See how development transformed the landscape of the Garden State between 1930 and 2013.

The landscape of New Jersey has been drastically altered by development.

Residential communities were carved out of marshland. Shopping malls sprouted up where farms once stood. Stadiums were built in the Meadowlands. 

Sprawl withdrawal: Young NJ residents push toward cities and away from suburbia

While the transformation of open space in the Garden State is visible on the street, a bird's eye view offers a different perspective, one that truly reveals the breadth of change New Jersey has undergone. Aerial maps from the state Department of Environmental Protection's NJ-GeoWeb allow us to see what communities throughout the state looked like from above 80 years ago compared to today.

Drag the sliders back and forth over the maps from 1930 and 2013 to see how residential and commercial real estate development has changed New Jersey. 

 NEW BRUNSWICK

 EAST RUTHERFORD

 FAIR LAWN/PARAMUS

 CHERRY HILL

 TOMS RIVER

 ATLANTIC CITY

MORRISTOWN

MARLBORO

CAPE MAY

JERSEY CITY

While the aerial photos show a stark change in landscape in many parts of the state, there are also regions where not much has changed since 1930.

Shamong Township, a community of nearly 6,500 people spread out 44.4 square miles that all fall within the boundaries of the Pinelands National Reserve, is one such example.

SHAMONG TOWNSHIP

A look at 20 big N.J. performances in college football this weekend.

Sean 'Puffy' Combs, Faith Evans, Lil Kim, Mase, 112 and more dropped by N.J.

NEWARK -- If Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour accomplished anything Sunday night, the sprawling jukebox show reminded us that there are two sides to every coin in the rap mogul's pocket. 

First, there was the boisterous, impassioned artist, who for two and a half hours in Newark rocked, emceed, slinked and grinned alongside past label signees and/or friends Mase, Lil Kim, Faith Evans, DMX, The Lox and more -- virtually every popular New York-area rapper of the past two decades (not named Jay Z, Nas, Mos Def, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J or the Wu Tang Clan). 

But behind all the hype was Combs' staunch businessman persona, the stone-faced grinder who once forged an East Coast rap conglomerate from nowhere, shepherded Notorious B.I.G. to the mid-'90s mainstream, and surely saw Bad Boy's 20-year anniversary as an opportunity to re-illuminate a label that's slipped from relevancy. Here, Combs raised a bottle of his self-owned Ciroc vodka to the crowd more than once, touted his new horse -- the unimpressive Moroccan rhymer French Montana -- as "the future of Bad Boy" and urged fans to check out his son Christian "King" Combs' upcoming album. 

Sean "Puffy" Combs at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

"I'm passing that torch to you, baby," Puffy told his 18-year-old boy.

Because no one else on the night's nostalgic lineup -- not the aging R&B groups 112 or Total, not past breadwinners Mase or Lil Kim, and not Puff Daddy himself (the original moniker has returned) -- seem poised to return Bad Boy to the here-and-now limelight, and outdo Lil Wayne's Young Money label or Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music anytime soon.

But none of that really mattered Sunday night, inside a packed Prudential Center where hip-hop fans paid solely for the throwback jams.

And within Combs' first-ever Newark performance, the sing- and rap-a-longs -- "hit after hit after hit after hit," as Puff described -- were ultimately electric. Check out these highlights, moments and notes from the show.

MOMENTS AND NOTES

- For some, or at least for 20-somethings like me, seeing Combs rap center-stage has almost become a novelty. It's not that the 46-year-old emcee has stopped making music -- a sequel to his gigantic 1997 debut "No Way Out" could be out before the new year. But as he said earlier this year, his focus is shifting to acting, and in the last decade, his pop-culture footprint has been more visible on TV, on MTV's "Making The Band," or in comedy films "Get Him To The Greek" and "Muppets Most Wanted" (you think Biggie was a Kermit fan?).

But in Newark, Combs was incendiary, spitting his hits through about 10 costume changes and igniting the crowd early with his original smash "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." The track's original collaborator Mase trotted out on stage in an oversized, white mink coat, which would later be undone by a comically large fur from Combs -- complete with a 15-foot trail held by two stagehands.  

