The victim was found on Berton Place
BELLEVILLE -- The Essex County Prosecutor's Office said someone was fatally shot on Berton Place Tuesday night.
Kathy Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, identified the victim only as a male. Additional information was not immediately available.
Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The Maryland-based institute called the state's new bail system "phenomenal."
TRENTON -- New Jersey scored higher than any other state in a recent report card on pretrial detention released Wednesday by a national nonprofit advocating for bail reform.
The Maryland-based Pretrial Justice Institute gave New Jersey the only 'A' grade in its report, applauding the state changes that went into effect Jan. 1.
"The new system has, so far, been phenomenal," the institute said in its State of Pretrial Justice in America report.
The institute advocates for several of the reforms New Jersey has implemented, including the near-elimination of cash bail and the use of pretrial assessments.
Starting this year, judges in the state have decided to detain or release a defendant based on pretrial assessments and recommendations that consider his or her likelihood to commit another crime and show up to court dates, among other things.
In most cases, judges set release conditions and let defendants out while they're awaiting trial. The court is instructed to institute cash bail only when no other release conditions could ensure public safety or that defendants would return to court. Judges can also order defendants held without bail pending trial in extreme cases.
The report states that since Jan. 1, fewer than thirty defendants in the state have been required to pay cash bail.
New Jersey was the only state that got an A grade from PJI, based on its scoring system. It gave states points for having a low pretrial detention rate, a "validated"pretrial assessment tool, and effectively eliminating cash bail.
In a 2016 guest column in the Star-Ledger, PJI Executive Director Cherise Fanno Burdeen called New Jersey's bail reforms the "current best practices in providing safe, fair, and effective pretrial justice."
The idea is that detention should be the anomaly, and not the norm, because the accused are innocent until proven guilty, Burdeen argues. Plus, she said, cash bail unduly punishes the poor, who then face more negative consequences like job and income loss if they're stuck in a cell for even a few days.
"The bail reform mandated by the 2015 voter-approved legislation proudly places New Jersey at the forefront of a national movement to see pretrial justice in every court in the land," Burdeen said in the column.
The flattering report is antithetical to some of the criticism New Jersey's system has faced at home. That includes legal challenges from the ACLU and the bail bond industry, as well as bashing from law enforcement and others who think the reforms mean more bad guys being released to the streets.
Among them is Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose, who spoke out spoke out in March after Joseph Brown, 24, of Irvington, was released on weapons and drug charges with a monitoring bracelet only to get caught allegedly firing a gun at a house two weeks later.
"We're re-arresting people anywhere from four to seven times," Ambrose said. He said he doesn't know the exact number of people reoffending after being released, but is sure it is on the rise."People always reoffend... But it's more prevalent now."
"Bail reform was necessary and I agree with the goals and intentions," he said. And while he doesn't want to go back to cash bail, he said the assessment tools courts are using when they decide to release some defendants are clearly flawed.
Ambrose said there has been a "spike" in more minor crimes in his city, including break-ins, and he blames bail reform.
Uniform crime reporting numbers for the city show assaults increased 28 percent and burglaries were up by 15 percent for the first six months of 2017 compared to the same time period in 2016. The data for Newark is incomplete for the third quarter of 2017.
PJI's report was sure to point out that statewide crime rates dropped in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same time period in 2016, at the same time the courts were releasing more defendants.
State numbers released in July showed a 20 percent drop since January in the number of people held while waiting for their trials. The pretrial jail population was also down by more than a third compared to the previous July numbers.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The deer was not hurt in the incident, which was captured on bank surveillance
LIVINGSTON -- A deer took a wrong turn Monday morning, jumping through a window at bank.
Surveillance footage from Regal Bank in Livingston shows the deer leaping through the glass and landing between two desks
No one was working at the desks when the deer made its crash landing. The deer was not seriously hurt, the bank said on its Facebook page.
The bank is on West Mount Pleasant Avenue in the suburban western Essex County township.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Woman's son is accused of killing three women in Essex County last year and attacking a fourth.
