The Murphy Administration announced on Nov. 22 it is sending additional support staff to the Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park to offer guidance and support in making improvements. The three person Mission Critical Team is composed of healthcare administrators and infection preventionists sent to the facility to offer guidance and support in making improvements on the same day Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services set a deadline for improvements. Gov. Phil Murphy said while there have been improvements at state-run vet homes, “it is clear our work is not done.” North-JerseyNews.com
The federal agency that acts as the primary funding source for New Jersey’s veterans homes began withholding payments last week at the Menlo Park facility after Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration failed to fix major problems with infection control. The move effectively stopped the Edison nursing home from admitting new residents to the facility, which families across New Jersey depend on to take care of their ailing loved ones. A spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said problems that “significantly impacted the safety of residents” documented in a scathing inspection report over the summer had still not been corrected to the agency’s satisfaction. “Denial of payment for all new admissions began on [Nov. 22] because the ongoing quality concerns have not been addressed,” said Bruce Alexander, communications director of CMS. The Record
Congress is back for a lame-duck session, giving the Democrats who control both houses one last chance to enact legislation before the Republicans take back the House in January. The agenda includes enacting a new spending bill by Dec. 16 or see the government shut down, completing work on annual legislation to set defense policy, extend a bunch of corporate tax breaks that expire at the end of the year, address the federal deduction for state and local taxes, renew the expanded Child Tax Credit, allow unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to legally remain in the country and passing the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. NJ.com
Many New Jerseyans within the Garden State are severely cutting back on holiday travel and gift-giving this year, according to a Stockton University Poll. The poll released on Nov. 21 found that over one-third (39%) of New Jersey adults acknowledged that inflation was negatively impacting their holiday spending to a great degree. An additional 27% admitted that inflation has curtailed their spending and travel plans “somewhat.” The survey found one in three adults acknowledged they will spend less this year compared to last year, with roughly half (46%) spending the same amount, and 13% spending more for holiday gifts and traveling. North-JerseyNews.com
An annual New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) survey found a distinct lack of optimism and the most negative outlook since the recession in 2009 among respondents. NJBIA president and CEO Michele Siekerka reported that 70% of our business owners rate New Jersey as poor or only fair to expand business, and if they’re considering expanding, only 10% would be considering expanding in New Jersey. The poll found that the main concern of the business community is lack of affordability in the Garden State. NJ1015.com
Retailers, some of them sitting on a glut of inventory, want to sell as much as they can while consumers are still pulling out their wallets this holiday season. So they are barraging customers with discounts, hoping to entice them to buy before an economic slowdown causes a change in behavior once more. More broadly, retail sales during the holiday shopping period could provide clues about the trajectory of the economy in the weeks and months to come. The New York Times
U.S. stock futures fell and oil prices slid as widespread protests in China against the country’s zero-Covid policy sparked worries about the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, lost 3.3% to $80.93 a barrel while futures tied to the S&P 500 fell 0.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6% and the Nasdaq-100 declined 0.9%. The Wall Street Journal
As President Joe Biden mulls a decision over whether to seek a second term, whatever misgivings some Democrats may harbor about another Biden candidacy before the midterm elections have subsided and are now more inclined to defer to him than to try to force a frontal clash with a sitting president. In recent days, officials ranging from Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), one of the most conservative House Democrats, to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (R-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, have said they would support another Biden bid. The New York Times
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the country was facing a difficult week amid the threat of further missile strikes by Russia aimed at disabling key infrastructure and sapping Ukrainian morale. Ukrainian and Western officials have warned of a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine as Winter sets in and swaths of the country, including its largest cities, suffer from protracted power and water outages that often disable the heating system as temperatures begin to plummet. The Wall Street Journal
New Jersey lawmakers have introduced legislation that would strengthen penalties against people who assault correctional officers and other law enforcement officers—and require them to be tested for communicable diseases if they do so with bodily fluids. Bodily fluids are an increasingly popular weapon in prisons, where state Department of Corrections staff reported 424 assaults by inmates in fiscal year 2022—more than twice the 200 tallied the previous year—with nearly half involving bodily fluids. In a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this Fall, assaulting an officer would become a second-degree crime and carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, with the accused barred from pleading guilty to a lesser charge. New Jersey Monitor
Police are concerned that criminal “crews” might be operating in the Bergen County area after an uptick in home burglaries. A warning has been issued to homeowners after two houses in Washington Township were broken into on the east side of town over the weekend. A suspect from a separate Thanksgiving incident in Rochelle Park is still on the loose. News12 New Jersey
The local government watchdog group CivicJC has called out city officials for holding more than one job in Jersey City or for Hudson County, known as “double dipping.” t. According to CivicJC, two members of Mayor Steve Fulop’s administration, one council member and five council staff members collected annual salaries from both Jersey City and Hudson County. Ward A Councilwoman Denise Riley, according to CivicJC, “receives a salary of $85,000 from Jersey City and also appears on the county payroll as a ‘Confidential Assistant’ with the county register at a salary of $62,000 for a total of $147,000.” Hudson Reporter
As entrepreneurs spread out across Jersey City to open cannabis businesses, the Heights neighborhood has become a hot spot destination for proposed dispensaries. At least three dispensaries have all the local approvals needed before getting state approval. Blossom Dispensary plans to open on Tonnelle Avenue, while two of them, The Leaf Joint and Decades Dispensary, are setting up in the Central Avenue shopping district. The Jersey Journal
OPINION: Giving this Holiday Season. We ask that you consider that you give the gift of your time this year. And not just now, but into the next year. We could give a list of organizations that need your help—food banks, homeless shelters, foster care, veterans, nursing homes, coaching—but what we want is for you to seek out an experience and the reward you get by sharing your time to help others. Volunteering gives you a first hand experience of what happens outside our daily bubbles. It gives a face, a name to the hardships that our fellow citizens are going through. And there is always a sense of accomplishment when you help someone. Finally, it is the example you are setting for those around you—especially the next generation. While writing a check does make a difference, the experience of helping someone less fortunate will leave a much greater impact on a child. North-JerseyNews.com
And finally…Happy Cyber Monday to those celebrating. NJ.com
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