Christopher Iu, a former assistant prosecutor who became an aide to the state attorney generl, looks forward to a return to fighting crime

HOBOKEN -- The state's new insurance fraud prosecutor is a fan of the old Maxwell's who pays to park in a garage. And, yes, he does live in Hoboken. 

Christopher Iu, a former Essex County assistant prosecutor who had been serving as a deputy chief of staff in the state attorney general's office, was named to the insurance post on Tuesday.

"Ive been itching to get back into prosecution," said Iu, 37, who acknowledged that he'll be fighting white collar crime this time around, not the violence more typical of his old job. "When I was in Essex, it was more guns, drugs and homicides." 

As the fraud prosecutor, the 37-year-old Seton Hall Law School graduate oversees the investigation of all types of insurance fraud in New Jersey, whether involving automobile, property or health insurance offered by private carriers, or Medicaid. He supervises a staff of 125 lawyers, investigators, and support workers. 

In an announcement of Iu's appointment to the $135,000 job on Wednesday, Attorney General John Hoffman said, "Chris brings great energy and a wealth of investigative and prosecutorial experience to this position."

"In addition, he has demonstrated his superior managerial skills by overseeing a number of important initiatives in the Office of the Attorney General," Hoffman added.

RELATED: 6 N.J. residents charged with insurance fraud, authorities say 

Iu replaces Ron Chillemi, who is going into private practice after serving as the fraud prosecutor since 2011. 

Iu, whose name is pronounced like the letter u, said one of his priorities is to raise awareness of the public cost of insurance fraud, which is sometimes misperceived as a victimless crime, particularly among people who resent paying for a product that is often intangible.

"People don't really understand that their premiums, theoretically, could go down but for the fraud," he said.

Iu grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and now lives at the northern end of Hoboken with his wife and young son, after first moving to the Mile-Square City 10 years ago.

He said about 25 minutes of his hour-and-fifteen-minute drive to Trenton every morning is spent battling traffic out of the Hoboken-Jersey City area. He parks his car in a garage.

"I feel the pain of Hoboken residents, having to pay for parking," he said. "But I tell you, in the winter, when it snows, there's nothing like pulling into your own parking spot." 

Like many young professionals who move to Hoboken, Iu took full advantage of its thriving nightlife, counting the old Maxwell's among his favorite haunts. But family and work responsibilities have toned things down.

"I used to be a big fan of Hudson Tavern," he said of the 14th Street bar and restaurant. "But we don't get out much with the 5-year-old."  

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

 

Rescued as a stray, Orion has unique markings.

Orion 

MILLBURN -- Orion is a Bengal mix kitten in the care of the Homeless Animal Rescue Team.

Rescued as a stray, Orion, who has unique markings, has been described as a typical playful kitten.

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

HART will hold an adoption event with Orion and other cats and kittens Dec. 13 and Dec. 19 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Pet Adoption Center, 187 Millburn Ave. in Millburn.

For information on adopting, call 908-337-0477 or go to petfinder.com/shelters/NJ384.html.

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 The Star-Ledger on Facebook.

 

The Califon man was arrested on DWI charges early Friday, police said.

NEWARK -- A Califon man was arrested early Friday morning after crashing a rental car into an exit barrier at Newark Liberty International Airport, Port Authority Police announced.

Jeffrey D. Black, 38, was found to be over twice the legal limit of intoxication when driving the 2016 Nissan he had just rented from National Car Rental inside the airport, police said. Black crashed the car into the exit barrier at about 1:30 a.m., causing the front of the car to crumple, officials said.

Police said Black, who was uninjured in the crash, was unstable on his feet and smelled of alcohol.

Black was arrested on DWI charges, and the car was towed back to the rental company, authorities said.

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

 

Authorities are investigating after the body of a dead 61-year-old man was found behind the Maplewood Library, police say.

(File photo).

MAPLEWOOD -- Township police are investigating the death of a 61-year-old man whose body was discovered early Friday morning, a Maplewood Police Department spokeswoman confirmed.

The man, whose name was withheld pending notification of his family, was found lying in a creek behind the Maplewood Library on Baker Street, said Capt. Dawn Williams Friday.

After emergency officials pronounced the man dead, investigators with the Essex County Medical Examiner's Office determined that his death was not suspicious, Williams said.

An investigation into the exact cause of the man's death by the Maplewood Police Department is ongoing, Williams said.