NEWARK -- Victor Butler and Yhundra Wheeler-Weaver silently sat on different sides of Judge Ronald Wigler's courtroom in Newark Tuesday.
His daughter was one of three young women strangled to death in Essex County last fall. Her son is the man accused of murdering all three of them.
Following a short status conference in the case against 21-year-old Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, his mother and Sarah Butler's father ended up in the same elevator leaving the courthouse.
Butler extended his hand, introducing himself to a visibly shaken Wheeler-Weaver. When she began crying, he put his arm around her, saying a few times, "it's OK."
They parted ways outside the court complex, saying they'd see each other again on Dec. 18, the date of the next conference in the case.
"We can't change what happened," Butler told NJ Advance Media after wishing Wheeler-Weaver well. "It doesn't help to hold onto anger and hatred."
He also expressed almost a sense of camaraderie with the woman whose son is accused of brutally killing his daughter, and dumping her body in secluded area of the Eagle Rock Reservation.
"Two lives were lost," he said, referring to Sarah's and Khalil's.
"Just, she still gets to see her son. It's all hard."
Before running into Butler, Wheeler-Weaver declined to comment on her son's case, whispering through tears, "I can't."
When asked if the case has been hard for her, she simply said, "yes, very."
The emotional connection between the parents on both sides of this brutal case came after a brief court update in which public defender Deirdre McMahon and prosecutor Adam Wells agreed on filing dates for information related to the prosecution's cell phone and DNA evidence against Wheeler-Weaver in the 2016 killings of Butler, 20, Joanne Brown, 33, and Robin West, 19, and an attack of another unidentified woman.
Wigler said at Tuesday's conference the court will likely set a date for the highly-anticipated trial at the December status conference.
Authorities accuse Wheeler-Weaver of a string of violence and murders last fall -- West, of Philadelphia, was killed in Orange on Sept. 1, 2016; Brown, on Oct. 22, and Butler, of Montclair, exactly a month later. The fourth woman was attacked in Elizabeth in November 2016, authorities have said. Officials accuse Wheeler-Weaver of kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and trying to kill her.
Prosecutors have said his interactions with all of them women were of a "sexual nature," but have declined to elaborate on exactly how he allegedly encountered each of them.
Both Butler and Brown were strangled, authorities have said. The bodies of West and Brown were found in vacant Orange homes. Authorities have said Wheeler-Weaver set fire to one of the homes after killing West.
Wheeler-Weaver, who was has indicted in February, has pleaded not guilty.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
See what the biggest wins and most surprising results were through the first round of the boys soccer state tournament.
Authorities say 19-year-old Dante Holden and 21-year-old Tymyr Wilson, friends from East Orange, were shot dead in Newark Sunday night while attempting an armed robbery
NEWARK -- Friends and family members of the two men killed by an off-duty police officer Sunday night are reeling from the shooting. They've created online and in-person memorials, and some were home mourning a day after the fatal shots rang out.
The reaction starkly contrasted those of people in the Newark neighborhood where authorities say the officer fatally shot the pair, who were accused of trying to rob him. In the area apparently jaded by violence, residents had little sympathy for the young friends from East Orange who were killed.
Several residents expressed support for the off-duty Jersey City Police officer, who authorities say was dropping off an acquaintance and her two children at their South 6th Street home when one of the robbers tried to shoot him. Authorities said the robber's gun jammed, and the officer shot him and his accomplice, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
"He was doing what he was supposed to do," 23-year-old John Smith said of the officer.
Another neighbor, Jorge Diaz, a 55-year-old retired New York City Subway train driver, had a message for other would-robbers in the wake of the shooting:
"Knuckleheads, watch out," said Diaz.
Several others expressed similar sentiments but declined to give their names, some for fear of retribution.
The Essex County Prosecutor's office identified the young men as Dante Holden, 19, and Tymyr Wilson, 21, who lived around the corner from each other in a secluded East Orange neighborhood along the eastern edge of the Garden State Parkway.
But as of Tuesday, the prosecutor's office had not identified the officer, whom a Jersey City spokeswoman referred to as a detective.
