The News Week In Review: April 9-14

From Governor Christie's return to the state to the gift card/user fee controversies to the heroics and meteoric internet rise of Corey Booker, this is the NJ 101.5 News Week in Review.This is a new segment I am working on for NJ 1015.com to highlight the stories we hit on during the news week.  You can, of course, read my daily blog "From The Newsroom." On each day mentioned in this article, you will be able to click to read the newsroom blog for that particular day.

Monday got the week started off at a normal pace, especially coming off the holiday weekend.  We told you about the new Tru-Ids that New Jersey has begun rolling out.  This story got buzz in the news, as well as lot of your phone calls throughout Monday.  Another interesting story that drew a lot of Facebook comments and attention was the report of employers cutting down on the amount of bandwidth that their employees could use.

Tuesday really got the ball rolling for stories that received a lot of attention throughout the week.  We have been telling you about the hot-button issue of how unused gift cards are handled in New Jersey.  Dino Flammia spotlighted just how many retailers are in the process of pulling out of New Jersey because of the gift card laws.  The dry, windy conditions began popping up brush fires across the Garden State. And during the morning news, Eric Scott had some fun with a story of a New Jerseyan inventing and selling a revolutionary alarm clock designed to eliminate the fears of over-sleeping.

Wednesday touched off a fevered debate on our airwaves and online about another hot-button issue.  Passaic became the latest town to institute emergency response fees that has drawn the ire of people around the Garden State.  40% of people that responded to a poll we conducted, saying they would be less likely to call 911 because of the fees.  Kevin McArdle examined which tax cut plan New Jersey voters are in favor of.  And Stacy Proebstle ran the story reviewing Governor Christie's Tuesday speech at a tax conference in New York.

Thursday was a day of answers provided by Governor Christie.  We ran stories from his Wednesday press conference, where he addressed our gift card reports, as well as a new report criticizing his scrapping of the Hudson River Tunnel project. Insurance companies weighed in on how they are reacting to the emergency response fees that some towns are instituting.

On my way into the newsroom very early Friday morning, an almost can't-believable story emerged from Newark as Mayor Corey Booker and his security detail rescued neighbors from a burning home.  The outrageous, heroic story set off an internet blaze of tweets and posts, comparing Booker to everybody from Superman to Chuck Norris.  Our Digital News Coordinator, Dan Alexander, recapped some of the internet fun in a post on Friday.

David Matthau covered Governor Christie's Thursday Town Hall from South Plainfield, where he pushed his plan for "drug courts." Finally, the NJ State Police announced a planned hiring blitz, following a 2-year lull.

Some weeks, you can sort of get an idea where things are headed for each day in advance, plugging in breaking stories between those.  This was an unusual week with the Governor still getting back in the swing of things after his Middle East trip.  When you combine that with a pretty light State House schedule, a lot of things were up in the air.  But, from brush fires to earthquakes to hot-button issues and of course, Corey Booker, things picked up pretty quickly, as they tend to do in the NJ 101.5 Newsroom.

We welcome your comments at the end of this article and on our stories.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and we will be back bright and early on Monday at 5AM with Eric Scott bringing you New Jersey's First News.

Until then, continue to check out our coverage online all the time on NJ1015.com, and I close this article with a video below from Governor Christie's Tuesday speech that I referenced above.

Courtesy Governor's Office