New N.J. legal weed law that eases penalties on underage drinking alarms lawmakers. But data shows few teens get caught anyway.
Updated Mar 10, 2021;
The rules were clear for years: Those under 21 caught with alcohol could face arrests and fines.
But the law shifted nearly overnight last month. Legislators seeking a racially just response to underage marijuana use downgraded a criminal offense to warnings and roped alcohol in, too.
There will be no more searches of young people for concealed beer cans, and police officers cannot stop them if they smell marijuana, either. Instead, officers can issue written warnings if they catch someone under 21 with weed or booze. But those must come under restrictions that have concerned both parents and police.
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The eventual victor in the race to replace retiring state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, the three-decade liberal warrior from Teaneck, will not change the political balance of power the state Senate.
The winner of the emerging primary in the 37th Legislative District, a reliable Democratic redoubt of 13 Bergen County towns, will join the ruling Democratic majority under the Statehouse dome.
Yet, to some degree, the contest for Weinberg s seat shaping up to be fought between Weinberg s two longtime Assembly colleagues, Gordon Johnson and Valerie Vainieri Huttle, both from Englewood is emerging as a proxy for a broader statewide war. The 37th District is just the latest battleground in the progressive revolt against the old Democratic machine that has roiled the state party for more than four years.
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Republican hearing searches for answers on pandemic’s deadly toll in N.J. nursing homes
Updated Mar 05, 2021;
Muriel Smith said her volunteer work at nursing homes and a county jail was suspended for months during the height of the pandemic. It was a necessary move to prevent the spread of the virus and protect her and the vulnerable people she encountered, she was told.
What Smith said she will never understand is how Gov. Phil Murphy and the state Department of Health could adopt a policy that allowed nursing home residents treated for COVID-19 in the hospital to return to long-term care facilities.