TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - People can gather outdoors in groups of as many as 25, instead of 10, and Memorial Day cookouts can go forward if people keep their distance from one another, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.
Public and private campgrounds may also reopen, the Democrat said during a news conference in Trenton, citing continuing hopeful trends in the state’s coronavirus data.
“If you’re looking forward to gathering with your neighbors for a Memorial Day cookout, you may do so, as long as social distancing and personal responsibility remain the order of the day,” he said.
Indoor gatherings are still limited to 10 people, he said.
New Jersey reported about 1,400 new coronavirus cases overnight, putting the overall figure at about 153,000. There were 146 deaths reported overnight, pushing the death toll to 10,985.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness or death.
A look at other developments in New Jersey:
___
PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS
State revenues have “fallen off a cliff,” and the administration is proposing $5 billion in budget cuts, deferred payments and other budget-tightening measures, Treasurer Liz Muoio said Friday.
The $5 billion in cuts come on a roughly $40 billion budget overall.
The outbreak has clobbered state finances, with income tax receipts falling 5%, sales tax revenues dropping 11% and business taxes declining by nearly 12% for the current fiscal year, she said. The projected declines are steeper for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Because of a constitutional requirement to enact a balanced budget, Murphy is proposing cuts for the current year. Among them: $336 million in K-12 aid to schools, $132 million for New Jersey Transit and $80 million in lead infrastructure spending.
Murphy also wants to delay payments. The biggest among them is a $1 billion payment to the public pension fund that move from September to October under the proposal Muoio outlined Friday.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Democrat-led Legislature and Murphy have extended the fiscal year from June 30 to Sept. 30.
___
ATLANTIC CITY HOTELS
Atlantic City’s mayor says hotels and online rental marketplaces may resume operations May 29.
Marty Small made the announcement Friday. But there’s a big caveat: The order does not apply to the city’s nine casino hotels.
Hotels owned and operated by the casinos must remain closed until the state Division of Gaming Enforcement allows them to reopen. So far, no date has been set for the casinos to reopen.
Murphy said earlier this week, “We’re just not there yet.”
___
POLICE CHARGED
Three New Jersey police officers have been suspended after being accused of sneaking into a closed park during the coronavirus pandemic and lying about it.
Lawrence Township police Officers Hector Nieves, 44, Liubove Bjorklund, 32, and Timothy Wallace, 28, were suspended without pay, according to a news release from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
The officers were charged Thursday with falsifying government records after an internal investigation revealed they lied about where they were, NJ.com reported Thursday.
Nieves and Bjorklund face additional charges of violating an executive order by Gov. Phil Murphy that closed all county and state parks as the virus spread throughout New Jersey.
Murphy’s order was rescinded this month.
The prosecutor’s office said Nieves and Bjorklund falsely documented their locations dozens of times between mid-March and early May.
The two also violated the order by entering the New Jersey Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park on April 23 for unofficial reasons, prosecutors said.
Nieves’ lawyer, Charles Sciarra, called the charges “complete crap.”
It was unclear whether Bjorklund and Wallace had lawyers to speak for them.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.