More bad news for journalism in New Jersey


Gannett, the publisher of The (Bergen) Record, the (Passaic) Herald-News, and a chain of weekly newspapers has announced an additional layoff of 141 employees


Anthony G. Attrino reports for NJ.com:

Gannett-owned North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record, the Herald News and dozens of weekly newspapers – announced another round of layoffs on Monday.
“By week’s end, 141 employees are to receive notices required by New Jersey and federal law when significant layoffs are planned by private employers,” the company reported in story posted on its website, NorthJersey.com.
Last year, Gannett purchased North Jersey Media Group, acquiring The Record and about 50 community newspapers across North Jersey. 
After the purchase, the company announced about half of the 426 employees working in sales and news could be let go in November. About 130 jobs were eliminated, leaving an editorial staff of just under 200 at North Jersey Media Group.
The company said the latest round of layoffs would occur “across the operation.”

The 121-year-old Record was purchased by the Borg family in 1930 and operated for decades in Hackensack until editorial operations moved to Woodland Park in 2008.

On Monday, the company announced North Jersey Media Group would restructure several departments, calling the move a “major strategic reorganization that was unveiled in September.”

“The aim of that reorganization is to continue to meet the growing digital demands of readers and advertisers while responding to changes in the publishing industry,” the company said in the online post. 


Below is the full Gannett announcement:

North Jersey Media Group announced Monday a restructuring in several of its departments, the latest step in a major strategic reorganization that was unveiled in September.
The aim of that reorganization is to continue to meet the growing digital demands of readers and advertisers while responding to changes in the publishing industry.
The reorganization will result in job losses across the operation. Despite that, North Jersey Media Group — the publisher of The Record, the Herald News of Passaic County, NorthJersey.com, a Community News Group with about 30 weekly newspapers and the (201) magazine group — remains committed to meeting the needs of readers, advertisers and communities across North Jersey.
It comes at a highly transformative time for the media industry, especially publishers with large print portfolios.
“We remain committed to transforming the North Jersey Media Group into a digital powerhouse in response to the unprecedented change sweeping throughout our industry,” said Nancy A. Meyer, president of NJMG, which was purchased in July by Gannett Co. Inc. “Our top priority is serving our readers, advertisers and communities across North Jersey — not just today, tomorrow or next month, but for years to come. The difficult actions we’re announcing today will enable us to continue building on our strong foundation and enable us to continue to deliver award-winning journalism and highly effective sales and marketing solutions to the region.”
By week’s end, 141 employees are to receive notices required by New Jersey and federal law when significant layoffs are planned by private employers.
In September 2016, North Jersey Media Group unveiled a consolidation of its three separate content divisions. Blended with an expanded digital team, the moves made NJMG one of the largest newsrooms in New York City’s metro market.
Gannett Co. Inc., the nation’s largest news publisher and creator of the USA TODAY NETWORK, purchased North Jersey Media Group in July 2016 from the Borg family.
Gannett already owns the Asbury Park Press and six other dailies in the state. The acquisition made it the largest local media operator in New Jersey. Even with Monday’s announcement, the NJMG newsroom remains one of Gannett’s largest.
“We are proud to be North Jersey’s No. 1 local news source,” Meyer said. “We are confident today’s actions will position us to remain that content and advertising leader while putting us in an even stronger financial position.”

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Beach protection case: Rocks vs. sand at Jersey Shore

Associated Press story by Wayne Parry:

BAY HEAD, N.J. (AP) — Oceanfront homeowners in this wealthy New Jersey shore enclave have so little faith in the government’s ability to protect them from catastrophic storms that they’ve spent $5 million of their own money on boulders placed between their homes and the ocean.

Members of the group, which includes a national Republican fundraising powerhouse, wants a judge to exempt them from a plan by Republican Gov. Chris Christie to erect protective sand dunes along New Jersey’s entire 127-mile coastline. Their homes lie in an area that was devastated by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

But they claim that parts of the town that had a rock wall underneath the sand fared better than those that didn’t. And they are deeply skeptical of the ability and willingness of the federal and state governments to pay to maintain the dunes for the next 50 years.