Additional details were not immediately available, Williams said.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

Superior Court Judge James S. Rothschild, Jr. has denied a motion to stay a lawsuit over the Dec. 15, 2013 fatal shooting of Hoboken attorney Dustin Friedland

NEWARK -- After finding that a widow can sue for emotional distress over a fatal carjacking at The Mall at Short Hills, a Superior Court judge has denied a request by a security company to delay the litigation while it appeals that ruling.

California-based Universal Protection Service called on Judge James S. Rothschild, Jr. to stay the legal proceedings pending the outcome of its appeal, but the judge on Dec. 4 denied that motion. The company, which has provided security services at the mall, has asked the Appellate Division to review its appeal of the judge's decision.

In his order denying the motion, Rothschild said that if an appellate panel reverses his ruling, he would have allowed "a small amount of unnecessary discovery," but that does not justify staying the case. The judge said the Appellate Division will likely render its decision "well before the conclusion of discovery" in the litigation.

Universal Protection Service is among the defendants being sued by Jamie Schare Friedland over the Dec. 15, 2013 fatal shooting of her husband, Hoboken attorney Dustin Friedland, at the upscale mall in Millburn. The other defendants in the lawsuit include the mall's owners, Michigan-based Taubman Centers, Inc.

Jamie Schare Friedland's attorney, Bruce Nagel, has alleged the security company and Taubman Centers provided inadequate security at the mall and could have prevented Dustin Friedland's killing.

Stanley Fishman, an attorney for Taubman Centers, said at a July 31 hearing that the killing was a "random act of violence," and that the shopping center could not have prevented it.

Four criminal defendants - Karif Ford, Basim Henry, Hanif Thompson, and Kevin Roberts - have been charged with murder, carjacking and related offenses in Friedland's killing.

The ruling in question was issued on Oct. 23 by Rothschild in regard to the security company's motion to dismiss Jamie Schare Friedland's claim for the negligent infliction of emotional distress from witnessing her husband's death. Friedland was present at the time of the shooting, but she was not injured.

Dustin Friedland and his wife, Jamie Schare Friedland. She is pursuing a lawsuit over the Dec. 15, 2013 fatal shooting of her husband at The Mall at Short Hills. (Facebook)Facebook 

Universal Protection Service has argued that claim should be dismissed due to a lack of evidence that Jamie Schare Friedland was aware of the company's alleged negligence at the time of the incident, court documents state.

But Rothschild ruled that standard was limited to medical malpractice cases and that Friedland had met the requirements to establish the claim, court documents state. Taubman Centers filed a similar motion to dismiss the claim, but the judge denied that motion on Dec. 4.

In its appeal, Universal Protection Service is looking for the Appellate Division to determine that that standard can be applied to non-medical malpractice cases, according to a Nov. 11 brief filed by the company in support of its motion for a stay.

The brief claimed the stay should be granted "because there is a strong public policy in favor of efficiency in the judicial system."

"The parties would be better served by having this issue determined before proceeding with the litigation as substantial time and resources would be utilized in defending against Plaintiff's claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress," the brief states.

But in a response brief dated Nov. 25, Nagel said the request for a stay represented a "frivolous motion," and said that standard was only required in medical malpractice matters.

Nagel also argued "the prolonging of this litigation will cause a severe emotional toll" on Jamie Schare Friedland.

"A denial of UPS's motion for stay and, instead, the continued litigation of this matter would be 'relatively inconsequential' to UPS," Nagel wrote. "Conversely, to delay this litigation and require the decedent's wife, Ms. Friedland, to prolong her stress over this emotional matter is consequential, if not devastating."

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

Sheilah Coley, the first woman to ever serve as police chief and police director for the City of Newark, has been appointed to manage public safety in East Orange.

EAST ORANGE -- Sheilah Coley, the first woman to ever serve as police chief and police director for the City of Newark, has a new job.

Coley has been appointed to lead the newly-formed East Orange Department of Public Safety, an umbrella agency consisting of the recently consolidated departments of police, fire and emergency management, according to a Friday news release announcing the hire.

Coley, who started work on Nov. 30, still awaits confirmation by the East Orange City Council, the release said.

"I am excited for the insight and experience that Director Coley will bring to our already dynamic team of leaders," said Mayor Lester E. Taylor. "East Orange is safer than it has been in over 50 years and I have no doubt that Director Coley will continue to make our city an even greater place to live, work and play."

