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William Perlman/The Star-LedgerThe president and CEO of The Seeing Eye, Jim Kutsch, with Seeing Eye dog Colby at his side, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange today.

Most of the folks assembled on the podium above the trading floor this morning were dressed in suits and ties, like the typical movers and shakers who open the stock exchange.

But among the dozen or so officials from The Seeing Eye in Morris County was Nancy, a 9-week-old golden retriever puppy, trying hard not to squirm.

Jersey City police searched garbage dumps in New Jersey and Pennsylvania today for the body of a baby apparently thrown out with the trash at a Jersey City hospital sometime in the past two weeks.

"It's like they treated my son like he's nothing," said Kalynn Moore, the 26-year-old mother. "It hurts so bad."

State Department of CorrectionsMarc Harris, 22

A manhunt is underway today in Somerset County for an inmate who walked away from the Skillman Farm in Montgomery Township where minimum custody inmates work tending dairy cows, authorities said.

Marc Harris, 22, who could have been eligible for parole in May, was last seen at about 9:40 a.m., said Matthew Schuman, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

A 32-year-old cab driver in New Brunswick was sentenced today to seven years in prison for failing to quickly get medical help for his fiancee's 3-year-old son who died.

Robert Knutsen was acquitted in October of fatally beating Nikolas Chavez, who suffered a broken back and bled to death after he was struck in the abdomen on Nov. 30, 2005.

He was eventually convicted of endangering the welfare of a child.

New Jersey Senate veterans John Adler and Leonard Lance started their careers in Washington today.

Adler, a Democrat from Cherry Hill, and Lance, a Republican from Clinton, were sworn in by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as members of the 111th Congress.

AP PhotoCongressman John Adler (D-3rd Dist)

A Monmouth County teenager has been charged with vehicular homicide in a one-car crash on Thanksgiving in Colts Neck that left a 17-year-old dead and a 16-year-old seriously injured, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.

Matthew Gross was driving when his car left the road and struck a tree, killing passenger Petros Dimitroulakos, 17, of Tinton Falls, authorities said. A 16-year-old Tinton Falls boy in the back seat was also injured.

Gross, of Tinton Falls, was arrested Dec. 19 and bail was set at $200,000, the Asbury Park Press reported.

A Superior Court judge in Monmouth County this morning ordered the estate of suspected serial killer Robert Zarinsky to pay $13 million to the family of a Middletown girl he was accused of sexually assaulting and strangling 40 years ago.

Judge Dennis O'Brien, sitting in Freehold, entered the judgment after he received no contest from the estate of Zarinsky, who died in a prison hospice on Nov. 28.

TONY KURDZUK/THE STAR-LEDGERFile photo of Robert Zarinsky handcuffed, strapped to a gurney and breathing oxygen during a court hearing in March 2008. He died in November.

Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt has decided to run for state Assembly in the 23rd Legislative District, pulling himself out of a three-way race for state Senate, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.com.

A former councilman and mayor in Clinton, Holt had been expected to compete against Assembly members Michael Doherty and Marcia Karrow, both (R-Warren/Hunterdon), to replace Republican Sen. Leonard Lance, who is being sworn into his Congressional seat today.

Stocks pared their earlier gains today following disappointing readings on pending home sales and factory orders.

While investors expected the data to show further deterioration, they were hoping the pace of the declines would slow. The market is eager for signs that the U.S. recession will end this year.

Two deer jumped through a window at Faith Baptist School in Hamilton, Mercer County Monday and were contained in a classroom until animal control officers could tranquilize the deer for removal, according to a report in the Times of Trenton.

Three students and a teacher were in a small teacher's supply room sometimes used a classroom for small-group instruction when the deer crashed through the glass window, school officials said.

Snow and ice threaten to slow today's ride home across New Jersey.

The National Weather Service says snow and sleet will fall over the state later in the day and throughout the night before changing to rain.

Already well into snow-blowing season, Montclair officials are casting their eye toward spring.

They are considering tighter restrictions against leaf blowers that would close the window on their use in spring to six weeks from four months. The restrictions also would outlaw noisier and dirtier machines.

Star-Ledger file photoLeaf blowers have drawn criticism for being noisy.

A Monmouth County grand jury has declined to indict Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith for his role in a crash that killed his close friend 18 months ago.

Instead, the star basketball player with a checkered driving record will appear in Municipal Court next week to face other charges stemming from the fatal car accident of June 2007.

David Zalubowski/APNuggets guard J.R. Smith during a 2007 game in Denver.

New Jersey, New York and nine other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states agreed to create a low carbon fuel standard to reduce greenhouse gases.

Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles said Monday the states will come up with a single standard that would apply to the entire region, creating a larger market for cleaner fuels and the development of clean energy technologies.

New Jersey Democrat John Adler and Republican Leonard Lance will be sworn today as members of 111th Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold a ceremony for all new members on the House floor at noon. Individual swearings-in will follow throughout the afternoon..

New Jersey Assemblyman Richard Merkt asked all Republican gubernatorial candidates to join him in a 12 public debates during the next five months, according to a report on HardNewsNJ.com.

The report said Merkt proposed that the first debate take place in Morris County later this month, with subsequent debates held statewide roughly every week and a half until the June 2 primary election.

Two former Bergenfield council members pleaded not guilty Monday to charges they forged signatures to influence a state Senate race, according to a report in the Record.

The report said Dennis Mulligan and Elaine Rabbitt, Democrats whose terms expired last month, were arraigned in Superior Court in Hackensack. An indictment returned last month by a state grand jury alleges that Mulligan forged the signature of Tim Driscoll in 2005 in a letter offering Driscoll's resignation from the municipal Democratic committee.

A New York company is offering people $10 dollars every time they contest their parking ticket by phone.

Parkingticket.com said its phone service -- 1-888-NYC-PARK -- gives New Yorkers an opportunity to fight their parking tickets entirely via the phone just by entering the ticket information using the phone's keypad.

Asian stock markets were mostly higher today, shrugging off lackluster trade overnight in the U.S. and Europe amid growing optimism the world economy would start to recover later this year.

Overseas markets, meanwhile, were poised to follow Asian bourses higher as European benchmarks gained early in the session and Wall Street futures pointed to a positive open.