New Jersey

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono shouldn't let her supporters squash a bill that would force secretive advocacy groups to disclose their donors. Sitting on legislation that would give New Jersey voters a hint of who is trying to influence the race for governor is as hypocritical as it should be embarrassing for the Middlesex County state senator. She sponsored a similar bill that died for lack of support last year. So-called issue-advocacy or dark-money groups are organized under a section of the tax code that allows them to conceal their donors.

TRENTON - State Sen. Barbara Buono's campaign fund-raising in her bid to be governor lags so badly that without a major push in the next four weeks, she risks not maximizing state matching money in her run against Gov. Christie. On Monday, Buono, a Democrat, reported having raised "just under" $1.9 million, including $1.1 million in matching funds. To be able to spend the maximum of $5.6 million on the June 4 primary, she must bring get close to $1.2 million more from donors.

New Jersey saw the largest declines in gross gaming and tax revenues among the 22 states in which commercial casinos operated in 2012. Philadelphia remained the No. 1 racetrack-gaming market in the country last year, with $835.3 million in gross gaming revenue generated, led by Parx in Bensalem for the third consecutive year. And increasingly, patrons between ages 21 and 35 are frequenting casinos - about 39 percent of those surveyed for the first time - visiting nongambling amenities such as nightclubs and restaurants.

TRENTON - In a Capitol where Democrats rule both legislative chambers, it's not unusual to see Senate President Stephen Sweeney, whose South Jersey district trends more conservative than some of its North Jersey counterparts, clash with the more left-leaning Assembly leadership. Yet political observers say they're stumped by Sweeney's opposition to a gun-control bill most of the state Democratic Party supports. Sweeney is refusing to let the Senate vote on a bill that would decrease magazine capacity limit in New Jersey to 10 bullets from the current 15. The Assembly passed a bill in February lowering the limit, but it wasn't among the dozen gun-control bills heard in Senate committee last week.

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. - The mayor of a storm-wrecked Jersey Shore town said Monday that England's Prince Harry will visit next week before heading to a news conference nearby. Mantoloking Mayor George Nebel said Monday that Harry, an heir to the throne, will take a short walk along Barnegat Lane along the bay front during a brief visit Tuesday. The prince will accompany Gov. Christie to Seaside Heights afterward. During a council meeting, held in Point Pleasant Beach because Mantoloking's municipal building was wrecked by the storm, Nebel revealed part of the prince's itinerary for his visit to the East Coast.

The vehicle identification numbers of a 1951 Rolls-Royce, a 2012 Jaguar, and eight Ferraris are among the 30,000 that appear on an official New Jersey website to warn consumers about vehicles damaged by the monster storm that hit the coast last fall. But after checking the online list ( njconsumeraffairs.gov/floodedcars/ ), consumers should not be complacent. The site provides the VINs of fewer than half the 72,000 vehicles in the state reported damaged by Hurricane Sandy. "There could be a dealer out there who's unscrupulous, or a person out there who might clean a car up and try to sell it," said Mike Horan, spokesman for the state Motor Vehicle Commission, which helped build the website.

An emotional visit to Trenton by four families who lost children in the Newtown, Conn., shootings should have sharpened the debate over New Jersey legislation that would sensibly limit ammunition clips to 10 rounds. As the Connecticut families told the New Jersey lawmakers last week, limiting the number of rounds in a high-capacity magazine can save lives, as evidenced by the fact that 11 students were able to escape when the Newtown shooter, Adam Lanza, paused to reload. The 13th bullet fired by confessed shooter Jared Lee Loughner took the life of the 9-year-old granddaughter of former Phillies manager Dallas Green in the Arizona shooting that left six dead and critically wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

The last time the Flyers won the Stanley Cup, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a box-office sensation, sentences were handed out for the Watergate cover-up, and gas was about 57 cents a gallon. Yeah, it's been a while. Thirty-eight years, to be exact. No one is more frustrated than Ed Snider, the Flyers' founder and chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, the team's parent company. The frustration grew this season. First there was the senseless lockout. Then the Flyers' head-scratching, inconsistent play caused them to miss the playoffs for just the second time in the last 18 years.

You won't hear a discouraging word about New Jersey during Wanda Sykes' stand-up shows at the Borgata's Music Box this weekend. "I love Atlantic City," she says on the phone, "and I'm really impressed with Chris Christie and the job he's done with Sandy relief. Jersey is fun. " This represents a big turnaround for the comedienne when it comes to the Garden State. She used to joke in her act that Jersey was so toxic women should get mammograms at the toll booth. "That was years ago," she says, "when I was actually living in New Jersey.

MANTOLOKING, N.J. - Another of the defining images of Hurricane Sandy's destruction is disappearing as New Jersey struggles toward normalcy. Crews on Thursday began demolishing a house washed into the Barnegat Bay by the violent surge from the Oct. 29 storm. It was one of eight virtually intact homes that the storm washed into bays around the state; work on removing the others will begin soon. The house, owned by David Roberts, a former mayor of Hoboken, was the most famous of them all, coming to rest 200 feet from shore in the middle of the bay. It once sat not far from where the ocean cut a new channel that chopped Mantoloking in half during the storm, necessitating a massive emergency construction project to fill in the breach.