Monday, May 13, 2013
Mantoloking among stops
Prince Harry's stateside visit includes stops in Mantoloking and Seaside Heights scheduled for tomorrow. The May 14 itinerary, announced earlier this month, puts the British royal on the barrier island visiting Hurricane-Sandy damaged areas. The one-day stop in New Jersey will have Gov. Chris Christie escorting Prince Harry, who is in the United States through this week. His schedule has him arriving in Manhattan today after stops in the Midwest. Prince Harry’s Friday itinerary included laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery last week. He also visited Section 60 at the cemetery, which is where military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. Thursday, he was on Capitol Hill and at …
Friday, April 19, 2013
The deadlines for FEMA assistance and SBA loans are both May 1.
There are two weeks left for survivors of Superstorm Sandy who suffered damage to their homes to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The deadline is midnight, May 1, according to FEMA officials. This is also the deadline for residents to return applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans. Residents can register for FEMA assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or via smart phone or tablet at m.fema.gov. They also can call 800-621-3362 or TTY 800-462-7585, and those who use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services can call 800-621-3362. Those platforms are also available to check the status of any applications. Residents can apply for low-interest home or business disaster …
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Environmental New Jersey is calling for efforts to reduce carbon pollution.
On an interactive map of the United States that records the number of extreme weather events that have taken place over the last several years, New Jersey might as well be the black eye. The red, purples and magentas that color each of New Jersey’s 21 counties make up the wrong end of the weather-related disaster spectrum, marking the entire state as a recurring extreme weather target. Should nothing be done to curb pollution and carbon emissions, a recent report from Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center details, expect that trend to continue. Just off of the beach in Long Branch Tuesday, with temperatures coincidentally hovering around an unseasonable 80 degrees, several officials gathered to discuss the new report, called…
During a conference call discussing the National Flood Insurance Program, talk shifted to FEMA's flood maps and the potential for change in New Jersey.
The impetus behind releasing its advisory flood maps soon after Hurricane Sandy was simply to aid in the state's disaster recovery, a Federal Emergency Management Agency risk analyst said Friday, noting that they still remain subject to change prior to their official adoption into the National Flood Insurance Program. Discussion about the NFIP as well as the Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps was made during a FEMA conference call late Friday morning and seemed to conflict with Gov. Chris Christie's hurried effort to see the maps adopted as New Jersey's new standard. Doug Bellomo, director of FEMA's Risk Analysis Division, said the agency used the best available scientific data to develop the maps, and while he's confident that they're …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Superstorm reveals vulnerabilities in drinking water facilities, sewer treatment plants.
Hurricane Sandy damaged more than 100 facilities supplying drinking water to residents and sewage treatment plants, leaving the state with an unexpected $2.6 billion bill to repair, rebuild, and make the systems more resilient, according to state officials. How the state goes about meeting that challenge remains to be seen, although the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is hoping to leverage federal funds approved by Congress in the wake of Sandy to help address those problems. Making those systems more resilient to future storms is among the agency’s top priorities, one the department is expected to wrestle with over the next few months, but with few clear answers emerging just yet. “Our challenges are staggering,’’ …
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Health commissioner's roundtables gets first responders, local and state officials talking.
Add deadly carbon monoxide poisoning from improperly vented generators and toxic mold to the many health hazards visited on the state by Hurricane Sandy. That helps explain why healthcare providers from New Jersey's first responders to the state’s top health official are looking to identify and apply lessons learned to head off similar crises during the next bout of extreme weather. Sandy will have a lasting effect on how the state prepares for the future, Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd said yesterday after completing a round of forums with healthcare officials and emergency responders. One major change: The state will take steps in future disasters to make sure that residents are informed on how to operate electric generators before a…
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Lawrence Township's own Jeana Pulaski hosted a "Restore the Shore" in January.
It was the evening of Oct. 30 when Jeana Pulaski got the news. Hurricane Sandy had just battered New Jersey, knocking out electrical service to much of the state, including her home in Lawrence Township. “We were in the pitch black because we didn’t have any power. I was checking my phone and I got an email and I actually started to cry hysterically and hyperventilate because I was so excited,” the 26-year-old told Patch in January, recalling how she learned that she had been invited to compete on the popular television game show “Wheel of Fortune.” “It was kind of like a sigh of relief from everything that was going on, a happy moment during the storm,” she said. The “Wheel of Fortune” episode staring Jeana was broadcast Wednesday, Jan. …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
More than 75 unemployed state residents can be hired by the Department of Environmental Protection to help clean up and restore Sandy storm-damaged state parks through a National Emergency Grant.
Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection. The Christie Administration announced on Monday that up to 78 unemployed state residents can be hired by the Department of Environmental Protection to help clean up and restore Sandy storm-damaged state parks through a National Emergency Grant obtained by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOL). The DEP already has brought on 33 previously unemployed residents through this program who are working at seven state parks, supplementing full-time state work crews on various projects aimed at getting all state parks ready for the upcoming summer tourism season. The DEP is working with DOL on additional …
Monday, March 18, 2013
Eleven homes were damaged in Lawrence Township and more than 1,600 businesses were impacted, according to data provided by the state Department of Community Affairs.
The first town-by-town data about damage to homes and businesses from Superstorm Sandy show patterns of devastation that are not surprising but still staggering, according to a report in NJ Spotlight. Communities in the coastal counties of Ocean and Monmouth were hardest hit, but inland residents of Little Ferry and Moonachie in Bergen County suffered losses that were nearly as large. By far, the largest number of housing units damaged was in sprawling Toms River, which includes Ortley Beach – an area so hard-hit that residents were not allowed back home for more than three months after the late October storm. More than 8,800 residences, nearly 90 percent of those individual houses, were damaged, 1,000 severely, according to data …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
A segment from the film will be featured at the League of Women Voters of New Jersey’s upcoming cocktail reception in honor of "Hurricane Heroes" on Friday, May 3, in West Windsor.
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Thursday, February 28
The League of Women Voters of New Jersey is creating a documentary film about advocates, government officials, and an energized and motivated public whose efforts following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy ensured that citizens displaced or disrupted by the storm, were able to participate in our democracy. The filmmakers are seeking photographs, home videos, and stories that document the storm’s impact or damage to local communities, polling places that were destroyed or without power, residents assisting others to the polls or providing voting information in their community, or any other Election Day images or stories. Contributions will be incorporated into the film and you will be gratefully acknowledged in the closing credits. If …
MrDoughnut
3:05 am on Sunday, April 7, 2013
Outsourcing had alot to do with the economy stinking an when it evetually gets in the history records your descendants are going to be learning about that sad fact. more ›