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20 years of Joe D? 5 challenges Dem power broker faces in reelection bid

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Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo held a campaign announcement Monday morning. He will be seeking his 5th term in the office.


Newark's crime decline and old-school policing | Di Ionno

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Something about being the eyes and ears of a city and knowing everything that was going on got young Anthony Ambrose to dream about becoming a Newark  policeman. "My uncle was a cop," Ambrose said. "He used to tell stories about being up all night while the whole city was sleeping. He seemed to know everybody. And everything. Since...

Something about being the eyes and ears of a city and knowing everything that was going on got young Anthony Ambrose to dream about becoming a Newark  policeman.

"My uncle was a cop," Ambrose said. "He used to tell stories about being up all night while the whole city was sleeping. He seemed to know everybody. And everything. Since I was 5 years old, all I wanted to do was be a Newark cop.""

But first he had to overcome his father's objections. Not so easy if you grew up in the North Ward and your father was built like Rocky Marciano, with hands just as heavy.

"I shouldn't tell this story ...," he began, which is the way Ambrose begins many stories, " ... but my father didn't like cops. He was a diesel mechanic and had a garage. One night, somebody broke in. Some tires and $40 went missing. They (the police) told him it was probably some kids. Later on, my uncle told him some cops tried to sell him the tires."

So, Anthony Sr. wanted his son to go to college.

"He wanted me to become a lawyer or something," Ambrose said.

Or maybe a politician.

"He said, 'Become somebody who tells cops what to do."

Ambrose had no intention of doing that in the beginning. He was happy being in uniform. But when it did happen -- telling cops what to do -- it was because of his work ethic, street and strategy smarts, and the mentorship of people who recognized both.

MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns 

On Wednesday, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka held a year-end summary of crime for 2017, with Ambrose positioned at his right shoulder.

The headline: Homicides were down 31 percent. The secondary headlines: a 23 percent increase in guns taken off the street; a 26 percent drop in robberies; and, despite a 22 percent increase in police-citizen "encounters," such as arrests, investigations, stops and serving warrants,  complaints against police fell 20 percent.

"This isn't a victory lap," said Baraka. "We still have a lot of work to do. But we're moving in the right direction."

When Ambrose took his turn at the podium, he led with the bad news. That's Ambrose. No sugar-coating. Old school.

Shootings were up by 28 percent, as 75 more people were hit by gunfire this year. Ambrose attributed the increase to a factor that has frustrated police across the country: the presence of more high-powered assault-type weapons on the street.

Of the 517 guns recovered by police, 53 were the type capable of spraying multiple rounds in seconds.

He also took a swipe at new bail reform rules that put criminals, especially those involved in non-fatal shootings, quickly back on the street.

 "I'm for bail reform," he said. "But things have to be worked out. We have guys who get arrested and they're back out, and there's retaliation or they want to finish the job. That increased the opportunity for more shootings." 

It's been almost two years since Baraka appointed Ambrose, 59, as the city's public safety director, the culmination of a police career that began in 1986.

It was somewhat of a surprise move. Ambrose was part of a department that Baraka, as an activist, used to protest against.

"Hey, everybody changes," Baraka said, perhaps referring to both himself and Ambrose. "But he's been in the ranks, both in good times and bad."

Equally important was the time Ambrose spent working for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, forging relationships with state and federal law enforcement entities.

"He was the guy who could bring everybody together," Baraka said. "He had the reach to get us the help we needed ... I knew some people might see it as a risk. But it paid off. It was one of the best things I've done."

In the two years since Ambrose's return, most crime has dropped or stayed flat. Police have been added in triple digits. There are plans to open two new precincts and a city police academy.

"What I'm most proud of, though, is our community engagement," Ambrose said during an interview in his office prior to the press conference. 

Each of the city's five precincts must hold five engagement events a week.

"We have pizza-with-a-cop or coffee-with-a-cop programs in the neighborhoods," he said. "We have a citizen-clergy academy where the people do an eight-week course learning what we do. We have a captain-for-day program, where they (the citizen) goes into the precinct."

What Ambrose has done is try to return police to the streets to build trust. Old school.

"If you don't have trust, forget it. You can't get anything done," he said. "We need the people out there to trust us and help us. That's the only way to reduce crime."

Ambrose got his start in police management thanks to an unnamed sergeant. The down side of old school.

"I probably shouldn't tell this story ...," he said, "... but we were at our Christmas party and the guy is there (drunk) with his hat on backwards and I thought, "If this guy can be a sergeant, I sure as hell can do it."

After a few years on the beat and in narcotics, he began working for Azell Terry, a veteran sergeant.

