Miscellaneous
February 28, 2018 Partly cloudy with high temperatures near 60. REPORT: ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS IN NJ ROSE 32% IN 2017 A report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League says the number of anti-Semitic incidents in New Jersey increased by 32 percent in 2017, compared with the previous year, MyCentralJersey.com reports. New Jersey had the third highest number of incidents in the country, behind New York and California. Bergen County had the most incidents in New Jersey with 40, up from 28 in 2016. MURPHY CREATES JOBS AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Tuesday creating an economic advisory panel modeled on the federal government’s Council of Economic Advisers, NJ Spotlight writes. The 12-member Jobs and Economic Opportunity Council will use data to analyze economic trends and conditions to help guide Murphy’s administration in such areas as job creation and job retention. Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver will be a member of the council. SUBWAY LINK BETWEEN NEW YORK AND NJ TO GET A LOOK The Port Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and NJ Transit have commissioned a study to look at ways of increasing commuting capacity across the Hudson River, and an extension of the No. 7 subway is one of the options that may get a look, The New York Times reports. The Port Authority’s executive director, Rick Cotton, said the subway option was one of a number of possibilities. BLACK LAWMAKERS PUSHING BACK ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA When he campaigned for office, Gov. Phil Murphy advocated the legalization of recreational marijuana in New Jersey and many residents believe it will be only a matter of time before the Legislature takes action. But the Legislative Black Caucus has taken a skeptical view of the issue, The Record writes. In a three-hour hearing in Jersey City last week only two of the 17 people who testified to the caucus favored the concept of legal marijuana. “It will devastate the African-American community," said Bishop Jethro James of Paradise Baptist Church in Newark. ASIAN TICKS FOUND ON A SHEEP IN NJ The longhorned tick, which is native to East Asia, has been found on a sheep in New Jersey, NPR reports. The tick, which multiplies quickly by essentially cloning itself, was found on a sheep last August in Hunterdon County. This is the first recorded instance of all life stages of the ticks being found on unquarantined animals in the United States, authorities say. How the ticks ended up on the sheep remains a mystery.