Excerpted from the AC Press
February 3, 2010

 When the state opened the mics to the public to brainstorm ways to help fix New Jersey on Tuesday, two women from Cape and Cumberland counties answered the call. They were among the state residents who gave lawmakers some imaginative ideas for solving the state's fiscal woes, including allowing casino gambling in the Meadowlands, eliminating county government and legalizing hemp farming.

More than 130 people signed up to speak at the four-hour hearing at the Statehouse. The heavy turnout prompted Oliver and Republican Leader Alex DeCroce to split the group into three, with Assembly Democrats and Republicans assigned to the overflow rooms to limit the amount of time residents had to wait before testifying.

Tom Ng, the student government president at Ramapo College, urged lawmakers to put more money into higher education to keep New Jersey students from leaving the state for college. New Jersey ranks at the bottom nationally in the number of high schoolers who stay here for college, he said, while it is in the top five nationally for K-12 per pupil spending.

In other words, he said, New Jersey does a good job educating its students but a lousy job retaining them through college, if they can afford college at all.

"The state is losing its investment," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.