Newark East Side's football team has tried desperately to break what is believed to be the state's longest losing streak. But can they do it?

NEWARK — The ball wobbled through the night air, and as it headed toward an uncertain destination, the same crazy thought was hanging there with it:

Newark East Side was going to win a football game. Finally.

The Red Raiders were one play — a 23-yard Hail Mary pass on 4th-and-goal — from fulfilling their destiny last Thursday night against Kearny High. They were seconds from doing the unthinkable and snapping a 53-game losing streak, what is believed to be a state record.

The streak had lasted 2,168 days. It had spanned five consecutive winless seasons. It had dated to a victory over Newark West Side on Oct. 1, 2011, when President Barack Obama was in his first term and every current East Side player was in elementary school.

Now, it was about to be broken.

The player who had endured more losing than anyone else on the field scrambled after the ball. The coach who had taken the job three months earlier to fix an un-fixable situation stared from the sidelines. And the athletic director tasked with righting the program held his breath near the team’s bench.

The ball dropped from the sky toward a crowd of players, their arms outstretched and flailing.

The unimaginable was about to happen.

* * *

Three hours earlier, the senior bounced through warmups, knowing deep in his chest this was the night his team would make history.

Romaine Johnson, the senior running back and linebacker, had been a member of the Red Raiders longer than any other player, long enough to lose every single high school football game he had ever played. Long enough to play for three head coaches over the past three seasons, as one man after another tried and failed to find a way to win in a place that never wins.

All told, East Side’s 53 straight losses had spanned five years, 11 months and six days. It included countless merciless beatings, like the 76-0 trouncing by Union City last season, the 61-0 shellacking by Millburn in 2014, the 70-0 destruction by Weequahic in 2013.

But last Thursday felt different to Johnson. He had thought about it as he fell asleep the night before, and all day leading up to the game against Kearny at Newark’s Schools Stadium. This was going to be the game the Red Raiders did the impossible.

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“I want to snap the losing streak so bad,” Johnson says hours earlier. “I want to end it for my school. I want to make my coaches proud, make my younger teammates proud and the East Side alumni, I really want to make them proud that we ended the losing streak.”

Snapping the streak was a major motivator for Johnson, but it was more than that. He suited up for East Side and absorbed the constant beatings because football gave him purpose, friends and camaraderie he hadn’t otherwise found. It kept him focused on his grades and eyeing college.

Decked in a black uniform and pants with red trim and a black bandana wrapped around his head, Johnson led his team out of the locker room and was the first player to burst through a banner held by cheerleaders that read, “Let’s go Raiders!”

As East Side kicked off to Kearny at 7:05 p.m., 26 people hung in the towering metal bleachers on the Red Raiders side. Thirteen East Side cheerleaders danced and twirled and hollered on the field. The temperature hovered at 70 degrees, the sun hanging crooked in the bottom of the sky.

Johnson still felt the feeling, deep in his chest. This was his night, his team’s night.

Winning was inevitable.

* * *

The coach stomped off the field at halftime Thursday night, a mixture of emotions dancing in his chest. East Side trailed Kearny, 7-0, but his team was in striking distance. It just needed a couple breaks.

“First thing’s first,” Brian Meeney says to his assistant coaches as they huddled on the field. “What’s gashing us? What’s the remedy for that?”

Meeney lived for moments like this. For the challenge of it. It was the reason why he forged a career coaching at underdog places such as East Side, rather than trying to latch on at a fancy private school with an unlimited athletic budget.

“I do feel there are a lot of coaches that can be successful at, like, Don Bosco Prep,” Meeney says. “There are hundreds of coaches that can do well at those places. But not every coach can coach at Newark East Side. That’s a fact.”

Meeney grew up in Woodbridge, the son of a truck driver and waitress. “A family of workers,” he says. He played basketball and football at JFK-Iselin and then Perth Amboy Tech, where he led the basketball team to a state championship in 1993.

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After graduating from Rowan six years later, Meeney started coaching football. His first head job came in 2003 at McCorriston High — now Trenton Catholic Academy — which had finished 0-10 the previous season. His first year, Meeney led the team to a 5-5 record.

Next, he turned around losing programs at Memorial High in West New York and Bergen Tech, becoming something of an Underdog Whisperer.

“You go into every situation thinking that you can change it,” Meeney says. “Thinking that you can make an impact.”

At East Side, Meeney’s challenge is greater than all the others. The team has never made the playoffs in the modern era, and most can’t remember the last time the Red Raiders had a winning season. Since 2003, the team has won 12 games against 124 losses.

Meeney, 42, spends much of practice teaching the rules of the game.