"You could tell Anthony was a hard worker and a very positive force," said Terry, 85 and long retired. "I had him in homicide for seven years. He was very impressive to me. You could bet your life on him."

When Terry took over the intelligence unit several years later, he brought Ambrose on board.

"He was the only white guy," Terry said. "It was a risk, but he was just as good on the street."

Former Newark police director Joe Santiago came to know Ambrose when Ambrose did a two-week stint in the police administration office.

"The guy never went home," Santiago said. "He was there all day, all night. At the end of the two weeks I told him, 'You're staying here.'"

Santiago said he was frustrated trying to introduce a NYPD-style crime and manpower analytic called COMPstat into the Newark police operation. New school meets old school.

"I sent a few guys over, they didn't get it," he said. "Then I sent Anthony. When he came back, I told him he was going to run it."

In 2000, with the re-election of Sharpe James, Santiago said he promised to reduce crime by 50 percent.

"We were going for the win, and to win I told Sharpe I wanted to make Anthony chief," Santiago said. "He was young, he was only a lieutenant, but he was a leader and I wanted a guy who was on the same page with me. I knew it was a risk, but I knew Anthony would get it done."

After the election of Cory Booker, Ambrose left the city to work for the county, eventually becoming chief of detectives for the prosecutor's office.

When Baraka was elected mayor in 2014, he inherited high crime and a decimated police department.

"When you're the mayor, you own violent crime," Santiago said. "You're measured by the murder rate. I think it took a lot of guts for Ras to bring back a guy who worked for Sharpe James to fix things up. And he hit a homerun."

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

Ex-Gov. resigns from hospital board amid questions about friend's 'low-show' job

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The episode cost the the financially struggling University Hospital in Newark more than $500,000.

Former Gov. Donald DiFrancesco said Sunday he will step down at the end of the month as board chairman of New Jersey's only public acute-care hospital, amid revelations he had promoted a friend to serve as his assistant in a "low-show" six-figure job.

Gov. Chris Christie accepted DiFrancesco's resignation as chairman of University Hospital in Newark, Christie's spokesman Brian Murray said. 

NJ Advance Media on Monday reported that DiFrancesco had recommended attorney Jill Cooperman for a legal position at the hospital in 2013, shortly after he became chairman. 

Cooperman was hired as a $94,000-a-year staff attorney in the general counsel's office. DiFrancesco quickly repurposed her job as his assistant to help him create a foundation for the cash-starved Newark hospital, according to an investigator hired by the board in 2016 in response to a whistleblower's complaint. The investigation deemed Cooperman held an inappropriately managed "no-show" or "low-show" job. She left in April 2016.

The episode cost the the financially struggling hospital more than $500,000: $266,100 for Cooperman's salary from January 2014 through April 2016; $60,000 for her severance package, $175,000 in severance for the whistleblower, and $12,000 for the law firm - Porzio Bromberg & Newman of Morristown -- that investigated the claim, according to the hospital.

On Friday, Linda Schwimmer, president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a consumer watchdog group, called on Gov. Christie to remove DiFrancesco over the controversy.

Christie should ax ex-governor as hospital chair, watchdog says  

University Hospital, a 519-bed teaching facility, north Jersey's only top level trauma center and the largest provider of charity care in the state, operates on a $674 million budget with a $6 million deficit.

With his term on the board expiring in June, and a new governor, Democrat Phil Murphy, taking control in mid-January, DiFrancesco on Sunday offered to leave. But he made no mention of the controversy in his letter.

"Thank you for the honor to serve as the first Chairman of Board of University Hospital. When you appointed me, the challenge was clear: help build a new hospital essentially from scratch to care for some of the most vulnerable New Jersey residents and create a teaching institution to train future generations of New Jersey physicians and nurses," according to DiFrancesco's letter to Christie and provided to NJ Advance Media by the former governor's spokesman.

"When I first joined the University Hospital Board in July, 2013, we were tested right from the start to build an effective structure. We have succeeded to a considerable degree in creating a strong operation that serves our community," according to DiFrancesco's letter.

"I've dedicated significant effort to helping University Hospital achieve its goals and am proud of what we have achieved," according to DiFrancesco's letter to the governor. "I want nothing more than to see the Institution be successful. Although I have only six months remaining on my term, I believe this is the right time for me to step aside. As such, I will leave the Board on December 31."

Christie appointed DiFrancesco in 2013, just as the state dissolved the hospital's parent entity, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and required University Hospital to operate independently.  