On Feb. 6, they will go before the same Superior Court Judge who has already ruled in favor of Christie’s administration. Judge Marlene Lynch Ford ruled last year that the state Department of Environmental Protection has the legal right to use eminent domain proceedings to seize strips of land from oceanfront homeowners who don’t voluntarily sign easements allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to carry out the work on their land.

The homeowners want her to allow them to opt out of the project, asserting that what they have done privately offers as much protection, if not more, than what the government proposes.

“We already have sand twice as big as what they say we need, with rocks underneath it,” said Thacher Brown, a leader of the group. He estimated about 18 homeowners paid for the bulk of the rock wall, but noted that more than 100 residents contributed to it, including those who don’t live on the ocean.

“I’m a firm believer that no rational, intelligent person can look at the two options — a big pile of rocks and a big pile of sand — and not see that ours is better,” said resident Bob Hein.

Read the full story here


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House Republicans are determined to undo regulations

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarty (Reuters photo)

This story by Elizabeth Shogren, from the Jan 22, 2017 of Grist, was originally published by High Country News. Depending upon which side of the Trump Divide you are, it likely will thrill or chill you.  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below the post.

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Interior Department’s argument that the Endangered Species Act protects rare species’ habitat, not just the animals themselves. The court’s decision in Sweet Home vs. Babbitt was key to preserving broad stretches of old-growth forest for the northern spotted owl, an action that contributed to the collapse of the Northwest timber industry. 


The justices relied in large part on the principle that courts defer to federal agencies as long as their regulations reasonably interpret laws. They cited Chevron, a 1984 Clean Air Act case that for three decades has made it easier for agencies to win when regulations are challenged.
So it’s not surprising that House Republicans are determined to undo Chevron — part of their ambitious legislative blitz to change the way government works. In the first weeks of the new legislative session, they easily passed three bills that would make it easier to repeal President Barack Obama’s recent regulations, including one aimed at curbing greenhouse gases, and give the courts and Congress more authority to block new ones. 
This is far from tinkering around the edges: The bills already passed by the House envision huge changes to the 1946 Administrative Procedures Act, the basic rule book for how federal agencies implement laws. Agencies have broad authority to propose and establish regulations without congressional approval, but under one of the current bills, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, new regulations could not go into effect without that approval. 
Under the Regulatory Accountability Act, which also would undo Chevron, all court challenges would have to be exhausted before new regulations went into effect. 
The Midnight Rules Relief Act would make it easier for Congress to overturn Obama’s regulations. Currently, under the rarely used Congressional Review Act, Congress has 60 legislative days to reject a rule but must debate each one for up to 10 hours, limiting the number that lawmakers have time to invalidate. The Midnight Rules Relief Act would let Congress lump multiple rules together and eliminate them en masse. “These proposals would in major ways upend that long-standing consensus and make it very hard for agencies to solve problems and protect Americans,” says William Buzbee, professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Revamping government is exactly what House Republicans hope to do, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Washington’s conservative Hoover Institution in mid-January. “I’m a firm believer that structure dictates behavior,” he says. “You have to get the structure right. Otherwise, you’ll get the same behavior and outcome as it goes forward.”
Going after Chevron, he says, is “key” to reestablishing three coequal branches of government and lifting the burden rules put on the economy. And requiring Congress to approve any major regulation, as the REINS Act does, would give the people a “voice,” he adds, because their elected representatives, not “bureaucrats,” would get the final say.
Starting at the end of January, the House plans to begin undoing Obama administration regulations, including Bureau of Land Management rules to better protect streams from surface coal mining and reduce methane leaks from oil and gas fields on public land, McCarthy says. Under the Congressional Review Act, only 51 votes in the Senate are needed to do so.
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Environment, energy bills up for vote in Trenton today


JANUARY 23, 2017 – 1:00 PM  ASSEMBLY VOTING SESSION  
  
A-261  Prohibits installation and sale of wheel weights containing lead or mercury; prohibits sale of new motor vehicles equipped with wheel weights containing lead or mercury.