“Everything from having seven guys on the line of scrimmage to blocking rules,” Meeney says. “Like, telling them you can’t hold when you’re on offense. It sounds so elementary, but it’s something we revisit every single day.”

Meeney sees a group of kids at East Side desperate to win, and a skeptical school community that wonders if it can actually be done. All of it fuels him.

The coach gives a fiery speech at halftime Thursday night.

“Those breaks are going to go our way!” he screams. “Get your heads right!”

A new East Side team sprints onto the field for the second half. Midway through the third quarter, Carlos Martinez, a sophomore quarterback, scores on a 20-yard run, then finds Jisir Fullenwider in the end zone for the two-point conversation.

All of a sudden, East Side has the lead, 8-7.

* * *

The athletic director nervously paces on the sidelines, watching the victory slowly come into focus. Adrian Bosolasco has been coaching and teaching at East Side for 12 years, but he’s only been in charge of athletics for the past three.

As much as anyone, he feels responsibility for seeing the team snap the losing streak. Bosolasco says when he was named athletic director in 2015 there was serious talk of dropping the football program to the junior varsity level or folding it all together. He and others wouldn’t let it happen.

“Financially it’s a big cost to have a football team, and our numbers were never really that strong to say hundreds of kids were going to be affected,” Bosolasco says. “But I said, ‘We still have kids that love to play. We still get kids that go out every day and bust their chops to do better.’

“I didn’t care if it was three kids or 100 kids; I was going to fight for those kids.”

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The team ultimately stayed and so did the unyielding losing. Bosolasco says the program bottomed out his first year, in 2015, when East Side failed to score a single point in five games and lost all nine of them by a combined score of 414-24.

“The whole system was broken,” Bosolasco says. “We said, ‘All right, there needs to be change here, this is not going in the right direction.’”

Bosolasco helped East Side select a new coach in 2016 and the team saw modest improvements, scoring in every game except one and losing to Kearny in the season-opener by a single point. But the coach stepped down after the season, placing the program’s future in jeopardy again.

Then Bosolasco tabbed Meeney for the job, feeling like he finally found the perfect solution for the Red Raiders.

East Side has the ingredients to win now, Bosolasco says. It has a robust student population of more than 1,600 students, according to the state athletic association’s latest group classifications. This year’s freshman class is nearly 500 strong, Bosolasco adds. The school also has strong basketball, soccer and volleyball programs.

“It can be done here and that’s really my belief,” Bosolasco says. “That’s also why we brought Coach Meeney on board. He believes the same: It could be done here. There’s no reason why it can’t be done here.”

As Bosolasco fidgeted on the sidelines in the third quarter, the game took another turn. Martinez, the quarterback, hit Deandre Speight in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown. Once again, East Side added the two-point conversion, pulling ahead of Kearny, 16-7, with the third quarter drawing to a close.

Bosolasco could hardly contain his excitement.

“It’s still early,” he says through a cautious smile. “There’s still a lot of game left.”

* * *

The game is securely in favor of East Side as the seconds tick off the clock in the fourth quarter.

Eleven minutes to go. Then eight. Then six. Then four.

East Side still leads by two scores.

Excitement builds at Schools Stadium. The 26 fans at kickoff have nearly tripled. The cheerleaders squeal with glee.

Then, suddenly, it all starts to crumble.

Kearny scores a touchdown and adds the two-point conversion with 2:51 remaining, cutting the Red Raiders lead to 16-15.

But it’s still East Side’s game. The team takes over on the next possession and Kearny only has one timeout remaining. The Red Raiders can effectively drain most of the game clock.

Then the unbelievable happens: East Side fumbles on its first play, giving the ball back to Kearny on the Red Raiders’ 37-yard line with 2:43 left. It’s a devastating mistake. The visitors immediately drive down the field, reaching the 5-yard line with a minute to play.

Kearny lines up for the game-winning field goal on third down but — miraculously — it’s blocked by East Side. Kearny recovers and gets one final play: Fourth-and-goal from the 23-yard line.

The Hail Mary play.

Johnson, the player, lines up in the middle of the field, ready to rush the quarterback. Meeney, the coach, labors on the sidelines, barking final instructions. Bosolasco, the athletic director, paces near the bench, lips tightly pursed.

Kearny snaps the ball and the quarterback scrambles back. He heaves a pass down the far sideline. The ball hangs in the air. People in the crowd scream and gasp. A tangle of players converge in the end zone and jostle for position.

The ball, somehow, navigates the crowd and falls into the hands of Kearny’s Diego Torales.

Touchdown, Kearny. Twenty seconds on the clock. The game is all but over.

The visitors tack on a final score on the ensuing kickoff, recovering a fumble in the end zone.