Sean "Puffy" Combs and members of The Lox at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

- For all the show's intertwining, with most of the night's acts emerging regularly to provide guest vocals on each other's songs, there was still a Biggie-sized hole on the stage. A Bad Boy reunion show without The Notorious B.I.G. is a Chicago Bulls Hall of Fame night without Michael Jordan. But clips of Biggie were respectfully shown on the big screen throughout the gig, most poignantly a B.I.G. interview with a California radio station that detailed his feud with west coast hip-hop stars -- a rumored cause of his murder -- before the full-Bad Boy-cast encore of his "Mo Money Mo Problems." 

Though the Puff Daddy/Faith Evans/112 mega-hit and Biggie tribute "I'll Be Missing You" -- perhaps the most ubiquitous Bad Boy hit to date -- was left off the set list. 

- On the R&B side, Newark-raised "first lady of Bad Boy" Faith Evans was a shining, belting light in her six-song mini-set. In a beautiful white dress -- most of the acts wore pure white -- her wild, soulful runs on "Soon as I get Home" and her duet with genre also-ran Carl Thomas "Can't Believe" were terrific on a night largely dominated by rap, and when her set was over, Combs bowed down: "you sung me to my knees!" 

-  Some kudos must be given to the night's crowd. Sure, just about every track blasted Sunday was a single at some point, but still, the audience shrieked head-long at every pass, and kept to the show's bring-em-out pace. These were true, die-hard hip-hop fans and it was fun to watch. 

Members of Total, The Lox, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Lil Kim at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

THE SET LIST

• Puff Daddy
• "Victory"
• "O Let's Do It"
• "Bad Boy for Life"
• (Unknown) (Mase enters)
• "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
• "Been Around The World"
• 112
• "It's Over Now"
• "Dance With Me"
• "Peaches & Cream"
• "Anywhere"
• Total
• "Trippin'"
• "No One Else"
• "What You Want" (with Mase)
• "Kissin' You"
• The Lox
• "Last Day"
• "We Gonna Make It"
• "I Get High"
• "Knock Yourself Out"
• "Wild Out"
• Carl Thomas
• "Emotional"
• "Summer Rain"
• "I Wish"
• Faith Evans
• "No Other Love"
• "I Love You"
• "You Gets No Love"
• "You Used To Love Me"
• "Can't Believe" (feat. Carl Thomas)
• "Soon As I Get Home"
• French Montana
• "Hot N***a" (Remix)
• "Ain't Worried" About Nothin"
• "Loyal"
• "Same Damn Time" (feat. Puff Daddy)
• Lil Kim
• "Quiet Storm" Remix
• "Big Momma Thing"
• "No Time"
• "Magic Stick"
• "Get Money"
• "Lights Up"
• DMX
• Medley, including "Party Up," "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" and "X Gon Give it to Ya"  
• Puff Daddy w/Mase
• "Feel So Good"
• "I Need a Girl (Part One)"
• "I Need a Girl (Part Two)"
• "Only You" (Remix) (feat. 112)
• "Can't You See" (feat. Total)
• "Love Like This" (feat. Faith Evans)
• "Whoa" (feat. Black Rob)
• "All The Way Up" (feat. French Montana)
• (Unknown) (feat. King Combs)
• "All About The Benjamins"
• Encore:
• "Mo Money Mo Problems"

All about the Benjamins... #Puffy #lilkim #badboyreunion

A video posted by A.T.T. (@night_nurse) on Sep 25, 2016 at 9:17pm PDT

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

USA women's rowing team coxswain visits her young cousin at school.

Harrison Elementary School first-grader Matthew Smith, right, shows the gold medal his cousin Katelin Snyder, left, won at the Olympic games in Rio

LIVINGSTON -- Eight days into the new school year, Harrison Elementary School first-grade student Matthew Smith brought his first show-and-tell of the year: His cousin, Katelin Snyder, a member of the Team USA rowing team that won the gold medal this summer at the Rio Olympics.

