Charity event for sick girl set for Saturday
The North Bergen Charity Committee is hosting a special screening of “The Lion King” Saturday, Nov. 12, to benefit the Szfoza family. Their daughter, Angelina, 2 and a half, is battling a rare and deadly form of childhood cancer.
The event will be held at 1 p.m. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Adults are $5 and kids are admitted for $3. All proceeds will benefit the family and help with their thousands of dollars in medical bills. The event will be held at the Recreation Center, 6300 Meadowview Ave. Bring a blanket.
For more information, see littleangelina.org. Donations can also be mailed or dropped off at the North Bergen clerk’s office.
Tuesday, Nov. 8 is Election Day
Hudson County voters will go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8 to elect a number of county and state officeholders. The positions up for election are county executive, county register, three state Senate seats, all six state Assembly seats, and all nine Board of Freeholder seats. Only two of the current freeholders face competition.
Each state legislative district has one state senator and two assembly people. In the 32nd district, Democratic state Sen. Nicholas J. Sacco (who is also mayor of North Bergen) is being challenged by Republican Edward T. O’Neil, and independent Herbert H. Shaw.
In heavily Democratic Hudson County, political races often get more heated during the June primaries, when Democrats face each other for the nomination. The winners then go on to the November race, but do not always face a challenge from the Republicans.
Countywide races include County Executive Thomas DeGise, a Democrat, facing Republican Stephen DeLuca for a four-year term as county executive.
Senate approves $15M for Amtrak tunnel for Hudson County-to-NY rail
The U.S. Senate approved $15 million in design and engineering funds for a new Amtrak tunnel that will reduce commuter congestion with two new rail lines from Secaucus to New York, according to news reports. The $13.5 billion project would take close to 10 years to complete and must be approved by the House in order to move forward. The plan has received bipartisan support from Gov. Chris Christie and from Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.
The approval came after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently re-launched efforts last week to build a similar tunnel to extend the NY Subway 7 train from the East Side of Manhattan to Secaucus, an idea Christie supported, stating the effort is more of a partnership than the proposed ARC rail tunnel he scrapped a year ago.
Christie had cancelled the $8.7 billion ARC tunnel project, which was supposed to run through Hudson County (including North Bergen) into New York City, because he projected overruns up to $5.3 billion above the initial cost.
Meanwhile, with the attention about the 7 subway train possibly extending to Hudson County, Hoboken-based Assemblyman Ruben Ramos said last week in a Hoboken Reporter letter that he’d like the subway to stop in Hoboken, too (click on letters, hudsonreporter.com)
Hudson County CASA recruits volunteers
Hudson County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is recruiting volunteers to advocate for the best interests of local abused and neglected children.
CASA and its trained volunteers speak for children in court, serve as fact finders for judges, and safeguard the interests of children within the foster care system.
An information session will be held Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 400 of the Hudson County Administration Building at 595 Newark Avenue, Jersey City. For more information, call (201) 795-9855, e-mail mgarcia@hudsoncountycasa.org, or visit www.hudsoncountycasa.org.