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NYC’s #1 FREE DAILY TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012
NJ Dems vow to pass gay marriage Democrats plan to introduce bills this week in Assembly, Senate But face resistance from Christie If Democratic legislators get their way, 2012 may be the year gay marriage becomes legal across the Hudson. New Jersey elected officials promised yesterday they will introduce a bill to legalize gay marriage as the first new measure of the new year. At a press conference outside the State House in Trenton, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said they plan to introduce matching bills in each chamber this week. “What New Jersey’s legislative leaders are telling us is that the Garden State values its gay and lesbian citizens fully,” said Marc
Gov. Christie
Solomon, national campaign director at Freedom to Marry. But the state’s Republican governor, Chris
Christie, is expected to stymie their plan. In the past, he has made it clear that he opposes legalizing gay marriage and instead supports civil unions, already legal in New Jersey. In contrast, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was a key component in New York’s successful effort last year to legalize gay marriage. Couples began marrying for the first time in July. Two years ago, a similar effort could not get enough votes in the New Jersey Senate, failing 20 to 14, despite support from then-governor Jon Corzine. ALISON BOWEN
alison.bowen@metro.us PARKS DEPARTMENT
Trees. Recycling
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Pine trees are chopped up in Tompkins Square Park.
Record set for MulchFest 2012 Don’t tell us you just threw that old Christmas tree away! Instead, thousands of New Yorkers brought their Yuletide evergreens to MulchFest over the weekend, where a record-setting 24,231 trees were recycled into mulch. METRO/CB
Pharmacy robberies skyrocket LONG ISLAND. Pharmacy robberies nationwide have in-
creased 26 percent since 2006, according to a report in The New York Times, and pharmacists on Long Island are particularly nervous, as six people were killed in drugstore robberies there last year alone.
“I just want to get out of here alive every day; that’s my new goal,” pharmacist Howard Levine, of Belmont Drugs and Surgical in West Babylon, told the Times. His store has been robbed twice in the past 14 months. METRO/CB