The boys lacrosse Top 20 for May 1 has a new team back at No. 1

Maplewood passed a new law last month banning commercial contractors from using gas-powered leaf blowers during the summer months.

MAPLEWOOD -- A New Jersey town is being commended for its effort to cut summertime noise pollution by banning commercial landscapers from using gas-powered leaf blowers.

Noise Free America, a coalition that aims to "promote quiet" in communities across the country, announced last week it granted the Maplewood town committee a "Quiet Hero" award for the ordinance it passed last month limiting the use of the noisy equipment each May through September.

"Maplewood's action is a step in the right direction," said Ted Rueter, the director of Noise Free America, a citizen activist group with chapters in 26 states.

"Hopefully, when Maplewood homeowners begin to understand why gas-powered leaf blowers are banned during summer months for commercial landscapers, they will see the significant benefits and stop using gas-powered leaf blowers themselves. If they do, Maplewood, New Jersey will be a much healthier and quieter place to live."

Summertime silence in Maplewood

The coalition -- which since November 2001 has been releasing a "Noisy Dozen" recognition to call out communities, companies, and organizations that it deems major noise polluters -- said it just recently started doling out the Quiet Hero award as a way to give its supporters positive news, too.

"We are honored to receive the Quiet Hero Award for our action to keep Maplewood quieter this spring and summer," Mayor Vic DeLuca said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.

"I want to recognize Deputy Mayor Nancy Adams for her leadership on this issue and the entire Township Committee. We believe this is the right move for our community."

The new ban, which stops commercial landscapers from using gas-powered blowers from May 15 to Sept. 30 each year, has sparked passionate reactions from both supporters and opponents.

Landscapers say the rule, which does not apply to residents or non-commercial associations and also limits the hours landscapers can use the machines during the rest of the year, unfairly targets them.

The New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association trade group said it plans to file an injunction this week in an effort to stop the implementation of the ordinance.

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

A 24-year-old Newark man was shot on Union Street early Sunday morning, hours after two people were killed in separate murders in Jersey City.

A 24-year-old Newark man was shot on Union Street early Sunday morning, hours after two people were killed in separate murders in Jersey City. Journal file photo 

JERSEY CITY -- A 24-year-old Newark man was shot on Union Street early Sunday morning, hours after two people were killed in separate Jersey City murders. 

The victim was shot in the thigh just after midnight near Martin Luther King Drive, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said. 

He was brought to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment and was released about an hour after the shooting. Morrill said the 24-year-old was uncooperative with police. 

The shooting comes on the heels of two murders in Jersey City on Saturday. 

A man was shot on Ocean Avenue early Saturday morning and died as he drove himself to Jersey City Medical Center, sources said. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has not yet released any information other than homicide detectives are investigating that shooting.

Then at about 10 a.m., 51-year-old Albanelis Vidal De Larosa was found dead, wrapped in blankets in front of a home on Reservoir Avenue. Her ex-boyfriend, Miguel Angel Cabrera Romero, 56, has been charged with murder in her death. 

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

9 NFL players were drafted who played HS football in N.J. What were they ranked coming out of high school?

Gold Award winner recognized AXA for project.

Julie Averbach at the GSUSA National Leadership Conference in Philadelphia.

MILLBURN -- Julie Averbach, a member of Girl Scout Troop 20205 and a senior at Millburn High School, has been awarded an AXA Achievement Scholarship from AXA, a multinational insurance firm.

Each year, the company presents the scholarships to "AXA Achievers," students who have "demonstrated exemplary leadership skills and a commitment to making a positive contribution to the world."

Averbach was named a 2017 national scholarship winner in the Community Outreach category for her Girl Scout Gold Award project, a comic book called "Adventures from My World," which she wrote for the siblings of those with special needs to help them express their emotions. More than 8,000 copies are being distributed in 18 states and four countries.

"In many families, parents must dedicate so many resources to their children with special needs that the emotional needs of the other siblings are overlooked," said Averbach, who also volunteers at The Friendship Circle, a Livingston organization that supports those with special needs. "Writing a comic book was my way of taking action to address this need, comforting siblings, and raising awareness about the unique challenges they face."

