Posted Jul 15, 2019 2:46 PM John M. Donnelly The House quietly voted last week to require the Pentagon inspector general to tell Congress whether the department experimented with weaponizing disease-carrying insects and whether they were released into the public realm — either accidentally or on purpose. The unusual proposal took the form of an amendment that was adopted by voice vote July 11 during House debate on the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill, which lawmakers passed the following... Read more

Charitable donations dipped in 2018 because fewer people could deduct their charitable donations due to changes in the income tax laws. Organizations like The Tax Policy Center predicted that would start happening when the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act kicked in. The law, by design, makes it more beneficial for filers to take the standard deduction, which has nearly doubled, and skip the convoluted Schedule A to itemize deductions. A report released Tuesday by the 2019 Giving USA Foundation quan... Read more

BY VIN EBENAU, WOBM/Townsquare Media - Point Pleasant Beach will finally see some upgrades to its beaches after Jersey Shore Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ, Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer Counties) announced that the Army Corps of Engineers negotiated a contract to get dredging work done in the borough. The beach replenishment contractor, Weeks Marine, will be returning to Point Pleasant Beach to pump additional sand in sections that experienced significant erosion during May's severe weather storms.... Read more

By Mollie Simon - USA Today Network - A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill in both the U.S. House and Senate to honor Samantha Josephson, a University of South Carolina student who was murdered in March. Josephson was killed after getting into a vehicle she thought was her Uber, investigators have said. Nathaniel Rowland has been charged with murder and kidnapping in the case. If enacted, the bill proposed on Friday would require front license plates and illuminated windshield... Read more

By Jerry Carino the Asbury Park Press USA Today Network - New Jersey It’s called the “Tick Act,” and it would fuel the fight against Lyme disease and other tick- and vectorborne diseases to the tune of $180 million over six years. But will this bill make it through Congress, despite bipartisan sponsorship in both houses? “We have very strong advocates in Congress who will be fighting to get these monies through,” said Wall resident Pat Smith, a leading advocate for Lyme patients and member of th... Read more

After years of effort, Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th District) told News12 New Jersey that he has no plans on giving-up the fight to get chronic Lyme disease recognized both federally and within even the medical community. Congressman Smith spoke with News12 New Jersey reporter Nadia Ramdass outside News12 New Jersey's Edison, NJ studio to discuss the fight against Lyme disease and efforts to help those suffering with the disease. Smith held a congressional town meeting last week in Monmouth County wi... Read more

Jerry Carino, Asbury Park Press WALL — It was a sad sight, the mother of a 5-year-old with chronic Lyme disease practically begging for help because no doctor will treat her daughter. “What can I do about this?” she asked Rep. Chris Smith, an air of desperation in her voice. That was the tenor of Wednesday’s Congressional Town Meeting on Lyme and tick-borne diseases. More than 200 people, most of them impacted by Lyme or a related ailment, came to hear Smith and his panel discuss the latest in a... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith was a guest on New Jersey 101.5 FM during the morning drive with host Bill Spadea on Thursday to talk about his May 29 Congressional town meeting on Lyme disease, and what people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones against Lyme. To listen to Bill Spadea interview Smith click here. Rep. Smith is the founder and Chairman of the Congressional Lyme Disease Caucus, and has authored more than a dozen comprehensive bills on fighting Lyme disease, focusing on the ne... Read more

By Roxana Hegeman | AP WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas community college agreed under mounting pressure to an independent investigation into the heatstroke death last year of a football player who collapsed after the first day of conditioning practice. Trustees for Garden City Community College voted Tuesday evening to authorize the outside probe into the death of 19-year-old Braeden Bradforth of Neptune, New Jersey. He was found unconscious outside his dorm room on Aug. 1 after practice and died that... Read more

Steve Edelson, USA TODAY NETWORK, NJ After months of rejecting pleas from a grieving mother, lawyers and politicians for transparency, the Kansas college where a former Neptune High School football standout died of heatstroke last summer has finally yielded to the intense pressure, agreeing to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. On Tuesday night, the board of trustees of Garden City Community College authorized an external probe into the tragic events that unfolded on Aug. 1... Read more