Coley's career in policing began in 1989, when she graduated from the City of Newark Police Academy. After 22 years of service, she was named the Newark's first female police chief in 2011, and then appointed director of the police department in 2014.

Coley held that post for three months alongside former city police chief Ivonne Roman, making them the only female tandem to ever hold the city's top two positions. She retired from the Newark Police Department in 2014.
 
"The public safety personnel have done a phenomenal job of transforming East Orange from a city that was once one of the most crime-ridden communities in the state to a national model of good law enforcement," said Coley. "The challenge to build upon the excellent work that is being done here is one that I am wholeheartedly committed to achieving."

Coley is not the first Newark police director to leave the department, and then later pick up work in a nearby city. Former police director Sam DeMaio currently serves as Bloomfield Township chief administrator and police director.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

The story of Leopold and Loeb is transformed into a fascinating and intense musical.

In "Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story" manipulation takes center stage.

More than a simple plot device, manipulation is this two-man musical's central subject, oozing throughout the show like an irrepressible, elemental force. The intimate black box of West Orange's Luna Stage offers spectators no place to hide from the ever-mounting tension. The result is a wonderfully gripping ninety minutes where we are never certain who is controlling our sympathies.

The musical, written by Stephen Dolginoff, is based on the real-life story of Nathan Leopold (played here by Joe Bigelow) and Richard Loeb (Dean Linnard) -- the infamous Chicago men who, in 1924, murdered young Bobby Franks for little apparent reason other than the joy of proving they could get away with it. Their trial became a national sensation, with Clarence Darrow arguing eloquently against the death penalty. Darrow ultimately saved the murderers' lives, but offered no answers to the question of why these intelligent, wealthy and privileged young men did what they did. 

The story has sparked a long string of literary, cinematic, and theatrical adaptations, but "Thrill Me" is the first musical version. (The show has had enormous international success since premiering Off-Broadway in 2005; this is its first New Jersey production.) 

Here Dolginoff puts forth his own dark interpretation of the men's motives. Leopold and Loeb have a sexual history that Leopold treasures but Loeb downplays. A steady diet of Nietzsche has convinced Loeb that the two are supermen -- and what better way to seize upon this great quality than to masterfully execute increasingly brazen arsons and burglaries? 

In the hopes of drawing Loeb ever closer, Leopold follows his companion all the way to murder, and when apparent sloppiness leads the police to the two men, we watch as the pressure of a public trial strains their relationship.

Director Cheryl Katz makes the most of Luna's small space by arranging her stage with the audience on either side of a long, narrow playing space -- putting the audience in the position of interrogators of the two men. Both Linnard and Bigelow are expertly subtle, betraying just enough to make their characters' emotions clear without losing their composure. After the murder, as both characters try to keep calm as their terror grows, Bigelow and Linnard succeed in showing the gradual but steady deterioration of the men's confidence.

"Thrill Me" features only two actors, but in reality Luna puts on a three-man show -- Andy Peterson sustains a bold presence on the piano, pounding through Dolginoff's dramatic score with nimble vigor. Dolginoff's songs weave smoothly into the action -- and make surprising dramatic sense. Listen to Loeb, for example, singing his increasingly desperate ploys to get young Franks into his car, or Leopold musically demanding Loeb thrill him with sex. It's as if spoken dialogue isn't enough for these characters to express the intensity of their feelings, leaving no other option but to sing.

A different production of "Thrill Me" is currently planned for the 2016-17 season. But Luna's more modestly-scaled version should not get lost in the shuffle. It offers a powerful portrait of the ways intimacy and exploitation are sometimes indistinguishable in relationships. Leopold and Loeb work diligently toying with one another, and in Luna's space we do not simply watch them at work -- we are invited completely into their world, an alternately scary and very exciting place to be.

Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story

1/2

Luna Stage, 555 Valley Rd., West Orange.

Through December 20.

Tickets: $22 to $37; available online or at 973-395-5551 

Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter@PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.

 

A 25-year-old Newark man was sentenced Friday to state prison on weapon and drug charges, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said.

A Newark man was sentenced on gun and drug charges in Morris County Dec. 11, 2015 (File photo) 

MORRISTOWN -- A 25-year-old Newark man was sentenced Friday to state prison on weapon and drug charges, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said.

Zakee Odom pleaded guilty Sept. 29 to unlawful possession of a handgun, drug possession and being a person not allowed to have a firearm based on his criminal history, the prosecutor's office said. 