Ronald Taylor, a 61-year-old contractor who installs vinyl siding on the aging homes of the neighborhood where the shooting occurred, was blase about violence in Newark's working-class Central Ward.
"It's an everyday thing in the ghetto," Taylor said.
Smith and Diaz said they heard the shooting Sunday night at about 11:30 p.m., on the 100 block of South 6th Street, with both telling of several shots fired in rapid succession, followed by a momentary pause.
"Then there was one last one," said Smith.
"After that, there was complete silence," Diaz said.
Diaz said he went outside to see what had happened, and was surprised by how quickly police cars began arriving, and how many there were.
"The neighborhood got safe very fast," he said.
Smith said he later read about what happened, along with the identities of the two young men killed, and looked up their Facebook pages. He said he did not recognize either one.
"I lived here all my life, I never seen them around here before," Smith said.
Diaz, who has been in the neighborhood 11 years, also said they were not familiar.
Loved ones of the two set up a makeshift memorial on the corner of South 6th Street and 13th Avenue, where balloons were tied to a fence and a half-dozen votive candles stood at the base of a utility pole. The pole was wrapped with green construction paper, where family and friends had scrawled remembrances.
"R.I.P. Dontay. Love you, Yvette," read one.
"To my uncle Tymyr, Love you," read another. "Save a spot right next to you. Love, Wa-Wa."
In the pair's East Orange neighborhood, no one answered the door at Holden's house on New Street.
At Wilson's house on Davis Avenue, a woman who answered the door said she was his grandmother and that she had raised him. She declined to give her name or talk about Wilson, except to say, "He was loved, I can tell you that. He was loved."
Then she started to cry and retreated back into the house.
Some love for Wilson was posted Tuesday on his Facebook page, where he used the nickname Ty Sav, and in his profile photo wore a black motorcycle jacket over a black sweatshirt with a hood that covered his eyes.
"I remember I used to always tell you to stay in the house, stay out of trouble, stop being outside so late. It was never a time we spoke and I did not tell you that," read a post from Ty-ji Rome. "I really can't believe this is even real, Ty. Rest easy, I know you will be watching over me."
NJ Advance Media research editor Vinessa Erminio and staff writer Noah Cohen contributed to this report
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
County and conference tournament play shifts the state order once again.
At least 70 firefighters respond to the morning blaze.
NEWARK -- Firefighters were battling a three-alarm blaze that burned two buildings on Sherman Avenue in Newark Wednesday morning, officials said.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries and were treated by emergency medical crews, according to Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose, who said no other injuries were immediately reported.
The blaze started around 8 a.m. in an unoccupied three-story residential structure and spread to a three-family occupied home at 152 Sherman Avenue, Ambrose said. At least 70 firefighters were at the scene.
Officials said the fire continued to burn shortly before 10 a.m.
Fire in Newark#fireinNewark #Frelinghysen #NewarkNJ #NewarkFD @WBLS1075NYC @ABC7 @wpix @News12NJDesk I give news permission to use pic.twitter.com/hhOe6eK0LR
-- Michelle Harris (@MichelleKnits4U) November 1, 2017
Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook.
Crucial contests to make the state tournament and determine seeding
Food Network star Alton Brown sings, dances and experiments in his latest live show which comes to NJPAC Nov. 3.
You don't have to be a chef or a foodie or even a half-decent home cook to enjoy Alton Brown's live culinary variety show, "Eat Your Science." During the family-friendly program - at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Nov. 3- the Food Network star gives new meaning to the phrase "something for everyone," singing, dancing and joking his way through an interactive performance that has game show elements and real food-based science experiments that go off with a bang.
"Food is a universal connector. We all eat," Brown said in an interview with NJ Advance Media. "We're all interested in it whether we think we are or not."
Brown worked in film and television production before entering the food arena, which may be one reason he knows how to hold an audience. He now has bona fides in both fields. His first food-based television show, "Good Eats," ran for 13 years and earned Brown an "Outstanding Personality/Host" nod from the James Beard Foundation. (A new iteration of the show, "Return of the Eats," will begin airing on Food Network in 2018.) His cookbook, "I'm Just Here for the Food," also got a James Beard nod and was one of the best-selling cookbooks of 2002.
