Who goes into the 2016 season as the team to beat in every section throughout the state.

The first weekend in December is always among the most exciting of the NJSIAA season as all 23 football sectional championships are decided at four sites throughout the state.

Who will be the teams hosting trophies at MetLife Stadium, Rutgers, Rowan and Kean this winter? It's not time for predictions just yet - that can wait until the seeds come out in early November.

But we will let you know who the teams are who have the best chance right now to be declared champions at the end of the season - and a few teams that should be challenging them for the crown.

Click on the links below to see our projections for the top teams in every group in the state as the 2016 season gets ready to kick off this weekend.

• North 1, Group 1
• North 1, Group 2
• North 1, Group 3
• North 1, Group 4
• North 1, Group 5

SEASON PREVIEW: The 2016 essentials and more

• North 2, Group 1
• North 2, Group 2
• North 2, Group 3
• North 2, Group 4
• North 2, Group 5

• Central Group 1
• Central Group 2
• Central Group 3
• Central Group 4
• Central Group 5

• South Group 1
• South Group 2
• South Group 3
• South Group 4
• South Group 5

• Non-public Group 2
• Non-public Group 3
• Non-public Group 4

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Find the NJ.com High School Football page on Facebook by following this link.

Two 17-year-olds were shot on Aug. 23, police said.

NEWARK -- Police have arrested a man accused in a double shooting last week that left two teens wounded.

Reese. (Courtesy Newark Police)
 

William E. Reese, 18, was arrested Monday in connection with two shootings on Fabyan Place on Aug. 23, police announced in a release.

Two 17-year-olds were injured during the 2:25 a.m. shooting, police said. One of the teens was on the scene when police arrived and was transported to University Hospital for treatment, and the other went to Beth Israel for treatment, police said.

Police called the investigation into the double shooting "intense," but did not release details about what may have prompted it.

Police issued a warrant for Reese's arrest Friday. He is being held on $100,000 bail.

City straddles line between hope and homicide

This shooting came on the heels of a string of six fatal shootings in the span of about 72 hours in Newark. 

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The district released a three year plan aimed at improving academic performance and other issues that have plagued the school system.

NEWARK -- The hundreds of changes outlined in a three-year plan Newark schools unveiled last week will improve the district without instituting major overhauls, according to the report.

"Community members made it clear that they value stability and improvement over more change. So do we," Newark's state-appointed Superintendent Chris Cerf says in a note at the beginning of "The Next Three Years," a strategic plan that outlines initiatives the district plans to implement.

File photo of Newark Superintendent Chris Cerf.
 

"We can achieve our goals by doing the most important things better."

School and city officials released the plan Thursday on the heels of the Newark Education Success Board's report with recommendations for the projected end of state control over the district by next fall.

"The Next Three Years" outlines four main priorities for the district: strengthen academics and student supports; ensure great talent (i.e. teachers and administrators) in every school and department; engage the community; and, provide efficient operations, sustainable budgets, and skilled governance of the district.

The document outlines strategies and a plan of action timeline that school and city leaders say will improve education in Newark, and help allow the district to regain local control.

"This strategic plan is the third giant step this month toward the return of local control," Mayor Ras Baraka said, referring to the NESB report and the state Board of Education's decision earlier this month to return control over district personnel to the local school board.

"It is a plan designed to create better schools and assure that every Newark student has the opportunity for a world class education and a successful and fulfilled life," Baraka said.

After 21 years, local control poised to return

The plan addresses many longstanding issues for the district, including low (but improving) test scores and graduation rates, chronic student absenteeism, and the inability to retain high-quality teachers.

Below are some of the most interesting plans outlined in the report.