Last fall, Averbach was honored as a 2016 Girl Scout National Young Women of Distinction at the GSUSA National Leadership Conference in Philadelphia. The awards are given each year to 10 Girl Scouts whose Gold Award projects "demonstrate extraordinary leadership, had a measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed a local challenge related to a national and/or global issue."

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

Co-authors Whitman, a Republican, and Baraka, a Democrat, are are members of the Jersey Water Works collaborative.

The suit seeks at least $100 million after the two-weekend festival was scrapped

Rapper Ja Rule and the former New Jersey man who helped organize the Fyre Festival that imploded as guests arrived at the Bahamas to find the venue in disarray and the concert canceled are facing a $100 million lawsuit.

The federal lawsuit was filed by Daniel Jung, of Los Angeles, alleging fraud and breach of contract. Law firm Geragos & Geragos is seeking up to 150 participants to join the class action.

The lawsuit names Jeffrey Atkins, who is known by his stage name as Ja Rule, and Millburn-native Billy McFarland as defendants. Atkins owns a home in Saddle River.

A view inside one of the tents at the Fyre Festival. Genna Luzzi 

Attendees for the week-long Fyre Festival paid from $1,200 to $100,000 and expected luxury accommodations and gourmet meals along with the concert lineup, the suit said

They ended up in tents and were served cheese sandwiches in a "get-rich quick scam," the lawsuit said.

At least six New Jersey residents were among the thousands of people left stranded in the Bahamas.

Ja Rule and McFarland knew the event would be a disaster ahead of time and the pair warned celebrities who helped promote the event not to show up and told acts to back out, the lawsuit said.

The festival's lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a "dangerous and panicked situation" among attendees, the suit said. 

The problems were exacerbated because the festival was designed to be a cashless event in which attendees were issued wristbands, the suit said. That left many without money to pay for a taxi or a bus.

One man collapsed as he was among a group locked in a room waiting to be airlifted off the island, the lawsuit said.

Ja Rule said on Twitter on Sunday that all guests were safe and had received a form to apply for a refund. On Friday, the artist wrote that he was "heartbroken" and that he apologized but emphasized that multitude of problems in the Caribbean were "NOT MY FAULT."

McFarland, who grew up in Short Hills, explained to Rolling Stone: "Guests started to arrive and the most basic function we take for granted in the U.S., we realized, 'Wow, we can't do this.' We were on a rush job to fix everything and guests were arriving and that caused check-in to be delayed. We were overwhelmed and just didn't have the foresight to solve all these problems."

This sums up Fyre Festival. #fyre #fyrefestival #fyrefest pic.twitter.com/x4xcFBL8Yg

-- William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017

The festival was ultimately canceled Friday amid a firestorm of backlash from fans on social media, but not before guests started to arrive. One of the headliners, Blink 182, pulled out the day before. 

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California. 

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Jowarski Sneed, now 23, was 17 when he was convicted of fatally shooting a Newark grocer. His prison sentence was reduced Friday from a minimum of 63 years to 30

NEWARK -- A state judge has cut in half the minimum time an East Orange man must spend behind bars for shooting a Newark grocer to death on Christmas Eve 2010.

Jaworski Sneed was 17 years old at the time of the slaying. Newark grocer Darryl Logan, 47, was trying to break up a fight in front of his store on Chancellor Avenue when he was gunned down.

Sneed was sentenced in May 2013 by state Superior Court Judge Peter Ryan to life in prison without parole for at least 63 years, meaning he would be at least 83 years old before he could walk free.

Despite the gravity of the crime, the length of the sentence surprised legal experts, considering Sneed's age and lack of a prior criminal conviction. In August, a state appellate panel ordered that Sneed be re-sentenced.

"Based on defendant's age when he committed his crime, the trial court must insure that his sentence does not amount to a life sentence without parole," the panel wrote last year, adding that Ryan had, "failed to provide a qualitative analysis of the relevant sentencing factors."