Snyder, who trains in Princeton, is the coxswain for women's eight-member rowing squad. During her visit to the school she passed around her gold medal and talked to the students about her role on the team as coxswain, which she explained is similar to being a coach on the boat, and told them she became interested in rowing when she broke her leg playing soccer in high school and was looking for another sport to fill the void. Snyder later took questions from the students.

"I've been training for the Olympics longer than you've been alive," Snyder told the first-graders.

To submit school news send an email to essex@starledger.com.

New York man is facing various conspiracy charges, officials announced.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, seen in a file photo, announced the charges Monday. (Luke Nozicka | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

NEWARK -- A business owner was arrested Monday on charges he hired foreign workers at his IT companies, and scammed them out of the full-time salaries their visas required.

Sowrabh Sharma, 31, of New York and the two IT companies he partly owns - SCM Data Inc., of New Jersey, and MMC Systems Inc., of Virginia - were charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to obstruct justice, and conspiracy to harbor aliens, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. The companies' head of finance, Shikha Mohta, 33, of Jersey City, also faces the same charges.

Sharma and the others allegedly carried out the scam by recruiting student visa holders, recent college graduates, and other foreign nationals to jobs in the company, and then sponsoring them to obtain H-1B visas, Fishman said.

The H1-B visas allow U.S. employers to temporarily hire expert foreign workers, as long as they are full-time employees who are paid annual, non per-diem salaries. The two companies recruited and hired the foreign workers to act as consultants to their clients' businesses, authorities said.

2 IT employees charged in scheme

Sharma, Mohta, and others at the company allegedly created false payroll records that reflected full-time salaries, while really paying the foreign employees less, Fishman said.

During a U.S. Department of Labor audit, Fishman said the group is accused of creating phony leave and vacation slips to explain why employees who were supposed to be working full-time were not.

Instead, authorities allege, the employees were "benched" without pay, a violation of the visa. They were only getting paid while they were on assignment at a client's business, officials said.

The five-year scam was aimed at saving on labor costs, authorities said.

Sharma is scheduled to make an initial appearance Monday afternoon in Newark federal court.

Mohta and another employee appeared in court last year on similar charges. Sharma is facing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if convicted of the charges, officials said.

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

Ivan White and Lee Parker became national heroes last week when they found a bag of pipe bombs by a city train station. Watch video

ELIZABETH -- City council on Tuesday will honor Ivan White and Lee Parker for alerting police after they found a backpack full of pipe bombs near the Elizabeth train station the night of Sept. 18. 

"These two people were on the fringe of society, but they were clearly walking with angels that night," Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said last week. 

The Elizabeth men will be honored at a 7:30 p.m. ceremony on the third floor of city hall.

White and Parker saw the bag sitting on top of a garbage can while they were on a trip to buy beer after they watched the day's NFL games. Parker, who was homeless, planned to keep the backpack and throw away its contents.

When the men realized the shiny devices in the bag might be explosives, they walked to the Elizabeth police station and alerted officers. Authorities responded, and a bomb-squad robot accidentally detonated one of the bombs. No one was injured. 

Since then, the community has rallied to support White and Parker. A local non-profit is raising money for the men and for the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless, which is helping find Parker permanent housing. Meanwhile, the duo has been hit with media requests for interviews from across the country. 

Ahmad Khan Rahami, of Elizabeth, faces federal charges related to the devices found in Elizabeth and to explosions in Seaside Park and New York City the same weekend. A law enforcement source said Rahami was in critical condition at University Hospital as of Sunday, due to a gunshot wound to his stomach.

Police captured Rahami on Sept. 19 after a shootout in Linden, sparked by a local tavern owner who saw Rahami sleeping on the steps of the bar.

State authorities also charged the 28-year-old Afghanistan native with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. His bail is set at $5.2 million. 

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

It's easy - just send a pic

Update, Sept. 26, 8:45 a.m.: Shortly, we will process the nominations from this weekend's games, but the news bulletin is this - nominations close at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 27. We will have an up-to-date list of nominated schools below later today, along with the latest submitted pics in the gallery above.

But don't wait for that. There's only one sure way to be a part of the fun in the weeks to come, and that's to send in a pic and get your school nominated.