Murray, Christie's spokesman, said the governor "appreciated Governor DiFrancesco's decades of public service and all of his hard work in creating the new University Hospital. The Governor and the First Lady wish Don and Diane all the best and thank them for their years of friendship."

Hospital spokesman Rick Remington also released a statement thanking DiFrancesco for his service.

"University Hospital has received Governor DiFrancesco's letter stepping down as Chairman of the Board, effective December 31, 2017.  We thank him for his years of dedicated service helping to establish University Hospital, and the Board's Vice-Chair will serve as Chairman until a successor has been named."

James Orsini III, an oncologist, is the vice chairman of the hospital's board of directors.

 Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

No place in civilized society for gas-powered leaf-blowers | Editorial

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Take a bow, Maplewood. You have saved the ears, lungs, and souls of your daughters and your sons. Watch video

Let's clear the air once and for all about leaf-blowers, and remind ourselves why they belong in the pantheon of yard waste.

They shatter domestic tranquility like a box of nails being poured onto a glass coffee table. They stir up a dusty miasma of poisons. The engine emissions of the two-stroke, gas-powered variety are enough to choke a medium-sized city. And, more than likely, they make your neighbor take exception to the way your face is arranged.

That means if a community wishes to ban them, it should do so at whatever degree it finds practical, even in Maplewood

The great leaf-blower debate rages on in that Essex County village, and now it is heading to court, because professional landscapers object to limits being placed on their year-round attack on our aural spaces with their gas-powered noise: Instead of being able to do it year-round, the town has carved out a May 15-to-Sept. 30 moratorium on this repulsive machinery.

We are not unsympathetic to the lawn care industry. There are thousands of New Jerseyans employed in the mow-blow-and-go business, and everyone who straps on a Stihl 600 backpack will tell you that it's a crucial tool for their work.

But contractors should be grateful the gas models are only banned for five months.

Noise? Even from 50 feet away, a leaf blower generates 80 - or four times the noise level of speech. In the ear of the operator, the noise generates 95 to 115 decibels - that's more like the level of CIA torture. One study from Finland found that leaf-blowers emit low-frequency noise that penetrates outer walls of homes far easier than passing vehicles.

Pollution? Edmunds.com, the automotive resource, conducted an emissions test in 2011 that compared a two-stroke leaf-blower to a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup with a 6.2-liter V-8 engine. They attached both to a lab-grade dynamometer, and the results were startling: The leaf blower at full throttle put out 23 times the amount of carbon monoxide, twice the amount of poisonous nitrogen oxide, and 300 times the amount of hydrocarbons. The results with the blower set to idle weren't much better. Leaf-blower manufacturers despise that study.

Poison? The machines, no matter what variety, really should be called dust-blowers. They stir up pollens, mold, pesticides, herbicides, and particulate matter that aggravate respiratory ailments such as asthma.

Liberty and leaf-blowers: Your right to use one ends where my property begins | Mulshine

No doubt, some of us must express ourselves by wielding earsplitting power tools, and surrender to the manly impulse to wage battle with a dense and leafy pile, as the smoke billows above the tree line - signaling to friend and foe alike that we are alive and blowing.

And the truth is, this is how many of us would choose to clean indoors as well, because it involves blasting things from one place to another place to another without actually having to pick them up, and has been proven to work with both empty pizza boxes and stray Doritos.

But Maplewood made its choice, and the argument that the town should also be forbidden to run its own five gas-powered blowers misses a point: The town doesn't run them 12 hours a day and 7 days a week where people work, nap, read, think, or practice piano. They blow the sidewalk at Municipal Hall once a week and then get shoved back in the shed.

These landscapers should consider a strategic retreat and accept the electric alternative.

They can inform their lawn-loving clientele that there will be a greater price to pay with rakes and brooms and electric-powered labor.

If those customers don't like it, they should run for town council. The same folks pay $15,000 in property tax a year and can't sit in their own backyards, so they probably have the time.

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Teachers accused of sexual misconduct keep getting jobs in N.J. Here's why

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These N.J. teachers were allowed to keep teaching despite allegations. How "passing the trash" puts N.J. students at risk.

N.J. pets in need: Dec. 18, 2017

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Here is this week's collection of some of the dogs and cats in need of adoption in New Jersey. We are now accepting dogs and cats to appear in the gallery from nonprofit shelters and rescues throughout New Jersey. If a group wishes to participate in this weekly gallery on nj.com, please contact Greg Hatala at ghatala@starledger.com or call...

Here is this week's collection of some of the dogs and cats in need of adoption in New Jersey.

We are now accepting dogs and cats to appear in the gallery from nonprofit shelters and rescues throughout New Jersey.