And as unusual as a touring food science show may sound, this is Brown's second traveling production. His first, "Edible Inevitable," was wildly successful and featured a giant Easy-Bake Oven of his own creation, baking two pizzas in less than four minutes with bulbs and light fixtures normally used at rock concerts. The new show features two food items "that are extremely common and using science to turn them into something extraordinary," Brown said. He won't say more than that.
"I'm not inventing quasars here or doing anything like that," he said.
Brown's distain for single-use kitchen gadgets - "unitaskers" like a garlic press or a cutting tool designed to slice only tomatoes or strawberries -- is legendary. His 2015 video evaluating the merits of such devices has been viewed more than six million times on youtube.com. Even two years later, Brown sounds disgusted talking about some of the gadgets, like the Rollie Eggmaster.
"Who ever said, 'My gosh, I wish I had a quivering column of cooked egg'?" Brown asked. "Nobody wants that, so for somebody to come up with something like that just seems odd."
That said, Brown appreciates what he sees as one of America's greatest culinary traditions: the constant desire to create new products.
"About 99 percent of them are ridiculous and don't save us time and don't save us money and don't make food taste better, but there's always that one percent," he said.
He also believes in questioning cooking practices. "That's how I've always done it," doesn't fly with Brown. Using a full pot of boiling water to make pasta? Unnecessary. Searing steaks before cooking to "seal in the juices?" Preposterous, he announced.
"We occasionally need to question the old ways," he said, noting how scientific knowledge of cooking continues to grow. "We can bust our own myths of cooking."
Or bust something on stage. But only those who go to the show will get that joke.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
1 Center St., Newark.
Tickets: $39.50 - $129.50, available online at www.njpac.org. Nov. 3, 7 p.m.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
October turned out to be a month in which very warm air dominated the weather pattern in the Garden State region, as well as in New York City and Philadelphia.
It's now official. Last month was the warmest October ever recorded in Newark and the fourth warmest October ever recorded in Atlantic City, according to temperature data from the National Weather Service.
Fueled by surges of warm air from the southern and western United States, New Jersey ended up with an October in which pleasant days with temperatures in the 70s or 80s outnumbered the cooler days.
Although the statewide average temperature has not yet been finalized, it will likely be the second warmest October in New Jersey since reliable records started being kept in 1895, according to New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson, whose office is based at Rutgers University.
New Jersey's warmest October on record was in 2007, when the average temperature -- the daily highs and daily lows averaged out across each region of the state -- was 62.1 degrees, Robinson said.
October was, however, a record-setter at some local climate sites, including Newark Liberty International Airport as well as in Central Park in New York City.
In Newark, the average temperature last month was 63.9 degrees, which is 7.3 degrees above normal for October, the National Weather Service noted in its monthly climate report on Wednesday. In Central Park, the average temperature last month was 64.1 degrees, which is 7.2 degrees above normal for October.
Last month turned out to be the second warmest October on record in Philadelphia and also in Allentown, and the fourth warmest October ever recorded at Atlantic City International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service said historical records in Trenton, another one of its major climate stations, are missing too much data to accurately rank the city's October temperatures. However, it was a very warm October this year, with Trenton's daily highs and daily lows averaging 61.7 degrees, which is exactly 7 degrees above normal.
Philadelphia averaged 64.1 degrees last month, Allentown averaged 60.1 degrees and Atlantic City averaged 62.4 degrees.
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Sayfullo Saipov arrived in the U.S. legally through a visa lottery program, according to reports.
The New York terror attack suspect who plowed through bikers and pedestrians on Tuesday afternoon, killing 8 and injuring 11, arrived in the U.S. reportedly through a visa lottery program in 2010.
President Trump tweeted that Sayfullo Saipov entered the country with a Diversity Immigrant Visa -- a State Department-run visa program meant to diversify the flow of immigrants settling in the U.S.
