Chris Christie's recent "Lab Band" weigh-loss surgery scoop remains the talk of the nation.  

State Sen. Anthony Bucco yesterday appealed to Senate President Steve Sweeney to allow a hearing to go forward Monday on a bill that would provide for the closing of a Morris County landfill.

The bill was among those pulled off Monday's committee agendas in what sources close to the Senate President say was relatiation against Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr.

“Yesterday’s order by the Senate President directly keeps dozens of suffering local families and hundreds of area school students at risk,” Bucco said. “I'm concerned with protecting the people of this area from this hazardous situation." 

A recent study from the Center for Public Integrity gave New Jersey a failing grade for its disclosure of campaign spending by outside groups.

The group focused on spending by super PACs, nonprofits and other outside groups, grading all 50 states on their respective disclosure requirements.

New Jersey was one of 26 states to receive a failing grade.

Senate President Steve Sweeney has slashed all GOP-introduced bills from next Monday's committee agendas in retaliation for what he and others in the upper chamber say was a cheap political maneuver by Sen. Tom Kean Jr.

According to three sources familiar with Sweeney's actions, the Senate president's move is payback for Kean's blocking of a procedural maneuver on the Senate floor Monday that would have allowed a vote on Sweeney's bill strengthening background checks for gun purchasers.

Instead, the bill won't be voted on until the Senate's next voting session on May 30.