1. Traditional teaching techniques, like lecturing, will be replaced with more student-centric methods. "Currently...the teacher is modeling, explaining, or sometimes just doing too much of the thinking for students," the document says. Teacher training will start this year, and by the 2018-19 school year, "master teachers" will train new hires in the methods.
2. In an effort to enhance hands-on learning in the sciences, the district will partner with Students2Science to build a 10,000 square foot, state-of-the-art science lab stocked with $4 million worth of donated science equipment. The lab should be launched by the 2017-18 school year, it said.  
3. Students will be exposed to more art, and create more of their own art, as part of an "Arts for Every Child in Every School" initiative. The district plans to develop sequential curriculum in all art forms to give students the opportunity to "create, perform, produce, and analyze their work," the plan said.
4. Two new focuses will be added to the district's history curriculum - a study of the 350-year history of the city of Newark, and greater implementation of the state's Amistad curriculum, which focuses on contributions of African Americans and other minority groups.
5. On the heels of a purchase of 11,000 Chromebooks, the district plans to implement many new programs aimed at better integrating technology into the classroom, including online tools for both teachers and students.
6. To increase the rigor of its course catalog, the district plans to implement a new partnership with the College Board, which will allow it to administer the SAT and PSAT to all students, offer more AP classes, and design more elective classes that are tuned into student interests and future aspirations.
7. The district will focus on the delivery of services to its special needs and non English-speaking students via strategies like training teachers to diagnose student challenges earlier. "A huge percentage of (IEPs) in the later grades occur because students do not learn to read by 3rd grade," the plan reads. It will also make special education students' Individualized Education Plans less generic, and tailored more to kids' needs.
8. By the 2017-18 school year, the district will create networks of K-8 schools in each ward that target specific special needs populations including those focused on autism, behavior disorders, and cognitive disabilities.
9. Schools will develop partnerships with colleges to recruit bilingual teachers, among other measures meant to streamline and improve the educational program in place for English language learners.
10. Schools will implement a multi-pronged approach to improving student attendance, beginning with targeting students who have been chronically absent in the past. Other components of the plan include ensuring that all schools have a "tight system" in place to take and track attendance, and alert families when students are out, as well as coming up with incentive plans to motivate kids to go to school everyday.
11. The district will expand extracurricular offerings, as a way to motivate and interest students, and give them another reason to come to school.
12. It will focus on expanding the preschool program by adding spots for more students every year, starting user-friendly enrollment processes, and partnering with community preschools to allow the district to track all student data in one place.
13. The district plans to start several different initiatives to attract new teachers to Newark, including a citywide effort to "get the word out about the benefits of being a teacher in Newark. ... We must do more to recruit a diverse teaching workforce that reflects the diversity of our students," the plan reads.
14. Since paraprofessionals and teacher's aides work closely with special needs students, the district will pilot and roll out a teacher aide evaluation program, begin outlining expectations for those employees, and coaching them on how to meet those expectations.
15. The district will also work to evaluate non-instructional staff, like security guards, central office employees, and food service workers.
16. The district is launching a $12 million community schools program in the South Ward this year, and looking into expanding the program into other schools across the district.
17. Newark schools plan to focus on dropout prevention. About 3,800 of the district's dropouts each year are unemployed or underemployed, the report said. It has partnered with the city to create the Newark Opportunity Youth Network to address what they are calling a "disengagement crisis," bolster programming at the city's two transfer high schools for overage and under-credited students, and work with community organizations to build up GED and job training programs.
18. In the past two years, the school jettisoned 17 vocational programs that were unpopular or irrelevant in today's economy. It will now work to replace them with 21st Century-appropriate programs.
19. The district will help all of its schools develop parent organizations to help better engage students' families with what is happening at school, and increase contact between the schools, the board of education, parents, and community.
20. It has a new goal to make information about the schools more accessible. The community has "made it clear that we must upgrade our website, which is now our central communications tool," reads the report, which is posted on the site. Information provided will be not only about student performance, but employee performance as well, like statistics on teacher attendance, principal turnover, and number of substitute days.
21. After a revelation last year that old piping created elevated lead levels in 30 school buildings' drinking water supplies, the district will continue to address remediation efforts, and will deliver weekly updates to the public about its progress.
22. The district does not have a capital budget, so capital improvements to school buildings and infrastructure must come from its (approximately $1 billion) operating budget. The district plans to evaluate all of its buildings, and create an improvement priority list for capital projects. It also plans to evaluate all of its spaces to find more efficient uses for what it has, and identify areas it can rent out or use to generate revenue in other ways.
23. The school created a list of ways it will work to save money, and generate more revenue. The list includes making school transportation more efficient -- the district hopes to cut $4 million from its annual $38 million transportation budget -- verifying the residency of all students currently in the district, implementing better verification processes for future students, and more actively applying for grant funding and philanthropic support.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Itiyanah Spruill faces three years in prison.

NEWARK -- A mother whose son accidentally shot and killed his younger brother has pleaded guilty to charges related to the 4-year-old boy's death, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Monday.

Itiyanah Spruill pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges in connection with the death of her 4-year-old son, the spokeswoman said. Spruill's 5-year-old son had been playing with her gun in the family's East Orange home on June 25 when it accidentally went off, authorities have said.

