New Jersey
Nationwide ranking of retirement cities shows New Jersey is going to cost you
Gen X Retirement: 45% Face Shortfalls
Retirement is supposed to be a golden phase, but for many Gen Xers it might not be.
Cheddar
Financial publication WalletHub ranked nearly 180 cities to see which ones were the best places for retirees. And it seems that people might want to retire in any number of places other than New Jersey.
Jersey City and Newark were the two New Jersey cities listed in the ranking, in the 156th and 178th positions respectively. The ranking considered 45 metrics that included cost of living, tax laws, health care and availability of recreational activities. Both New Jersey cities scored particularly poorly in the benchmarks regarding affordability.
That is consistent with a previous WalletHub ranking of states, which placed the Garden State in second to last place as a retirement location, mostly because of affordability issues.
On the other hand, Florida took the cake, with Orlando and Miami ranking in the first two positions. The lack of estate, inheritance and state income tax along with a plethora of recreational activities and centers for seniors makes these two cities an ideal place for retirees, the ranking says.
Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg were three other Florida cities that ranked in the top ten positions for similar reasons.
According to the ranking, both neighboring New York City and Philadelphia offer better conditions for retirees. While New York ranked as the least affordable, it scored high in the quality of life and recreation benchmarks. Philadelphia boasted a higher score in terms of affordability, recreational activities, quality of life and health care.
Here’s how some U.S. places ranked:
Overall Rank
City
Affordability
Activities
Quality of Life
Health Care
1
Orlando, FL
9
16
74
35
2
Miami, FL
56
2
89
27
3
Minneapolis, MN
93
7
79
6
32
Philadelphia, PA
124
33
64
45
36
San Francisco, CA
173
1
41
78
47
Jacksonville, FL
10
126
77
123
80
Honolulu, HI
180
14
2
61
115
Buffalo, NY
133
45
107
120
131
New Haven, CT
150
139
144
1
135
New York, NY
182
19
27
76
139
Yonkers, NY
177
65
55
14
156
Jersey City, NJ
172
90
63
59
175
Bridgeport, CT
175
154
153
19
178
Newark, NJ
159
87
163
118
182
San Bernardino, CA
126
172
172
172
New Jersey
New laws could hold NJ parents accountable for teens involved with unruly crowds
The Garden State is turning up the heat on parents to help prevent unruly behavior by teenagers.
It’s been an ongoing problem that has played out in the past few years in several beach towns and other communities.
Two bills were signed into law this week by Gov. Phil Murphy that build on prior efforts to crack down on the type of disruptive and violent antics seen in towns throughout the state.
“I think it’s smart to try and, like, kind of corral this issue a little bit, because it’s definitely gotten worse as I’ve gotten older,” Ocean City resident Madelyn Adamson said. “Making sure the parents kind of control their kids a little more is probably the way to go.”
One of the laws aims to hold parents and guardians more accountable by imposing consequences on them.
Any adults who have shown neglect or disregard for supervising their kids who incite public brawls could be charged with a disorderly persons offense.
The grown-ups could also get fined $1,000 for unruly behavior by teens that leads to property damage.
A second law requires the state Attorney General to create a crowd management training program for police in areas hit by more than one pop-up party or flash mob in the past year.
While public safety is at the heart of the new laws, officials say there’s an economic aspect to all of this as well, especially in shore towns that are highly dependent on tourism.
“A Memorial Day weekend public brawl that’s all over the news? People don’t want to come down the shore the next weekend and that hurts all kinds of small business, large business,” NJ Senator Paul Moriarty said.
New Jersey
New Jersey passes legislation to protect immigrants
From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
On Monday, the final day of the current New Jersey legislative session, lawmakers in the General Assembly and state Senate passed three bills designed to strengthen public trust and safety in immigrant communities across the Garden State, and to protect them from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and roundups.
To become law, the legislation must be signed by outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy before he leaves office Jan. 20. New Jersey has the second-largest immigrant population in the country after California.
The Safe Communities Act requires the state attorney general to develop a plan for how sensitive locations such as public schools, health care facilities and houses of worship would interact with federal immigration authorities without deterring community members from seeking services or engaging with them.
The act mandates that the commissioners of Community Affairs, Children and Families, Health, Human Services, Education and Corrections, as well as the administrative director of the courts, adopt the attorney general’s model policies, or policies to provide greater protection for community members, and to prominently display them in public-facing areas.
The Privacy Protection Act limits the collection and sharing of data by federal government and health care entities to ensure that Jersey residents are not discouraged from seeking necessary services.
The third measure codifies the attorney general’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which draws a clear distinction between state, county and local law enforcement officers — who are responsible for enforcing state criminal law — and federal immigration authorities, including ICE, who enforce federal civil immigration law. The bill limits the voluntary assistance that state law enforcement officers may provide to federal authorities. The directive, which is designed to foster trust between police and community members, has withstood legal challenges by state and federal courts since it was issued in 2018.
New Jersey
New Jersey files public nuisance lawsuit against scrapyard operator EMR
From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette have filed a public nuisance lawsuit against EMR, the operator of a metal scrapyard in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood.
The suit, filed Monday in Superior Court, alleges that at least 12 hazardous fires took place at the facility in the last five years, including a massive fire last February that prompted dozens of nearby residents to evacuate. The yard has been cited for numerous violations in the past.
Officials want EMR to take immediate action to end hazardous conditions at its facilities. They allege the fires were a result of EMR creating a high risk of fires on its lots, and that despite knowing about the risks, EMR failed to take corrective action.
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