Can't stress it enough, you ALWAYS have to check your ATM machine

Dateline Kearny: Two men were arrested for installing a skimming device, a small add-on to an ATM machine that allows thieves and lowlives to collect your account info AND PIN number.

Worthless human beings Alejandro Gonzalez-Scott, of Lyndhurst, and David Herrera-Rodas, of Newark were caught Aug. 10 at a QuikChek at Kearny and Bergen Avenues after someone alerted police who simply set up surveillance on the ATM and waited for the two idiots to show back up an arrest them. The both face multiple fraud charges.

Gotta be careful out there friends, check those ATMs before you put your card in, if it looks wrong, find another.

Get an important first look at local BOE ballots

When you go to vote, its usually a good idea to look at the ballot online before you vote. That way you won't be flummoxed and or flustered for you can't find your candidate. The Jersey Journal has a list of all the local BOE ballot orders with asterisks pointing out who is an incumbent.

If you're a Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, Guttenberg, Kearny, Secaucus, and West New York,voter and plan to vote in your next board of education election, go take a look. 

Happy 4th of July!

Johnny wants to wish everyone in the Jersey City Desk viewing area a very happy and proud 4th of July. It rings out extra loud this year with the gay marriage ruling so that even more people now feel included in this great American experiment.

Make sure to follow Johnny on the Twitter or drop back here later tonight around midnight, Johnny is going to have a special treat for all of you!

Johnny was NOT the guy who bought the $19 million lottery ticket in Kearny

So on we go here.

19 million bones, that's a pretty nice haul. Dollar Subs on Elm St. where the winning ticket was sold the said the winner has not come forward yet. Clerk Lisa Baez was picking her brain to see if she could remember who bought the ticket. She also had an idea about how to spend the loot:

"You can't be greedy in this world," said Baez, who added that she would give some of the money to the homeless and needy. "(If I won) It would be a blessing and I would have to give some of it away."

We like where her head is at with the sharing. So readers, what might you do with $19 million of Uncle Sam's best green pocket liner?

Tow truck companies in Kearny sound a little greedy

Representatives from two towing companies, Moran Towing and Afton Auto , are asking the city there to raise the amount they can charge the owners of the cars they hook.

David Moran of Moran Towing said he is looking for a "modest" increase in towing charges, if by modest you mean roughly an 50% increase. Towing in Kearny now costs between $40-$65 and Moran would like to modestly jump this cost to $100 a tow and $25 for storage. What a leech.

Moran told the governing body that the cost of gas and health insurance had gone up which is why he'd like to see an increase.

Sorry David, the cost of health insurance is YOUR cost of doing business. You're a towing company not a public utility with a corner on the market that regularly gets away with that sort of thing. And here's a question for the towing companies; when gas was cheap did you ask for a REDUCTION in towing costs? It seems to be if you want more money now because of gas costs you'd have dropped your fees when gas was cheap. Yeah, right.

Tow companies, if it were up to us we'd be disinclined to acquiesce to your requests. It just doesn't add up for anybody but yourselves.

A man from Washington state drives into Kearny police car and flees

Kearny police officer Mike Ryan was simply writing someone a ticket. Simply writing a ticket for a scofflaw motorist when Francisco Silva, a resident of the great state of Washington, smashed into his radio car and kept right-on-a-drivin. Ryan followed Silva a short distance and stopped him. Ryan smelled alcohol on Silva's breath and after a scuffle featuring pepper spray Silva was taken into custody. He's been charged with the superfecta of two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, assault by auto, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated. Silva is in the clubhouse on January 3rd with a list of charges in one traffic stop that'll be hard to top.

So Mr. Francisco Silva of Washington state, how do you like THEM apples?

Election day dawns clear, crisp and full of suspense

Who will become the New Jersey governor? Will Mason and Zimmer draw enough votes from each other to allow Brinkman to sneak in and snatch the mayorship of Hoboken? The mayors of Kearny and Secaucus will also be delivered by voters today.