Police arrested Odom in Parsippany March 24, 2014 after a vehicle stop, according to the prosecutor's office. He was caught with a handgun and oxycodone painkillers. 

Superior Court Judge Catherine Enright sentenced Odom to seven years in state prison on the charge of certain persons not to possess weapons, seven years for unlawful possession of a weapon and five years for possession of a controlled dangerous substance. The sentences are set to run concurrently. 

Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp thanked Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department, State Police and the Montville police for assisting in the investigation. 

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

Morristown Medical Center on Friday hosted a free holiday concert featuring the Newark Boys Chorus at the hospital's Forbes Auditorium. Watch video

MORRISTOWN -- Morristown Medical Center on Friday hosted a free holiday concert featuring the Newark Boys Chorus at the hospital's Forbes Auditorium.

The event was the fourth year of the concert at the medical center, organizers said. The Newark Boys Chorus was founded in 1969 and performs a varied repertoire of classical music, spirituals, folk music and jazz. The chorus has been heard around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. 

Friday's event was co-sponsored by Atlantic Health System and Mended Hearts of Morris County.

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

The deal is part of an initiative to draw more students from out-of-state as competition increases for America's declining number of college students.

NEW BRUNSWICK -- An out-of-state college wants New Jersey's students. And it's willing to cut its price in order to them get then.

The University of Maine, a public college in Orono, will let New Jersey students with a 3.0 and 1050 on the SAT attend the school for the same price of in-state tuition and fees at Rutgers Univeristy -- about a 50 percent discount.

The deal is part of an initiative to draw more students from out-of-state as competition increases for America's declining number of college students. Similar offers will be extended to students from five other northeast states, including Pennsylvania, according to the university.

"The University of Maine strives for diversity and academic excellence in its student body," said Joel Wincowski, the college's interim vice president for enrollment management. "Attracting students from New Jersey, as well as other states, is critical to meet those goals."

More than 650 New Jersey students applied to the University of Maine last year, but there are only 89 students from New Jersey currently enrolled, according to the school.

http://www.nj.com/education/2015/12/how_much_do_new_jersey_college_presidents_make.html

The University of Maine costs $28,880 this year for out-of-state tuition and fees. In-state tuition and fees at Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus is $14,131.

Once room, board and other costs are included, the average student living on the New Brunswick campus pays a total bill of $26,185

"Our research shows there is strong interest in University of Maine, but competing on cost with Rutgers had been difficult," Wincowski said.

The University of Maine made the same statement about other schools in different states, such as the the University of Connecticut. It is using a similar billboard to advertise in each of its targeted states, changing only the name of flagship public college for each state.

The schools that the University of Maine will match the price for include Pennsylvania State University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of New Hampshire, The University of Vermont and the University of Connecticut.

Students must apply by Feb. 1 in order to qualify for the discounted tuition rate.

Rutgers officials weren't surprised that New Jersey is being targeted. The state is one of the largest exporters of college students in the country, and its students are attractive to colleges because they often rank among the best academically, said Courtney McAnuff, vice president of enrollment management for Rutgers.

Rutgers opened a new honors college in August to try to attract the state's best students.

"We do strive hard to keep the top students in the state," McAnuff said.

The tactic of matching Rutgers' tuition to attract more students has been used in the past. In 2011, Seton Hall offered to match Rutgers tuition for high performing students.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Counters don't agree on what should be counted, so one researcher says there have been 20 mass killings in the U.S. this year, while another group says 355 mass shootings have occurred. Both are right.

The shooting began around 10:45 p.m. on a block of old tenements and industrial buildings in Newark.

Witnesses heard what they mistook for fireworks and had no idea what was going on until the police showed up. One man was dead on the ground in front of a home on Brunswick Street. Two wounded people were in a nearby parking lot. Another two got to the hospital on their own.

Mass shooting or just a random act of violence in New Jersey's largest city?

In the unsettled world of tracking gun violence -- an issue that once again erupted with deadly consequences with the recent terror attack in San Bernardino -- the number of mass shootings in the United States is an inexact statistic.

Experts haven't all agreed on an accepted definition of what constitutes a "mass shooting."

It's all in the counting, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University professor and author of books on gun violence and mass shootings. 

To Fox, mass shootings are events where at least four people, not including the shooter, are shot and killed -- a metric used by the FBI since at least 2005. Congress in 2013 lowered that number to three killed in events where federal assistance is needed.

In more than half of those events, he noted, the killing is done by an individual toward family members. The least common event is the public shooting like San Bernardino.

