Critics air concerns over spending cuts, higher taxes during first Senate budget hearing • New Jersey Monitor

A slew of advocates representing a broad range of interests urged the Senate Budget Committee to forestall cuts or tax increases included in Gov. Phil Murphy’s $55.9 billion spending proposal on Tuesday. The roughly six-hour-long meeting, the body’s first budget hearing of the season, is meant to give New Jersey residents and others the opportunity to give input on the state’s spending plan, which lawmakers must pass and the governor must sign before July 1 to stave off a government shutdown. Representatives from the state’s 18 community colleges urged lawmakers...