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EDISON – Senator Barbara Buono today said the Cleveland school shooting is another tragic example why New Jersey needs to implement her proposed “Safe Schools and Communities Violence Prevention and Response Plan Act,” as a comprehensive, pro-active strategy to avert mayhem in our schools.

“Eight years after the mass murder of the Columbine students, we are faced with yet another school shooting committed by a troubled boy from Cleveland,” said Senator Buono, D-Middlesex. “Unless we begin to address the root causes that drive individuals to commit violent acts, no amount of metal detectors, security guards or cameras will prevent such homicidal behavior.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Ellen Karcher to create a statewide Office of the Environmental Prosecutor in order to pursue legal action against criminals who violate environmental laws in New Jersey was unanimously approved today by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today.

“In the light of the tight fiscal conditions facing New Jersey, we need to have watchdogs in place to ensure that State investments are producing the most for their money,” said Senator Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer. “The Office of the Environmental Prosecutor, which would largely be a restructuring of the Environmental Law Enforcement unit under the Attorney General, is a lateral move that would put greater emphasis on criminal prosecution of polluters in the Garden State. It would provide key oversight to make sure that polluters cannot undo all the positive environmental work we’re doing on the State level, and would require them to be responsible when they do damage our environment.”