New Jersey
State Senate passes bill intended to halt book bans, protect librarians • New Jersey Monitor
A bill aimed at limiting book bans in public schools and libraries and protecting librarians from lawsuits is now on the governor’s desk.
Titled the “Freedom to Read Act,” the legislation would require the state’s education commissioner to develop policies on how library materials are selected and how challenges to books on library shelves should be evaluated. Local school boards and library boards would then adopt their own policies using this model.
“You and all New Jerseyans have the freedom to choose what you want to read, and parents have and will continue to have the freedom to choose what their children will read. But no one gets to decide that for you — not now, and not ever,” said bill sponsor Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex).
The Senate advanced the controversial bill with a vote of 24-15, with heavy opposition from Republicans. GOP lawmakers said they feared the law would allow children to access obscene materials and protect librarians who share obscene books with children.
“Putting our children at risk and potentially exposing them to material that they are not prepared for flies in the face of our protective duty,” said Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris). “Couching such material under the guise of the First Amendment is a very distortion of who we are and what we strive to be as Americans.”
The bill comes as the American Library Association says the number of books targeted for censorship has skyrocketed, many of them because they include LGBTQ or sexually explicit content. The number of unique titles targeted for removal from library shelves surged 65% from 2022 to 2023, the organization says. Parents in towns like Glen Ridge, Roxbury, and Bernards have lobbied to have certain books removed from libraries.
Meanwhile, librarians say they have faced harassment from parents demanding certain books be removed.
States across the country are weighing similar legislation. The governors of California and Maryland recently signed similar bills into law, while lawmakers in New York and Rhode Island are still voting on those measures.
Under the New Jersey bill, school and library boards would be barred from removing books because of the “origin, background, or views” of the material or those contributing to its creation.
The bill would also provide librarians and library staff with immunity from civil and criminal liability for “good faith actions.”
Sen. Mike Testa (R-Cumberland) said he interprets the immunity the bill would provide to librarians as an “intentional blanket exemption from New Jersey’s obscenity law or, for that matter, any other law intended to protect our children.”
Testa claimed there is already “obscene material” available in New Jersey schools, and he questioned why Democrats are pushing for an exemption if there isn’t sexually explicit content in schools.
“How exactly does a person distribute obscene materials to a child in good faith? I also think it’s incredibly telling that if some of these very same sexually explicit materials were shown to a child by a neighbor, that individual would be charged with a Megan’s Law offense, and rightfully so,” he said.
Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union), co-sponsor of the measure, said the bill would create new standards for libraries that don’t currently exist.
“Right now, in the wild, wild west, no board of education is setting the standard, and now we are saying it is time,” he said.
Bramnick also defended librarians, stressing that none of them intend to provide sexually explicit material. But if a questionable book does end up on library shelves, there must be consistent guidelines and policies to ensure “we have a standard in this society,” he added.
The bill passed the Assembly in June by a 52-20 vote.
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A Bergen County man and his New York business associate are facing a civil enforcement action filed by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities with the Division of Consumer Affairs for defrauding at least one New Jersey investor in an investment scheme tied to a job recruiting software service that they were allegedly trying to grow, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Michael Lakshin. of Fair Lawn, and Edward Aizman. of Brooklyn, as well as their company Bowmo, Inc. used “fraud and deception,” allegedly convincing one of Lakshin’s childhood friends to liquidate her retirement fund and invest in their start-up business venture, according to a civil complaint filed in Bergen County on Friday. They then allegedly diverted most of the funds for their own personal use including cash advances, hotel stays and purchases at car dealerships and designer stores among other expenditures.
“The defendants in this case shamelessly bankrolled their lavish lifestyles with someone else’s hard-earned retirement savings,” said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “The lawsuit announced today sends a clear message that this kind of blatant exploitation of investors will not go unpunished in New Jersey.”
The complaint alleges, according to the Office of the Attorney General, that from April through August 2020, Lakshin, Aizman and Bowmo (through Lakshin and Aizman), offered and sold at least $84,681.19 of Bowmo’s securities in the form of a convertible note to at least one NJ investor.
