In her new book, “The New Black Politician,” Andra Gillespie follows the career of Cory Booker, from his start as a lawyer and community organizer through his successful run for mayor and his reelection, in order to illustrate what separates the new generation of black politicians from other black leaders before them. These new black politicians seek to create the same multicultural coalition that propelled Barack Obama to the presidency, but many lose their black support and fade from the political scene.

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Canceling the long-planned Access to the Region's Core rail tunnel project was likely the most high-profile decision Christie made in his first months as governor of New Jersey. The press generally treated it as a tough-but-necessary decision from a no-nonsense politician who was getting serious about the budget. It was actually just an incredibly short-sighted way of getting around a promise not to raise New Jersey's (very low) gas tax. And Christie lied about the reason he canceled the project, according to a study from the Government Accountability Office.

The New York Times has the details of the report today, and in classic Times fashion it is repeatedly calling Christie a liar without using the word. Instead, Christie "exaggerated" and "misstated" his rationales for canceling the project.

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"It's more serious now," Richard Codey, who served as acting governor from 2004 to 2006, said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. "Definitely. No question about it."

A story in Thursday's New York Post -- written by Josh Margolin, a former Star-Ledger political reporter who is well-connected to Christie World -- claims that urgent pleas from Republican luminaries have helped convince him to rethink his long-standing opposition to running.

Among New Jersey politicos, Codey said, the sense is that "it's more likely that he'd run today as opposed to two weeks ago. When you've got Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and all those Republican bigwigs calling you, saying you've got to do it for the party, you've got to do it for the country -- it's intoxicating. A lot of people would get drunk off that."

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"She's here for the week -- I hear she's nice to her hosts!" "She's entertaining a big group at the Blue Pig Tavern. They're laughing a lot." "I saw her walking on the beach this morning. She's even more beautiful in person."

This was Fey's second straight year vacationing in Cape May, a shore town at the southern tip of New Jersey. By all citizen-paparazzi accounts, she and her family had a wonderful time. Of course, this is also the woman who had a wonderful time spoofing MTV's "Jersey Shore" on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," her pregnant belly stuffed into some sort of animal-print mini, the month before her actual Jersey Shore retreat. 

Love and mockery just go hand in hand in New Jersey, the state that just might be the best proof of F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless line that "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

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"Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed... He is an extraordinary American who is an outstanding lawyer and played an integral role in the post-Sept. 11. period in building bridges between the Muslim American community in this state and law enforcement," Christie told reporters.

When asked about fears that Mohammed could bring Sharia Law into his practice, Christie (who is known for his combative interchanges with reporters) snapped back:

"Sharia Law has nothing to do with this at all, it’s crazy!"

Watch a clip of the press conference below:

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Christie's deputy chief of staff, Maria Comella, tells reporters that Christie walked into Somerset Medical Center around 10:30 a.m. He was headed to a bill signing when he began to feel unwell and was driven there by his security detail.

Comella says an EKG, blood work and chest X-ray are normal.

Comella says the governor plans to speak to the media when he leaves the hospital.

His wife, who is at his side, plans to attend their son's baseball game later Thursday.

The 48-year-old governor, who uses an inhaler for asthma, was driven to the hospital by his state police security detail out of an "abundance of caution," said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak. All indications are the governor will be OK, Drewniak said.

Maria Comella, Christie's deputy chief of staff, told The Associated Press that Christie is "fine and in charge." Close friend and adviser Bill Palatucci said Christie was "getting tests and working from the hospital."

Friends said his wife, Mary Pat, was at his side. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was in her office at the Statehouse.

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In a news conference about pension policy Thursday, the New Jersey governor demanded the press go after one of his Democratic critics, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg. Or, as Christie put it: "Can you guys please take the bat out on her for once?"

In a statement, Weinberg, 76, expressed her displeasure:

Considering I’ve devoted my entire legislative career to fighting for the rights of women, including battered women, I think his words continue to show the level of insensitivity and poor judgment that the governor has demonstrated on women’s issues since getting elected.

Christie's office says Weinberg is guilty of "contextual distortion" of the governor's remarks. Here is the video, with the remark coming around 1:30:

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"I wouldn't change the decision even if I could do it right now," Christie said. "I had a great five days with my children. I promised that."

And, yesterday: "My first responsibility in life is as a husband and father." (This would be a better argument if, like, his children had desperately needed a lifesaving operation in Florida, instead of a ride on the teacups. But I am not a father, so I don't know how traumatizing it would've been to temporarily delay a family vacation in order to take care of a work emergency.)

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The Federal Transit Administration on Monday sent the railroad the bill, saying interest and penalty charges will be added.

The Record newspaper reported the FTA also said it would launch a "complete audit" of the Access to the Region's Core project to determine how much federal funds still have not been spent.

The $8.7 billion project to construct a rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York was 15 years in the making when Christie pulled the plug, citing cost overruns.

Officials aren't saying where NJ Transit will get the money to pay the bill.

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Information from: The Record, http://www.northjersey.com

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Google Inc. has teamed up with investment firm Good Energies, Japanese industrial conglomerate Marubeni and Maryland transmission company Trans-Elect to develop transmission lines that could deliver 2,000 megawatts of wind energy along the East Coast.

Trans-Elect CEO Robert L. Mitchell says the first phase will run 150 miles in federal waters from New Jersey to Delaware and be complete by early 2016. The entire project could cost up to $5 billion over the next 10 years, Mitchell said.

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Christie announced his education reform agenda Tuesday. It brings back many ideas he's laid out previously.

He says teacher pay scales based solely on seniority and graduate degrees should be changed. Instead, he says, teachers should be paid partly based on how well their students do on standardized tests.

