side of what happened inside a Washington, D.C., nightclub where he was arrested Friday for allegedly urinating from a balcony on other concertgoers below. (Paul Koepp, The Jersey Journal) http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/jerseycity/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1226388314104810.xml&coll=3

STATE GOVERNMENT
Senators scramble for Adler's judiciary chairmanship

http://www.politickernj.com/max/25324/judiciary-committee-adler-aftermath

Rising interest rates have taken a $419 million bite out of the funding New Jersey expects to have available for highway and mass transit improvements over the next three years, the latest report on the state's public debt shows. (Dunstan McNichol, The Star-Ledger)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1226381259204790.xml&coll=1

State down $73.1M amid low home sales, gaming, retail

TRENTON - The housing-market downturn isn't just affecting property owners looking to unload their homes; the state, too, is feeling the pinch, collecting $17.6 million less this year as fewer sales translated to less realty-transfer tax. (Derek Harper, Press of Atlantic City)

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/311983.html

Lawmaker, state officials look at affordable housing aid plans

Four months after approving landmark legislation designed to spur New Jersey's effort to provide more affordable housing, a key lawmaker and state officials are discussing ways to raise more cash for the effort. (Tom Hester, The Star-Ledger)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1226381327204790.xml&coll=1

State decides to stay in angioplasty study

New Jersey will continue to participate in a controversial nationwide study in which the artery-clearing procedure known as angioplasty is performed at hospitals that don't have heart surgery facilities. (Susan K. Livio, The Star-Ledger)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1226381193204790.xml&coll=1

N.J. court: No final warning in breath tests

TRENTON - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled yesterday that police do not have to read a final warning to people suspected of drunken driving who refuse to take a Breathalyzer test. (Associated Press)

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20081111_N_J__court__No_final_warning_in_breath_tests.html

State finally dedicates WWII monument

TRENTON -- The World War II monument that New Jersey's elder warriors will salute at its dedication ceremony today had spent years lost in Trenton fog, at a moment when many aging veterans were answering fewer and fewer reveilles. (Tom Baldwin, Gannett)

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20081111/UPDATES01/811110331

ELECTION 2008
Worked through night to certify elections

Bleary-eyed Hudson County election employees worked through the weekend to complete certification of last Tuesday's election results, officials said yesterday. (The Jersey Journal)

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1226388368104810.xml&coll=3

Monmouth Freeholder race deadlocked until at least next week

The Superintendent of Elections has determined that there are 3,793 provisional ballots pertaining to the Monmouth County Freeholders’ race that the Board of Elections will assess next week, beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 17. (PolitickerNJ.com)

http://www.politickernj.com/max/25318/freeholders-race-deadlocked-until-least-next-week

Monmouth wants to extend deadline for seeking vote recounts

Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French said she will call on state officials to extend the deadline faced by candidates who want to ask for vote recounts from last Tuesday's election. French said election officials are struggling to wade through the estimated 3,200 provisional ballots that still need to be tallied. (Bob Jordan, Asbury Park Press)

http://www.app.com/article/20081110/NEWS/81110063

Kelly: 601 votes for president, but hardly deterred

Jeff Boss wants America to know he isn’t too upset that Barack Obama beat him in last week’s presidential election. (Mike Kelly, The Bergen Record)

http://www.northjersey.com/politics/Kelly_601_votes_for_president_but_hardly_deterred.html

7th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Choi gears up for 2009

Focused on getting re-elected mayor next year, Edison Mayor Jun Choi won’t entertain questions about a 7th District Congressional run in 2010, or about 2011 legislative redistricting.   (PolitickerNJ.com)

http://www.politickernj.com/max/25327/choi-gears-2009

MERCER COUNTY
Trenton resolves library crisis

TRENTON -- Trenton's neighborhood branch libraries have been granted a reprieve allowing them to remain open at least through the end of next year, city and library officials announced yesterday. (Andrew Kitchenman, The Trenton Times)

http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1226379991155670.xml&coll=5

BURLINGTON COUNTY
Layton takes the losses, focuses on Corzine

Bill Layton and the Republican Party are trying to regroup after devastating losses in Burlington County last week, which the GOP county chairman said were the result of key Philadelphia ad buys by the Democrats, the economic climate and high turnout in the urban areas. (PolitickerNJ.com)

http://www.politickernj.com/max/25316/layton-takes-losses-focuses-corzine

DEERFIELD

County combats road litter

DEERFIELD -- The county's solid waste disposal agency is giving a sweeping warning to residents doing their own trash hauling -- neatness counts. (Joseph P. Smith, The Daily Journal)

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20081111/NEWS01/811110312&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

PASSAIC COUNTY
Schaer wants to slash council pay

Council President Gary Schaer said Monday that he plans to re-introduce an ordinance to reduce the council's base salary. Schaer twice before proposed to trim the salary. The last time he brought up the proposal, the council deadlocked with a 3-3 vote. This time, with a new seventh council member elected last week, Schaer is hopeful the cost-cutting measure will pass. (Karen Keller, The Herald-News)

http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=49835

Council to vote on official's return

PATERSON — The City Council will vote on Wednesday whether a former Alcohol Beverage Control Board commissioner — who was one of seven defendants in a civil rights lawsuit that cost the city more than $220,000 — should return to that post. (Alexander MacInnes, The Herald-News)

http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=49842

With the PolitickerNJ.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of New Jersey's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.