Posts Tagged ‘New Jersey’

Star-Ledger: “N.J. is missing the basics on bullying”

Newark Star-Ledger editorial:

There’s a big difference between a normal kid who teases a fellow fourth-grader and a bona fide bully who does real harm.

But you wouldn’t know it from our state’s anti-bullying law. In the burst of indignation after Tyler Clementi’s suicide three years ago, we were determined to do something about bullying.

And we drafted a sloppy statute…. it’s ensnaring way too many kids.

[h/t Neal McCluskey]

OMG NYT OKs GMOs

“[T]here is no reliable evidence that genetically modified foods now on the market pose any risk to consumers,” says an editorial in, of all places, the New York Times. [“Why Label Genetically Engineered Food?“]

And while on the subject of publications outperforming expectations, Slate features a sober look at “cancer clusters,” with George Johnson reviewing a new book on the Toms River, N.J. episode.

Labor and employment roundup

Torts roundup

  • Officials: “36% of car-insure claims bogus” in NYC [NY Post]
  • Unseen but looks promising: “Cultures of Tort Law in Europe” [Journal of European Tort Law via TortsProf]
  • “The Limits of Texting Accident Lawsuits” [Ronald Miller]
  • Lawmakers wonder whether there’s some way around Missouri Supreme Court’s “no med-mal reform on our watch” attitude [Kansas City Star]
  • Trial lawyers unhappy as Michigan high court toughens standards on slip-fall suits [AP/Detroit News]
  • Fast track: Illinois legislature moves to increase fees lawyers can recover in med-mal cases [Madison-St. Clair Record]
  • New Jersey municipalities have stake in litigation reform [NJLRA]

Labor and employment roundup

  • Seventh Circuit upholds Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s public sector labor law reform [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
  • In theory, California workers fired for cause aren’t entitled to unemployment compensation. In practice… [Coyote]
  • Comstockery meets occupational licensure: how New York’s Cabaret Law tripped up Billie Holiday [Bryan Caplan]
  • New Jersey lawmakers move to cut nonunion workers out of Hurricane Sandy recovery jobs [Jersey Journal]
  • Cheer up, plaintiff’s bar, you’re doing very well these days out of FLSA wage-and-hour actions [Max Kennerly]
  • Back to “spiking”: “CalPERS planning to gut a key cost-control provision of new pension law” [Daniel Borenstein, Contra Costa Times] When government negotiates with public sector unions over pay, the process should be transparent to taxpayers and the public [Nick Dranias, Goldwater Institute]
  • Sacre bleu! Labor law reform reaches France [NYT]

N.J.: Red light ticket camera class action

“The expected amount left over for affected motorists is just $6” and if motorists don’t file a claim, reversions go to defendant American Traffic Solutions (ATS). “More than 81,000 citations worth $10.2 million were issued in New Jersey through red light camera programs that were not in compliance with state law.” Lawyers who filed the suit are in line to collect $800,000. [The Newspaper; AnnMarie McDonald, NJLRA]

Why New Jerseyans, Vermonters can’t enter NatGeo photo contest

Because, as the magazine explains, “Those states do not allow operation of a skill contest that requires an entry fee.” Which results in the following rather awesome disclaimer (via Petapixel):

CONTEST IS VOID IN CUBA, IRAN, NEW JERSEY, NORTH KOREA, THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, SUDAN, SYRIA, VERMONT AND WHERE PROHIBITED.

Rubbing it in a bit about the unfreedom, no?