Jersey City Prosecutor Aims to End Pot Prosecutions in N.J.
*By Jacqueline Corba*
The chief prosecutor of Jersey City, N.J., said the state legislature could pass a bill legalizing recreational marijuana before the end of the year.
"If we're able to get a vote soon enough," prosecutor Jake Hudnut told Cheddar on Tuesday, "conceivably there will never be another person prosecuted in New Jersey for simple marijuana possession, and I really think that should be the benchmark."
Hudnut stopped prosecuting marijuana cases on July 19, less than a month after taking office.
About 30,000 people are arrested in marijuana cases each year in New Jersey, which holds the record for the [second highest arrests in the nation behind Wyoming](https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/04/new_jersey_arrests_more_people_for_marijuana_than.html).
Hudnut said people of color are three times more likely to be arrested or prosecuted for marijuana possession.
"One of the most troubling parts of my career as a defense attorney was standing next to so many young men of color pleading guilty to marijuana when I knew so many of my white friends were doing the same thing, but they were able to do it without fear of being arrested and prosecuted," said Hudnut, who spent seven years as a defense attorney.
New Jersey's Attorney General Gurbur Grewal briefly stepped in, saying Hudnut [overstepped his authority](https://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases18/AG-Grewal-to-Prosecutors--Municipal-Decriminalization.pdf), but himself formed a working group of 20ーincluding Hudnutーto explore the state's handling of marijuana cases and ultimately paused prosecutions himself.
Hudnut said if a bill could be put in front of the legislature before the AG's [moratorium](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/nyregion/nj-marijuana-medical-decriminalization.html) on prosecutions ends, it would effectively end the prohibition on marijuana in New Jersey for the foreseeable future.
For more, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/state-of-weed-prosecution-in-jersey-city).
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Kimberly Paige at TV network BET joined Cheddar News to talk about leadership, the projects she was pivotal in building, and her approach to leadership and "inviting" diverse audiences rather than "targeting" them. "if you think about when someone says, 'I'm targeting you,' you're generally in someone's kind of crosshairs, if you will," she said. "And so I use the notion of who are we inviting to participate in the brand in a meaningful way. I think it's a nuance, but it has huge implications."
Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter joined Cheddar News to talk about fatherhood and his solo work on a new crossover song called "Easy," featuring country singer Jimmie Allen. "What I love about country music is the lyrics, the melodies, the stories that are in them as well," he said. "And you know, you hear it's just pretty simple and pretty easy."
Oscar Stembridge, the youngest musician to have signed with Universal Music Sweden, has a passion for spreading awareness of climate activism as well as music. Cheddar News got an exclusive first look at the video for the new song, "Am I the Only One" and spoke with the 14-year-old singer about his young career and advocacy work. "Basically it all kind of started when, inspired from Greta Thunberg, I wrote my first kind of song called 'We March,' which is about my generation not wanting to pay the price of the older generations' inaction," he said.
The office real estate market might be in trouble, as vacancy rates in major cities remain across the country, even as COVID restrictions continue to fall away. Ryan Severino, the chief economist for real estate and investment management firm JLL, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the latest office trends and why some may be concerning for the broader economy. "There are knock-on ramifications for a lot of the ancillary industries that support office workers," he said. "If you think about coffee shops, places that someone might go out to get lunch or a drink or dinner after work, those are obviously still feeling the brunt of people not being physically back in office spaces the way that they were before the pandemic."
More Covid booster shots for more adults, Greenpeace and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen want more eco-friendly bitcoin, and the federal mask mandate for transportation is challenged. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
According to tracking services, Americans get inundated with more than 130 million robocalls every day. One man decided that he had enough and started suing telemarketers. Daniel Graham joins Cheddar News to share how he won more than $100,000 in settlements.
Streaming giant Netflix has thrown its hat into the ring with some video game offerings of its own so far, but the hurdles to gaining market share in the space might be daunting despite recently acquiring its third game development studio. Kenny Rosenblatt, the president and co-founder of casual game maker Arkadium, joined Cheddar to offer his view of where things are headed for Netflix. "Microsoft entered the video game market in 1990, years ago with 'Windows Solitaire. It has taken them that long to become the player that they are today," he said. "So I like what Netflix is doing. Slow and steady wins the race."
