4 Jersey Shore Towns Sue The Governor Over Affordable Housing

Plus:  Rough Surf Warning Continues

New Jersey officials are reminding residents to be prepared for intense storms as the state marks Hurricane Preparedness month.   The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management urges residents to prepare emergency kits with food, water and medication.  They also advise having a family go bag ready with clothes and to make an emergency kit.  The advice comes as the ten-year anniversary of superstorm Sandy approaches.

Four Jersey Shore towns are joining nine others in the state that are suing New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy over affordable housing.  13 municipalities in all including:  Freehold, Jackson, Beach Haven and Egg Harbor are filing suit, alleging the governor violated the Fair Housing Act.  They want the administration to revive the now defunct Council on Affordable Housing.  The State Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Council on Affordable Housing failed for over a decade to update affordable housing quotas. The Council was effectively disbanded and the problem of affordable housing has gotten out of control.  Whether or not these towns actually want affordable housing is another thing that only time will tell.

Governor Murphy is nominating Judge Douglas Fasciale to the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Judge Fasciale has been temporarily sitting in one of the vacancies on the Supreme Court.  He is from Westfield and has served for 18 years as a superior court judge.  Interestingly:  the Judge is a Republican, Murphy a Democrat.  That’s because his previous nomination was blocked by Republican state Sen. Holly Schepisi who agreed to unblock a different judicial nomination that Murphy had proposed.  State Supreme Court nominees must be approved by the state Senate.

Rough surf conditions possible this weekend and with skeleton lifeguard crews on duty, well that makes for a dangerous situation.  Local life guards are cautioning:  Be careful going in the ocean this weekend.