Final score: Kearny 28, East Side 16.

Incredibly, the losing streak survives, growing to 54 games.

Afterward, East Side’s players smash their helmets into the turf and collapse on the field. Tears erupt from their eyes. Meeney takes in the tragedy before him, unsure what to say. Even for a team used to losing, this one is especially cruel.

“I know it hurts,” Meeney tells his players. “You’re making great strides and you know it. The things that we need to do to improve are so crystal clear — and we can fix them. We have a lot of football ahead of us.”

East Side’s players and coaches trudge to waiting buses outside the stadium. The player, the coach and the athletic director and everybody else will mourn the loss for the next few days, replaying the events over and over.

A week will pass and another opponent will line up across from East Side.

It will be East Side’s game to win, its chance to snap the losing streak once and for all.

Deep in the hearts of the players and coaches, they all believe it will happen.

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

Carl Williamson learned many lessons from Hurricane Sandy but the one he is putting into play to help victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma can be summed up in one word: "We found ourselves flooded with supplies," said Williamson, the pastor at Gateway Church of Christ in Holmdel, which mobilized to help Sandy victims in the devastated Raritan Bayshore...

Carl Williamson learned many lessons from Hurricane Sandy but the one he is putting into play to help victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma can be summed up in one word:

"We found ourselves flooded with supplies," said Williamson, the pastor at Gateway Church of Christ in Holmdel, which mobilized to help Sandy victims in the devastated Raritan Bayshore areas of Union Beach, Keansburg and Middletown. "A lot of supplies come in, but six months from now the rush to help will be over. So we're waiting and raising money for when people start to put their lives back together."

Across New Jersey, congregations and civic groups are throwing a shoulder into relief for the hurricane victims. Trucks began rolling down south after Harvey hit Texas in late August, and the convoys are continuing to go there and down I-95 to Florida, where Irma left a swath of misery.

MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns

At Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Montclair, Marialena Marzullo, Elsa Napolitano and other volunteers were packing nearly 150 boxes to send to Houston via DHL. The clothing and other supplies will be distributed by the international freight carrier at their service centers. "It will get picked up (today) and be there by (tomorrow) morning," she said.

Marzullo said the effort was more proof the Archdiocese of Newark shouldn't close the church, which was folded into another Montclair parish last year but remains open for limited services.

"The threat of being closed has brought us closer together," Marzullo said of her friends working on the relief effort at the church Tuesday night. "This is still a very active and loving church."

In Lakewood, yeshiva students from Beth Medrash Govoha packed up 2,500 meals and drove them to Florida, along with a large generator the school bought during Sandy. The generator was for a Jewish community center that was open to everyone and the meals, while kosher, were also to be distributed to anyone who needed them.

The meals effort was coordinated by Amudim a New York-based crisis intervention organization that also set up a call center staffed by Lakewood volunteers for people in the impacted areas to use if they needed, or for people outside those areas to check on loved ones in the storm's path.

Zvi Gluck, Amudim's founder and director, gave one example of how it worked: a woman suffering from a severe asthma attack during the storm called and a doctor just two blocks away was found by the call center and dispatched.

"At that point, if she called 911, they would have never gotten to her," he said.

Two Lakewood service organizations, Bikur Cholim and Chaveirim collected six truckloads of goods for Texas.

"People of all faiths were dropping stuff off here," said Yaakov Dorfman, an organizer of the effort. "I joked that if you went to the (local) Costco or Target, there would be nothing left on the shelves.

"This isn't about religion," he said. "It's about humanity."

True enough. When there is a shortage of food and water, there is no shortage of good people. When the power goes out, the volunteers come out. When the seas pour in, so does the goodwill.

When Sandy hit New Jersey nearly five years ago, an estimated 65,000 volunteers were in the state within days, many of them from faith-based organizations.

People in our hard hit areas have not forgotten. In Keansburg, the annual beach Float-Topia was rained on during Labor Day weekend but that didn't stop  folks from donating enough stuff to fill half of a long truck trailer, said Mayor George Hoff, who was also in office during Sandy.

"We can certainly relate to what they're going through down there," he said.

Williamson was new to disaster response when Sandy smashed the Jersey Shore. His small congregation got together a truckload of water, clothes, diapers, and food for Union Beach. But after seeing the wreckage Sandy left behind, he led his church to "adopt" Union and vicinity. With the help of Union Beach restaurant owner Gigi Dorr, that first well-meaning truckload was expanded into services and even a non-profit construction corps that helped residents rebuild. With 85 percent of the homes in Union Beach damaged, Williamson knew the recovery would be a long haul.

"That's how we're approaching our aid to Harvey and Irma victims," he said. "Instead of sending supplies, we're raising money for down the line, when people start to rebuild."

