Regional News Watch ......
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121204_N_J_s_post-Sandy_bipartisanship_slipping_away.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/20121204_Castille__Law_firm_pays__4_million_in_Family_Court_project_settlement.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121204_N_J_s_post-Sandy_bipartisanship_slipping_away.html
TRENTON - Gov. Christie and Democrats may be putting aside partisanship in Washington to fight for federal money to rebuild the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy.
But back in Trenton, the Republican governor and the Democratic Legislature have used the storm to resurrect arguments and shove them in each other's faces.
All in the name of bipartisanship.
On Tuesday, Assembly leaders announced a $20 million package of job-creation bills, some of which Christie previously vetoed.
"We evolved into an environment of bipartisan cooperation based on the devastation that has happened in this state," Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) said at a news conference. "We are today throwing out a hand of bipartisan participation and cooperation to the administration to sit down with the General Assembly, and let us revisit many of those bills that we know will lead to growing and expanding and creating jobs immediately in this state."
But Democrats didn't consult Republicans in their own chamber in drafting the bills.
"I know they used the word bipartisan, but I didn't get any calls," said Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R., Union).
"I think what I'm reading between the lines is that the governor's [approval] numbers are too high and . . . this is the opening salvo to go back to partisanship," he added.
Christie's approval ratings reached a historical high of 72 percent in a recent Quinnipiac poll, with other polls putting him in the high 60s. Residents applauded the governor's willingness to look beyond party politics and work alongside President Obama after the storm, the polls showed.
Christie hasn't made similar bipartisan overtures to Democratic legislative leaders. He scolded lawmakers last week for delaying a 10 percent income-tax credit that he advocated earlier this year.
"They should have passed the middle-class tax cut, which is what we wanted to do and what I still want to do," Christie said at a news conference Wednesday in Trenton. "But they seem to just like to talk about doing something for the middle class rather than cutting taxes for the middle class."
Lawmakers set aside $183 million to pay for the first year of a tax cut but said they would authorize the cut only if the state brought in enough money to pay for it. So far, it hasn't. Revenues have come up short every month since the governor signed the budget July 1, and lawmakers were preparing for possible midyear budget cuts.
Sandy has offered the governor political cover; now, he can attribute revenue shortfalls to the storm.
"If I need to make spending cuts, I'll make them," he said at the news conference. "It's a painful process, but if I have to do it, I'll do it, and I think the public will understand it now, because it's related to the storm."
Christie also has chastised lawmakers as not "negotiating" with him on a plan to raise the state's minimum wage, a bill that reached his desk Monday.
But Democratic leaders say they met with Christie about the bill, which would increase the rate to $8.50 from $7.25 and provide automatic cost-of-living increases. Christie opposed the automatic increases, they said.
In anticipation of an expected gubernatorial veto of the bill, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) is pushing a constitutional amendment through the Legislature that would bypass the governor and put the question to the voters in November 2013, when Christie is up for reelection.
So much for bipartisanship.
As for Christie's take on the Assembly's plans for job creation, the governor will "take a look at it," but the bills had better be bipartisan, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.
"Any such bills package should be a true bipartisan effort, not part of a partisan campaign, and be realistic in terms of cost, funding, and effectiveness," Drewniak said. "Given our shared experience and new demands posed by Hurricane Sandy, most New Jersey residents are acutely aware of the need to be fiscally prudent and nonpartisan on these matters."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/20121204_Castille__Law_firm_pays__4_million_in_Family_Court_project_settlement.html
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has settled its lawsuit against the law firm of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel over its role in the selection of the site for the new family court building in Center City, Chief Justice Ron Castille said Tuesday.
Castille disclosed the settlement during a speech at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Castille said the lawsuit, filed over the role of former Obermayer partner Jeffrey B. Rotwitt, had been settled for $4 million. He said the money would be used to pay for furnishings in the new court building.
Castille sued in November 2011, saying Rotwitt and his firm had duped the Castille and the court system into paying millions in unnecessary fees for the Family Court building project.
Rotwitt was paid by the court to put together a deal for a new Family Court building at 15th and Arch Streets - and ended up as the codeveloper of the project.
After public bids, the cost for the project came in at $140 million, vs. Rotwitt's original $200 million estimate.
The original deal was supervised personally by Castille. It dissolved in May 2010 when The Inquirer published a story detailing Rotwitt's dual roles: as the public's representative and as one-half of a project team with builder Donald W. Pulver, splitting the development fees 50-50.