But others think that definition grossly understates the true measure of gun violence in the United States, sparking recent news accounts in the wake of the San Bernardino terror attack that put the number of mass shootings this year alone at more than 350. 

MORE: Giants Berhe opens up about cousin killed in San Bernardino terror attack

That number -- 353 as of Thursday -- came from shootingtracker.com, a crowd-sourced database created by a group of gun-control advocates on the online bulletin board site Reddit. 

The difference is shootingtracker.com, which compiles data reported by news media around the country, counts any event where four people or more are shot, regardless of whether anyone is killed. The site counts not just random attacks, but also gang shootings and everyday crimes, including domestic incidents.

Fox says the online database confuses the public by mixing shootings and killings. 

"The unsophisticated reader assumes there are 355 events of loads of killings," he said of the shootingtracker.com site. "That's not the case."

Fox doesn't deny that shootings with fewer than four killed are tragic, but said it obscures the point. It's why, for example, police agencies break out homicides from attempted homicides in their statistical counts, he said.

"There are slightly more than 20 mass killings a year on average," said Fox. The data, he said, shows "no trajectory. It's an up and down oscillation the last few decades."

According to shootingtracker.com, New Jersey has suffered from mass shootings 11 times this year. 

The incident that involved the most victims, according to shootingtracker.com, was the still-unsolved July 1 incident on Brunswick Street in Newark, that left Bashir Edwards dead and four others wounded in Newark. Keyon Diggs, one of the wounded, died later from his injuries. 

Three other Newark shootings are listed on shootingtracker.com, with four shot in each case. In one of those shootings, 15-year-old Shakeem Woodson, an innocent bystander who was attending an annual motorcycle event, was killed amid crossfire by four teens who had a dispute. 

Two shootings of four occurred in Jersey City. Others occurred in Paterson, Trenton, Camden and East Orange, according to shootingtracker.com and NJ.com records. Motives were unclear, according to the media accounts cited by shootingtracker.com.

None of the 11 New Jersey killings on the shootingtracker.com database would fit the FBI's definition of a mass shooting. The closest would be the September killing of Amanda Morris and her two young boys, Brandon and Brian Beharry in their Long Branch home by the boys' father, Lyndon "Shane" Beharry. He then set fire to their house and turned the gun on himself.

Still, the dispute about how to count the nation's mass shootings obscures the real toll in the United States, said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Whether shootings or mass killings are counted, he said, the carnage is "blindingly obvious."

Discussions about gun violence too often break down into liberal-conservative arguments, O'Donnell said. 

"Whatever your frame of reference is," he said, "the country has an enormous gun problem." 

Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The force was with the team Friday night.

NEWARK -- You can count the Devils' Friday night win against the Red Hawks as one in the Luke Skywalker column.

In celebration of the Dec. 18 release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the popular movie franchise took over the Prudential Center before and during the game Friday night. Fans were invited to dress up, take photos with characters placed around the arena, and watch 3D video presentations of the game that were Star-Wars themed.

The Star Wars frenzy inside the arena sparked one online, too, that came mostly in the form of clever tweets. These five are our favorite.

Fans took the call to celebrate the movies and the team seriously.

The empire is striking back in section 13 @NHLDevils #RelentlessWeAre #StarWarsNight pic.twitter.com/OuC91Xisl5

-- Angelo Fico (@AngieFi7) December 12, 2015

Comparing periods to movie titles? Great.

1st Period: A New Hope 2nd Period: Empire Strikes Back 3rd Period: Return of the Jedi

-- DevilsFirm (@DevilsFirm) December 12, 2015

Possibly taking the fandom a bit too far, but we love the enthusiasm.

Short of my 1st childs birth I dnt think ill be excited for anything as much as I am for #StarWarsNight tomorrow #RelentlessWeAre @NHLDevils

-- Angelo Fico (@AngieFi7) December 11, 2015

Must have been tough for Devils execs to get work done this way.

#relentlessweare @NHLDevils prepared for gametime. #LGD pic.twitter.com/f5B0uO02VN

-- Hugh Weber (@hughweber1) December 11, 2015

And a nice call back to reality, reminding us that the Devils collected dozens of toys for less fortunate kids.

Tonight is Star Wars night for the Devils. More important (but, hopefully not forgotten) is that it's also team's annual Toys for Tots drive

-- Tom Gulitti (@TGfireandice) December 11, 2015

And, check out the on-ice opener that welcomed fans to Star Wars night.