(Donations can be sent payable to the Gateway Church of Christ Hurricane Relief Fund, 19 Reid's Hill Road, Morganville, N.J. 07751).

As many impacted by Sandy learned, the process of recovery is rife with bureaucratic red tape. The Nation Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is supported by private carriers, left many people underpaid for their damage.  A New Jersey program to raise damaged homes moved at a slow pace, amid problems with insurance fraud, negligent contractors and a shortage of local building inspectors.

George Kasimos, who started Stop FEMA Now after Sandy in response to new government flood maps that called for raised homes and higher insurance premiums, is helping Harvey and Irma victims by imparting wisdom from New Jersey's experience.  

"It's torture. Prepare for hell," he said.

He held a two-day NFIP conference in Washington this week, in part to reach out to Texas and Southern victims and warn them of the obstacles they'll face down the line and give them access to help.

"We know it's a long haul. We know what they should watch out for," he said. "We sent down a truckload of supplies but we're also going down to hold seminars to help them deal with what's coming."

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.

Seven teams dropped out of the NJ.com Top 20 after the first week. Find out who the new teams in are.

The state board Wednesday voted to return control over the Newark school district to a local board of education.

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Rutgers Law School experts will offer free legal consultations at the Newark event. Watch video

NEWARK -- Rutgers University will host a free presentation and legal advice session this weekend for young immigrants living in the country illegally as lawmakers continue to debate the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals -- or DACA -- program.

The event, titled "What does it all mean?", will be held Saturday in Conklin Hall at Rutgers-Newark from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Samantha Rumsey, a staff attorney with the Rutgers Immigrant Rights Clinic, will offer a one-hour presentation and question-and-answer session on the DACA program.

That will be followed by free, one-on-one consultations with attorneys and law students. The event will be closed to the media to help protect the privacy of the unauthorized immigrants, organizers said.

'Answer is to fight back,' Dreamers say

"As an educational institution, we believe we have an obligation to educate the community about changes to immigration law and policy, especially where there is time-sensitive information to which the public needs to be alerted. We also think that, where possible, Rutgers has a responsibility to help the community," Rutgers Law professors Anjum Gupta and Randi Mandelbaum, who helped put together the event, said in a statement.

President Donald Trump's administration announced last week that it is ending DACA program created by the Obama administration. The program allowed immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S. to work and go to school without fear of deportation.

The possible end of the program has left many DACA recipients, including those attending New Jersey colleges, unsure what to do next.

Trump and Democrats in Congress indicated Thursday that they might be close to a deal to protect "Dreamers" if the legislation also includes increased border security.

"Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!....." Trump said on his Twitter account.

Nearly 800,000 young immigrants are covered by DACA, including more than 22,000 in New Jersey, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Some estimates say an additional 50,000 immigrants living in New Jersey illegally were eligible to apply.

Under New Jersey's "Dreamer" law, unauthorized immigrants are eligible to attend the state's public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. Rutgers has previously held "undocuRutgers" college fairs designed to help unauthorized immigrants apply for college. 

One of the guns was reported stolen in South Carolina, according to authorities.

NEWARK -- Essex County Sheriff's detectives recovered two loaded guns with separate arrests in Newark and Orange Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Narcotics detectives were investigating drug activity when they spotted 27-year-old Tony Dorch reach into his waistband and trade items from a clear plastic bag for cash with another man near Littleton and 14th avenues in Newark, according to Sheriff Armando Fontoura.

Investigators, who recognized Dorch from earlier cases, started to follow him on Fairmont Avenue before he took off running when the detectives identified themselves, Fontoura said in a statement.

During the foot chase, Dorch tossed a plastic bag and tried to climb a backyard fence, according to the sheriff.

"He was pulled down but continued to resist by flailing his arms and legs at our officers. Dorch was subdued after a brief struggle and he was found to be carrying a fully loaded, .380 caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun," Fontoura said.

The weapon was reported stolen in February from Rock Hill, South Carolina, the sheriff said.

Detectives found 12 heroin-filled glassine packets, stamped "LOUIS VUITTON" in red ink, in the discarded plastic bag, according to authorities. They also seized $74 in drug money from Dorch, who faces drug and weapons charges.

In an unrelated arrest in Orange, detectives saw Raynell Solomon, 24, of East Orange, walking slowly on William Street "in a manner consistent with drug distribution activity," the sheriff said. Investigators knew Solomon often carried a handgun.

"Fearing that Solomon may have been armed and a threat to officers and local residents, our detectives searched him and the black book bag he was carrying," Fontoura said.