Boy killed by brother wanted to be a doctor

The 22-year-old mother faces three years in jail when she is sentenced on Sept. 28.

Spruill, who previously sobbed through a not guilty plea, has been in prison since June. She was granted a viewing of her slain son hours before his burial.

In addition to the two young boys, authorities have said a 1-year-old was in the house at the time of the shooting. The baby, a step brother of one of Spruill's children, was not injured, officials have said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Malik Lowery is one of three remaining South Side Cartel members facing a host of charges.

Lowery faces up to 30 years in prison. (File photo)
 

NEWARK -- A former leader of "the most violent street gang in Newark" is facing 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering and other charges, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell announced in a joint release Monday.

Malik "Leek" Lowery, 35, pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, carjacking, robbery, and drug charges in connection with multiple crimes carried out by the "South Side Cartel," a set of the Bloods street gang based in Newark, authorities said.

As part of the plea, Lowery admitted taking part in a 2007 murder, a 2008 armed carjacking, the robbery of a drug dealer, and various other crimes related to the gang's drug activity, authorities said.

When Lowery is sentenced on Dec. 6, he faces 25 to 30 years in federal prison, Fishman and Caldwell said.

Feds seeking death penalty for gang leader

The gang, officials said, grew from a "neighborhood-based gang whose main activities were selling drugs and committing violent acts to aid the drug trafficking business," to a 20-member group that ran a major heroin and cocaine ring in the city from about 2003 to 2010. Most of the previous members are either in jail, or were murdered in connection with gang activities, authorities said.

Two other remaining members of the group, officials said, are also in law enforcement custody.

Mark "B.G." Williams, pleaded guilty to racketeering and related charges earlier this month, officials said. The trial against Farad "B.U." Roland, one of the founders of the gang, is set to begin in September 2017, they said. Authorities said they intend to seek the death penalty for Roland, who is charged in five murders, among other crimes.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Bruce Graves allegedly held up a Ferry Street bank in July

NEWARK -- A Perth Amboy man has been arrested in connection with a bank robbery on Ferry Street last month, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said in a statement.

Bruce Graves, 48, was identified as the suspect in the July 26 robbery, when a suspect approached a teller's booth, demanded cash and then fled on foot.

City police and the FBI's Fugitive Task Force assisted in the arrest of Graves, who was found on Ocean Avenue in Jersey City. He has been charged with robbery and resisting arrest.

The Rio silver medalist has a big heart to match his big jab.

NEWARK -- The old boxer had three requests when the volunteers at his hospice told him they could make his "wishes" come true. He wanted to sit ringside and see one more fight. He wanted to tour the city where the learned the sport generations ago one more time.

Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson (right) talks to a former New Jersey champion from Newark named George Clark.Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media 

And, maybe most of all, he wanted to meet the young fighter from that city who went to the Rio Olympics this month and came home with a silver medal. He wanted to meet Shakur Stevenson. 

So just two hours after Stevenson was honored with a parade through downtown Newark, he sat quietly at a restaurant table and listened as a 93-year-old man named George Clarke told him stories about learning the "sweet science" on the streets when he was about the same age. 

"There was no money for lightweight fighters back then. The money was for the heavyweights!" the old boxer told the young boxer, who -- in the coming months -- will hopefully find out that this is no longer true when he embarks on his own professional career.

But that is for another day. On this, what was supposed to be his special day, Stevenson took time to make it about somebody else. And, in the process, he proved that his heart is just as big as his jab.

He sat there patiently as Clarke, whose respiratory problems makes it hard for him to speak clearly, seemed to light up as he told tales about fighting at the long gone Newark Athletic Club where he also worked a part time job. Clarke explained that he started boxing when he was 12, and then continued as a student at South Side (now Shabazz) High. 

"I would fight on a Friday night," Clarke said, "and on Monday morning, I was right back in school."

13 cool things about Shakur Stevenson

Clarke lives at Haven Hospice in North Plainfield, where cardiac disease has sapped his strength but not his spirit. He sat in a wheelchair, needing occasional reminders to keep sipping his fortified water as he regaled Stevenson with stories about his own boxing career.

He was a former New Jersey state champion, while he couldn't remember exactly when, it's a safe bet that it happened long before Stevenson's grandfather was even born. That was back in an era when Newark was one of the best boxing towns in the country and an old barn on Springfield called Laurel Garden had a full fight card every week. 