If a group wishes to participate in this weekly gallery on nj.com, please contact Greg Hatala at ghatala@starledger.com or call 973-836-4922.

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

Immigration enforcement targets a wide swath of N.J.

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The state's urban centers, home to many immigrant communities, are not the only places were ICE is making arrests, as a stepped up enforcement effort spreads across New Jersey.

In a series of New Jersey raids announced last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took into custody 101 foreign nationals they said were in this county illegally--a sweep that stretched across much of the state.

Experts say the targeted areas underscored the wide landscape where immigrants live in the state.

While most of those arrested were in Essex, Hudson, Camden and Middlesex counties, ICE said others were taken into custody in Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Cumberland, Mercer, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties.

Lori Nessel, director of the Seton Hall University School of Law Center for Social Justice, said while the largest numbers of immigrants facing deportation are found in New Jersey's largest cities, "it is notable that there are now immigrants facing deportation in even the smallest towns and boroughs."

In fact, new data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a non-partisan research group based at Syracuse University of pending cases in the state's immigration court showed those facing deportation live throughout New Jersey. And they are not just in the urban centers that have traditionally been home to immigrant communities.

That data, which TRAC said was based on a detailed analysis of millions of records covering each deportation proceeding initiated by the Department of Homeland Security, was obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), a unit within the Department of Justice which oversees in the administrative courts.

Residents from Newark represented the most number of pending cases, at 3,151, followed by Elizabeth, at 1,896, and Plainfield, at 1,490.

But there were cases that grew out of Lakewood, Kearny, Hackensack, Fairview, Long Branch, Perth Amboy and Cliffside Park, where more than 200 people living in each of those municipalities had pending immigration court matters.

Immigration attorney Harlan York, who represents many individuals in cases before those courts, said the wide disparity of where ICE finds those targeted for removal comes as no surprise.

"Geography is mainly no issue because there are many ways that Immigration and Customs Enforcement starts removal cases," he said.

Undocumented immigrants with no legal status can be stopped at the border, or found living just about anywhere by ICE. York said removal cases can also involve immigrants in lawful status who are taken into custody because of a criminal court issue.

ICE last week said its five-day operation in New Jersey was targeted at criminal aliens and those charged with immigration violations. Officials said most of those arrested, who ranged in age 20 to 71 years old, had prior felony convictions. However, they offered no breakdown of the charges they faced.

Nessel said the ongoing enforcement efforts are being carried out in an indiscriminate, rather than focused, way with mothers, children, the ill, and those who have long-standing ties to the community all vulnerable to deportation at any moment.

"Without a prioritized plan and with the diminished use of discretion, enforcement efforts are carried out across the state and sweep up many immigrants who have traditionally been viewed as low-priority," she said.

Other immigration advocates were also critical of the ICE arrests.

In a statement, the Immigrant Defense Project charged that ICE has repeatedly used "lies, exaggerated charges, and mischaracterizations of people's records in an attempt to justify their unconstitutional and immoral raids."

The New York-based group said some of those being arrested by ICE have found themselves targeted from an offense years in the past, and have since rebuilt their lives.

In October, the Newark field office of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations arrested 36 people in Middlesex County, including some who had been incarcerated at the Middlesex County Jail and released after county officials declined to honoring the ICE detainers to hold them in custody.

ICE said in a statement it "does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," and that all those in violation of the immigration laws "may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States."

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Boys Basketball: 29 Can't-miss games for the week of Dec. 18

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Where can you see the best basketball this week?


Girls Basketball: 17 can't-miss games the week of Dec. 18

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The top girls basketball games to watch for the week of Dec. 18.

Accused N.J. gang leader ineligible for the death penalty, judge rules

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Farad Roland's case is only the second in which the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey has pursued the death penalty.

A federal judge in Newark on Monday ruled an alleged city gang leader is ineligible to face the death penalty, curtailing the second federal capital prosecution in the state's history.

Farad Roland (mug, cropped)Farad Roland. (Essex County Correctional Facility)
 

In a comprehensive opinion filed Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas said Farad Roland's intellectual disability made him ineligible for the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment -- which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment" -- and the Federal Death Penalty Act.

The Justice Department in 2015 had authorized then-U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman to seek the death penalty against Roland, 33, the alleged leader of a Bloods-affiliated drug-trafficking gang in the Newark's South Ward.

Among other crimes, Roland faces charges of murder in aid of racketeering in connection with five killings in which he is alleged to have taken part as a member of the South Side Cartel.

Investigators said the gang, based out of two apartment buildings known as the "twin towers," controlled the drug trade on Hawthorne Avenue for much of the 2000s.