Detectives found a loaded .40 caliber Ruger semi-automatic handgun with an extended capacity magazine holding hollow point rounds in the bag, according to authorities. He was charged with various weapons offenses.

Woman found dead in her home last month.

NEWARK -- Authorities on Thursday announced a reward of up to $5,000 for tips leading to the arrest of a man accused of stabbing his wife to death at their home in Newark's North Ward more than a month ago.

Steven Damon (Photo: ECPO) 

Steven Damon, 47, was charged with murder and weapons offenses in the Aug. 4 slaying of Tanya Morris, 46, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. Morris was found dead at the couple's Sylvan Avenue residence around 8 a.m.

Damon fled and has remained a fugitive since the murder, according to the prosecutor's office, which has not commented on a possible motive for the attack.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino and Sheriff Armando Fontoura announced the Crime Stoppers reward, and urged anyone with information to call investigators at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

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

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

A Newark native and member of Lords of the Underground, DoItAll announced his plans to run for Councilman-At-Large on Thursday. Watch video

NEWARK -- One of the members of Newark-based hip-hop trio Lords of the Underground is throwing his hat into city politics. 

Dupre "DoItAll" Kelly on Thursday announced his plans to run for Councilman-At-Large in next year's May election. 

"It's neighborhoods like this that I'm running for," Kelly told at least two dozen supporters gathered outside his childhood home in Newark's West Ward. "Most of us have given up the power of the ballot. I'm running because I want to encourage my neighbors to take back that power."

Kelly is the CEO of 211 Media Group, a Newark-based media production and event planning company. He also co-founded 211 Community Impact, a nonprofit targeting youth that tackles issues of gun violence, mental health and literacy. Lords of the Underground won BET's best rap group of the year in 1993 and are known for songs like "Chief Rocka" and "Tic Toc."

"In this community, we haven't always made the best choices," Kelly said, standing at a podium set up in front of a light blue multi-family home on 19th Street. "But when people love their city, they can change it."

All nine city council seats are up in next year's May election -- as is Mayor Ras Baraka's term -- but the city clerk's office said candidate petitions won't be available until January. That means no one can officially qualify to run until next year. 

Baraka announced his re-election bid in June along with eight of the nine incumbent council members that are running as part of Team Baraka. Central Ward Councilman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins is the only council member not on the team and is rumored to be considering a bid for mayor.

This will be Kelly's first time running for an elected seat. A product of Newark schools, Kelly said he wants to expand the arts and culture industry in Newark and invest in the city's youth. His campaign slogan is "Do it all for Newark."

"I never thought this would happen on 19th Street," Kelly said, flanked by prominent members of the hip-hop community like Kangol Kid of UTFO and Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew. "This house I wrote some of my greatest hits in."

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

Man charged with weapons offenses.

NEWARK -- A Montclair man was arrested on weapons charges after police heard gunfire near a Newark intersection and recovered a gun from the car he was driving, authorities said Thursday.

The gunfire occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday near Avon Avenue and Irvine Turner Boulevard, said Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose. Police in the area heard shots and found witnesses who provided a description of the vehicle linked to the shots.

Officers stopped that car, driven by 26-year-old Kasim McDonald, authorities said. After receiving a search warrant, police recovered a handgun from the vehicle.

Authorities said there were no injuries from the gunfire.

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

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

The senior senator previously has not talked to the press outside his federal corruption trial. Watch video

NEWARK -- Since his impassioned speech declaring his innocence on the first day of his federal corruption trial last week, Sen. Robert Menendez hasn't talked to the media on his daily trips into and out of the courtroom.

That changed Thursday, as Menendez broke his silence, not to talk about the ongoing trial, but about DACA negotiations between President Donald Trump and the Democratic senator's fellow members of Congress.

"There should be a deal for them," he told a group of reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark, referring to the so-called "dreamers" affected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. 

"They deserve the protection that would be afforded..." he said. "It would be my hope that whatever the agreement was that we could largely be able to achieve it."

Menendez did not comment to reporters on the trial, which Thursday featured testimony surrounding the flights prosecutors say the senator took on his longtime friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen's dime. Prosecutors allege Menendez traded government favors for perks like the flights and fancy hotel stays from his friend.

Defense attorneys have said the men's relationship was not improper.

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

If you wonder whether we need to learn more about these rolling bombs, ask a first responder. Watch video

Ask the Teaneck Fire Chief where an oil train accident ranks among the things that keep him up at night, and Anthony Verley responds, "Well, it has to be in the top five, no doubt."

Roughly 20 oil trains run through seven New Jersey counties each month along the CSX River Line - within feet of our schoolyards and backyards and town centers - all carrying millions of gallons of highly-combustible Bakken crude oil in aging tanker cars on their way to a Philadelphia refinery.

