🌊Event happening Saturday

🌊It’s a “time-honored ceremony”

🌊Where to watch

MIDDLETOWN — Did you happen to see the USS New Jersey Friday morning as it passed Sandy Hook on its way to Naval Weapons Station Earle?

It’s here for a huge event: its commissioning ceremony set for Saturday, Sept. 14.

“A commissioning is a time-honored ceremony for vessels that are officially becoming part of the Naval fleet and we are honored the U.S. Navy and the USS New Jersey Commissioning Committee have chosen Monmouth County to support this exciting event,” Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone said to TAPinto Middletown.

The vessel had to undergo testing and sea trials to get to this point, according to the USS New Jersey Commissioning Committee’s website. After the ceremony is complete, the vessel will then officially be a United States Navy ship.

Tickets are no longer available for the commissioning happening at 11 a.m. but there’s still a chance to see it unfold; this event will be livestreamed at this link beginning at 10:45 a.m.

SEE MORE: NJ environmentalists could next target plastic-water bottles

This latest Virginia-class submarine is the third vessel with the name, carrying the motto “Firepower for Freedom,” according to the committee’s September newsletter.

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Three of the most politically potent building trades unions in the state are headed into different campaigns in next year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary after the head of the powerful International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 announced that he wants Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) to run.

The Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters announced its endorsement of former Senate President Steve Sweeney the same day he entered the race last December, and the regional leader of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) announced last month that his union would support Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) if she runs.

In what could be a large field of candidates to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, labor unions – part of the core vote in Democratic primaries – are charting their own paths.  Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop has been endorsed by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Teamsters, AFSCME, and other transit-related locals.    Sean Spiller, the sitting president of the New Jersey Education President — the state’s largest public employee union – is also running for governor.

Greg Lalevee, the Local 825 business manager, told the New Jersey Globe that his union believes “Gottheimer would be the strongest Democratic primary candidate for 2025 and urge that he run.”

“These politically divisive times call for moderation and Josh is a proven leader that brings people together to deliver results. Operating Engineers, union workers, and their families benefit every day from the bi-partisan infrastructure legislation Congressman Gottheimer helped over the line,” Lalevee said.  “This is the type of leadership New Jersey should look for when deciding who should represent them in 2025.”

Lalevee’s support of Gottheimer was first reported by POLITICO.

Sweeney, who has been a union ironworker since he was in his early 20s, is the leader of the ironworkers’ Philadelphia and Vicinity District Council, and is also the general vice president of the international union.

“As a legislator in Trenton, there was not a more tireless legislator advocating on behalf of workers than Steve Sweeney. He expanded Project Labor Agreements and Prevailing Wage, he created programs that rebuilt cities, he led the effort to replenish the State’s Transportation Trust Fund, championed the effort to put $1 billion into college capital projects,” the Sweeney campaign said in a statement.  “He also expanded New Jerseys push into renewable energies and advocated for the Environmental Justice law. He was the glue that put building, the environment, and social justice together.”

Local 825 endorsed Murphy in 2021.  It’s not immediately clear if Lalevee’s decision to back Gottheimer is just for the primary or – if Gottheimer is the nominee – the general election as well.

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Tuesday:

The federal government has been saving tens of billions of dollars per year thanks to a limit on the amount of local and state taxes you can deduct from your federal tax liability.

But business leaders and officials say New Jerseyans can no longer afford to help with taking on the financial burden, and they want to make sure that the end of 2025 truly marks the end of the SALT cap that was enacted as part of a package of bills in 2017.

On Sep. 16, 2019, then 5-year-old Dulce Maria Alavez vanished while playing with her brother at a park in Bridgeton, New Jersey, while her mother and young aunt were in their car nearby.

Despite the efforts and theories of many, her disappearance remains a mystery.

Authorities believe she was abducted from the playground area of the park, though not much has been ascertained beyond that.

At the funeral of hockey player Johnny Gaudreau on Monday, his wife revealed that she is pregnant with their third child.

Johnny and his brother Matthew were laid to rest Monday during a funeral at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Media, Pennsylvania. The service was live-streamed by Johnny’s team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Buses brought players and others to the church and a crowd of hundreds walked in for the service, including several children wearing Johnny’s No. 13 jerseys. Known to fans as “Johnny Hockey.”

A New Jersey doctor has been “outed” by the New York Post as the real-life antagonist of a best-selling memoir, in which women said they were catfished online by a sneaky love interest.

“There is No Ethan” debuted in June to acclaim from the New York Times, People Magazine and Spotify, among others.

The author and sociologist chronicles her own experience and that of two other women who developed separate digital relationships in 2011 with “Ethan Schuman” – who turned out to be Dr. Emily Slutsky.

Is your place constantly stocked with single-use plastic water bottles? Do you constantly make water bottle purchases at convenience stores?

The future could look a lot different in New Jersey.

Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, D-Somerset, told Politico he’s “looking into” a single-use plastic water bottle ban. There’s no bill at the moment, but their reporting said he got inspiration after visiting areas in Cape Cod with a similar measure, which bans single-serve bottles but not larger containers available at supermarkets.

Start your day with up-to-the-minute news, traffic and weather for the Garden State.

New Jersey’s First News with Eric Scott is the longest running news program in New Jersey. Eric Scott began hosting the program in 1991.

It airs live on New Jersey 101.5 each weekday morning from 5:30 – 6 a.m.

New Jersey’s First News with Eric Scott is the winner of the prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast.

Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com

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