Seeking to shield their client from the death penalty, the defense in September filed a motion pursuant to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which held that executing those with intellectual disabilities violated their Eighth Amendment rights.

In granting the motion, Salas said expert witness testimony and extensive evidence submitted on Roland's behalf "abundantly satisfied his burden of proving his intellectual disability by a preponderance of the evidence."

Salas specifically cited Roland's numerous academic and developmental struggles as a child, including being labeled "mentally retarded" by the Social Security Administration at age 14, in granting the motion.

"Judge Salas today issued a thorough, detailed, thoughtful 135 page opinion that speaks for itself," Richard Jasper, Roland's lead defense attorney, said in an email to NJ Advance Media. "The written opinion is a comprehensive analysis regarding the issues before the Court."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office said prosecutors had no comment on the ruling. 

The death penalty was abolished in New Jersey at the state level in 2007, but remains a possible sentence under federal criminal law. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, just three federal prisoners have been executed since 1988, when the first federal death penalty statute was enacted following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to reinstate the death penalty.

Those sentenced to death in federal court await execution on death row at USP Terra Haute in Indiana. 

Just one other federal death penalty case has been tried in the District of New Jersey. That 2007 trial of a Newark drug dealer ultimately convicted of ordering the killing of an FBI informant ended with a sentence of life in prison after the jury could not agree on whether the defendant deserved to die.

Opening statements for Roland's trial in Newark had been scheduled to begin Jan. 29, but Salas previously granted a continuance to allow attorneys to address pre-trial motions in the case.

Roland is currently being held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

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

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Joe D's sins, and why top Democrats look away | Moran

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He helps them, and they help him. If you're in the club, all sins are forgiven. Sen. Robert Menendez is getting the same free pass.

I felt like a real skunk.

In a tent packed with more than 200 people, Joe DiVincenzo was bathed in the unconditional love of the entire senior leadership of the Democratic Party, as he kicked off his campaign for a fifth term as Essex County executive.

Phil Murphy was up front, standing next to Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, along with several members of Congress, the senior leaders of the Senate and Assembly, and dozens of freeholders and mayors. This was an impressive display of political muscle.

"I'm honored to be here," said Murphy, the governor-elect.

"Joe, we could not be more proud," said Sheila Oliver, his lieutenant governor.

It was a big happy family. Except for me, the skunk.

Because to me, DiVincenzo is walking evidence that New Jersey Democrats don't give a damn when they see one of their own use public office to enrich themselves personally. If you're in the club, it's all good.

And yes, Bob Menendez, I'm talking about you, too. We'll get to that sad case.

DiVincenzo is a talented and tireless county executive, give him that. But he taints that by grabbing money for himself at the same time.

He earns a generous salary of $168,000, about what the governor makes. But on top, he collects a public pension of $69,000 a year, for his job as county executive.

You may wonder: How can he collect a fat pension for a job he still holds? Aren't pensions supposed to be for retirement?

Yes, but the rules in Jersey are creative that way.

And Joe D, as he's known, is not strict about following the rules anyway. He just paid a $20,000 fine for using campaign funds to fatten up his personal lifestyle a bit more.

He bought a gym membership, tickets to Devils games, a tuxedo, and so on. He even paid parking tickets. But my personal favorite is the repeated use of this money for trips to Puerto Rico, timed just right for Super Bowl weekend.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he tells me.

How far would he go if someone didn't stop him? Would it be okay to hold next year's meeting in the South of France? Perhaps Thailand?

In his defense, the rules are vague. It's not precisely clear how far you can stretch the definition of a "political" event, which would make use of campaign funds legitimate. But as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once wrote about pornography: "I know it when I see it."

None of the Democrats on the stage Monday mentioned any of that. Granted, it wasn't the time and place. But if they have ever whispered a word of criticism over these stunts, I must have missed it.

For that, I turned to Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), a bitter rival who has fought storied battles with DiVincenzo, winning some and losing some. I asked him about the illegal spending, for starters.

"That fine was not a slap on the wrist, it was a kiss on the ass," he said.

Codey has a long list of all the public officials, many of them in that tent, who have jobs or contracts with the county government. Oliver has worked with Joe D for years, for example, and so has Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex). The list of mayors and freeholders is too long for this column.

People often ask me why New Jersey is so ethically challenged, and I don't have a good answer. History. Culture. Maybe something in the water.

But one big reason is that we have powerful machines, like those in Essex and Hudson counties. Think of them as political alliances, on steroids. The currency is patronage jobs, public contracts, political money, and muscular ground operations on election day -- all used to fortify the team.