"Just one car derailment or fire would be a disaster," Verley thinks as they pass by his station. "And multiple cars. . . ."

That would incinerate an entire town. And given that CSX had experienced two derailments in the last three years, there should be few secrets between the railroad and people like Verley, who has to know what to do if one of these a rolling bomb explodes.  

Gov. Christie doesn't agree. He recently vetoed a bill that required more transparency from CSX about its schedules, tanker contents, inspection reports, and disaster response plans - claiming that the first responders already have enough information and that such "irresponsible and reckless" disclosure invites a terror risk.

Any first responder can kibosh the first assessment: "We have some of that info - there's an app we can access if we had to," Verley says. "But the department would appreciate more transparency from CSX, sure."

Oil trains need greater oversight | Editorial

And Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, wrecked second argument: "I've seen them park these oil trains for hours near a middle school in Teaneck - totally unguarded - while the engineer goes off for coffee," she says. "You don't have to be a terrorist to know what's in these tankers. What a load of BS."

The Record reported that CSX lobbied the governor aggressively before his veto, and now it's time for New Jerseyans - especially those near the CSX line in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union, Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer Counties - to lobby their lawmakers to override it. 

Because governments that don't plan for disasters usually get burned by them.

Public deserves information about N.J. oil trains | Editorial

Such horrendous failures are paraded across our screens almost every day now, in the form of a myopia when it comes to disaster preparedness.

In Florida, it's the willful ignorance of sea level rise, which is hard to tolerate in a state with 1,350 miles of coastline. Their governor has banned state agencies from using the terms "climate change" and "global warming" in official documents. With mid-range projections of 17-inch increases in sea level by 2030, that is his way of saying that it's not his problem.

In Texas, it's a disdain of regulations, such as mandating transparency from the petrochemical companies that dominate Houston. Their governor used the chemistry lobby to get the EPA to kill a federal proposal that would require more audits and disclosure because it was "burdensome." Now 24 first responders are ill after inhaling fumes at a post-Harvey explosion at an organic pesticide plant, which was under no obligation to reveal its chemical inventory.

Nothing against Florida and Texas, but we have no great desire to be like them.

They clearly don't value prescience in their elected officials.

Scott Knowles, a Drexel professor who has analyzed the evolution of disaster responses over two centuries, made this point in an NPR interview Wednesday: "The challenge is to get out of 'event thinking,' or looking at a disaster as a distinct event with a beginning, middle and end," because many disasters are, in fact, the result of bad government decisions.

Weinberg's bill would spare us from such myopia. Her peers largely agree: The bill passed the Senate (33-5) and Assembly (54-16-4) in landslides. It's time to bring it back, if only to let people like Chief Verley rest a little easier at night.  

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Residents at a senior citizen building in Newark say they need more security

Newark's housing guard ordinance stipulates that in senior citizen buildings with more than 100 housing units, an unarmed guard must be stationed at the front desk 24 hours a day.

But what happens if the guard takes a lunch break, uses the bathroom or escorts an emergency medical technician to an apartment when a resident needs an ambulance?

Fill in any other circumstance that might require the guard to leave the front desk unmanned, and you know what is upsetting residents who live downtown at the Nevada Street Apartments.

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns 

Several of them attended the City Council meeting this week to reiterate their concern about the issue, which they have discussed in their building with council members.

"We need another guard," said Sally Brown. And they don't care if the person is unarmed or armed.

When the guard is not at the desk, seniors say, undesirable people off the street get into the building without signing in.

In some cases, these visitors know the tenants, who happen to be younger residents classified as disabled, which allows them to live in senior buildings under legislation Congress passed in 1991. The disabled tenant could be a recovering addict, a victim of AIDS or have a mental disability, such as depression.

"We have people roaming the halls," said Gloria Davis, 82. "You don't know who has gotten on the elevator."

On the other hand, a senior tenant can be part of the problem, too. Here's a scenario that could have unforeseen consequences: A senior cashes his Social Security check and spends it on entertaining a young lady he has signed into the building or allowed to come in without signing when security is not at the desk. Another problematic situation, residents say, is when senior residents buy drugs from people on the street or let them into building.

Ann Newsome, 79, said that 14 years ago, tenants didn't have this problem because there were two guards. One manned the desk while the other patrolled the building. That changed about  seven years ago, she said, under a previous owner before RNJ Nevada Street Urban Renewal LLC took over the building in 2012.

"We really don't feel safe anymore," Newsome said.

Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins said her suggestion is that owners of all senior buildings have a roving part-time guard or designated employee, such as a supervisor, who can temporarily relieve the primary guard when he or she needs to leave the front desk.

