WOND News

Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed sweeping bipartisan legislation overhauling public teachers’ health benefits that lawmakers say could save $1 billion a year over seven years. Murphy, signed the bill, which passed the Democrat-led Legislature this year with no opposition, alongside legislators and the head of the state’s biggest teachers union. The law sets up a new health care plan called the New Jersey Educators Health Plan, under which educators could pay for benefits as a percentage of their salary, rather than a percentage of the premium.

A meeting between Atlantic City’s mayor and a protest organizer broke down Wednesday afternoon, setting the stage for a Fourth of July protest during which the organizer said he would “shut Atlantic City down.” Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Wednesday evening that he and his team did a lot of work to bring various organizations together to meet with Steve Young, who is planning the Fourth of July protest – billed as a social justice protest with George Floyd in mind/

The Christopher Columbus monument on Arctic Avenue at the base of the base of the Atlantic City Expressway was removed Wednesday morning. The Press of Atlantic City reports is being moved to ward off vandalism and there have been discussions of either bringing it to Hammonton or storing it for the time being.

An additional 34 residents have been cleared as recovered from Covid-19 for a countywide total of 1,505, more than half of the 2,953 residents who have tested positive to date, according to the Atlantic County Division of Public Health. County health officials also announced 15 more positives among six males, ages 25-67 and nine females, ages 14-47, but no new deaths.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced that it would begin providing 20 weeks of extended unemployment this week to New Jersey workers who have exhausted their state and federal jobless benefits. The state extension kicks in after claimants exhaust up to 26 weeks of state unemployment plus 13 weeks of federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation. Claimants will be automatically enrolled into extended benefits as their federal extension ends.

Two men and a woman were shot and injured early Monday in Pleasantville, authorities said. All three were shot shortly before 1:20 a.m. on the 600 block of Lafayette Avenue, where investigators recovered 30 shell casings. Police received a call informing them that three gunshot victims were at AtlanticCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. Anyone with information is asked to call Pleasantville police or Crimestoppers.

Atlantic City officials are trying to deter a potential protest during on the Fourth of July this weekend. During a Facebook Live address to residents Tuesday evening, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said that he and other city officials and organizations are set to meet Wednesday afternoon with Steve Young, the organizer of a protest scheduled to take place Saturday, the Fourth of July. The protest, scheduled to take place in front of the city’s Public Safety Building on Atlantic Avenue.

At his daily briefing today Gov. Phil Murphy said that while many restaurant and bar owners are following mandated COVID-19 guidelines, it only takes one person to “undo months of progress and ruin it for the rest of us.” A day after announcing that indoor dining would not restart Thursday, Murphy thanked the many bar and restaurant owners are setting up the right way and enforcing social distancing. Murphy on Monday postponed the resumption of indoor dining, and banned drinking and smoking at Atlantic City’s casinos as they reopen this week.

Two elderly women are the latest county residents to succumb to complications from Covid-19, according to the Atlantic County Division of Public Health today. The deaths of the 98-year-old Egg Harbor Township resident and 72-year-old Galloway Township resident were confirmed earlier today along with 16 additional residents who have tested positive. Today’s positives were found among six men, ages 23-66 and 10 women, ages 18-64. Atlantic County has confirmed 2,938 residents who have tested positive for Covid-19 with 1,471 having been cleared as recovered. The disease has claimed the lives of 205 residents.

Two hotels in the Wildwoods will not open for the 2020 season, according to local sources. The El Coronado Motor Inn located in Wildwood Crest and The Sandpiper in North Wildwood will not be open this summer, according to the report.