On April 21, Ryan reduced Sneed's sentence to a minimum of 30 years behind bars, potentially cutting his jail time in half, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Bruce Stout, a criminology professor at The College of New Jersey and a former director of the state Juvenile Justice Commission, was among those surprised by Sneed's original sentence.

"I can only say that the new sentence seems much more in line with what is typical for a first-time offender," Stout said on Monday. "And it's my belief that juveniles are redeemable, so I hope he takes advantage of whatever educational and other programs are available to him, so that he'll be able to lead as productivce a life as possible once he is released."

Prosecutors said Sneed had been drinking with friends near Logan's store on the day of the shooting, when a fight broke out. The grocer was punched in the face and knocked to the ground, and prosecutors say it was Sneed who pulled out a handgun and shot him, then ran off.

But Sneed's mother, Cheron Sneed, told NJ Advance Media that her son was at his grandmother's house when the shooting occurred, and she criticized the prosecutor's office as well as her son's original public defender during his trial.

Sneed welcomed the reduction in her son's sentence, though to her it remains 30 years too long. And she said it was difficult to celebrate any court victory short of her son's exoneration.

"How do you put that into words?" she said.

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

The national boycott planned to demonstrate how the economy would suffer without immigrants failed to take hold in Newark Monday Watch video

NEWARK -- It was supposed to be a national day of boycott to show how cities around the U.S. rely on immigrant labor. 

But in Newark, many immigrant-run businesses said Monday they never got the message. Stores along Ferry Street in the Ironbound section of the city remained open and bustling. 

Immigrant rights groups also planned two separate May 1st rallies in honor of International Workers' Day, one in Jersey City and one in Newark. Organizers were hoping the rallies would echo the 2006 May 1 marches that drew hundreds of thousands across the country to demand immigration reform. Other major cities, like New York and Los Angeles also staged major protests. 

"The people organizing didn't say what would happen today," said Manoel Costa, a supervisor at Altas Horas Lanches, a restaurant along Ferry Street that closed its doors in February for a similar "Day Without Immigrants" strike.

"Today in social media, there was nothing," Costa said, adding that the restaurant would likely have closed if they knew. 

Yasmim Calixto, 23, who works at the Ferry Street clothing store Tutti Fruit, said she was unaware of the boycott or any protests until a NJ Advance Media reporter told her. 

"I didn't know about it," she said, as she helped four customers shopping in the store. "None of the clients said anything," she added. 

In February, some businesses in Newark shuttered and kids were kept home from school in a similar "Day Without Immigrants" boycott that spread through social media and was not organized by a formal group.

A spokesman for Newark Public Schools said attendance at two high schools saw a noticeable decrease -- about a 10 percent drop at Central High School and an 8 percent drop at Science Park. It's not clear whether the absences were related to the boycott. 

"Newark Public Schools is committed to giving all of our students, regardless of their immigration status, access to a quality public education," Schools Superintendent Christopher Cerf said in a statement. "While we also support our students' first amendment rights, we strongly encourage them to exercise these rights in a manner that does not interfere with their attendance at school." 

Some students at Science Park also staged a walkout to join an afternoon Newark rally where more than 100 demonstrators gathered at Lincoln Park and later marched to the Peter Rodino federal building on Broad Street.

The march was organized by Movimiento Cosecha, or Harvest Movement, that was also advocating a boycott of work and school.

"The message today for Cosecha is that we're here to fight for permanent protection, dignity and respect," said Catalina Adorno, an organizer for Cosecha. "We know that this issue is not going to be solved with a piece of paper ... people still face discrimination for the color of their skin, their accent."

Adorno said one of the movement's principles was breaking with politicians and political parties that had failed to deliver on immigration reform. 

"We have seen how time and time again, politicians and the political parties have taken advantage of our community, constantly promising us things that never happen, such as immigration reform," she said. "For us it's very clear that we're no longer going to buy into that narrative."

Protestors held signs that read "all are welcome" and "sanctuary" and danced in the streets. Some said it was important to fight for the rights of all workers -- including immigrants. 