Clarke once made $15 for a fight, but he didn't care. He'd fight anyone, he said, for a payday. He barely recognized the city where, like Stevenson, he started his career in the sport. But, unlike Stevenson, the old boxer said his toughest fights were usually outside the ring.

"Every section of Newark had a tough guy," Clark said, "and I didn't have enough sense to run!"

Stevenson smiled. His newly awarded key to the city was sitting in a wooden box on the table, and his mother, Malikah, and his friends made small talk around him. But the 19-year-old boxer was an attentive guest for the man nearly three-quarters of a century his senior.

Shakur Stevenson (left) smiles as he gives 93-year-old Newark native George Clarke one of his "Just a Kid From Newark" T-shirts.Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media 

He handed Clarke one of the "Just a Kid From Newark" T-shirts from his Powerade promotion and, with the help of his aide from the hospice, Clarke slipped it over his head right away.

Hours earlier, hundreds of people from the city -- many of them wearing that same T-shirt -- had cheered as he passed on a parade float during a day he declared the best in his life. He was the center of attention for a moment that made his mom cry tears of joy.

Stevenson took his split-decision loss in the gold-medal fight to Cuban star Robeisy Ramirez extremely hard. He thought he had let people down, but he saw for himself that the people who supported him back home couldn't have been prouder of his performance in Rio de Janeiro. 

"Today is the proudest day in the city of Newark," mayor Ras Baraka told Stevenson during the city hall presentation. "And it is the best thing that we have ever done because of this young man."

If only they could have seen him just hours later when, far away from the spotlight as the city workers cleaned up after the parade, Stevenson made sure all the attention belonged to a boxer nearing the end of his journey. 

"It was great meeting you, sir," the young boxer told the old boxer when their hour together had come to an end. The old boxer beamed at a kindness that shined brighter than any gold medal.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

Thousands of Dominicans live in Newark, and have celebrated their pride with 13 annual flag-raising celebrations. But no Dominican has been elected to the City Council. Watch video

NEWARK -- Thousands of Dominicans call Newark home, and on Monday night leaders of the Dominican community raised the Caribbean nation's red, white and blue flag in front of City Hall while singing the Himno Nacional Domincano, or Dominican National Anthem.

"The Dominican Community is a growing and important community in the city of Newark," Mayor Ras Baraka told several dozen Dominican constituents gathered in the City Hall rotunda before the flag raising out front. "They are part of the broader community of the City of Newark."

But while one estimate puts Newark's Dominican population at 8,700 -- a figure some dismissed as too low -- officials and community leaders say there has never been a Dominican-American elected to the Newark City Council. In May, the city lost its only elected official of Dominican descent when Ariagna Perello stepped down from the Newark Advisory Board of Education, after failing to seek another term.

There are Dominicans in the Baraka Administration, including the chief municipal court judge, Victoria Platt, and Assistant Corporation Counsel Emilia Perez, who attended the flag raising.

"I'm very proud to see my flag go up in the city of Newark," Perez said.

Officials and community leaders cite a number of factors in the lack of Dominicans elected to office, including the relatively recent arrival of the community, many of whom are not yet citizens, some undocumented. 

By contrast, Newark's larger and more established Puerto Rican community -- the sixth largest in the United States, with 35,993 Newark residents, according to the 2010 Census -- includes three city councilmen, Luis Quintana, Anibal Ramos and Carlos Gonzalez.
 
Dominicans make up 3.1 percent of Newark's population, according to City-Data.com. That equates to roughly 8,700 Dominican Newarkers if using the Census Bureau's 2015 estimated Newark population of about 281,000. 

It isn't electoral clout that determines what countries or communities get to hold City Hall flag raisings, Baraka said. Rather, almost any community that can organize such an event and apply for a permit can hold one, Baraka said.

About 15 countries or communities, including the LGBTO, with its rainblow flag, have held flag raisings in recent years, Baraka said. IN addition to the Dominican Republic, countries that regularly seek permission and hold flag raisings include Peru, Ecuador, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Guyana and Haiti.

Some say Newark's Dominican-American electoral landscape is bound to change, as more Dominicans move into the city, become U.S. citizens, or simply grow to voting age.   

"They're having kids here, and their kids are going to vote," said Jacqueline Quiles, Baraka's deputy mayor for community engagement, who is from Puerto Rico. "And they could change the political situation."

