When elementary and middle school students sit down next month for the annual state testing, they will get their first taste of new national academic standards coming to New Jersey –- even if they may not know it. The Christie administration will begin to “field test” questions derived from the new Common Core State Standards into the next NJASK tests, given to every student Grades 3-8. New Jersey is one of 45 states moving toward the Common Core standards, along with new testing that is being developed through a national consortium, advertised as providing more depth and rigor to existing state standards that vary across the country. http://bit.ly/Hk9LzY

A plan to hike New Jersey's minimum wage by $1.25 to $8.50 an hour is a step closer to approval after the Senate Labor Committee passed it, 3-1, Thursday. The bill, which would peg the wage rate to inflation, passed an Assembly committee last month. Leaders in both Democratically controlled chambers in Trenton

Gov. Christie told William Brown, 34, a former Navy SEAL and second-year Rutgers-Camden law student on Thursday that his school will definitely merge with Rowan University, sparking a yelling match that led the governor to dismiss him as an “idiot.” Brown, a former candidate for state Assembly who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, was removed from the firehouse by Florence police officers. Brown worries that veterans and other non-traditional students won’t get the same kind of educational opportunities once the merger goes through. http://bit.ly/zqMTqk

A New Jersey healthcare program known as Global Options, which helps seniors age in place rather than nursing homes, is earmarked for a big boost in funding under Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed 2013 budget. New Jersey is moving forward with its push to help seniors remain in their homes and communities and avoid nursing homes for as long as possible. While the majority of the state’s Medicaid long-term care spending still pays for nursing home care, the shift to home and community-based services is evidenced by the growth of Global Options, a major state program that provides nursing-home eligible Medicaid recipients with home-based support services like visiting nurses and housekeeping aides. http://bit.ly/HiIzO4

A plan to hike New Jersey's minimum wage by $1.25 to $8.50 an hour is a step closer to approval after the Senate Labor Committee passed it, 3-1, Thursday. The bill, which would peg the wage rate to inflation, passed an Assembly committee last month. Leaders in both Democratically controlled chambers in Trenton

The Legislature's Democratic leaders unveiled their counterproposals Tuesday to Christie's plan to cut income taxes 10 percent across the board, an idea he included in his budget proposal in February. Sweeney wants to offer taxpayers the equivalent of a 10 percent property-tax cut: Those who earn $250,000 or less a year can take an income-tax credit of up to $1,000 based on their property-tax bill. http://bit.ly/xmEn8u