"As a working class person in this country, it's important that all working class people stand with the immigrants who are under attack," said Branden Rippey, a teacher at Science High and a member of the Newark Education Workers Caucus. 

"We need to stand up and build a movement. We've got activists, we've got students, we've got parents here all uniting," he said. 

The Jersey City rally, backed by 32BJ SEIU, Make the Road New Jersey, Ironbound Community Corporation and others, drew hundreds to Liberty State Park, and featured members of the Democratic Party including gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.

Blanca, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who lives in Newark, said she took the day off work to participate in the Jersey City rally. She and more than two dozen other members from New Labor and ICC bused from Newark to Liberty State Park. 

"President Trump should take us into consideration, we're not doing anything wrong," she told NJ Advance Media, declining to give her last name for fear of her immigration status. "We work hard in this country."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

It was a busy week in New Jersey.

A Newark man will be the second of four defendants to stand trial in Dustin Friedland's killing at The Mall at Short HIlls.

NEWARK -- A city man will stand trial this fall in the fatal shooting of a Hoboken attorney during a carjacking at The Mall at Short Hills, attorneys told an Essex County judge Monday.

Kevin Roberts, 39, will be the second of four defendants to face a jury in the Dec. 15, 2013 shooting of Dustin Friedland, 30, in a parking deck at the upscale mall in Millburn during the theft of a Range Rover owned by Friedland's father.

Kevin Roberts. (Essex County Correctional Facility)

During Monday's status conference in Newark, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin scheduled Roberts for a Miranda hearing on June 22 and his trial for Sept. 12.

"I can tell you these dates, as far as the court is concerned, are very much set in stone," Ravin said.

One of Robert's co-defendants, Basim Henry, 36, of South Orange, was convicted in March of murder, felony murder, carjacking, conspiracy and weapons offenses, and was scheduled to be sentenced this Friday.

But Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata told Ravin on Monday that Henry's sentencing will have to be postponed, as his defense attorney will no longer be available on that date.

Roberts and Henry were indicted in September 2014 along with Hanif Thompson, 33, of Irvington, and Karif Ford, 35, of Newark, who are set to be tried separately for their alleged roles in Friedland's death.

Roberts, Thompson and Ford, clad in jail uniforms, all appeared before Ravin with their respective attorneys Monday. State records show Thompson is currently serving a four-year prison sentence at Northern State Prison after pleading guilty to a burglary in Newark committed about a week before Friedland's killing.

Roberts, Ford and Henry remain jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility, records show.

Prosecutors have alleged that Thompson and Roberts were responsible for the actual carjacking of the Range Rover, and that Thompson shot Friedland in the head after a struggle.

Friedland's wife, Jamie Schare Friedland, testified at Henry's trial to having watched the taller of the two carjackers -- said by authorities to be Thompson -- put a gun to her husband's head and pull the trigger. Prosecutors said she is also expected to testify at the trials of Henry's co-defendants.

In a video-taped statement to investigators played for the jury at his trial, Henry admitted to driving Thompson, Roberts and Ford to the mall with the intent to steal a vehicle.

Amirata and Assistant Prosecutor Brian Matthews argued Henry was guilty of murder as an accomplice, and guilty of felony murder as a participant in the carjacking conspiracy.

The jury agreed, finding Henry guilty of all counts of the indictment, as well as a second indictment charging him with possessing a weapon as a previously convicted felon.

N.J. mall killing: What you need to know

Against the judge's advice, Roberts is representing himself in the case, with attorney Albert Kapin appointed to serve as standby counsel.

Roberts told Ravin Monday he was waiting for a ruling on a motion to compel further discovery in the case, indicating he had learned of evidence and testimony from news coverage of Henry's trial that differed from what he'd already received.

Among that evidence, he said, is a report by an FBI agent regarding the geographic locations of the suspects' cellphones in the hours before, during and after the carjacking, as well as testimony regarding Friedland's positioning at the time the fatal shot was fired.