Hillary Severino, 16, a native of San Pedro de Macoris on the Dominican Republic's southern coast, is a naturalized citizen who is now two years away from casting her first ballot as a Dominican-American voter.

Severino attended Monday's flag raising wearing the tiara and sash she received in September, when she won the local Miss Dominica contest, and as such she will be featured in Sunday's parade. But while Severarino is an ambitious young woman who eventually plans to attend medical school, ethnic politics is not something she thinks much about, at least not yet.

"Right now I'm focused on school," said the Central High School junior. "I want to go to college, I want to be a professional model, I want to be an OBGYN. Maybe when I get to voting age I'll start to think about that."   

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

NJ Transit got the second-highest grades in five years on its quarterly scorecard survey, but some commuters gave their rail lines poor grades.

NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor line may be the state's most-often delayed, but it's the worst, according to commuters.

That distinction goes to the Morris & Essex line, which was ranked last by commuters on NJ Transit's most recent Scorecard survey.

The best rail line? Passengers using the Atlantic City line say they are the most satisfied with their service.

Riders on the heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor line graded their service second-best of NJ Transit's eight rail lines. Last year, it was ranked worst.

"M&E service continues to get worse. A few issues I've noticed, beyond the usual unreliable service, are erosion of rush hour's already God-awful service, specifically trains at the front of rush hour that used to be reliable," said commuter Michael Conlon, who rides from Chatham.

That line also has scheduling issues and at least one car always has air conditioning that doesn't work, he said.

Overall, NJ Transit's commuters gave the agency a 6.3 on a scale of one to 10. That was up from a 6.2 ranking given earlier this year and the highest ranking since it received a 6.4 grade in early 2013.

Morris & Essex riders gave that route a 5.6, up from 5.3 in the last survey. The grades were given by 27,450 people, or slightly over 6 percent of NJ Transit's 442,790 daily riders, who took the survey in May and June. 

"The M&E used to have better service. It used to run more frequently," said David Peter Alan, Lackawanna Commuter Coalition president. "Service isn't what it used to be. Connections between the M&E and other lines are a roll of the dice at best."
Which NJ Transit line is constantly late?
The Montclair-Boonton and Pascack Valley lines tied for second worst, even though commuters gave them a slightly higher grade compared to the last survey.

"Pascack Valley service is fine for the most part. ... The issue is that it is a single track (line), so when there's even the slightest issue with one train, it affects everyone behind them," said commuter Jared Moore.

Riders on the North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines rated them third-worst, giving them a 5.9 in the survey. Commuters riding the Atlantic City Line gave it a 7.4.

NJ Transit officials said they use the survey to guide improvements.

"We're not satisfied with the status quo and we'll continue to utilize customer feedback," said James C. Finkle Jr., an NJ Transit board member. 

One former Northeast Corridor line commuter who now rides the M&E disagreed with the rankings.

"Compared to my previous commute, the M&E is a dream," said Melissa Almeida, who rides from Orange. "On the Corridor, we considered it a great week if we made it over two total on-time arrivals (in a week)."

The rankings of NJ Transit's train lines (1-10):

1. Atlantic City: 7.4

2. Northeast Corridor: 6.3

3. Main/Bergen: 6.2

4. (tie) North Jersey Coast: 5.9

4. (tie) Raritan Valley: 5.9

6. (tie) Montclair-Boonton: 5.8

6. (tie) Pascack Valley: 5.8

8. Morris & Essex: 5.6

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Super conferences and realignment have been the talk of the summer, but now it's time to address some other questions that will also impact the 2016 season.

Officials have identified the man fatally shot in on Woodlawn Avenue in Jersey City last night as a 30-year-old Maplewood felon.

Kyell C. Jeter was fatally shot in Jersey City late Monday night, authorities confirmed.Journal file photo 

JERSEY CITY -- Officials have identified the man fatally shot on Woodlawn Avenue in Jersey City last night as a 30-year-old Maplewood resident.

Police responded to Woodlawn between Ocean and Garfield avenues at about 10:20 p.m. and found Kyell C. Jeter with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

Jeter, who was unresponsive, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at about 10:45 p.m., HCPO spokesman Raymond Worrall said.

No arrests have yet been made.

"There was like six gunshots and I saw the boy lying in the street," said a resident whose front porch is about 40 feet from where Jeter was found. "I hollered, 'Oh my God, he's shot!' He wasn't moving. It looked like he was shot in the head."

