Photo by Reena Rose Sibayan / The Jersey Journal
It has been a busy week in Hudson County and the whole state of New Jersey. Let’s get into it.
The Jersey Journal Will Say Goodbye After 157 Years
Hudson County’s beloved newspaper, The Jersey Journal, is officially shutting down on Feb. 1, 2025 after 157 years of service.
The newspaper said it was not able to remain in business following a decision by The Star-Ledger to close its production facility in Montville, N.J. This location prints The Jersey Journal and several other newspapers. The Jersey Journal was obtained by the Star-Ledger years ago.
The Newark Morning Ledger Co., which owns the newspaper, said that the declining circulation of newspapers, rising costs and lower demand for physical print publications were taken into account to make this decision. Advance Local, a media company which owns NJ Advance and NJ.com, will also stop printing other newspapers. The newspapers affected by this are:
- Times of Trenton
- The South Jersey Times
- Hunterdon County Democrat
The digital versions of the Times of Trenton and South Jersey Times will continue to publish daily articles. The final Hunterdon County Democrat will be released on Jan. 30, 2025.
The Jersey Journal, however, will be shutting down altogether. Its last publication will be published on Jan. 31, 2025.
Based in Jersey City, The Jersey Journal focuses on news, sports and the arts in the city and the 11 other Hudson County towns. In April, it won the New Jersey Press Association award for general excellence in a community-sized daily newspaper. This was the second time in three years it had won or shared the state’s most prestigious journalism prize.
Jersey Journal employees won first place for public service, news writing, enterprise reporting, writing about business and government, coverage of school sports (high school and college), as well as, arts and photography.
“We fought as hard as we can for as long as we could,” said The Journal’s editor and publisher, David Blomquist. Blomquist said The Journal will continue to produce print and online editions six days a week, except holidays, until Feb. 1.
The newspaper currently has 17 employees—eight full-time and nine part-time)—will be let go when publication ends.
“We are grateful for the extraordinary work over the years by The Journal’s news and business staff,” said Blomquist, adding that employees who remain through the closing will receive severance packages in addition to any payments required by New Jersey’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (NJ WARN) law.
The History of the Journal
The Jersey Journal was launched on May 2, 1867, by two Union Army veterans, Z.K. Pangborn and William Dunning. Pangborn, a Republican activist, wanted a platform to encourage New Jersey to approve the constitutional amendment giving freed slaves the right to vote, and recruited Dunning, a Jersey City writer, to join him.
Together, the three of them helped the company take off.
Dunning passed away within a few years, and Pangborn eventually left to return to Republican politics. Dear and his family took over the newspaper and ran it for three generations. Even as larger buildings rose around the Jersey Journal office, the five-story head office, topped with a sign spelling out the newspaper’s name in vibrant red letters, is a staple of the Journal Square neighborhood.
As the demographics changed in Hudson County and readers started getting their information from online sources, The Journal’s print readers saw a significant decline. Like most print newspapers, the Jersey Journal has not been able to recover from the significant decrease in subscribers and readers. Back in 2009, the newspaper warned employees it would have to close if it could not meet revenue goals and lower certain expenses.
The Jersey Journal will always be remembered as the legacy media that served the Hudson County community through wins and hardships. To keep local news alive, support your local outlets, whether it be with a click, donation or subscription. You can also educate others on the importance of local news by becoming an active and informed community member.
Plan Your Commute: Hoboken PATH Will Close For 25 Days
The Port Authority announced that the PATH station in Hoboken will be closed from the evening of Jan. 30, 2025, to the morning of Feb. 25, 2025.
The 25-day closure prevents a full year of weekend service reductions that would otherwise be required to complete the construction work.
The Port Authority said the closure is to do work on the two tunnels into the station and is better than the alternative option of reducing weekend service for an entire year. The Port Authority also plans to make improvements to the station and upgrades to the tracks in the station. This is part of the agency’s two-year, $430 million PATH Forward program.
“This closure will undoubtedly pose challenges for Hoboken riders, and we recognize the impact it will have on their daily routines,” said Kevin O’Toole, Port Authority Chairman.