As of Friday, we were up to 63 schools, all of whom have photos in the gallery above. The photo gallery above was re-organized last week and is now alphabetical by school. Note that after photo No. 100, you'll get a link to Part 2 of the gallery.

Here is the list of currently, officially nominated schools, with the list expected to grow later today:

Bergen Catholic, Boonton, Brick, Brick Memorial, Bridgewater-Raritan, Caldwell, Cedar Creek, Cedar Grove, Cherokee, Cherry Hill WestCranford, Demarest, DePaul, Don Bosco, Edison, Emerson, Glen Rock, Hanover Park, Hillsborough, Holy Cross, Hunterdon Central, Indian Hills, Jackson Liberty, Jackson Memorial, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Kittatinny, Lawrenceville, Lenape, Lyndhurst, Mainland, Middletown North, Middletown South, Montclair, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, New Egypt, North Arlington, North Hunterdon, Northern Burlington, Oakcrest, Ocean Twp., Parsippany Hills, Passaic Tech, Pennsville, Point Pleasant Beach,Point Pleasant Boro, Pope John, Rancocas Valley, Red Bank Catholic, Ridge, Roxbury, Seneca, Somerville, St. Augustine, St. Joseph (Mont.), St. Peter's Prep, Steinert, Toms River East, Toms River North, Toms River South, Voorhees, Wayne Hills, Wayne Valley, West Morris, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, Westfield, Williamstown, Wood-Ridge.

Without fail, one of the best things about HS football is the throng of cheering students pulling for their classmates: The student section.

They're loud. They can get wild. Sometimes, they're super organized, with leaders, coordinated themes and a playbook of chants. The costumes can be elaborate. The rituals can be passed down for decades. Some fan sections even travel well on road games.

So we want to know - which N.J. school has the best student section? Here's how you can tell us. NJ.com is opening up nominations for the best student section. 

Nominating your school is a piece of cake. Just snap a photo of your school's student section, preferably in an excited state. Then upload your photo and answer a few questions using the form below. We'll add your photo to the gallery above and count your school as nominated - but after that, things get interesting.

Contest format:

Nominations will be open through Tuesday, Sept. 27. We will then split the nominations into three N.J. regions - North, Central and South - and launch a poll for each region. Your voting in the regional polls will determine the schools that move on to an elimination bracket, with week-long head-to-head voting matchups to determine regional champs.  Champs from each region will compete in a three-way poll to determine THE best student section in New Jersey football. The whole thing will wrap up right around the beginning of November.

Additional notes:
• The form below will work with your cell phone - you can nominate your school at halftime!
• NJ.com staff will also make nominations with our own photography.
• Only upload photos you have shot or that you personally received permission to use. We can't use photos from other media outlets. Please don't grab and submit photos from other websites.
• Multiple nominations for a school are welcome, but we may not use every photo.
• Submitted photos will be added to the gallery after some processing time; nominations will be compiled and listed on top of this post after the weekend's play.

So start talking and sharing - rally the troops to nominate, vote and make your student section officially the best in N.J.

A former employee picked a fight with Amiri Baraka's secretary Monday morning, prompting a police response, city officials confirmed.

Newark City Hall. (File photo) 

NEWARK -- A fight broke out inside an office at Newark City Hall Monday morning between two employees, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Around 10 a.m. Monday, "a disgruntled employee" came into chief of staff Amiri "Middy" Baraka's office and became "very verbally abusive" to Baraka's secretary, said Frank Baraff, Director of Communications for the city.

The confrontation grew into a "struggle" between the two women, Baraff said.

A Newark police officer assigned to executive protection detail observed the two female employees "shoving" one another, and intervened, said Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

The employee, Porscha Fleming, was escorted out of the building, he said. She has been charged with simple assault, Ambrose said.

While it's still unclear what Fleming was upset about, and why she allegedly attacked Baraka's secretary, Ambrose said it stemmed from a disagreement between the two women.

It's also unclear what, if any, injuries Baraka's secretary suffered in the altercation, but Baraff said she was "OK."

"Everything has a two-way street," said Jay Jones, a family member and spokesman for Fleming. "The (secretary) did make a gesture towards her and (Fleming) acted on the gesture."

