Ronald Rice Archives - New Jersey Globe

Trailblazer: Cory Booker

January 20, 2020 12:50 amJanuary 20, 2020 12:49 am

Cory Booker, 49, is the first African American to win statewide office in New Jersey. He was elected to the United States Senate in 2013, winning a special election to replace the late Frank R. Lautenberg. Booker sought the 2020...

Controversial vaccinations bill, stalled in State Senate, will be back after better head count

January 17, 2020 3:46 pmJanuary 18, 2020 11:39 am

Lawmakers expected a bill eliminating the religious exemption for vaccinations to cause a stir, but its lead Senate sponsor didn’t foresee it prompting hundreds, perhaps thousands, of protesters to assail the state house for days on end. That bill failed...

Senate President Steve Sweeney appears to have the votes for marijuana decriminalization.

Lawmakers to vote on amended vaccine bill Monday

January 9, 2020 6:10 pm

Lawmakers in the State Senate on Thursday amended a controversial bill eliminating a religious exemption for vaccinations in an effort to secure a 21st vote needed to pass the measure. The Senate voted 18-15 in favor of an amendment creating...

Sweeney: Vaccine bill will return when I have the votes

January 9, 2020 12:55 pm

Senate President Steve Sweeney said he intends to post a bill eliminating a religious exemption for vaccinations as soon as he has enough votes to pass it. “When I get enough votes, I’ll be putting it up for a vote,”...

Holley claims Murphy playing politics on voting rights bill signing

December 17, 2019 9:36 pmDecember 17, 2019 10:25 pm

Assemblyman Jamel Holley claimed Gov. Phil Murphy excluded him from a bill signing for a measure restoring voting rights to persons on probation or parole. “They invited me to get a pen, but all the other main sponsors are a...

Murphy: Legalization referendum ‘better than nothing’

December 17, 2019 2:34 pmDecember 17, 2019 4:30 pm

Gov. Phil Murphy isn’t thrilled that marijuana legalization is going on the ballot and not to his desk. “I won’t comment on the specifics of it, but it’s better than nothing,” he said. “We always thought that that was the...

Vaccine bill stalls in Senate

December 16, 2019 9:56 pmDecember 16, 2019 10:03 pm

A bill eliminating religious exemptions for vaccination stalled in the Senate Monday after Democrats in the chamber failed to whip enough votes to pass that bill. “We’ll hear it another day because we were short a little bit,” State Sen....