Rotwitt maintained that he never tried to hide his arrangement with Pulver - from anyone.
and......
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121204_100_more_Paulsboro_homes_evacuated.html
Authorities evacuated about 100 more homes in Paulsboro on Tuesday in response to elevated levels of vinyl chloride in the area surrounding Friday's train derailment, which already had sent about 400 residents to seek shelter elsewhere.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), whose district includes Paulsboro, called for a reform of regulations involving inspections of privately owned rail bridges such as the one over the Mantua Creek that failed. Andrews also expressed frustration at the pace of the cleanup.
The expanded evacuation, effective at 4 p.m., was intended to provide relief to those in the rest of the borough, who would no longer be subject to a "shelter-in-place" order requiring them to remain behind closed doors and windows.
"We didn't anticipate this, that we would [go] all of last night" still seeing elevated levels, Coast Guard Capt. Kathy Moore, whose agency is leading the disaster response, said at a news conference.
The amount of vinyl chloride in the air in the evacuation zone remained at troubling, but not life-threatening, levels, Moore said.
Conrail, which owns and operates the bridge where the train derailed, had secured 100 more hotel rooms to accommodate the new evacuees, said Rob Fender, director of claims for the company, a subsidiary of CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. It already was providing displaced residents lodging and vouchers for food, gas, and other items.
The evacuation area now extends south from Monroe Street to Broad Street and east from Spruce Street to the creek.
The Coast Guard said Tuesday that residents would not be allowed to return home until Sunday, a day longer than last stated. It hopes to finish removing the vinyl chloride in the breached tanker car that day, Moore said. Responders then will begin trying to remove the derailed car from the creek.
The Coast Guard said Tuesday that residents would not be allowed to return home until Sunday, a day longer than last stated. It hopes to finish removing the vinyl chloride in the breached tanker car that day, Moore said. Responders then will begin trying to remove the derailed car from the creek.
From the News Desk
Municipal Court and public schools will remain closed throughout the evacuation, officials said.
Andrews, in calling for stronger federal safety regulation of privately owned rail bridges, said the inspection of the such bridges should not be left to their owners. He said he would seek to change the law to require independent inspections by a federal authority, such as the Federal Railroad Administration, he said.
"Self-reporting isn't working here," said Andrews, speaking in a conference call. "We need to have a federal authority inspect these bridges and not just take their word for it."
Because the bridge that failed is privately owned and maintained, its inspection records are not open to the public. The owners of the nation's 77,000 freight rail bridges are required to inspect the spans at least once a year, but they need not disclose the results.
The Federal Railroad Administration does not regulate rail bridge structural safety, though it monitors rail companies' inspection programs.
The "normal pressures in any business" might prevent owners from making needed repairs without independent inspections, Andrews said.
He also criticized the decision by a Conrail dispatcher in Mount Laurel to permit the train that derailed to operate through a red signal.
"What's the value of the red-light warning system if people are going to ignore it?" Andrews asked.
The train's engineer asked for permission to cross the bridge after he was unable to get a green signal by keying in a code on an electronic pad similar to a garage-door opener. The train's conductor had walked the bridge and reported that it looked secure.
The swing bridge had an intricate locking mechanism to align the tracks with those on shore and to secure the bridge to its abutment. All four locks had to be in place for sensors to trigger a green signal.
A dispatcher may authorize an engineer to operate through a red signal in some circumstances, said Kevin Thompson, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. The most common reasons are a track circuit malfunction or a signal malfunction, he said.
Andrews also criticized the pace of the cleanup.
"This is too slow," he said. "This can be done safely, but more quickly."
Moore said the job was too delicate to be rushed.
"It's a very dangerous operation to work," she said.
"Would I have hoped that we would be further along by now? Absolutely. . . . We're moving as swiftly as we can considering the very complicated" situation.
As Paulsboro waits out the evacuation, some have found an excuse to play. Greenwich Township police arrested 22 people Monday who were partying in the room of a displaced resident at the Motel 6 in Gibbstown.
The evacuee was not arrested or in the room when police arrived and found marijuana and crack cocaine, Police Chief Joseph Giordano said. Neither Giordano nor Conrail, which is paying for 14 rooms at the motel, knew if any of those rounded up were evacuees.
All 22 people have been charged with disorderly conduct, and some may face charges of narcotics possession and supplying alcohol to minors.
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