Fleming was taken to St. Michael's Medical Center for evaluation before being released without bail, Ambrose said.

As of 4:15 p.m. Monday, the secretary had not returned to her office in city hall. Middy Baraka, brother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, could not immediately be reached for comment on the incident.

The incident remains under investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor's office.

Michael Anthony Adams may be reached at madams@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelAdams317. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Barringer High players, coaches knelt during anthem Friday night, becoming the latest sports team to protest police violence against civilians.

Newark Public Schools superintendent Christopher Cerf issued a statement to NJ Advance Media Monday afternoon offering support to the Barringer High School football players and coaches who peacefully protested by kneeling during the national anthem before their Friday night game against Irvington High.

The demonstration was loosely organized by Barringer seniors Isaiah Gordon and Ibn Ingram and included at least five other teammates and two assistant coaches. Gordon and Ingram said they’ve been kneeling for most of the season in response to the recent rash of police violence against civilians, particularly unarmed black men.

RELATED: Members of Newark football team kneel, join national anthem protest

“I respect and support our students’ and educators’ right to peacefully convey their views,” Cerf said in the statement. “I hope that this action will spark a broader conversation about issues of social justice.”

Last week, Keith Scott, 43, was shot and killed by a police officer at a housing complex in Charlotte, sparking two days of violent street protests. And 11 days ago, Terence Crutcher, 40, was shot to death by a police officer after his SUV stalled in a roadway in Tulsa, Okla.

Just before the national anthem Friday night, Ingram and Gordon knelt on the sidelines and were joined by Barringer assistant coaches Markyse Joseph and Buchie Ibeh and other teammates. Meanwhile, a handful of spectators remained seated in the bleachers.

“We see how the cops are treating people and I don’t stand for that, and I don’t think the national anthem should stand for that,” Gordon said. “Until that changes, I’m not going to stand up. I’m going to keep kneeling.”

PHOTOS: Barringer football players kneel for national anthem

When he sees another story about a civilian shot by police, Gordon said, “I feel like I’m next. I really don’t want to go outside.”

Players from several high school football teams — from Charlotte to Upstate New York — joined in the protest Friday and Saturday night by kneeling during the national anthem. Earlier this month, Woodrow Wilson coach Preston Brown and most of his players from the Camden high school knelt for the anthem.

“The message is we’re trying to stick together and form a brotherhood,” said Joseph, one of the Barringer assistant coaches. “Even though we may be from different cities, with so much violence going on we want to be sticking together.”

Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Gerety, an activist priest who led New Jersey's largest Catholic diocese from 1974 to 1986, was laid to rest Monday following a funeral in Newark.

NEWARK -- Hundreds of clergy, lay people and other friends and faithful gathered Monday in the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark for the funeral of Archbishop Leo Gerety, who led the state's largest Roman Catholic diocese and until Wednesday was the church's oldest living bishop.

Gerety, whose parents were from the Greenville section of Jersey City, was born on July 19, 1912, in Shelton, Conn. He died on Sept. 20, 2016 at a church home in Totowa. He was 104.

Gerety led the archdiocese of Newark for 12 years, from 1974 to 1986.

An activist priest, he marched for civil rights in Selma, Ala., protested the Vietnam War, brought Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity to Newark and launched RENEW, an adult small-group spiritual revival movement that spread worldwide.
 
Some 500 mourners sat, stood and knelt in the cathedral's honey-oak pews, below its intricately detailed stained glass windows.

Priests in white robes, nuns in gray and lay people in black sang "Lift Up the Cross," "Taste and See," and other hymns, listened and prayed in memory of Gerety, who carried the title "archbishop emeritus" for 40 years since stepping down as head of the archdiocese, which includes parishes in Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex counties.

One of Gerety's successors in Newark, Archbishop John J. Myers, who turned 75 in July and now awaits a replacement of his own to be named, acted as celebrant of the funeral mass. The Rev. Monsignor John E. Doran, the former vicar general of the archdiocese, delivered the homily.

Retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Newark, along with nearly two dozen bishops, attended the funeral.

