By ASBURY PARK PRESS STAFF WRITER KALA KACHMAR - Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey's second-largest employer, could be the first to house KC-46s, the newest aerial refueling tankers that will be rolled out in 2018. The U.S. Air Force announced the 11 bases that are in the running to receive the aircraft, which were developed by the Boeing Company after being awarded a contract in 2011. The 52-foot tall KC-46 Pegasus, which is 165 feet long and has a 157-foot wingspan, will eventually ... Read more

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is one of 11 military bases under consideration to house the Air Force's new KC-46 tankers, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said Wednesday. Smith (R-4th Dist.) said the base narrowly missed out in the last round of competition to house the tankers three years ago, and was hopeful that it would be selected this time around. "I am confident that after an objective and thorough review, the joint base will once again be given serious consideration and hopefully, ultimately cho... Read more

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. said he was asked by a friend from North Jersey if he occasionally searches for directions to the township street named in his honor. “No, I don’t quite do that, but I do get a thrill when I drive down the road and I see it pop up on my GPS,” Alito said Friday at Cedar Gardens in Hamilton. “I always will regard Hamilton as home.” Alito made to the trip back to Hamilton to swear in Mayor Kelly Yaede to a second term. The justice said the two discussed o... Read more

The U.S. is not enforcing the provisions of legislation designed to force countries to return abducted children, according to the statute's author. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), said the U.S. is not imposing the sanctions required under the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act, named after a Tinton Falls son and father. The law requires the government to take a series of actions, including official protests, public condemnation, and the suspension of foreign a... Read more

By Anjali Shastry - The Washington Times - Friday, November 20, 2015 - The Obama administration isn’t using a new tool Congress approved in 2014 to bring back children abducted and taken abroad by a parent, a prominent victims’ rights advocate told the House on Thursday, saying the State Department’s preference for “quiet diplomacy” falls short. David Goldman, whose ex-wife took his son Sean to Brazil for more than five years, said the new law, dubbed the Goldman Act after his own plight, has re... Read more

New Jersey could be in line for federal funding to repair 12 of its coastal lakes in Monmouth and Ocean counties after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to include those bodies of water in a major study after Hurricane Sandy's devastation. The inclusion of those lakes – as well as a harbor and a watershed – in the study was a major coup for the counties because the Army Corps rarely works on smaller bodies of water and exclusion from the Army Corps' study would have meant the towns around ... Read more

BY APP Staff Writers ERIK LARSEN and AMANDA OGLESBY - Since superstorm Sandy struck, Twilight Lake floods often. The storm dumped sand into the lake when it pushed feet of water through this Bay Head neighborhood in 2012, raising the already shallow lake bed. In the three years since, Twilight Lake has overflowed its banks during heavy rain and nor'easters. “We have a low part of the town, and it floods constantly," said Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis. “We need to ... keep the water in Twilight Lake... Read more

BY CONGRESSMAN CHRIS SMITH - Media outlets across the nation last week ran with the headline: “China Abolishes One-Child Policy.” Yet these headlines are highly misleading. It is true that China will revise its birth limitations policy, but this revision is not some major change to be lauded. The one-child policy has simply become a two-child policy, while the coercive population control apparatus remains essentially unchanged. The Chinese government has retained its power to tell Chinese couple... Read more

By BCT Reporter David Levinsky - The long-standing issue of civilian pay disparity on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst may be closer to getting solved, thanks to a recommendation from a federal advisory committee. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee voted earlier this month to recommend that the entire joint base be included in the higher-paying New York wage area, rather than split between New York and the lower-paying Philadelphia wage area. The split and wage disparity was caused w... Read more

The U.S. House on Wednesday cleared legislation to expand a federally funded health care program for seniors. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) would make more individuals eligible for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides health care and social services at community facilities to senior citizens who otherwise would have to be placed in nursing homes. The measure, which earlier passed the Senate, now goes to President Obama for his signature. ... Read more