Ravin told Roberts he would issue a written decision on the motion "reasonably soon."

Trial dates for Thompson and Ford have not been set, and attorneys indicated a new sentencing date for Henry will be scheduled at a later time.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Police arrested the 18-year-old wanted in the April 19 shooting.

Cooper. (Courtesy Newark police)
 

NEWARK -- Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old who they say shot and injured a 16-year-old girl last month, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose announced in a release Monday.

According to authorities, Sincere Cooper, of Newark, allegedly shot the girl on South Orange Avenue near South 18th Street at 3:20 p.m. on April 19. The girl was transported to University Hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Cooper was arrested Monday on aggravated assault and weapons charges, police said.

Police said there is "no indication" that Cooper and the girl are related.

"She was in the area when the gun was fired," a department spokeswoman said, noting that there was no information available on what may have prompted the alleged shooting.

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

A call for NJ Transit commuters to protest April's service problems and delays by refusing to show their monthly tickets didn't have many takers

The first day of a social media organized protest against NJ Transit's weeks of dismal performance called No Pay May seemed to be stuck in the station Monday evening.

Commuters, who were encouraged to show April's monthly ticket instead of May's, seemed to be largely unaware of the protest, but had strong opinions about a month of delays surrounding two derailments, a train in a Hudson River tunnel and Amtrak track repairs.

Two out of seven people interviewed in Penn Station New York Monday evening were aware of the NoPayMay protest. Few who posted on social media said they participated.

@CommutingLarry I paid and so no commotion of people not paying. Better ways to protest then trying to steal a ride. Work from home and don't pay or drive.

-- njshawn (@njshawn) May 1, 2017

Technically, under the letter of the law, commuters who refused to pay their fare could face theft of service charges, but officials said no one was charged Monday evening. 

"There were no incidents," said Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman. 

Commuter Michael Mazitelli said he showed an April monthly pass to the conductor on a Main Line train "who then proceeded to give up on checking passes." He also wasn't challenged on  Northeast Corridor train he rode between New York and Secaucus. 

"I'm not sure if No Pay May had a big effect,' he said, adding that such a protest might be difficult to do for commuters who have to transfer between New York and Bergen trains at Secaucus Junction because they need a valid ticket to go through turnstiles in that station.

@CommutingLarry @momofrazorsam I gave a knowingly nod to my conductor and he continued on.

-- Chris Groves (@arkitect75) May 1, 2017

Matt Visconti was among the regular commuters interviewed at Penn Station who said he heard of the protest. While some commuters called for some form of refund for April fares because of the delays and overcrowding, Visconti said he didn't expect anything beyond cross honoring of train tickets on buses, ferries and PATH that NJ Transit offered during days following the derailments.

"Beyond that I'm being realistic, I don't expect anything beyond cross honoring," he said. "I just want to get to work on time."

Commuter Darius Dehad of Glen Ridge was aware of No Pay May, but said the decision was made for him when the conductor on his Montclair-Boonton line train didn't check tickets Monday morning.

Others felt the effort raised awareness of problems NJ Transit commuters experience, despite Gov. Chris Christie's statement that he hadn't heard of overcrowding on trains.

In my view, #NoPayMay is a BIG SUCCESS because EVERY news organization continues reporting that #NJTransit riders are NOT TREATED WELL. pic.twitter.com/bZFjZHuMTv

-- Fix NJT (@FixNJT) May 1, 2017

"I bought my May monthly, but I thought about it," said Brian Mclaughlin, who rides the Morris & Essex line between New York and Summit. "I'll give them my ticket in 45 minutes because that's the usual delay."

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

Here's the story of how an ethnic slur was turned to use for the greater good.

The ethnic slur stung Yu Jin Emily Choi after her friends at Blair Academy explained why two senior boys at their private high school were laughing.

It was toward the end of her freshman year in 2013, when she was called a "chink'' and tried to go on as if it didn't happen. Emily, a South Korean immigrant, was trying to fit in, pretending to understand every English word, even though her speech was choppy.