Gerety, the eldest of nine children, was captain of his high school football team in Connecticut, and held a number of lay jobs, including as a border control agent, before entering the priesthood. And Doran emphasized Gerety's earthly -- and sometimes earthy -- qualities.

Recalling a visit by Mother Theresa to Newark at Gerety's invitation, Doran drew laughter from the otherwise solemn pews. The two were at a local chapel maintained by her order, the Missionaries of Chartiy, when the archbishop, eager to discuss proposed outreach projects, asked the future saint, "Hey, Mother, where can you get a cup of coffee around here? We've got planning to do."  

Doran quoted another one of Gerety's religious inspirations, Saint Augustine, who placed himself on the same spiritual plane as his parishioners.

"I am a bishop for you, I am a Christian like you," Doran said. "Archbishop Gerety lived, first of all, well aware that he was a Christian like us."

Gerety's tenure as archbishop was a few years after Vatican II, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, of Vatican II, from 1962-65, which included liturgical reforms that to many made the church more accessible to common people.

The program for Monday's funeral included some of Gerety's own words following his retirement as archbishop in 1987.

"Now, if I am to be remembered in the history of those places that I have touched in my ministry," Gerety is quoted as saying, "I hope and pray that it will be one who strove with heart and soul, with might and main, to empower our people, priests, religious and laity, to move forward in freedom and joy to implement the imperatives of Vatican II."

"There is sadness and heartache," Myers said near the close of the service. "But we take comfort and hope that one day we shall see him again and enjoy his company."

The choir then led mourners in singing, "May Saints and Angels Lead You On," as the polished wooden casket bearing Geretys' remains was hoisted up by pall bearers and carried down the center isle of the church. In a procession led by the bishops, the casket was carried down to the cathedral crypt below, where Gerety's body was laid to rest.

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

Ibn Waller, 18, of Newark, was arrested Friday at the intersection of North 9th Street and 4th Avenue

NEWARK -- A city teenager has been charged with dealing drugs near an elementary school, authorities said. 

Ibn Waller, 18, of Newark, was arrested Friday at the intersection of North 9th Street and 4th Avenue, according to Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.  

In response to numerous neighborhood complaints, the sheriff's office set up surveillance at the intersection near Dr. William Horton School, when plain-clothes officers believe they saw Waller make a drug sale, the sheriff's office said in a release.

Police arrested Waller and found 177 vials of crack, 27 envelopes of heroin and $142 in cash in his fanny pack, the release said.

Waller appeared in court Monday on two counts of drug possession and distribution charges. He was held on $50,000 bail.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A look at how N.J. natives performed during Week 3 of NFL action.

County officials say they probed the library's grant spending a year ago.

ORANGE -- The Orange Public Library this year quietly returned a $48,000 federal grant now under investigation by the FBI after officials failed to provide proof that the money had been spent appropriately, NJ Advance Media has learned.

The unusual sequence of events began in September 2014, shortly after the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the grant to pay for a new heating and cooling system. The money was disbursed by Essex County.

County officials first questioned how it was being spent after the library submitted a request for reimbursement for work on the HVAC chiller without providing an invoice from the contractor, county spokesman Anthony Puglisi said.

The county requested the documentation. Rather than provide it, however, library officials responded that they, too, had questions about the contractor's work. So the county asked that those concerns be put in writing. Then came another twist.

In a surprise letter, the library said it was no longer pursuing the HVAC project and intended to reimburse the county the $18,328 that had already been paid out. The letter asked that the county allow the library 90 days to repay the money.

From the letter Orange library officials sent to Essex County in December of 2015.
 

Getting the money back, however, proved difficult. Puglisi said the county waited 108 days before tasking its attorneys with drafting paperwork to compel the library, which is financially supported by the city, to repay the money.

After the attorneys reached out to the library, its board of trustees was set to authorize the repayment at a meeting on May 12, Puglisi said. Instead, on June 6, Orange attorneys told the county the city wanted a $4,000-a-month payment plan.

The county refused, Puglisi said, saying the payment needed to be made in full.

Nothing happened until July 25 -- four days after the FBI, investigating alleged extortion and corruption, raided the library demanding documents about the HVAC project, among other things -- when suddenly the money was repaid, Puglisi said.