The woman, who chose not to give her name this morning, said she has lived in her home 32 years and described the block as quiet. As she spoke, another resident walked by and said, "I'm moving. I got to get out of here."

The woman replied, "Honey, you can't run away from this, it's everywhere."  

Jeter has had run-ins with the law going back to 2006, when he was 19. 

In March 2015, Jeter was charged with operating a narcotics production facility in Jersey City and other drug charges. He was sentenced to two years probation. 

At the time of his arrest, Jeter had six prior arrests and criminal convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon, unlawful possession of a handgun and burglary, a court official said. In 2010 he was sentenced to four years in prison on charges that included aggravated assault.

Jeter's death is Jersey City's 14th homicide of the year. Leander Williams, 17, was shot dead Aug. 9 during a party being held at a Communipaw Avenue church hall.

The man was charged with aggravated assault and weapons offenses, police said.

BLOOMFIELD -- A worker at a Chinese food store was arrested last week after apparently attacking a coworker with a meat cleaver, police announced in a release Tuesday.

Kwei Dong Yang, 46, of Bloomfield, was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose on Aug. 26 after he and another employee at a Chinese food restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue began arguing over using the meat cleaver, police said.

Are town's cops racially profiling drivers?

Yang allegedly assaulted his coworker with the cleaver, cutting him in the back of the neck, police said. His injury was minor and treated by EMTs at the scene, authorities said.

Yang left the restaurant before police arrived, but later turned himself in, officials said. He was released of his own recognizance, officials said.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Princeton Review's annual rankings are based on surveys of 143,000 students at 381 top colleges. Nine New Jersey colleges made the list of top schools.

NEWARK -- New Jersey Institute of Technology students have a low opinion of their professors, according to Princeton Review's new rankings.

The college guide released its 25^th annual college rankings Monday, including more than 60 lists on everything from the biggest party schools to the colleges with the best food and best athletic facilities.

NJIT, the public university in Newark, topped the "Professors get low marks" list, a ranking of colleges where students like their professors the least. NJIT was followed by the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Stevens Institute of Technology, the University of Hawaii-Manoa and State University of New York - Stony Brook.

3 N.J. colleges among most gay-friendly in U.S.

The rankings are based on surveys of 143,000 students at 381 top colleges, Princeton Review officials said.

"We base our 62 ranking lists entirely on what the colleges' customers, their enrolled students, report to us on our surveys. As such, they provide unique insights into the campus cultures, aid offerings, services, and student body communities at these schools. In the end, it's all about the fit," said Robert Franek, the lead author of the book and senior vice president and publisher of Princeton Review.

NJIT officials responded to the ranking by saying the research university has a difficult curriculum and produces top graduates.

"As one of only 32 polytechnic universities nationally, our curriculum can be quite challenging. The results -- an average of nearly three job offers in hand by graduation with average starting salaries that exceed the national average by roughly 18 percent -- speak to the quality of education and preparation our students receive," said Denise Anderson, NJIT's associate vice president.

Some colleges criticize the Princeton Review's annual lists, which are based solely on student opinion surveys. Other schools highlight the lists in their marketing materials if they rank highly.

New Jersey colleges appeared on at least 30 lists this year, including "Is it Food?" (bad dining halls), "Election? What Election?" (low political interest among students), "This is a Library?" (low-rated library facilities) and "Town-Gown Relations are Great" (interactions between the college and the local community).

Rutgers University, the state's largest school, was the only New Jersey college to appear on Princeton Review's list of top 381 schools without appearing on any of the other ranked lists.

Here are the New Jersey colleges that made Princeton Review's list of the "Best 381 Colleges" and where they ranked on various national lists:

Drew University

Best College Theater (#7)

Lots of Race/ Class Interaction (#8)

Is it Food? (#10)

Best College Radio Station (#14)

LGBTQ-Friendly (#18)

Monmouth University

Election? What Election? (#4)

Students Study the Least (#10)

NJIT

Professors Get Low Marks (#1)

College City Gets Low Marks (#2)

Least Happy Students (#2)

Least Beautiful Campus (#3)

Administrators Get Low Marks (#4)

Town-Gown Relations are Strained (#6)

Least Accessible Professors (#9)

This is a Library? (#9)

Princeton University

Great Financial Aid (#2)

Best College Library (#14)

Rider University

Students Study the Least (#15)

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Not ranked on any lists

Seton Hall University

Financial Aid Not So Great (#19)

Stevens Institute of Technology

Professors Get Low Marks (#3)

College City Gets High Marks (#9)

This is a Library? (#12)

Town-Gown Relations are Great (#12)

Students Most Engaged in Community Service (#19)

The College of New Jersey

Their Students Love These Colleges (#6)

Most Beautiful Campus (#7)

Best Career Services (#12)

Happiest Students (#13)

Best Health Services (#15)

Lots of Race/ Class Interaction (#19)

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

President Barack Obama has reduced the prison terms of 325 inmates this month.