"I was trying to Americanize myself,'' said Emily, an international student who is now a 20-year-old senior.

The insult initially went over her head, but Emily used the embarrassing experience for a greater good, drawing top honors this year from the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for the Northern New Jersey Committee.

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns  

Twelve were recognized in New Jersey for confronting racial issues, but Emily's work stood out, and she was selected to join 27 other Princeton Prize winners from across the country at a leadership symposium held last weekend at Princeton. She also won $1,000.

Over the past two years, Emily had become a beacon for diversity and racial harmony at Blair. She helped students, who are mostly white and affluent, connect with Latino immigrants who work as housekeepers at the school and live in the surrounding community.

"Having a diverse group of people is one thing, but embracing diversity is something very different,'' Emily said. "I noticed that they (housekeepers) were not being recognized as part of our community, which is how I felt when I first came to the United States.''

Emily became their friend, striking up a conversation one day in Spanish, a language she loves and has been learning since middle school.

"I always tell people that the only way to learn someone's culture and to approach them is to speak their language,'' Emily said.

She befriended many of the workers, including Maria-Fernanda Pinto, who told Emily in Spanish that she was surprised to see someone like her from an Asian country speak Spanish so well.

"It makes her happy to see that there are charismatic people from other countries who are interested in their culture,'' said Emily, explaining Fernanda's feelings.

Emily began introducing Latino employees to students by telling their stories through a column she wrote in Spanish for the Blair Oracle, the online school newspaper.

Everyone at school -- students, faculty and Latino employees -- could enjoy her pieces about the immigrants and events at school. Its editor, 17-year-old Tys Sweeney, said there was a tab that Blair students could use to read the English translation.

"She put in a lot of energy reminding people to be inclusive and communicative,'' said Tys.

Engaging her fellow students didn't stop at deadline nor when class ended at the private school in Blairstown Township.

With the help of her faculty adviser, Joyce Lang, Emily started La Conexion, an organization of Blair students who tutored Latino children with their homework once a week in Newton.

"The language barrier was taken down to some degree when Emily wrote and gave voice to some of those on the housekeeping staff,'' Lang said. "I think giving voice is a critical component to inspiring a better understanding in a community.''

Emily is modest about her work, choosing to deflect from her well-deserved accomplishments. For example, one of her teachers, whom she introduced me to in the hall, didn't know Emily had won the Princeton Prize.

And Lang "was completely unaware" that Emily volunteered last summer to work with organizations helping immigrants in Elizabeth and Palisades Park.

One of the groups, Make the Road New Jersey in Elizabeth, focused on immigration issues for Latinos. Imagine that for a moment: A Spanish-speaking high school Korean immigrant greeting Latino people she had never met and speaking to them in fluent Spanish.

It worked.

She helped collect signatures in a campaign to get undocumented workers a driver's license. From those relationships, she started the blog Mis Amigos Inmigrantes, which told their stories about why they came to the United States.

She ate their food, even learned to do Latin dances -- merengue and bachata.

"I just love their culture, and want to continue fighting for their rights,'' Emily said.

MORE CARTER: A street sign for Uggie, Newark's beloved dancer

Her immersion into Latino culture was thorough. She had given a speech at school about her racial experiences in America, and how at one point she nearly lost her own identity trying to assimilate to be accepted.

"It took me a while to be proud of where I came from and to be confident with who I am,'' she said.

She placed second for a speech on humanitarian issues, but didn't keep the $1,000 prize. Emily used it to help classmates attend the People of Color conference last December in Atlanta, where young people from around the country talked about diversity and bias.

Emily also gave a Ted Talk about Latin American diversity in the U.S.

At Blair, Emily then helped organize a Martin Luther King Jr. seminar that showed students how social identifiers such as gender, religion and income can influence how they might think about people who are different from them.

Alecia Mund, 17, said she understood how low wages affected Latino children that she and her classmates were tutoring.

"They don't have the same resources that a lot of us have at our school,'' she said. "Even though we can't completely change their lives, we to try to brighten up their day.''