The station is expected to resume normal service at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
The Port Authority has communicated and said it has worked with regional transit partners to give riders different traveling routes:
Cross-honored ferry service:
- Additional peak period service departing every 10 minutes from both Hoboken ferry terminals, the PATH/NJ TRANSIT station terminal and the 14th Street terminal, with service to Manhattan’s Brookfield Place/Battery Park City terminal and Midtown/West 39th Street terminal.
- Expanded NY Waterway crosstown bus service from Midtown/West 39th Street terminal.
- Extended operating hours until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 12 a.m. on weekends at both Hoboken terminals.
- Additional weekend route, offering service to Midtown/West 39th Street from both Hoboken terminals.
Free PATH shuttle bus service:
- Frequent shuttle buses connecting Hoboken riders to continuing PATH service at Newport and Exchange Place stations.
Supplemental Bus Service to Enhance NJ TRANSIT’s No. 126 Line
- NJ TRANSIT to increase the frequency of the No. 126 bus, connecting Hoboken station with the Midtown Bus Terminal.
Supplemental PATH service:
- Additional PATH trains to serve expected additional passengers at Newport and Exchange Place stations to/from World Trade Center and 33 St. The additional service will result in trains arriving at Newport every two to four minutes and trains arriving at Exchange Place every five minutes or less during rush hours.
Supplemental NJ TRANSIT Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service:
- NJ TRANSIT will provide additional service on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail weekdays between 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. -7 p.m., connecting riders to/from continuing PATH service at Newport and Exchange Place.
The Port Authority will be administering several informational sessions. They will be both in-person and virtual before the closure happens.
Public information sessions will be held on:
- In person: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 12: Hoboken Terminal, waiting room, 1 Hudson Place, Hoboken, N.J.
- In person: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 13: 2 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, N.J.
- Virtual: 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 10.
New Jersey Has A Record-Breaking Year For Early Voting
The 2024 Presidential election is just three days away.
As of Oct. 29, over 800,000 New Jersey natives have already casted their ballots at an early voting center or mailed them into their local Board of Elections.
Early voting in New Jersey opened last weekend and the tally overtook the early voting number from the past three years. According to Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, 247,003 citizens voted early opening weekend.
Early voting for the Presidential election in New Jersey will be until Nov. 3. Voting is available Saturday Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. An election tracker from the Associated Press stated that, as of Monday, Oct. 28, New Jersey voters had already casted 599,497 mail-in ballots.
Election polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, which takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
There will be more than just the president to elect on the ballots, New Jersey voters will also have the opportunity to vote for U.S. Senator and Congress. New Jersey voters will choose a new U.S. Senator to replace Bob Menendez and all of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
On the ballot, you will find presidential candidates Democratic Vice President, Kamala Harris, former Republican party president Donald J. Trump, Chase Oliver, who is a part of the Libertarian party, Jill Stein, who represents the Green Party, Claudia De La Cruz, the leader of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is representing the Independent party and Constitution Party leader, Randall Terry.
The candidates for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat are Democrat Andy Kim, Republican Curtis Bashaw, Libertarian Kenneth R. Kaplan, Socialist Workers Party leader Joanne Kuniansky, Green Party leader Christina Khalil and Independent Party leader Patricia G. Mooneyham.
New Jersey also has 12 representatives in the U.S. House, the candidates include:
NJ- District 1
- Donald Norcross (D-inc.), Teddy Liddell (R), Robin Brownfield (Green), and Austin Johnson (Independent).
NJ- District 2
- Jeff Van Drew (R-inc.), Joe Salerno (D), and Thomas Cannavo (Green).
NJ- District 3
*Current Rep. Andy Kim is not listed, as he is running for U.S. Senate.
- Herb Conaway (D), Rajesh Mohan (R), Chris Russomanno (Libertarian), Steven Welzer (Green), Justin Barbera (Independent), and Douglas Wynn (Independent).