NJ Advance Media has not independently confirmed how Saipov entered the country.
Saipov, 29, arrived from Uzbekistan, initially settling in Ohio before moving to Paterson. New York Police Department terror chief John Miller said during a press conference Wednesday that Saipov entered the country in March 2010 and is a legal permanent resident.
Seton Hall Law Professor Lori Nessel said diversity visas have been part of immigration law since 1990. She said 50,000 visas are awarded every year through the program, mostly to countries that have not sent a large number of immigrants to the U.S. Countries like India, China and Mexico are typically excluded from qualifying.
"It's a program that's aimed at diversifying the immigrant stream coming into the the U.S.," Nessel said. "It is a random lottery, it has much more to do with the nation than it does the particular person."
But Nessel said winning the lottery does not mean a person will automatically be allowed into the U.S.
"It doesn't bypass national security concerns. You always have to show that there isn't any reason that the U.S. should keep you out," she said.
It's not clear how thoroughly individuals are vetted and whether such scrutiny matches the multi-agency, years-long vetting process that refugees go through. But immigration attorneys say the vetting can be a long and laborious process, because State Department officials are determining whether to allow someone to live in the country, not just travel on a tourist visa.
"People applying for diversity visas have to go through an extensive series of security checks in order to be granted a visa," said Farrin Anello, senior staff attorney for the
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
NYPD officials said Saipov was on the radar of federal authorities before yesterday's attack but it's not clear when or why. Officials said Saipov was not the subject of any NYPD or FBI investigations but may have been connected to people who were.
The State Department declined to comment on visa records but in a statement said they were closely monitoring the situation.
"We are referring all questions about the investigation to the FBI and the New York Police Department. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and our prayers for recovery to those affected by this terrible act of terrorism in New York City," the statement said.
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
According to the Department of Homeland Security, 2,318 Uzbeks were awarded diversity visas in 2015 out of more 47,000 such visas issued that year. In 2010, out of the 49,700 diversity visas issued, 3,279 went to Uzbek nationals.
Those who win diversity visas are admitted to the country as permanent residents. Nessel said it's one of the few ways immigrants can gain permanent residency outside of family unification or employment-based programs.
The diversity visa, however, is not without controversy. Nessel said there's been efforts to roll back the program in the past but she reiterated that winning the lottery did not guarantee entry.
"There would have been a process for determining whether the suspect or anyone in that position is admissible or not," she said.
Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.
She also tried to debunk reports that she had pulled a stunt Watch video
A day after Wendy Williams fainted on live TV, the talk show host called the experience "really scary," tearing up as she recounted feeling uneasy heading into a segment about the show's Halloween costume contest.
Williams, who on Tuesday had slurred a word before dropping to the ground in her Halloween costume (she was the Statue of Liberty, see video above) on "The Wendy Williams Show," addressed the incident on her show Wednesday, again denying that it was any kind of stunt, as some speculated on Twitter. (50 Cent surmised that she had been "acting.")
"That was not a stunt," she had said, back upright after a commercial break yesterday. "I overheated in my costume, I did pass out. But, you know what? I'm a champ and I'm back."
Williams said she felt overheated, but since there was only 12 minutes left in the show, she thought she could hold it together. She had gripped a podium to that effect, and tried not to take it down with her as she collapsed.
"Right before passing out I felt like I was in the middle of a campfire," she said.
Williams, 53, an Asbury Park native who grew up in Ocean Township and has lived in both Montclair and Livingston, also brushed aside speculation that she had had a stroke, saying paramedics checked her out and determined she was dehydrated and in need of electrolytes. On Tuesday, Williams shared a short video clip from her New Jersey home that showed her on the couch flanked by an ice-filled glass and bottles of Gatorade and Pedialyte.
The bright side?
"I was trending all day," Williams noted. "Fabulous!"
The rock icons will have a new album to play in "Songs of Experience"
NEWARK -- After a mammoth anniversary tour that filled MetLife Stadium earlier this year for the 30th birthday of "The Joshua Tree," U2 will return to New Jersey next year.