If you're in, you're in. That is why Joe D gets a pass on all his sins. He helps them, and they help him.

On Monday, he warned Murphy that he will be asking for state help in coming years, adding a friendly reminder of his machine's muscle.

"I don't want you to forget the 100,000-vote plurality in Essex County," he said. "So, any time you need to make a decision, and it's a difficult decision, just think of that."

Sen. Bob Menendez was up on stage, too. He seems intent on running for re-election next year, and has won endorsements from Murphy, Booker, and almost every hot-shot on stage Monday.

Never mind that corruption trial. It ended with a hung jury, and that's enough for Democrats to look away.

But undisputed testimony in that case revealed that Menendez took lavish gifts, rode private jets around the globe, and stayed in elite hotels. Testimony also showed that he did special favors for the man who gave him those gifts, Dr. Salmon Melgen. And there is no dispute that he failed to report many of these gifts, as required.

Prosecutors could not prove that the favors were done in return for the gifts, which is when this behavior moves from sleazy to criminal. And for reasons I can't fathom, jurors didn't nail him on the disclosure charges either.

This is how parties can rot from within. Menendez and Joe D are both getting a free pass on this stuff.

Joe D wins every election in a landslide. The machine is only one reason. He's put the county's finances in order, elevating the bond rating over and over. He's turned the county park system a jewel. He built a county psychiatric hospital and a new jail, and the courthouse renovation is stunning. He's building a new county vocational school. Aside from the high taxes - third-highest in the state -- the country runs well.

The same goes for Menendez. He's a brilliant man, and anyone who knows Washington will tell you that he's an effective senator.

It's a damn shame they both have a habit of sneaking an extra spoonful of sugar for themselves. And it's a damn shame their fellow Democrats don't seem to mind.

More: Tom Moran columns 

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

Newark police find 2 packages imitating explosive devices

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The packages were found in an industrial area of the city's Ironbound neighborhood.

Newark police located two packages meant to look like explosive devices but did not contain any explosives, officials said.

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said the packages were found around 2:26 p.m. on the 600 block of Delancy Street, an industrial area in the city's Ironbound neighborhood just off the New Jersey Turnpike. 

The suspicious packages were spotted by two men in a truck who reported it to the police.

When officers arrived, they found two suspicious objects and evacuated businesses and homes in the immediate area as a precaution, Ambrose said.

"Technicians examined the devices and determined that they were inert although they were fashioned to resemble explosive devices," Ambrose said in a statement.

He said the two items are not a threat but the investigation remains ongoing.

Police are attempting to locate any suspects responsible for the devices.

Ambrose urged anyone with information to call the police department's 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867). He said all anonymous Crime Stopper tips are kept confidential and could result in a reward.

Anonymous tips may also be made using the police division's website at www.newarkpd.org or through the new smartphone app. 

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

 

Jail inmate gets 29 years for beating cellmate to death

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He previously pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter on the eve of trial.

A man who beat and choked his cellmate to death at the Essex County Correctional Facility four years ago has been sentenced to 29 years in state prison, the county prosecutor's office announced Monday.

Rahdi Richardson, 34, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated manslaughter on the first day of jury selection for his trial before Superior Court Judge James W. Donohue in the Aug. 31, 2013, death of Desmond Sanders, 27.

Sanders, of Newark, was found dead in the cell the next day, according to a statement from Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab, who handled the case with Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Giordano.

At the time of Sanders' death, both he and Richardson were being held in connection with a June 2013 armed robbery, to which Richardson also pleaded guilty.

Richardson, who prosecutors said has four prior convictions for drug and weapons offenses, unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his plea during a hearing scheduled for his sentencing earlier this year.

Richardson's 15-year sentence for the June 2013 robbery -- which includes two counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault and weapons charges -- will run concurrent with his sentence for Sanders' slaying, the prosecutor's office said.

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

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Alleged serial bike thief arrested again near Journal Square PATH

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Christopher Williams was arrested Saturday for the second time in eight months for attempting to steal a bicycle at the Journal Square PATH station in Jersey City, authorities said.

An Irvington man who was arrested in May for stealing a bike at the Journal Square PATH station in Jersey City was arrested again Saturday for trying to steal a bike at the same location, authorities said.

Williams.jpgChristopher Williams, 52, of Irvington. (Port Authority) 

Christopher Williams, 52, is now facing charges of theft by unlawful taking, possession of burglary tools, drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and a felony count of bail jumping.

Police with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey responded to the Journal Square PATH station around 4:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a bicycle theft in progress.