Will the city initiative in Jersey City, Proposal "P" pass? Proposal P as you recall is the citizen initiative that takes accused city government scofflaws and hangs then from their britches off the Colgate Clock for 48 hours and at the end of that time they are given a rowboat, two oars, a days supply of food and pointed by the Port Authority towards the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and told to keep rowing and don't look back.

The Jersey City Desk is supporting a YES vote on Proposal P

A robbery results in murder in Kearny

The son of the owners of Rachel Jewelers in Kearny was shot twice, killing him inside the jewelry store this morning. Two suspects were captured on videotape it is believed both entering and exiting the store. The man's parents were both on the scene earlier today to try to make sense of something so senseless.

We can only hope that these suspects are caught, and soon, and the full weight of the law can be brought down upon them. We mean the full weight of the law.

We've got one whack-a-doodle traffic backup this morning on the Pulaski Skyway

If you're heading north into the Jersey City and New York City areas this morning on the 1 & 9 via the Pulaski Skyway you have quite a long wait ahead of you. At least a two car accident with one of those being a cab that was ground into dust in the right lane, has traffic on the 1 & 9 north backed up to the exit for the 1 & 9 truck route, which this intrepid reporter recommends taking. Johnny had an early morning airport run out to Newark and could see the burgeoning mess and made for the truck route on the way back. Smooth sailing out to Communipaw and then up to Kennedy. Johnny does get proud of himself from time to time knowing alternate routes in his relatively new home city.

Traffic copters all buzzing over the scene now but they don't have websites like this to keep you informed.

The Macy's fireworks aren't the only fireworks around town this weekend

Several communities including Jersey City will be holding their own fireworks displays this weekend. Courtesy of nj.com, here's the list:

JERSEY CITY
DAY: Saturday
WHERE: Liberty State Park
ACTIVITIES: Music: 3 p.m.
FIREWORKS: 9:15 p.m. For more information contact the Division of Cultural Affairs (201) 547-6921

BAYONNE
DAY: Sunday (rain date: Monday)
WHERE: Lower Level of 16th Street Park
ACTIVITIES: Children's activities and band concert: 7-9 p.m.
FIREWORKS: 9 p.m.

KEARNY
DAY: Saturday (rain date: Sunday)
WHERE: Veterans Field
ACTIVITIES: children's activities: 6:30 p.m.; band concert: 7 p.m.
FIREWORKS: 9 p.m.

SECAUCUS
DAY: Friday
WHERE: Swim center on Koelle Boulevard and Mill Ridge Road, across the street from the Recreation Center
FIREWORKS: After sunset, about 9 p.m. For Secaucus residents only. For more information call the recreation center at (201) 330-3299.

STATE FAIR MEADOWLANDS
DAY: Friday and Saturday
ACTIVITIES: Starting at 2 p.m. with purchase of ticket to fair.
FIREWORKS: 9 p.m. Note: Tickets to fair are $9 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under and free for children under 34 inches. For more information: www.njfair.com

That alarm you may or may not hear today in Bayonne is the Emergency Broadcast Network

While everyone else in Hudson County WILL hear the sirens from the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management between 2-3 pm today, Bayonne may not. That's why they test folks, as last time they ran the test sirens they were barely audible in Bayonne. The good news is we DID hear them here in Jersey City. So that sound you hear today (and tomorrow in Kearny, East Newark and Harrison) is just a test......we hope.

You can't take white people anywhere anymore

Dateline: Kearny, where two white men robbed a gas station after brandishing a gun Saturday night and stabbed the clerk. The two caucasian criminals bolted on foot after absconding with somewhere between $500-$1000 of Uncle Sam's best green pocket liner. Even after being stabbed in the leg the 54 year old clerk still chased after whitey. Later after he called the police he was transported to University Hospital in Newark.

You don't want that

Johnny is convinced you can watch the teevee news and no matter the bad news story you can respond with one of two lines, either "Don't go there" or "You don't want that". This morning we bring you "You don't want that"

New York City's Penn Station is temporarily CLOSED to traffic because Amtrak is unable to close Portal Bridge in Kearny.

Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct train service lines are affected. NJ Transit passes and tickets will be accepted to use on the Path lines at Hoboken and Newark and using NJ Transit bus service.

Good luck commuters, godspeed.....