NJ probing power outages

Good morning!

The storms New Jersey saw on Fourth of July weekend left hundreds of thousands without power during a heat wave.

Now, the state’s energy regulators are investigating.

The Board of Public Utilities said Wednesday it will examine utilities’ preparedness before and after the storms.

“We expect utilities to be prepared, communicate effectively, and restore service safely and as quickly as possible. When they fall short, the board will hold them accountable,” Board of Public Utilities President Ben Hertz-Shargel.

The utilities defended their work, saying they were dealing with the aftermath of storms that brought hurricane-like winds to the Garden State. Some lawmakers have spent weeks griping about utilities’ performance, including Assemblyman Greg McGuckin (R-Ocean). McGuckin said Wednesday’s announcement is overdue.

“It’s unacceptable that every summer we continue to end up like a third-world country every time there’s a storm,” McGuckin said. “It’s inexcusable to me that power stations are not adequately protected from a lightning storm when lightning storms are a common occurrence in the summer at the Jersey Shore.”

Read more from Nikita Biryukov.

Schools: New Jersey teachers and other school workers may get hit with gigantic health benefit premium hikes next year, with state actuaries saying Wednesday that they expect 34% hikes in 2027. The potential increases come as the School Employees Health Benefits Program veers toward collapse, with healthy members fleeing the plan seeking cheaper options and leaving older, sicker members who are more expensive to cover. “Public schools and public school employees cannot continue absorbing annual increases of this magnitude without consequences,” New Jersey Education Association President Steve Beatty, Vice President Petal Robertson, and Secretary-Treasurer Tina Dare said in a joint statement.

Guns: Attorney General Jen Davenport on Wednesday sued a Pennsylvania man, Jordan Vinroe, alleging he made millions by selling illegal firearm kits to New Jersey residents. The lawsuit pins the blame on Vinroe for much of the proliferation of so-called “ghost guns” in the Garden State: “Largely because of Vinroe, Ghost Guns became a readily available weapon of choice for New Jersey’s gun traffickers and individuals convicted of serious or dangerous crimes.”

D.C.: Sen. Cory Booker got into it with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday as Blanche faced senators during his confirmation hearing to become permanent AG. Booker used last year’s arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for trespassing at a Newark migrant jail — the arrest was OK’d by Blanche when he was deputy attorney general — to argue that the Trump administration uses its power to punish political foes. “The attorney general’s client is not the president. It’s the American people. You’ve been protecting one man for most of your career. For years and years and years. He has demonstrated himself to put undue pressure,” Booker said.

ICE: The Trump administration’s moratorium on traffic stops by ICE officers, spurred by two fatal shootings by ICE agents in Maine and Texas, lasted one day, with President Donald Trump saying Wednesday that he was reversing the pause. In a post to social media, Trump called the practice of federal immigration officers conducting enforcement during traffic stops “one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective” tools.

Courts: Forgot to note this from earlier this week: A federal judge in West Virginia dismissed a lawsuit the Trump administration filed against that state seeking its unredacted voter rolls. The admin’s demand is “devoid of any factual basis,” said the judge, a George W. Bush appointee. This is notable because the Trump admin sued New Jersey for the same information on the day it also sued West Virginia. The New Jersey case is still active.