Pennsylvania’s vast, privately owned forestlands imperiled







Jason Nark reports for Philly.com:

With about 58 percent of its 28.6 million acres covered in forest, Pennsylvania still honors its namesake, “Penn’s Woods,” as one of the more heavily-wooded states in the country. The largest forests are several hours’ drive from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in north-central Pennsylvania, in counties like Elk, Cameron and Clinton, but unbroken canopies roll across the horizon from all of the state’s big highways.
It’s often assumed that most Pennsylvania forestland is owned and protected by the state, the federal government, or nonprofit conservancies. But clues on country roads, the thousands of “No Hunting” signs tacked to trees and gated gravel roads, reveal what makes Penn’s Woods unique: Nearly three-quarters of it is privately owned. And in a myriad of ways, endangered.
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Jersey City hires law firm to fight Liberty State Park marina

By Ron Zeitlinger

The Jersey Journal

Jersey City is not sitting back and waiting to see how the proposed development of Liberty State Park plays out.
The city announced this morning that it has hired the law firm of Riker Danzig, Scherer, Hyland, & Perretti, LLP to protect Liberty State Park against the development of a new marina.

The Jersey Journal reported last week that Suntex, which operates Liberty Landing Marina on the north side of the park,
has a proposal before the state Department of Environmental Protection to lease 45 acres of the the south side of the park to open another marina; and to expand the existing marina by 10 acres.
“Once again, the Christie Administration has proven their utter disregard for the importance of public parks in New Jersey,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said. “This development is one that would drastically change the landscape of one of the state’s best public parks, and to add insult to injury, has progressed up until this point behind closed doors.
“This lack of integrity has become business as usual, and this time, one of our best public assets will suffer unless we as a city fight back.”
City officials said the law firm will pursue legal options against the proposed marina, citing a misalignment between the proposed use and the original purpose of the public park, as well as safety concerns for residents and local wildlife.
The contract with the firm is not to exceed $25,000, according to a resolution on the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting.
“We are immensely grateful to Mayor Fulop for delivering the legal resources necessary to protect the south side of Liberty State Park for the public to continue to picnic, fish, walk and
enjoy unblemished views of the New York Harbor freely,”
Greg Remaud, deputy director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, said
in a statement.
Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, has been vocal in his opposition to the proposal. He organized a rally in the park on Dec. 2 to show state leaders the immense local opposition to the plan.

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France’s Macron to Trump: Up yours, but with politeness

France’s President Emmanuel Macron meets with former U.N. Secretary-Generals
Kofi Annan (left) and Ban Ki-moon (right) at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday.AP photo



Richard Gonzales reports for NPR:

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump, has awarded long-term research grants to 18 climate scientists — 13 of them U.S.-based researchers — to relocate to France and pursue their work with the blessing of a government that doesn’t cast doubt on the threat of climate change.

The announcement Monday makes good on a pledge Macron made earlier this year after the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate accord to offer France as a “second homeland” to climate researchers in order to “make our planet great again.”

Macron’s appeal produced 1,822 applicants, nearly two-thirds from the United States. Candidates had to have a proven track record on climate research and propose a project that would take three to five years to complete. That period roughly matches Trump current term in office.

Trump has proposed cuts in federal funding for scientific research. As Macron told the winners of the French grants, “we will be there to replace” U.S. support for climate research.

One of the winners, Camille Parmesan of the University of Texas at Austin, told the Associated Press that the French offer “gave me such a psychological boost, to have that kind of support, to have the head of state saying I value what you do.”

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Marshall Loeb, editor, shaped Money and Fortune, 88

Marshall Loeb, left, on retiring from Fortune magazine in 1994. He was succeeded by Walter Kiechel 3rd

Robert D. Hershey, Jr. reports for the New York Times:

Marshall R. Loeb, a business journalist who turned a floundering Money magazine into one of the nation’s most successful publications in the 1980s and then led a similar revival at Fortune, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 88.

His daughter, Margaret Karen Loeb, said the cause was Parkinson’s disease.

On retiring as Fortune’s managing editor in 1994, Mr. Loeb was hailed in The New York Times as “one of the most visible and influential editors in the magazine industry.”

He joined Money in 1980 as managing editor, the magazine’s top editorial post, after 14 years at Time magazine. Inheriting a magazine that was barely profitable, Mr. Loeb set about expanding its coverage of personal finance, among other things.

“Loeb wanted to make investing and spending money fun at a time when a lot of young people were having fun making a lot of money, but not necessarily knowing what to do with it,” Folio’s Publishing News said in 1991. “He created a voyeuristic publication that enabled readers to peek into the finances of their neighbors.’’



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Friends of Liberty State Park prove what DEP is up to

**UPDATED AT 12:55 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2017 to add related story**


Sam Pesin, the leader of Friends of Liberty State Park, has been warning everyone who will listen that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection has been secretly planning to turn the popular southern end of the park–currently available to the public for picnics, jetty fishing, or viewing the Statue of Liberty and New York Bay–into a private marina for the rich. 

Park protectors tell NJ Gov. Christie: Keep your hands off

Now he has proof—artist sketches of the waterfront property and adjoining acreage that the state would lease to a Texas developer for 50 years.  Moreover, Pesin fears that outgoing Governor Chris Christie will try to enter close the deal before he leaves office in January.


David Cruz of NJTV News has the interview (click arrow in photo).


Related story:

Details emerge about new Liberty State Park marina


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After costly race, Norcross to raise funds for Sweeney PAC

George Norcross. (Photo: Observer file photo)
Christian Hetrick reports for Observer:
George Norcross and Senate President Steve Sweeney are teaming up next month to raise money for New Jerseyans for a Better Tomorrow, the super PAC that spent big on Sweeney’s re-election.
Norcross, the South Jersey Democratic power broker, and his brother Phil Norcross, a prominent lobbyist, will be at the $2,500 per person fundraiser Jan. 9 at the Westin of Mount Laurel, according to an invitation obtained by Observer. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sean Kennedy, the executive director of New Jerseyans for a Better Tomorrow, are attending too. 
The invitation bills the event as a celebration of Sweeney’s swearing-in for another term. But it’s also an opportunity to replenish the super PAC’s bank account after it helped Sweeney win what’s likely the most expensive state legislative race in American history. New Jerseyans for a Better Tomorrow spent $5 million to defend Sweeney, according to the Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The New Jersey Education Association’s failed bid to oust Sweeney cost $18.7 million, according to ELEC. The powerful teachers union tried to take out Sweeney after he reneged on a promise to put a pension funding amendment on the ballot in 2016. The NJEA’s super PAC, Garden State Forward, dumped $4.8 million into Sweeney’s 3rd district Senate race.
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