"At the end of the day, it is their responsibility to ensure the safety of the seniors," she said of the owners.

Chaneyfield Jenkins says Jonathan Rose Cos., a New York real estate developer that owns 8 percent of the building, told her that the request is under review.

Jonathan Rose Cos. had no comment.

This problem is not exclusive to the Nevada Street Apartments. It's in other senior buildings, as well.

Chaneyfield Jenkins said she has seen seniors manning the security desk while the guard takes a bathroom break.

"The tenants should not be put in that position," she said. "It's unfair to the tenant, and it's not responsible of the owner."

She said the city's housing guard ordinance, which also covers non-senior buildings, needs to be reviewed by the council's Housing and Public Safety committees to close security gaps for seniors and in buildings where there is an armed guard.

Council members said that non-senior buildings with more than 100 units face similar security problems. Under the ordinance, these buildings are supposed to have an armed guard for eight hours a day to patrol the building, with the remaining 16 hours covered by an unarmed guard.

At-large Councilman Eddie Osborne, who chairs the Housing Committee, said that currently the armed guard is stationed at the security desk during the eight-hour period and does not patrol the property. The post remains unmanned when the guard needs to take a break or address a problem away from the front desk.

"We need a second guard during some point in the day," Osborne said.

Chaneyfield Jenkins agreed, but she believes the requirement should be imposed on properties that receive tax abatements, an idea she is proposing as chairwoman of the Tax Abatement Committee.

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North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said there needs to be flexibility.

"If we have a landlord that is a persistent public safety issue, we should be able to impose additional security requirements beyond what's in the city ordinance," he said.

Whatever changes are made, it still doesn't help senior citizens whose peaceful lifestyles may clash with that of some of the younger tenants permitted to live in senior housing.

Unless the federal law is changed, seniors are stuck. As for peers who get high or invite unsavory people into their buildings, they can only hope that management shows these folks the door.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or 

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL

Bail reform criticized after two brothers killed in Newark

NEWARK -- When Zabdiel R. Vargas-Soto was released ahead of trial with an electronic monitoring device for allegedly attacking a woman, he had no record of criminal convictions, and was found to be a low risk for future violent crime.

But months later, Vargas-Soto stands accused of fatally shooting two brothers in Newark, slayings that he allegedly committed while awaiting trial for the earlier alleged assault. Now city's public safety director is once again blaming bail reform for allowing a defendant to go free and commit crime.

Zabdiel R. Vargas-Soto (Photo: ECPO) 

Vargas-Soto, 22, was charged with the murders of Jose Castillo-Granados, 25, and Francisco Castillo-Granados, 22, near Adams and Walnut streets in Newark's Ironbound section in an Aug. 27 attack authorities say stemmed from an unspecified dispute.

The murder case was his second run-in with police in the city, according to law enforcement and court records. The Newark man was arrested earlier this year on aggravated assault and weapons charges, which stemmed from a Jan. 28 incident where he allegedly stabbed a woman he knew in an argument outside an East Ward bar, a police report stated.

How bail reform is playing out in N.J.'s largest city

Under state reforms that eliminated monetary bail for most defendants, a judge ordered Vargas-Soto to be released from custody at a Feb. 8 hearing after a computer algorithm, called a Public Safety Assessment, did not flag him for being likely to commit future violent crime. Police records show Vargas-Soto was released from the city lockup Feb. 10. 

After his arrest in the fatal shootings, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose issued a sharp rebuke of bail reform, and called for state judiciary officials to revamp the system.

"A serious review of bail reform is needed," he said. Ambrose and other police executives have criticized the changes as allowing criminals who should be behind bars to be released based on faulty public safety assessments.

"I keep asking people responsible for bail reform to come up with solutions to a flawed system," Ambrose said in an interview. "There has to be a better solution. We have two young lives that were lost."

Officials confirmed the electronic monitoring data for Vargas-Soto was turned over to investigators. It was not immediately clear how the device factored into the probe.

"The Homicide Task Force did a great investigation," Ambrose said. "Within 48 hours they had him arrested."

N.J. bail system just went through massive change on who stays locked up. Is it working?

Under the Public Safety Assessment, Vargas-Soto was not flagged for being a risk of future violent crime, according to an Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman. Court officials said he had no prior convictions for indictable or disorderly persons offenses, and no record of failing to appear in court.

"We did not seek pretrial detention based on the PSA and the information available to us at that time," prosecutor's office spokeswoman Katherine Carter said of the January case. 