NJ- District 4
- Chris Smith (R-inc.), Matthew Jenkins (D), John Morrison (Libertarian), Barry Bendar (Green)
NJ-District 5
- Josh Gottheimer (D-inc.), Mary Jo-Ann Guinchard (R), James Tosone (Libertarian), Beau Forte (Green), Aamir Arif (Independent).
NJ- District 6
- Frank Pallone (D-inc.), Scott Fegler (R), Matthew Mitriano (Libertarian), Herb Tarbous (Green), and Fahad Akhtar (Independent)
NJ- District 7
- Thomas Kean Jr. (R-inc.), Sue Altman (D), Lana Leguia (Libertarian), and Andrew Black (Green)
NJ- District 8
- Rob Menendez (D-inc.), Anthony Valdes (R), Christian Robbins (Green), Lea Sherman (Socialist Workers), Pablo Olivera (Labour)
NJ-District 9
*To succeed Rep. Bill Pascrell, who died in August.
- Nellie Pou (D), Billy Prempeh (R), Bruno Pereira (Libertarian), and Benjamin Taylor (Green)
NJ-District 10
*To succeed Rep. Donald Payne Jr., who died in April.
- LaMonica McIver (D-inc.), Carmen Bucco (R), Jose Serrano (Green), Cynthia Johnson (Independent), Michelle Middleton (Independent), and Donna Weiss (Independent).
NJ- District 11
- Mikie Sherrill (D-inc.), Joseph Belnome (R), Lily Benavides (Green), and Joshua Lanzara (Independent).
NJ-District 12
- Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-inc.), Darius Mayfield (R), Vic Kaplan (Libertarian), and Kim Meudt (Green).
Early Detection of Cancer And Alzheimer’s Might Get Covered By New Jersey Insurance
The average lifespan of someone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease is nine years, from the time of their diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s patients experience great memory loss and other cognitive difficulties. Problems can include wandering and getting lost, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks and personality and behavior changes.
Doreen Monks,the former program director for the Stroke Center at St. Barnabas Medical Center was originally diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2015. She lost her job, 70% of her income and home.
After Monks entered a clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s drug, a PET scan did not pick up any Alzheimer’s disease in her brain. This prompted Monks to share her story with the Trenton law and ask them to create easy and fair access to tests that could detect Alzheimer’s early and more hands-on treatment for specific diseases from Alzheimer’s to cancer.
The bill was advanced by a legislative committee last week.
The bill would ensure all health insurers cover biomarker testing. However, insurance would only cover testing for “diagnosis, treatment, appropriate management, or ongoing monitoring of an individual’s disease.”
The bill is titled, A4163 and is being backed and supported by numerous advocacy groups, all of which had members on board urging the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee why the new bill should be passed. The advocacy groups include:
- The American Cancer Society
- Alzheimer’s Association
- The National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Jeanelle Adaams, from Newark was a part of the group, informing the committee that it took over a year for her to be diagnosed with stage three triple negative breast cancer at age 33. This was after she began noticing rashes, lumps and leaks on her breast.
Adams credits biomarker testing for her survival. Her oncologist told her to undergo biomarker testing to develop a targeted treatment. Thanks to her private insurance, the testing was covered. Adams went through 23 rounds of chemotherapy and also had a double mastectomy. Treatment was successful and she has been in remission for a year.
“Without biomarker testing, I wouldn’t likely be here to share my story,” Adams told the committee.
People in favor of the bill say that biomarker testing may cost more money upfront, however, savings will come in the long run because the treatment plans will be far better, shorter and use fewer resources.
There are fifteen states that require all public and private insurers to cover biomarker testing. New York and Pennsylvania have biomarker testing covered, while New Jersey does not.
Dr. Aime Franco, an investigator with the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told the committee that her Pennsylvania patients have benefited from this coverage, and she hopes all New Jersey patients can be covered too.
“It is unacceptable that any patient should be denied access to these advancements because of coverage issues,” Dr. Franco said.
The bill still has a long way to go to become a law, but there is hope that New Jersey will follow in the footsteps of its tri-state area and cover biomarker testing through insurance.