They told the investor that the Bowmo note was an investment opportunity which would provide her a “significantly higher return” than her retirement savings. They allegedly told her that Bowmo was successful, bringing in a lot of money through its success and that she could profit by investing her funds into the company.
Lakshin also allegedly leveraged their childhood connection to convince her to invest. After learning about the investor’s retirement account, Lakshin allegedly pressured her to liquidate the account for the purpose of buying the Bowmo note.
Lakshin assured the investor that she would “realistically” be able to earn “A MUCH GREATER return,” through a series of text messages, falsely informed the investor that she should not have any taxes or penalties withheld when withdrawing funds from her account, and assured her that Bowmo would reimburse her for any taxes or penalties that would have to be paid as a result of the liquidation.
On June 25, 2020, the investor liquidated her retirement account. This liquidation included two charges and exposed her to paying taxes on the funds as she was not “rolling them over to another qualified retirement plan,” according to the Office of the Attorney General .
On July 2, 2020, the investor met with Lakshin and Aizman and signed a Bowmo subscription agreement. She wired $84,681.19 from her bank account to a Bowmo bank account controlled by Lakshin and Aizman later that month.
A Bowmo investor package provided to the investor prior to investing said that funds would be used to further develop Bowmo’s software, expand its marketing business, and make strategic hires among other business-related ventures.
Instead, the defendants allegedly transferred the funds to bank accounts held by a seperate and unrelated entity and misused the funds by diverting them for personal and non-business-related purposes.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to permanently ban Bowmo, its president and chairman Lakshin, and its founder and CEO Aizman, from issuing, offering, or selling securities in New Jersey, according to the Office of the Attorney General. It also asks the court to assess civil monetary penalties, restitution plus interest and expenses for the victim, and disgorgement of all funds and profits gained from the scheme.
According to Bureau Chief Elizabeth M. Harris, this case “serves as a sobering example of why it’s vitally important to investigate investment products, even those offered by someone you know and trust.”
She continued, “It’s also an opportunity to remind our residents that while fraudulent investment schemes come in a variety of forms, the pressure to act fast to avoid missing out on a hot investment is a universal red flag of fraud that should not be ignored. In addition to doing their due diligence before investing, we urge New Jerseyans to follow their instincts when a transaction doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Investors can obtain information about any financial professional doing business to or from New Jersey by visiting the Bureau’s website at www.NJSecurities.gov, or calling the Bureau within New Jersey at 1-866-446-8378 or from outside New Jersey at 973-504-3600.
Up to another quarter-inch of rain is likely to fall by Friday evening across most of the state. Northwestern parts of the state will get another dusting of snow, while some higher elevation spots are expected to get a a few more inches.National Weather Service
New Jersey
New Jersey winemaker says drought helps the grapes, but he’s grateful for the rain this week
The much-anticipated rain finally made its way into the Philadelphia region this week.
For many gardens, nurseries and farms, the rain was needed.
But in Hammonton, New Jersey, Sharrott Winery says the drought wasn’t all that bad.
Sprawling on 34 acres, 22 of those under vine, the owner of the South Jersey winery says the drought conditions actually helped their vines.
Owner and winemaker Larry Sharrott said in the spring, the rain helped their vines grow.
Come August, the rain tapered off and the dry weather from there on out was used to their advantage.
“For grapes, if it’s dry starting in August and then running through the entire harvest season, that’s really good,” Sharrott said. “It helps concentrate the juice basically, so especially with red wine it makes a much more robust red wine. They take on much nicer fruit flavors.”
Sharrott said the team was also happy when it finally rained after the long stretch.
He said it was perfect timing because the vines could use a boost of hydration.
“But the fact that we have some rain now is really good for the vines because at this point they really need a good drink so they can begin shutting down for winter. We want them to be nice and hearty by the time we get the cold January and February temperatures,” he said
And if you are looking on the bright side, too, Sharrott say they are looking forward to future wines.
“We are going to have some great wines in a couple years when these come out of barrel,” he said.
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