The FBI has also executed a second warrant inquiring about other city expenditures at the YWCA and in the water department. Federal authorities have questioned the county for information about the use and return of the grant.

County officials have said they are not a target of the investigation.

Expert: Corruption charges likely in Orange

A city spokesman said he could not answer questions about the HUD grant because they "assume that the city of Orange Township is responsible for the overall operation of the Orange Public Library--when in fact, it is not."

Library staff declined to comment on the grant and why the money was returned.

It's rare for a recipient of a government grant to give back money, unless their hand is forced. A spokesman for the U.S. Government Accountability Office said recipients have had to give grants back when they are called out for wrongdoing.

"We can't generalize about how often it happens across government," the spokesman, Chuck Young, said. "But in our work, we have found some examples of municipalities having to return grant monies to the federal government."

In a report the office compiled last year, Young said it identified several cities throughout the country in which grant money had to be returned after questionable spending or fund mismanagement, including Detroit and Flint, Mich.

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

Business owner scheduled for sentencing Jan. 26

File photo (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

NEWARK -- A Newark woman who ran two businesses admitted Tuesday to filing a false IRS tax return and owing about $100,000 in taxes, authorities said.

Maritza Torres-Falu, 57, is set to be sentenced Jan. 26 after she pleaded guilty to one count of subscribing to a false tax return.

"Ms. Torres-Falu's plea today demonstrates to the honest taxpayer that IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to aggressively pursue those who file false tax returns for the purpose of enriching themselves and to make sure they are held accountable for their actions," Jonathan D. Larsen, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, said in a statement.

Councilman in court after allegedly soliciting $15K bribe

Torres-Falu netted "substantial income" through Impacto 2000 and Latin Eagles Group LLC, which she owned and operated, according to the investigation. The firms were run as sole proprietorships, requiring the business income earned and expenses incurred by her companies to be reported on her personal federal income tax return.

For the 2010 tax year, Torres-Falu admitted she failed to report approximately $116,774 in income from the companies, the government said. She also falsely claimed that she qualified as "head-of-household" filing status, which brings tax advantages.

For sentencing, Torres-Falu's failure to report all of her income for 2009 through 2012 will be considered by the court, according to officials. She admitted to causing a loss of approximately $99,150 to the federal government. Subscribing to a false tax return carries a maximum three year prison term and fines.

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

West Caldwell man admitted Tuesday to filing faulty tax returns for years.

NEWARK -- The owner of an asbestos removal company admitted Tuesday to bilking the government out of at least $280,000 in taxes, authorities said.

File photo.

Nick Petrovski, 54, of West Caldwell, who owns and operates Superior Abatement, pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns, IRS Special Agent Jonathan Larsen said in a release.

From 2008 to 2014, Petrovski wrote checks to some employees, and asked them to cash the checks, and pay other employees with the money, or return some of it back to him, authorities said.

As part of the guilty plea, Petrovski admitted to filing a fraudulent tax return in 2012 that failed to report about $731,055 paid out to his employees, authorities said. That one phony return cost the government about $279,994. Petrovski also admitted to filing additional false quarterly tax returns between 2009 and 2014, officials said.

Newark woman owes IRS $100K

"Business owners have a responsibility to withhold income taxes from their employees and then remit those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service," Larsen said in the release.

Petrovski "chose to file fraudulent quarterly employment tax returns and not withhold the proper amount of taxes from his employees. He is now a convicted felon who faces a possible prison term at his sentencing."

Petrovski could land in jail for three years, or be ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars when he is sentenced on Jan. 11, 2017, officials said.

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

Newark, Florham Park men face charges

(File photo) 

In response to complaints about drug activity around Fairmount and South Orange avenues, county narcotics detectives started watching the area, according to Sheriff Armando Fontoura.

Detectives spotted Jerell Christopher, 28, of Newark, loitering around the area before he was approached by another man, Roderick Stewart, Jr., 47, of Florham Park, the sheriff said in a statement. Christopher went to a nearby residence and took a plastic bag hidden behind a fence.