WASHINGTON -- Three New Jersey residents sentenced to life imprisonment had their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama as he continued to reduce penalties for those incarcerated for drug-related crimes.

The New Jersey prisoners were among 111 people who had their sentences shortened by the president. Earlier this month, he commuted the sentences of 214 other prisoners, including three from the Garden State, who also were found guilty of drug-related offenses.

"They are individuals who received unduly harsh sentences under outdated laws for committing largely nonviolent drug crimes, for example, the 35 individuals whose life sentences were commuted," White House counsel Neil Eggleston said.

Obama now has commuted the sentences of 325 prisoners in August, more in one month than any president in almost 100 years granted during a 12-month period.

Obama commutes sentences of N.J. prisoners

The three men from New Jersey whose sentences were commuted were:

-- Eugene Kenneth Brinson of Newark, sentenced Sept. 8, 2006, to life imprisonment and 10 years supervised release for possessing and planning to distribute cocaine, heroin and marijuana. His prison term was reduced 240 months behind bars.

-- Mark Foster of Waterford Works, sentenced July 12, 2002, to life plus 60 months in prison and 10 years supervised release for possessing and intending to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine and for having a gun during a drug trafficking crime. His prison term was reduced to 240 months.

-- Mark Lanzilotti of Sewell, sentenced April 4, 2002, to life imprisonment and 10 years supervised release for planning to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, and for manufacturing the drug. His initial sentence was reduced to 360 months imprisonment on Aug. 7, 2006. Obama commuted his term to 240 months behind bars.

Obama has sought to overhaul criminal justice laws that require nonviolent drug offenders to be sentenced to prison rather than treatment. 

"Only the passage of legislation can achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety," Eggleston said.

Bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has made criminal justice a priority during his first full term in office, has yet to be brought to the floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Obama visited Newark in November 2015 to highlight efforts to allow those released from prison to successfully return to society.

"We need to make sure Americans who paid their debt to society can earn a second chance," Obama said at the time. 

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has signed legislation requiring some nonviolent offenders to undergo drug treatment rather than be sentenced to prison. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who has indicated he plans to run for governor in 2017, also cited a 2008 law he sponsored that eliminated most mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Woman, 41, was pinned under the vehicle and declared dead at the scene, authorities say

Ike Odumuko, 29 (Photo: Essex County Prosecutor's Office) 

Ike Odumuko, 29, was arrested on charges of first degree vehicular homicide and second degree reckless manslaughter in the early Saturday wreck that claimed the life of Damaris Mercado, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose announced in a joint statement.

Mercado, 41, of Newark, was standing next to her Chevy Suburban in the 100 block of Broadway, when Odumuko's Honda crashed into her vehicle, authorities said in a statement. Mercado was pinned under the undercarriage of her Suburban and pronounced dead at the scene.

Newark woman standing at her car killed in crash, cops say

Odumuko suffered non life-threatening injuries in the crash. A blood test revealed he was under the influence of alcohol, according to the prosecutor's office. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Essex County Superior Court.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

She is accused of charging foreigners to enroll in a false university in order to stay in the United States

NEWARK -- A New York City woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with an alleged student visa scam unearthed when authorities created a fake university.

Ting Xue, 28, faces one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and seven counts of visa fraud.  

Xue, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Flushing, N.Y., is accused of using her consulting service to convince foreigners to sign up for the fake school in order to keep or obtain student and foreign worker visas.

What she didn't know was U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials had created the false "pay-to-stay" University of Northern New Jersey in Cranford to catch recruiters and brokers who were making money off foreigners' desire to live in the United States, according to authorities.

Prosecutors in April charged 21 people with visa fraud, conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit and other charges in connection with the sting operation that involved more than 1,000 foreigners. 

Authorities said in the indictment of Xue that she had told her foreign recruits, mostly from China and India, they could enroll at the school without having to go to classes and that they would keep their non-immigrant status. She also told them they could get work authorization to which they weren't entitled, the indictment says. 

