May 21 through June 3, 2012, has been selected as the national "Click It or Ticket" mobilization enforcement period. In Merchantville and across the country law enforcement officers will actively be participating to ensure all motor vehicle occupants are buckled up day and night to reduce the risk of injury and death caused in traffic crashes. Increased enforcement of seat belt laws coupled with publicity has proven to be an effective method to increase seat belt use rates and decrease fatal crashes.

Medicare will soon begin penalizing hospitals for readmitting patients within 30 days of their discharge, and New Jersey hospitals are bracing for what could be thousands of dollars in lost revenue. As they have worked over the past few years to get a grip on this issue, hospitals have come to realize that it takes an entire community to reduce readmissions. http://bit.ly/JUX3J1

A New Jersey healthcare program known as Global Options, which helps seniors age in place rather than nursing homes, is earmarked for a big boost in funding under Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed 2013 budget. New Jersey is moving forward with its push to help seniors remain in their homes and communities and avoid nursing homes for as long as possible. While the majority of the state’s Medicaid long-term care spending still pays for nursing home care, the shift to home and community-based services is evidenced by the growth of Global Options, a major state program that provides nursing-home eligible Medicaid recipients with home-based support services like visiting nurses and housekeeping aides. http://bit.ly/HiIzO4

As representatives of the Sixth Legislative District, we would like to inform you of a job fair that we will be hosting next week.  The job fair will be held on May 16, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the Cherry Hill National Guard Armory 2001 Park Boulevard, Cherry Hill.

When elementary and middle school students sit down next month for the annual state testing, they will get their first taste of new national academic standards coming to New Jersey –- even if they may not know it. The Christie administration will begin to “field test” questions derived from the new Common Core State Standards into the next NJASK tests, given to every student Grades 3-8. New Jersey is one of 45 states moving toward the Common Core standards, along with new testing that is being developed through a national consortium, advertised as providing more depth and rigor to existing state standards that vary across the country. http://bit.ly/Hk9LzY

A plan to hike New Jersey's minimum wage by $1.25 to $8.50 an hour is a step closer to approval after the Senate Labor Committee passed it, 3-1, Thursday. The bill, which would peg the wage rate to inflation, passed an Assembly committee last month. Leaders in both Democratically controlled chambers in Trenton