Teenager charged with selling drugs near Newark school, police say

Christopher soon exchanged an item from the bag with Steward for cash, according to authorities. Police moved in and found Stewart with a vial of crack cocaine.

Detectives recovered Christopher's bag, which contained 73 vials of crack cocaine and 37 heroin-filled envelopes, Fontoura added. Christopher was charged with several counts of the sale, possession and distribution of cocaine and heroin. He was ordered held in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Stewart was charged with drug possession and jailed in lieu of $25,000, according to officials.

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

A Newark man has been charged with pointing a knife at two loss prevention officers while his partner attempted to steal merchandise from the Kearny ShopRite.

JERSEY CITY -- A Newark man has been charged with pointing a knife at two loss prevention officers while his partner attempted to steal merchandise from the Kearny ShopRite this week. 

According to a criminal complaint, 47-year-old Ayesha Batemon filled a backpack with merchandise valued at $298.95 with her co-defendant Richard Bryant, 51, on Monday. 

The security guards stopped the Newark duo -- who live together, although their relationship is unclear -- as they left the Passaic Avenue store. Bryant pointed a knife at the security guards while Batemon tried to run from the store, the complaint states. 

Batemon was charged with conspiring to shoplifting, conspiring to shoplift with another person, and possession of a clear glass pipe. Bryant was charged with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, robbery and conspiring to shoplift with another person. 

Judge Margaret Marley set bail at $2,500 with a 10 percent cash option for Batemon and $75,000 cash or bond for Bryant.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

Authorities say John Capozzi is a member of the DeCavalcante organize crime family of La Cosa Nostra.

NEWARK -- A judge sentenced a Union man with ties to the DeCavalcante organized crime family on Tuesday for distributing more than 500 grams of cocaine, officials announced.

John Capozzi, 36, was sentenced to 30 months in prison by U.S. District Judge William Walls in federal court in Newark, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a news release.

Capozzi, who was arrested and charged in March 2015, pleaded guilty in December of that same year to one count of distribution of more than 500 grams of cocaine. Capozzi admitted to selling one-half of a kilo of cocaine to an undercover F.B.I. agent for roughly $78,000.

Capozzi was arrested during a larger sweep that included nine other members of the DeCavalcante organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra. Other members were charged with plotting to kill a rival gang member and running a prostitution business.

Along with the more than two-year prison sentence, Walls sentenced Capozzi to two years of supervised release. 

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Newark man, formerly from Easton, is accused in a shooting during a drug deal-turned-robbery, police say. Watch video

The suspect in a March shooting in Easton was formally charged Tuesday and sent to Northampton County Prison, authorities said.

Lamont D. Baker (New Jersey Department of Corrections photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Lamont D. Baker, 24, of Newark, was taken into custody April 5 in Newark in the shooting. Formerly of Easton, he was on parole at the time after pleading guilty in 2008 to a 2007 home invasion in Phillipsburg, during which he stabbed a 70-year-old man and the victim's dog.

Prior to Tuesday, Baker had been locked up in New Jersey because his alleged involvement in the Easton robbery-attempted-homicide violated his parole. Sentenced to seven years in prison in the Phillipsburg crime, he was paroled Feb. 6, 2014.

Gunman in Easton shooting arrested in Newark, cops say

He was arraigned in the Easton case Tuesday before District Judge Richard Yetter III on five felonies: attempted homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, conspiracy and prohibited possession of a firearm.

Yetter denied Baker bail due to the attempted homicide charge and tentatively set a preliminary hearing in the case for Oct. 7.

Baker is accused, about 2:30 a.m. March 18 in the 1200 block of Ferry Street, of shooting a 38-year-old Easton man after the victim bought crack cocaine from a woman and a robbery ensued, police had said.

The victim was taken to Easton Hospital. His condition was unavailable Tuesday.

The woman who sold the drugs has not been charged in the incident, according to court records.

She is described as black, about 25 years old, standing 5 feet to 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 125 to 130 pounds with long red-and-black hair, police said. If anyone knows her, they can call the police tip line at 610-250-6635 or Easton detectives at 610-250-6780.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.