Xue created false student records and submitted them to federal officials with the intention of deceiving them, according to the indictment. 

The U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said in the sting operation, brokers and recruiters helped get student visas for foreigners who never intended to attend school. The foreigners paid thousands of dollars to the brokers or to the fake school, which kicked back money to the brokers, the prosecutor's office said. 

A lawyer for Xue wrote in an email that she had not yet received the indictment but that the consultants "really believed it (the University of Northern New Jersey) was a real school."

"UNNJ's website (before it was shut down) indicated that the government was charging an annual 'tuition' of $12,620.00 per year, meaning that the government has likely taken in millions of dollars in tuition from the 1,076 students who were allegedly enrolled," wrote Chunyu Jean Wang, the lawyer. "In the end, we intend to adamantly fight these bogus charges, and to recoup the money that the government stole from the students and consultants."

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The state-funded program's education and service components are meant to help disengaged young people get jobs

NEWARK -- A dozen young people sit around a table inside a city community center, wearing matching baby-blue T-shirts and talking about nutrition.

An instructor asks someone to share what he ate over the past few days -- the homework assignment for this group of 16- to 24-year-olds who are out of school and unemployed.

Through the Newark Street Academy, an educational and job training program, Mayor Ras Baraka hopes to change that description.

He joined program administrators at the Vincent Lombardi Community Center on Tuesday to announce the state grant-funded academy's launch of four annual 12-week sessions, each of which will target 15 people who have not succeeded in a traditional academic environment.

Students are paid slightly higher than minimum wage to participate in small-group classroom instruction each morning. Outreach workers mentor the students and help them complete assignments.

In the afternoons, students participate in service projects or internships meant to enable them to use their classroom learning to contribute to their communities and develop leadership skills. 

About 4,000 young people in Newark are not in school or employed, Baraka said. He hopes he can eventually expand the program to include more of them.

For now, Newark Street Academy uses recruiters to spread the word about the program and encourage young people to apply. The academy also utilizes connections with the judicial system to identify people who might be good fits. 

Similar "street academies" operated in cities like New York and Chicago in the 1960s, Baraka said, but Newark is trying to breathe new life into the concept. 

The first step is changing the way the students think, said Margaret Stevens, a history teacher. She said they've been told they're failures who dropped out of school of their own fault. 

"The first thing we had to do in this program intellectually is tap into that part of them that understood somehow instinctively that it was the school system that had failed them and that it was the world that they were born into that had failed them," Stevens said. "They didn't choose to be born into a world where guns and drugs and every type of negative vice was an option."

Once they remember that, she said, not only can they get their GEDs, but they can also learn to think critically about the world and how they can help improve it. 

Baraka said he knows this program won't correct the city's educational deficiencies overnight, but it's part of a broader push to turn around a trend of the system failing Newark's kids. 

"If a train is coming in your way, the first thing you have to do is slow it down," he said. "You slow it down, then you stop it. Then after you stop it, you have to reverse it."

"You can't turn it around while it's still moving in your direction." 

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The suspects, 19 and 21, were caught shortly after the woman was robbed

Aliyah Napier  

NEWARK -- City police have arrested two suspects in connection with the robbery of an elderly woman Monday night, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said.

Chelsea Fulton (Newark police)  

The victim, 67, told police she had been robbed of money and personal property around 6:30 p.m. near Treat Place and William Street.

City residents Aliyah T. Napier, 19, and Chelsea Fulton, 21, were arrested after they were located during a canvass of the area. The victim's cash and property were returned.

Napier and Fulton have each been charged with robbery and conspiracy.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

Let's see which line gets the most upvotes ... and which doesn't.

Last week, NJ Transit revealed that its Northeast Corridor line had the system's worst on-time record. And then on Tuesday, NJ Transit's latest rail rider satisfaction data was revealed. And while the Atlantic city Line was rated No. 1 with riders, the Morris & Essex line is the big loser. Rail riders rated it as NJ Transit's worst.

We wondered how you rate your NJ Transit rail line. Find your line on the list below. give it an upvote if you're satisfied with the service you are getting, and a downvote if you're not. As more votes come in, the train lines with the best scores will rise to the top. Let's see which NJ Transit line gets the best rating from NJ.com readers.

NJ.com releases the 2016 preseason football Top 20. Share the preseason rankings with your scholastic football-loving friends.