'River of misinformation'

Good morning! text text text

Good morning!

New Jersey’s labor commissioner is a little annoyed.

Kevin Jarvis talked to our Nikita Biryukov about a state rule set to take effect next week that will guide the state when it decides whether a worker is an employee of a company or an independent contractor.

Business groups and others have been urging the state to delay implementation of the rule, which they say is confusing and will wrongly classify some independent contractors as employees. But Jarvis said nothing is changing — the rule merely codifies court decisions on this issue and does not alter the state’s independent contractor test nor change enforcement.

“There’s absolutely some frustration because we’re swimming upstream against a river of misinformation,” he said in an interview.

Business groups say the test itself needs to be revamped.

Read more from Nikita.

Health: A federal change means starting Oct. 1, a host of legal immigrants will no longer be eligible for Medicaid, a move state officials say will affect about 25,000 noncitizens in New Jersey. “We’re talking about victims of trafficking. We’re talking about the husbands, wives, and children of lawfully residing veterans. We’re talking about refugees who have fled persecution in their own country,” State Department of Human Services Commissioner Stephen Cha told Lilo Stainton.

Data centers: Gov. Mikie Sherrill reiterated on a Politico podcast that she opposes a statewide moratorium on data center construction, something some environmental activists have been pushing for months.  “If they want a moratorium, there are certain towns where it’s probably not appropriate to build data centers,” Sherrill said. “There are other towns where it probably makes sense.”

Chris Christie: Tom Martello at NJ Advance Media talked to ex-Gov. Chris Christie about the future of New Jersey’s Republican Party. “When I left the governorship, our budget was $34 billion. And in eight years, it’s now $61 billion. We should be asking people in New Jersey: ‘Do you feel, really feel $27 billion better? Is the state $27 billion better?’” Christie told him. That was an argument made frequently last year by Republican Jack Ciattarelli, and Sherrill (D) walloped him.

D.C.: A new memo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik says that endangered animals may be killed as long as the action was not “intentionally directed at a particular animal or animals.” Wildlife advocates and experts are a bit anxious about this! “Unless you’re wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘I’m here to draw the blood of endangered species,’ you’re basically off the hook,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director with the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation nonprofit.