The rock icons announced Wednesday a new eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour, which will visit Prudential Center in Newark June 29, 2018. U2 will also rock Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia June 13 and Madison Square Garden in New York June 25.
Tickets go on sale Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster.
The band also announced a corresponding new album, "Songs of Experience," due out Dec. 1. The album follows 2014's "Songs of Innocence" which was infamously auto-loaded to all iTunes accounts and, in turn, millions of listeners who didn't ask for it.
Though the band's last arena tour, touring on "Innocence" in 2015, was a technical marvel at Madison Square Garden and one of the strongest concerts that year.
Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The resident was also shot in struggle with would-be burglar, according to prosecutor's office.
BELLEVILLE -- A resident fatally shot an armed intruder during a struggle with the would-be burglar late Tuesday in Belleville that also left the homeowner wounded, authorities said.
An armed man entered the Berton Place home around 10 p.m. and struggled with the resident, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The resident was shot during the confrontation with the home invader.
"However, the resident then fatally shot the would-be burglar. After being shot, the unidentified burglar fled and collapsed in Nutley," acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino and Belleville Police Chief Mark Minichini said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The resident was treated for his injuries and released from an area hospital, according to prosecutor's office spokeswoman Katherine Carter.
The spokeswoman confirmed there was another suspect in the home invasion, but did not release more details.
"The investigation is very active," Carter added.
The home on Berton Place is near the Nutley and Belleville border.
Authorities did not immediately release more information, including the identity of the man who was killed. It was also unclear if more than one weapon was used in the incident.
On social media, Belleville police said the shooting was an "isolated incident."
"There is no threat to the public this appears to have been an isolated incident," the department said in a statement on Facebook Tuesday night.
Township police did not respond to a request for more information. Nutley police referred questions to the prosecutor's office.
A woman who did not provide her name, said she heard at least two pop sounds late Tuesday.
Police from Belleville and Nutley closed off the residential block as investigators worked at the scene. A Nutley Fire Department spotlight tower was set up shining on evidence markers and what appeared to be clothing on the street, near broken glass.
Anyone with information can call the prosecutor's office tip line at 1-877-TIPS4-EC or 1-877-847-7432.
Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook.
The Election Law Enforcement Commission filed a complaint against Ras Baraka related to the record setting $12.5 million 2014 mayoral election
TRENTON -- Mayor Ras Baraka has been charged with violating campaign finance rules during the 2014 mayoral race, according to a 28-count complaint filed by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Baraka edged out opponent Shavar Jeffries in 2014 in what the commission said was the most expensive election (without adjusting for inflation) at a cost of $12.6 million. The contentious race was marked by millions in expenditures from independent groups, fistfights among supporters on each side and the torching of Baraka's campaign bus.
The commission's complaint, filed against Baraka and campaign treasurer Frederick Murphy, includes allegations that the campaign failed to disclose 188 contributions worth $160,000, 161 instances of incomplete or incorrect information regarding $155,000 and 44 allegations that contributions and expenses were reported late.
Baraka, 47, announced his re-election campaign in June.
"Mayor Baraka holds his campaign to the highest standards and is committed to ensuring it is in full compliance with election and campaign finance laws," Amiri Baraka, Jr., Mayor Baraka's brother and campaign manager said in a statement.
"The campaign is working with a well-respected compliance firm, CFO Compliance LLC, that will ensure the campaign continues to remain compliant with the law. We are taking this matter very seriously and are currently reviewing this complaint with our legal counsel," he added.
The commission has not filed any prior complaints against Baraka, who served as South Ward Councilman.
The 48-page complaint details instances of contributions above allowable limits, lack of information on contributors, failure to deposit contributions into the campaign account and no disclosed purpose for certain expenditures. All told the allegations involve $361,168 in contributions and $34,348 in expenses:
Each violation carries maximum fine amounts but those penalties are usually reduced based on a candidate's level of cooperation.
Last year the commission filed 93 such complaints and 157 were filed in 2015.
Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.