When officers arrived at the bicycle racks near the Chickpea Restaurant, they found a chain had been cut off one of the bicycles, according to Joe Pentangelo, a Port Authority public information officer.

A suspect who matched a description provided to police had fled the scene but was arrested after a brief foot chase, Pentangelo said.

He had a bolt cutter in his backpack and crack-cocaine in his pants pocket, according to Pentangelo.

Williams also had two outstanding warrants out of Hillside and Union.

He remains jailed at the Hudson County Corrections Facility.

Williams was arrested in May for stealing a bike from Journal Square. At that time he was also wanted for a bike theft at Journal Square in April. 

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

Early National Signing Day Tracker: Over 100 of N.J.'s Division I football recruits

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The first early National Signing Day is here and NJ.com has got you covered, tracking over 100 student-athletes in 2017.


April Wyckoff's boyfriend gets 70 years in prison for killing her. Who was she?

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Wyckoff was 43 when Matthew Ballister stabbed her and ran her over in his Union Township driveway.

Before the desperate 911 call, before the discovery of five black garbage bags stuffed with her body parts and before the tense murder trial that stretched for more than a month, there was April.

April Schenesky Wyckoff. Daughter. Sister. Mother. Friend.

April, who loved Etta James and John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band and Matchbox Twenty.

April, who taught herself how to make decorative cakes and crafted angel ornaments out of fabric.

April, who named her red Dodge Charger "The Beast" and drove it into the ground. 

The trial of April Wyckoff's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Matthew Ballister, ended in October when a Union County jury found him guilty of stabbing her and running her over with his Hummer in the driveway of his Union Township home. 

April was 43 when she was killed in 2013.

Ballister dismembered her and left garbage bags with parts of her body -- her head and neck, a thigh, a dismembered leg and four fingertips -- in an industrial section of Newark, sparking a days-long manhunt for her. Her full remains have never been found. 

Ballister testified at trial that he and April had been abusing cocaine for two days when he accidentally ran over April while she was hiding under his car. She had called 911 minutes earlier and screamed, "I'm going to die. He's coming back," prosecutors said at trial.  

A judge on Monday ruled that Ballister, 47, should spend 70 years in prison for violently ending the life of the woman he once said he planned to marry. The judge, Stuart Peim, said Ballister must serve at least 55 years before he faces the possibility of parole.

But the years of court hearings that followed April's Oct. 22, 2013 death failed to reveal who she was before her tragic story sparked international news headlines, her family says.

Her sister, Sheila McGraw, and daughter, Ashley Purachev, say the April they knew was creative and caring, funny and strong. 

She was a talented artist who dreamed of being a fashion designer and had creativity oozing from her fingertips. 

She was a goofball who, as a kid growing up mostly in Roselle and Cranford, drew Magic Marker happy faces on her sister's toenails when her feet swung over the top of their bunk beds. 

She was a fan of music who went to her first concert, Lynyrd Skynyrd, as a teenager and rented a limo with friends to see the rock band Blues Traveler. 

She was a loving mom who video-taped her son, James "J.D." Wyckoff, and daughter every Christmas morning before making pancakes and letting "A Christmas Story" play on repeat all day. Her son is now 27; her daughter 20.

"I just looked up to her," Purachev said. "She was everything to me, and my best friend."

As a kid, April was her younger sister's protector, showing up to defend her whenever she was bullied.

As a teenager, April saved her lunch money to buy her friend a Judas Priest album for his birthday. 

As a young adult, April returned to New Jersey from Florida, where her family had relocated when she was in the 11th grade, to be with her high school sweetheart. She and Jim Wyckoff were married for 20 years before they separated in 2009. 

April was silly. She and her daughter once uprooted a gigantic carrot they found in their garden, framed it and hung it in their kitchen.

And April was kind. After two baby squirrels fell out of a tree in the family's yard, she, her daughter and her then-husband made an incubator out of towels and lamps. The squirrels survived. 

"She was beautiful," McGraw said. "Not only physical beauty, but her personality was, you wanted to be her friend."

When Matthew Ballister entered April's life through an online dating site in 2012, her family says something changed. April became secretive. She talked with her sister and daughter less frequently. She left Ballister in May of 2013 after her family says he attacked her, but went back a few months later. 

Ballister was arrested for that incident after Wyckoff filed a domestic violence complaint against him, but the charges were later dismissed, one of Ballister's lawyers said at a court hearing.

A few days before April was killed, she told her sister on the phone that she had been out from her job in Bed Bath & Beyond's corporate office, was sick and had lost a lot of weight. 

"I texted her a little while later and told her how worried I was about her and how much I loved her," McGraw said last week. "She just said that she loved me, too." 