Wining the Princeton Prize was not on Emily's agenda. She just wanted to attend its symposium on diversity, but realized she had to apply and win the competition.

"They chose me,'' Emily said. "That's crazy.

No it's not.

And neither is her future.

In the fall, she'll head to Stanford University to major in Spanish and Latin American studies. 

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or http://connect.nj.com/user/bcarter/posts.html

or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL

A county-by-county look at crime statistics.

The man, who prosecutors said was a member of the Bloods, was convicted of killing a member of the rival Crips gang

NEWARK -- An appeals court on Monday rejected arguments by a city gang member seeking to overturn his conviction and life sentence for a fatal 2008 shooting in Irvington.

Wallace Gaskins. (NJ Department of Corrections)
 

Wallace Gaskins had appealed Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle's denial of his previous post-conviction relief petition, in which Gaskins claimed his original attorney failed him at trial.

Gaskins, 35, was found guilty in 2010 of aggravated manslaughter, attempted murder and weapons offenses in the shooting of Anthony Stover, 19, of Union, and the wounding of another man on March 8, 2008.

Prosecutors said Gaskins shot Stover, a member of the Crips gang, after he ignored warnings to stay out of Bloods territory.

He was sentenced to life in prison on the attempted murder charge and 30 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter.

Gaskins later argued his attorney didn't inform him of the consequences of rejecting a plea offer from the state, failed to object to the jury charge and conceded Gaskins' guilt on a weapons charge.

Saying it "substantially" agreed with Petrolle's decision, the appellate court ruled there was no evidence a plea deal was ever offered by prosecutors, and that the jury charge followed the model language offered by state law.

Gaskins had already admitted possessing a gun in a statement to police, the court ruled, so his attorney was ultimately making a strategic decision in conceding his guilt on the charge.

In affirming Petrolle's denial, the court said it was legally barred from considering prosecutorial misconduct alleged by Gaskins, who pointed to a prosecutor's suggestion in summations that the jury "take back the streets."

The court said that issue should have been raised on direct appeal, but added that though the comment was inappropriate, it was "not so egregious as to deny the defendant a fair trial." 

Department of Corrections records show Gaskins is currently incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Is bed sharing, or parents sleeping with infants less than a year old, a dangerous practice or a way to bond with a child? Share your parenting opinions and experiences.

SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US

The medical community widely warns against parents sleeping in the same bed with infants less than a year old, a practice known as bed sharing or co-sleeping. Yet many parents believe bed sharing can be done safely and enhances the bond with a newborn child.

As part of an ongoing reporting project, NJ.com -- in partnership with AL.com, cleveland.com, MLive.com, NOLA.com, OregonLive.com, lehighvalleylive.com, SILive.com and syracuse.com -- wants your opinions and experiences with bed sharing.

If you're willing to be included in the project, you have three options:

1. Record an audio message by calling (732) 734-1815 and leaving a voicemail.

2. Record a voice memo or video on your smartphone and easily send it to us here: http://bit.ly/2p5yx0Y.

3. Fill out the survey below.

Your responses might be published as part of our reporting.

Thanks for sharing.

A look at the 20 biggest moments from the first month of the season

After two postponements, it seems Ms. Jackson is actually heading back on tour

ATLANTIC CITY -- Janet Jackson will play New Jersey twice later this year -- or so she says. 

The pop star has already rescheduled her 2016 Unbreakable world tour Jersey dates twice; first for surgery and then for pregnancy. Jackson, 50, welcomed her first child, son Eissa, in January.

Jackson announced Tuesday two rescheduled New Jersey dates for what is now called the State of the World tour: Nov. 10 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and Nov. 19 at Prudential Center in Newark.

Tickets for the original shows will be honored, and new tickets will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. and noon for the respective shows, on Ticketmaster. 

Jackson posted a video Monday discussing the separation from her husband Wissam Al Manna and that she would be resuming her tour. 

"I'm so excited," Jackson said. "It's not about politics. It's about people, the world, relationships, just love." 

Jackson released her most recent LP "Unbreakable" in 2015. 

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

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