Players and parents showed their support Monday night flocking to Racioppe's house as news broke.
Lou Racioppe will not be reinstated as Verona's football coach this season.
As more than 50 players and parents filled Racioppe's front steps in Verona on Monday night just after 10 p.m., Racioppe confirmed to NJ Advance Media that he was informed by the school's administration that he will not be returning as the team's coach.
"I just wish it had a better ending," Racioppe told the crowd. "My son said to me a couple of weeks ago 'that all you old coaches hang around for too long things never end well.' Unfortunately that seems to be the case here, but we'll survive.'"
Racioppe was put on administrative leave prior to Verona’s game against North Warren on Oct. 13 after the school’s administrative team interviewed players and coaches as a procedural follow-up after multiple complaints were filed. The complaints have yet to be disclosed.
Racioppe would not elaborate on his conversation with the school's administration or the allegations against him.
"I think it's awful for this town and a disgrace what they did to such a great coach," said Tom Sharkey, a father of the team's starting quarterback. "I couldn't hand pick a better guy to coach my son than Coach Racioppe.
Racciope started his 20th season as Verona's head coach this fall. His tenure included four sectional titles, including back-to-back undefeated seasons in 2014 and 2015 that culminated with a pair of championships. Miami Dolphins tight end Anthony Fasano and former Notre Dame linebacker Carlo Calabrese are two of the most notable alumni to play through his program.
Pat Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatLanniHS. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.
I don't know about you, but I'm having serious trouble keeping up with acronyms associated with texting. The "B" ones alone are like learning a new language. BAE, BOO, BRB, BTW ... and our topic today, BFF, otherwise known as Best Friends Forever. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines BFF as an informal term for "a very close friend," and say its...
I don't know about you, but I'm having serious trouble keeping up with acronyms associated with texting.
The "B" ones alone are like learning a new language. BAE, BOO, BRB, BTW ... and our topic today, BFF, otherwise known as Best Friends Forever.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines BFF as an informal term for "a very close friend," and say its first known use was in 1987, providing a sentence to show its usage: "A BFF doesn't gossip about or lie to you. She doesn't share your secrets on her MySpace page."-- Girls' Life
MySpace ... heh, heh.
In a Sept. 18, 2017, article in Business Insider, Merriam-Webster associate editor Emily Brewster was quoted as saying, "Our job as lexicographers is to follow the development of language, defining the words people are likely to encounter." She noted that words are added to the dictionary "because they have established themselves in the English language, and are part of the current, active vocabulary of America." BFF is certainly a part of our vernacular.
MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart sang "Because a friend would never doubt you or ever put you uptight," and grammar aside, that's the definition of BFF long before the acronym came into use.
We, of course, really can't tell for sure if all the people we've pictured were truly 'BFFs' ... but there's something about their facial expressions and body language that makes us think they were.
Same gender or different, pairs, trios or large groups, even dogs and cats -- BFFs are those you know will always be there when you need them.
Here's a gallery of New Jersey BFFs. And here are links to other galleries you might like.
Vintage photos capturing candid slices of life in N.J.
Vintage candid photos and photobombs in NJ
Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.
According to its Trulia listing, the taxes on the property this year were $71,989.
In this week's "Sold!" property, we feature a home in Montclair with more than 6,300 square feet of living space.
The house sold for $2,226,000 in October. According to its Trulia listing, the taxes on the property this year were $71,989.
The home features seven bedrooms, five full bathrooms and three partial baths. The house was assessed this year at $1,981,000.
The median sale price for homes in the area is $630,000.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Lessons from Sandy showed up last weekend
The electricity is working. Heat is on and hot water is available. The TV and internet are connected.
This was the experience of millions on Sunday as high winds and heavy rain lashed the state, with gusts continuing to accelerate Monday.
Power outages for the four major utilities ranged from 1 percent to 3 percent for the state's 3.5 million electricity users.
And for this, we can thank Hurricane Sandy, which five years ago left most of New Jersey dark for weeks.
Sandy was actually a successive 1-2-3 punch from Mother Nature that taxed the state's power companies.