An assistant prosecutor asked for Vargas-Soto to be barred from contact with the alleged victim of the assault, subject to weekly reporting to authorities, home detention and electronic monitoring, according to the spokeswoman. A judge, however, denied the prosecutor's request for home detention and instead ordered electronic monitoring, reporting every other week and barred Vargas-Soto from contacting the woman.

An Essex County grand jury on May 2 indicted Vargas-Soto on lesser offenses, including third degree aggravated assault. 

Using electronic monitoring, Vargas-Soto was barred from going within 500 feet of his alleged victim from the assault, according to Pete McAleer, spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts. Prosecutors and the defense agreed that he be allowed to go to work.

Bail reform has been a 'challenge' for law enforcement, prosecutor says

"While on pretrial release, Mr. Vargas made all of his scheduled court appearances and all of his scheduled probation appearances. At no time did he enter the excluded zone," McAleer said. "No alerts were sent because Mr. Vargas had not violated the terms of his electronic monitoring."

Vargas-Soto also went to have his electronic monitoring bracelet fixed after pretrial services officials told him the device was losing its battery charge, according to the judiciary spokesman.

"What followed on Aug. 27 was a horrible tragedy," he said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to the family of the two young men who were killed."

Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Sellitti said she could not comment on a specific case, but noted the state's criminal justice reforms now take into account public safety risk while not simply jailing people who can't afford bail.

"Under our old system a judge was not allowed to consider whether or not somebody posed a danger to the community," Sellitti said.

With bail reform, judges consider a range of factors, including the Public Safety Assessments, arguments from attorneys, charges and a defendant's history of showing up for court, she said.

"We are giving judges more information to make better decisions and to treat people equally whether they have money or they don't," she added.

Sellitti said there will always be outlier cases, but no system of pretrial release could guarantee a defendant would not commit a crime while awaiting trial.

"There's no system that will be able to tell us, this person with 100 percent accuracy, will not or will commit another crime," Sellitti added. "The previous system didn't do that either."

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

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NEWARK -- In a custom that dates back centuries in the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, received the pallium, a special garment symbolizing his link to the papacy of Pope Francis.   The Imposition of the Pallium Mass was held at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, where Tobin, the sixth Archbishop of...

NEWARK -- In a custom that dates back centuries in the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, received the pallium, a special garment symbolizing his link to the papacy of Pope Francis.  

The Imposition of the Pallium Mass was held at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, where Tobin, the sixth Archbishop of Newark, received the garment. 

The woolen vestment was presented by The Most Reverend Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, during the afternoon Mass. The pallium is worn only by Metropolitan Archbishops, clergy who preside over an ecclesiastical province, according to information provided by Corpus Christi Parish in Hasbrouck Heights.

The Province of New Jersey includes the Archdiocese of Newark and the Dioceses of Trenton, Camden, Paterson and Metuchen. 

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

Police say the pair snuck in the Cherry Park apartments earlier this month

NEWARK -- The man and a woman who dressed as ninjas and set several small fires after entering a Newark apartment building are still being sought by police.

Video obtained by NBCNewYork.com shows the pair dressed in all black with their faces covered entering the newly constructed Cherry Park apartments on the 100 block of Sylvan Avenue on Sept. 3. They made their way down hallways, entered an apartment and set multiple fires, police said. 

Later, they are seen dashing from the building out a side exit. The woman was also carrying a black bag. 

No one was injured and the building's sprinkler system extinguished the blazes.

Anyone with information about the identity of the pair is being asked to call the 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877- NWK-TIPS (1-877- 695-8477) or 1-877- NWK-GUNS (1-877- 695-4867).  All anonymous Crime Stopper tips are kept confidential and could result in a reward.

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

NEWARK -- Stretch is a 3-year-old male American bulldog/terrier mix at the Associated Humane Society. Rescued as a stray in Hillside, volunteers say he is playful, knows some commands and gets along very well with another male dog his size. Stretch has been neutered and is up-to-date on shots. To meet Stretch and other adoptable pets, visit the Associated...

Stretch 

NEWARK -- Stretch is a 3-year-old male American bulldog/terrier mix at the Associated Humane Society.

Rescued as a stray in Hillside, volunteers say he is playful, knows some commands and gets along very well with another male dog his size.

Stretch has been neutered and is up-to-date on shots.

To meet Stretch and other adoptable pets, visit the Associated Humane Society at 124 Evergreen Ave. The shelter is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5:30 p.m. and weekends from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call 973-824-7080 or go to petfinder.com/pet-search?shelter_id=NJ01.

Shelters interested in placing a pet in the Paw Print adoption column or submitting news should call 973-836-4922 or email essex@starledger.com.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

Each season, at high schools across New Jersey, football players are asked to step in and fill the spots of a graduated veteran. Here are 25 players with the biggest shoes to fill in 2017