WOND News

While most eyes that take in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino are drawn to the huge guitar out front, one zoologist keeps her eye on the roof of the place, forty-one floors up, looking to see if some peregrine falcons will make their return. They nested there when the place was under construction but disappeared since. The state even put up an igloo for them to use, but so far no sign. Zoologist Kathleen Clark telling the Press of Altantic City she’s hopeful the pair will give the Hard Rock another shot.

Reliance Medical Group is in the process of moving its headquarters and offices to Atlantic City. The company is setting up shop at Tennessee and Baltic Avenues and ultimately turn the one floor building into four floors housing insurance services, primary care and behavior health, among other programs. In all, Reliance has roughly 30 locations in Atlantic, Camden, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties.

April 8th is set as the first day of trial for an Atlantic City man accused in a deadly shooting. 44 year old Joseph McCoy is charged with gunning down 23 year old Jacqueline Hoyle in her North Tennessee Avenue home in December of 2016. She died of a single gunshot wound to the chest. McCoy was tracked down days later at a homeless shelter in North Carolina where he was going under an alias. He also faces weapons counts in the case.

Furloughed federal workers in New Jersey have one less bill to worry about as several healthcare providers have announced medical co-pays will be waived for as long as the shutdown continues. RWJBarnabas Health announced on Monday that its health system will waive co-pays, deductibles and additional eligible patient care balances for furloughed federal employees and their dependents. The move applied to all New Jersey hospitals, ambulatory facilities and physician practices operated by RWJBarnabas Health, is billed as New Jersey’s largest integrated health care delivery system.

A rally Monday at the Teamsters union hall in Egg Harbor Township as federal workers and members of Congress called for an end to the partial government shutdown entering its fifth week. Those on hand talked aobut the emotional toll and also, with the situation dragging on, the financial struggle trying to keep bills including mortgages, day care, groceries and utilities. A certain percentage are considered essential and have to go to work without pay for now, while others are off the job entirely.

The Wire Act could have negative impacts on Atlantic City and the state’s gaming industry and so Senate President Steve Sweeney is asking former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak to prepare a response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent interpretation of it. Online gaming has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for casino operators since 2013. The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, more commonly referred to as the Federal Wire Act, prohibits the operation of certain types of betting businesses in the United States.

Unionize is on the minds of close to 2,500 workers at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Ocean Resort Casino. Hard Rock is the former Taj, Ocean was Revel before it closed. Local 54 has already been recognized as the bargaining agent for Hard Rock bartenders, servers and other hospitality workers. There are about 1,200 potential members at Ocean who are still in the paperwork part of the process. Local 54 currently represents about 8,500 casino workers in Atlantic City.

High winds and low temps did not keep nearly a thousand Stockton University students and members of the community from coming out to celebrate the university’s 15th annual Martin Luther King Day of Service. Both in-house and external community partners hosted workshops, seminars, and other activities. In Atlantic City volunteers cooked and made sandwiches for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission and sorted donated clothes for the Eastern Service Workers. More than 50 South Jersey Industries employees and their families attended the event, helping with various projects at different sites. The annual event is coordinated by the Stockton Office of Service Learning. Campus.

A sportsbook in New Jersey is refunding bets on the New Orleans Saints due to the widespread belief that the team was victimized by a blown call by referees during its loss Sunday in the NFC championship game. PointsBet said earlier today it will refund spread and money-line bets on the Saints, who lost the game after officials failed to call a penalty on a Los Angeles Rams defender who leveled a New Orleans receiver long before the ball arrived.The Rams went on the win the game.

The number of Transportation Security Administration security airport workers who did not show up for duty Sunday reached a record 10 percent of the checkpoint workforce, leading to growing lines in several places including New Jersey,TSA workers, are among the lowest salaried on the federal pay scale and may be unable to make the commute to airports if stranded without a paycheck.