A-784  Establishes multi-species depredation permit.

ACR-115  Memorializes Administrator of EPA to expedite cleanup of Garfield Ground Water Contamination site and provide for temporary relocation of residents affected thereby.

ACR-151  Urges construction of microgrids at municipal facilities in New Jersey.
  

JANUARY 23, 2017 –   2:00 PM  SENATE VOTING SESSION  
  
A-1628  Codifies DEP’s New Jersey Recycling Awards Program to annually recognize outstanding recycling achievements.

A-1649  Requires local governments and authorities to obtain financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain projects.

S-853  Requires local governments and authorities to obtain financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain projects.
   
S-874  Directs installation of electric vehicle charging stations at service areas on State’s toll roads.

S-1808  Designates striped bass as NJ State Saltwater Fish; re-designates brook trout as NJ Freshwater Fish.

S-2777  Codifies DEP’s New Jersey Recycling Awards Program to annually recognize outstanding recycling achievements.

SR-93  Urges DEP to revise and update Statewide Water Supply Plan and urges citizens of State to conserve water.

Legislative tracking compliments of BillTrak 


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Underwhelmed by Guadagno’s GOP campaign kickoff

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno – Kim Guadagno  (Aristide Economopoulos photo)

Here’s what New Jersey’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger, said in an editorial about Kim Guadagno’s campaign announcement:

After jumping into the race for governor Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s first move was the run away from the press.
Which raises this question: Is she trying to look like a lightweight, or does it come naturally?
Guadagno never emerged from her shell during her seven years as Gov. Chris Christie’s loyal lieutenant, other than to cut ribbons. So we don’t know much about her, or what she would bring as governor.
That didn’t change Tuesday. A campaign announcement is usually a time to make a mark, to show voters where you stand.
Donald Trump, for example, used his announcement to slander Mexican immigrants. Immediately, his favorable ratings among Republican voters skyrocketed. It was grotesque and bigoted, but at least he understood the point of the day.
Guadagno’s slogan is “Better” which, granted, is better than “Worse.” She promises vaguely to cut taxes without saying which ones, or how to cover the cost.

Someone tell the LG that 1 million New Jerseyans who would benefit from a $15 wage, it would pump piles of money into our consumer-based economy, and there is no evidence that it would cause faster automation.


She did not vote for Donald Trump, she says. But then why did she produce a robocall during election week that urged Republicans to vote for Trump. It’s the sort of thing reporters might have asked her about, and may help explain why she ran away.
Guadagno, a lawyer, was an assistant federal prosecutor and the sheriff in Monmouth County. Under Christie, she’s been a liaison to the business community, and has worked to cut red tape.
She must have some thoughts that are worth hearing. Let’s hope she doesn’t keep us in suspense much longer.
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New Pa. Attorney General axes Kane’s sister, allies

Josh Shapiro after being sworn in as Pa’s Attorney General – AP
Angela Couloumbis reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s twin sister was ousted late last week from her $105,000 job with the agency, part of a larger personnel sweep by the office’s new top prosecutor, according to sources familiar with the decision.
Ellen Granahan, who ran the office’s child predator unit, was asked to resign Friday by Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Shapiro, a Democrat who was sworn in last week, also asked for the resignations of four other staffers once considered part of Kane’s inner circle: Renee Martin, Kane’s onetime spokeswoman; Chad Ellis, who headed the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility; Louis DeTitto, a onetime member of Kane’s security detail; and Angela Beaverson, the executive secretary in charge of the grand jury.
Separately, Shapiro’s administration also let go a lawyer in the office who had accused Kane’s former chief of staff of sexual harassment, and had later spoken out publicly about the incident. The lawyer, Michele Kluk, was not considered close to Kane.
Kane was convicted last year of abusing her office in a bid to embarrass a former state prosecutor she considered an enemy. She was sentenced to serve up to 23 months in jail, but is free on bail pending the outcome of an appeal.
Reached for comment Saturday, Shapiro’s communications director, Joe Grace, said the office does not discuss “individual personnel decisions.”
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