For Horseshoe Crabs, Does Sandy Damage Mean No More Sex on the Beach? The numbers of horseshoe crabs laying eggs this spring in New Jersey could be lower than normal, after Sandy destroyed more than 70-percent of the crab’s nesting grounds along the Delaware Bay.

“Say if you come in and your bill for lunch is twenty dollars, so you’ll tell the waitress, ‘Take an extra ten,’ or ‘Take an extra five.’ And then anybody who doesn’t have money who can’t afford to have a lunch or a dinner can come in and they’ll use that money, and I’m gonna match dollar for dollar.”

—Gigi Liaguno-Dorr, owner of Jakeabob’s Bay restaurant in Union Beach, New Jersey

FIELDER AVENUE
The people and houses in Ortley Beach, New Jersey suffered greatly from Sandy’s onslaught. We’re tracking the recovery and rebuilding on the “beach block” of Fielder Avenue, which ends at the ocean. Hear the story

These two photos capture everything you need to know about last night’s lively community forum on school reform in Newark. Listen to Brian Lehrer’s conversation with Mayor Cory Booker and teachers, principals, (protesting) students and parents. Full audio and highlights here.

-Jody, BL Show-

Three months after Sandy hit, we’re interested in your feelings about the recovery. Are you optimistic? Pessimistic? Neutral? We’re collecting people’s thoughts, and are tracking them by zip code, to see where people fall on the spectrum — and whether geography plays a role in everyone’s perspective.

CLICK to share your thoughts.

(via DataNews) 

Follow along with Amy Pearl and Janet Babin as they make their way from Cape May to Montauk to check in on coastal communities three months after Sandy. At each stop, they’ll share photos and stories of people they meet.

This is a really bad bug. For anyone listening, please do an elbow or a fist-bump instead of shaking hands, because that’s how it’s getting spread. And I didn’t want to give it to the Governor. I don’t want to give it to anybody.

— NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney talking with Brian Lehrer about the Chris Christie fist bump heard ‘round the Garden State at the State of the State speech earlier this week.

“We were supposed to get married, [we’re] trying to set it for next September, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. He just said to me the other day, you know, we need just a day for ourselves where we can just figure that out. And then we laughed, because how are we going to get that? Because the phone rings and this one needs this, and we need to go here….”

—Angelita Liaguno-Dorr of Union Beach, New Jersey, who along with her fiance, spends her days still trying to recover. Liaguno-Dorr’s beach front restaurant, Jakeabob’s Bay, was destroyed in Sandy.

READ MORE

Newark Superfund site - where they made Agent Orange - flooded by Sandy.

What’s in those flood waters, New Jersey? 

Chris Christie Tapped to Give RNC Keynote Address
With the announcement that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Christie’s star power is once again being harnessed by the national Republican Party.

A treat from our sister station WQXR:

Since the release of her debut album “Horses” in 1975, Patti Smith has created music rooted in noisy, primitive, three-chord rock & roll…. Smith is also an opera lover. It’s a passion that goes back to grade school in New Jersey, when her music teacher played an aria from Madama Butterfly for the class.

“Like at first I guess it was a little weird touching my friends’ head and their ears and things like that ‘cause like that’s just kinda weird. But eventually you just get used to it and it just feels natural, I guess.” —Dylan D’Angelo, 17, Leonia NJ TEEN BARBER

Bathing Suits Banned on Asbury Park Boardwalk
Beach-goers sporting bathing suits on the Asbury Park boardwalk are breaking the law — and tarnishing the classy name of the Jersey Shore city, according to one GOP leader. Read More

Using the High Line as a Model, Jersey City Bets on the Embankment

At the intersection of Jersey Avenue and 6th Street, in downtown Jersey City, stands an imposing structure of stone and granite that towers over a Brownstone-lined street. Ivy cascades down the sides, while 20- and 30-foot-tall trees grow on top. Huge reddish brown boulders pile up for two stories, with tiny fern-like plants breaking out of the crevices. It’s Stephen Gucciardo’s favorite section of the Embankment, a six-block, half mile-long spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

“Without any of us having touched the Embankment, it’s already a park,” Gucciardo said. Read more.