First, was Hurricane Irene on Aug. 28, 2011, which knocked out power to 1.5 million people in New Jersey. It was a short-term loss for most, but a few thousand were out for nearly a week.
Then came the Halloween blizzard two months later. The freak storm of heavy wet snow, caught by the leaves still on the trees, turned suburban streets into broken-branch jungles. Powerlines came down with those tree limbs, and 500,000 people statewide lost electricity, some for as long as a week.
The next gut-punch, Sandy, set records - and prompted a stronger utility response. Between the sustained 80-mph winds that brought down branches and trees, and the storm-surge flooding that swamped substations, 2.4 million lost power and the outages dragged on into weeks.
The tree fall during Sandy resembled a logging forest, especially in the state's older leafy suburbs, which were developed in the 1910s, 20s and 30s. The trees planted along sidewalks and loomed over powerlines were old, and their root structures, like geriatric bones, were weakening.
Tom Ombrello, the Union County College biologist and state expert on trees, said the oaks and beech trees that made the suburbs attractive and homey were "reaching the end of their lifespans" and their roots were crowded by street pipes and pavement.
So, when Sandy came along ... timber!
After the storm, the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) studied the tree maintenance guidelines for utility companies and several new rules were imposed. They included new trimming specifications for higher voltage lines, two-foot trims of branches above and below power lines, and more severe trims between a substation and the first re-closure switch, which can help isolate outages. The board also asked the utilities to cut down hazardous trees - those dead or weakened -- that could crash down on lines.
Ron Morano, the spokesman for Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), said the company has trimmed trees along 17,000 miles of lines in the five years since Sandy, as part of $1.5 billion in upgrades.
Those upgrades include putting flood barriers, permanent walls and raising equipment in 20 low-lying substations, mostly in coastal Monmouth and Ocean counties, upgrading lines and installing automatic control devices that can stop outages from spreading through a damaged system.
But in heavy winds and lashing rains, the tree-trims pay obvious dividends.
"Everyone realized the serious damage that trees can have on infrastructure following Hurricane Sandy and the significant storms in the two years prior to Sandy," Morano said. "In maintaining proper clearance around its equipment, JCP&L helped reduce the number and frequency of tree-related power outages."
During this past weekend's storm, 79,000 of JCP&L 1.1 million customers lost power. But as evidence that the tree-trimming practices were working, 99.9 percent were restored within 24 hours. Repairs from tree-related outages - which entail chainsaws to free lines and bucket trucks to re-string them - always take more time, utility officials say.
Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) also has made substantial investments since Sandy, spending $1.2 billion in the past five years to buoy the system against strong storms. The utility said it is "more aggressively patrolling and removing dead or diseased trees" already covering 4,000 miles this year.
Brian Hartel, the manager of vegetation management for PSE&G, said the company has trimmed and maintained trees along 18,100 miles of lines.
"Going after dangerous and hazard trees has dropped our 'preventable' outages from 9 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent in 2015," he said.
Hartel explained a 'preventable' outage was one caused by trees that should have been on the company's radar as hazardous.
"If a storm blows down a healthy tree and one that's been maintained, we don't classify that as 'preventable,' " he said.
Gary Lovallo, the town forester for Old Bridge, Monroe and several other communities, said there is both "good and bad" in the extensive tree-trimming by the utilities.
"Line clearance has helped maintain reliable electrical service, and that's good," said Lovallo. "Maintained trees are less likely to fail.
"The downside is sometimes a tree can become unbalanced and an aesthetic nightmare," he said. "With long-term improper trimming, the entire weight of the canopy shifts to the property owner's side. If the tree comes down, it comes down on that side."
Trees on private property remain an issue for the utilities. So do individual municipal shade and tree commissions, which have say in some towns about what residents - and utilities can do with trees.
Hartel says PSE&G created a division after Sandy to send foresters and other experts into communities to "educate them on how we can keep the lines safe" to alleviate fears that companies want to clear-cut around the lines.
"It's about removing or cutting back the right tree in the right place," he said.