He also wants to create "master teacher" and "master principal" designations to give more responsibilities -- and more pay -- to effective teachers and administrators.

Christie's announcement comes after he and Newark Mayor Cory Booker accepted a $100 million donation last week from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to boost the city's schools.

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In a memo to employees, the publisher of The Star-Ledger of Newark says the newspaper is expected to lose about $10 million this year. The newspaper lost about $9 million last year.

Publisher Richard Vezza writes that full-time employees will be offered a buyout that will pay them one year's salary plus medical benefits. Employees will have 45 days to make a decision.

Employees hired before Jan. 1, 2006 will be eligible. In the memo, Vezza says he hasn't set a target number for the buyouts.

Vezza also wrote in the memo that salaries would be adjusted and some job duties could be combined.

In 2008, more than 300 employees took buyouts.

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But Christie, the state's first-year governor, didn't just fire Schundler for incompetence: He called him a liar. Loudly and repeatedly. He felt this necessary because when the news of the botched application first broke last Wednesday, Christie publicly blamed the Obama administration, claiming that Schundler had supplied the data that was missing from the application -- budget numbers for the years 2008 and 2009 -- in advance of his formal hearing with the federal Department of Education. The real blame, Christie insisted, was with Obama's army of inflexible bureaucrats.

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Back in 1999, William F. Buckley Jr. declared that Schundler, a rising star on the right since his unlikely election as the mayor of Jersey City in 1992, was one to watch for the GOP's presidential nomination in 2008.

This was hardly an uncommon view on the right back then. A former Democrat with a successful stint on Wall Street under his belt, Schundler took advantage of some truly extraordinary circumstances -- namely, the conviction of an incumbent mayor and the presence of 16 other candidates in the winner-take-all special election to replace him -- to claim the mayoralty of poor, heavily black and Hispanic Jersey City in '92. Then just 33, he was venerated by pundits nationally as a new generation's Jack Kemp, a true believer in the racially unifying potential of free market economics. The question immediately became when he'd make his next move and run for statewide office, and after that, when he'd jump to the national stage.

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The federal government announced that nine states and the District of Columbia had won the coveted grants. New Jersey was the top runner-up.

A panel judged the lengthy applications on a 500-point scale. New Jersey finished just three points behind Ohio, which received the grant -- and was only barely ahead of Arizona and Louisiana, which didn't.

But New Jersey lost all five points on one section in which officials were asked to show that the state gives a consistent percentage of its revenue to education. The application called for using data from 2008 and 2009 to make the case. New Jersey used figures from the 2010 and 2011 state budgets.

It's not certain that the state would have aced the section if the right numbers had been used -- but it certainly would have done better.

The gaffe was first reported by the Star-Ledger of Newark.

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Library officials are hoping enough money surfaces to save the system, but they're preparing for a shutdown and say they're not just threatening it as a ploy.

Budget cuts across the country have caused local officials to close library branches, reduce hours and spend less money on books, computers and other materials. But officials at the American Library Association believe Camden's library system would be the first in the U.S. with multiple branches to check out entirely.

"Of all places, they're one of the places that needs free public libraries the most," said Audra Caplan, president of the Public Library Association.

The city consistently ranks as one of the nation's most impoverished. It's a place where most families don't own computers, where just one big bookstore serves the local colleges and where some of the public schools don't even have librarians.

Camden Free Public Library is a major hub for many residents and draws 150,000 visits a year.

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Authorities say Abelino Mazaniego was attacked while sitting on a bench in Summit the night of July 17, then robbed by a nurse after he was taken to a hospital.

Prosecutors say the 47-year-old Salvadoran immigrant suffered severe head injuries and died July 20. Charged with murder were a 19-year-old from Morriston and an 18-year-old and 17-year-old from Summit.

Union County prosecutor Theodore Romankow says another teenager recorded video of the attack and has not been charged. He says it appears the video was circulated among teenagers in Summit.

A nurse at Overlook Hospital in Summit was charged Monday with stealing several hundred dollars from Mazaniego when he was taken to a hospital.

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Using a remote-controlled camera, rescuers could see the victim in a car on the first level down but couldn't get to the person because they were concerned about the possibility of another collapse at the three-story garage, Hackensack fire Lt. Stephen Lindner said. They could not determine the victim's condition.

Crews were clearing debris and shoring up the structure before they could attempt to rescue the victim.

"We are absolutely making progress" in getting to the victim, Lindner said. "We have engineers on the scene, but right now it looks like the building is structurally sound."

Authorities were checking out whether another person might also be trapped, Lindner said. Surveillance cameras detected a car in motion on the lowest level of the garage around the time of the collapse, but authorities weren't sure whether the driver made it out, he said.

The garage pancaked when the canopy fell on it, damaging vehicles. The top of the garage, level with the street, was littered with dirt, debris and glass, and the pavement split into chunks.

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We're going to the Super Bowl.

In New Jersey. In February!

NFL owners voted Tuesday to put the 2014 Super Bowl in the new $1.6 billion Meadowlands Stadium that this season will become home to the New York Jets and Giants. It's the first time the league has gone to a cold weather site that doesn't have a dome and, until now, those places couldn't even bid on the big game.

The league made an exception for the New York area, and New York only. But just a few years ago, the NHL experimented with an outdoor game on New Year's Day, and it was such a success that teams now fight to host what's become an annual event.

"We believe the owners have the faith in us that 3 1/2 years from now we'll put on a remarkable event," Giants co-owner Jonathan Tisch said on the NFL Network. "The greatest game in the world will be played on the greatest stage in the world."

For all the hoopla on putting the Super Bowl in the Big Apple, it wasn't a slam-dunk. It took four votes by NFL owners to pick New Jersey over two Florida cities, Miami and Tampa. Miami was eliminated after the second ballot.

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