It was the last time they talked. 

In November, four years after April's death, her daughter and ex-husband traveled to the Bahamas, where they rented a charter boat. Pulling up to the island of Green Turtle Cay, three dolphins swam over to the boat and looked up from the water at the father and daughter.

They said it was a sign from April. 

Purachev later saw a sand dollar lying on the beach. She stopped and pulled out her mom's ashes, which she had brought to spread in the ocean. 

Kneeling in the water next to her dad and the boat's captain, she poured a glass of the Bahamanian drink Goombay Smash and then April's remains. The captain sang Gospel music. 

"I looked at the sky and was like, 'I love you, Mom,'" Purachev said. "'I just want you to be here, where it's still beautiful.'" 

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

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A lot of work is left before the Pulaski Skyway can re-open

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The $1 billion Pulaski Skyway rehabilitation project has been delayed three times. What's left to do to meet a spring 2018 date to reopen it to two way traffic?

The last piece of new bridge deck has finally been installed on the Pulaski Skyway, but there's more work left to do before the 3.5 mile bridge between Newark and Jersey City can be reopened to two-way traffic this spring, state Department of Transportation officials said.

The northbound Skyway was closed in April 2014 for a $1 billion rehabilitation project, which has been dogged by delays blamed on a severe winter and the discovery of corroded cross beams under the road surface that had to be replaced. Those and other problems resulted in the schedule to reopen the skyway being pushed back three times.

Most recently, DOT officials said in April that a planned summer 2017 reopening date would be missed because officials wanted to replace retaining walls on Route 139, which is the highway that feeds traffic to the Skyway.

The retaining walls were not part of the original $1 billion Skyway rehabilitation project. Now, only one side of the Skyway is open to southbound traffic. That traffic is currently using the reconstructed northbound lanes.

Drivers who've diverted to the northbound New Jersey Turnpike Hudson County extension for the last several years have complained about the pace of the project and asked when it will reopen. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority also has delayed major construction for the extension until the Skyway is reopened.

While the last bridge deck panel was installed in early December, there is "still a good deal of work to be completed before the Skyway can open to two-way traffic," said Stephen Schapiro, NJDOT spokesman. Officials are still sticking to a reopening date sometime in the spring, he said.

Commuters driving south on the Skyway can see that a fair amount of concrete work remains to be done. That includes pouring concrete in the gap between the northbound and southbound lanes and fabricating a new median between the lanes, Schapiro said.

A sidewalk on the southbound side of the Skyway has just been completed, which allows crews to install a decorative balustrade, he said. Once that work is finished, the guide rail on the southbound side of the Skyway can be bolted in place, he said.

There are 11 overhead sign structures and permanent highway lighting that has to be installed, in addition to drainage work that must be completed, Schapiro said. Before the Skyway is opened in both directions, temporary guide rails must be removed and new traffic lines have to be painted on the road, he said.

"All of this work is expected to be completed this spring, so the Skyway can reopen to two-way traffic," he said.

However, several entrance and exit ramps will remain closed after the full Skyway reopens, he said.

The exit ramp in Newark from the southbound Skyway to Raymond Boulevard; the Kearny entrance and exits and the Broadway northbound exit and entrance in Jersey City will all remain closed for rehabilitation, Schapiro said.

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

12 can't-miss wrestling matches and tournaments, Dec. 19-23

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NJ.com looks at the can't-miss, must-see dual meets, tri-meets and tournaments for the week of Dec. 19-23.

Man wanted for attempted murder in October shooting, cops say

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Police said he's wanted in connection with the shooting of a man near Branford Place and Halsey Street in Newark.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of an Irvington man on attempted murder and weapons charges in a shooting in Newark in October, police said Tuesday.

Wilma D. Cey mugWilma D. Cey. (Newark Department of Public Safety)
 

Wilma D. Cey, 28, is wanted for shooting a man on Oct. 8, 2017, in the area of Branford Place and Halsey Street, according to a statement from Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose.

Police said the victim, who was shot shortly after 5:30 a.m., was treated at Beth Israel Hospital and released.

Cey, who was accompanied by three other men during the shooting, is wanted on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, authorities said.

Police said they are actively looking for Cey, and have asked anyone with information to call the department's 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).

Police said tips can also also be provided through the Police Division's website at www.newarkpd.org or through the Newark Police Division smartphone app available on iTunes or on Google Play.

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

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13 burning questions for Tuesday's early but critical girls basketball games

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Seven contests stand above the rest on Tuesday, including three Top 20 games, plus a handful of local rivalries and matchups between potential state-title contenders.

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