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

The Brick City Lions fell 30-20 to an Illinois squad in the championship game on Friday

NEWARK - The Brick City Lions came up just short on their impressive run at a national championship.

The Newark Pop Warner football club's Division II Pee Wee team, made up of 32 players between 9 and 11, fell to the Hoffman Estates (Ill.) Redhawks 30-20 during the title game at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Friday.

The team had won both of its previous matchups since arriving in Florida last week, defeating teams from Washington and Rhode Island without giving up a point.

This is the second straight year a Lions team traveled to the national Pop Warner championship. A squad that competed in 2014 fell in an opening round game.

The trip to Florida nearly never came for the Lions, who were able to raise more than $30,000 to cover airfare, hotels and other expenses last week.

Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

The vigil was on held the eve of the Sandy Hook massacre

NEWARK -- The shirts hung on crosses outside the cathedral bearing witness to gun violence.

Each shirt had a name. Baker. Townes. Brooks. Each one shot dead.

"It's so sad," said Connie Heginbotham as she walked through the area next to Trinity and St. Philip's Cathedral filled with names.

Nearly 200 shirts were hung as "Memorials to the Lost," part of the public vigil at the cathedral on Sunday, the eve of the third anniversary of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

RELATED: Newark man shot to death outside his home

There were so many shirts that some had to be placed on the other side of the cathedral.

"There he is," said Dennis Brooks Sr. "My son...he was 26," Brooks added.

Dennis Brooks Jr. was killed by a gunshot in the South Ward of Newark on January 29, 2015.

Family members took pictures of the shirt.

Dennis Brooks Sr. stood slightly off to the side as he slowly removed his glasses and wiped his eyes.  He was surrounded by rows of shirts.

One unspayed female cat and her unaltered offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.

Some notes on homeless animals in New Jersey:

* According to the State of New Jersey Office of Animal Welfare, "it is estimated that the number of free-roaming cats in the United States may be equal to that of owned cats, approximately 70 million. If left unchecked, free-roaming cats will breed and their populations increase at locations where they find suitable shelter and food." The office goes on to note that pet cats that are abandoned will not easily fend for themselves outdoors. Unfortunately, most of these cats and their offspring will suffer premature death from disease, starvation or trauma.

* Among shelters and rescue groups around New Jersey, the top 10 reasons for owners relinquishing a dog are: (1) moving; (2) landlord issues (3) cost of pet maintenance; (4) "no time for pet;" (5) inadequate facilities; (6) "too many pets in home;" (7) pet illness; (8) "personal problems;" (9) biting; and (10) no homes for litter-mates.

Other interesting facts from the Office of Animal Welfare:

* As many as 25 percent of dogs entering shelters across the country each year are purebreds.

* One unspayed female cat and her unaltered offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.

Here is a gallery of homeless animals from northern and central New Jersey. Consider visiting a local shelter or contacting a local rescue group when looking for a pet for your family.

More pets in need of adoption can be viewed here and here

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

The Ivy Hill Broncos squad came out on top at the Pop Warner National Cheer competition in Florida last week

NEWARK - For once, it wasn't the Ivy Hill Broncos doing the cheering.

On Sunday, the Junior Midget cheerleading squad from Newark's West Ward gathered at Ivy Hill Park, where they were honored for bringing home a national championship from the Pop Warner National Cheer competition in Florida.

Officials including Mayor Ras Baraka and School Advisory Board Vice Chair Marques-Aquil Lewis were among those on hand to give the group of 18 girls and 1 boy some well-deserved accolades.

The team of 12 and 13-year-olds had gone to the championship tournament at Walt Disney World last year, but finished ninth - an underwhelming finish that Cheer Coordinator Marcelline Bailey said fueled major progress this year.

"There was a lot of growth. I think what served the growth was the disappointment," she said.

MORE: Hail Mary: Newark Pop Warner teams get welcome assist on road to national finals

After judges named a pair of runner-up squads following last week's competition, the team feared they had once again come up short. Just seconds later, however, they learned they had come out on top.

"They were in shock. There were a lot of tears," Bailey said.

The cheer squad was joined in Florida by two Pop Warner football teams from Newark's Brick City Lions, one of which advanced all the way to the championship game before falling just short of a title.

 

Subject of a misuse of powers investigation, Newark Fire Department Capt. Anthony Graves has filed suit alleging racial discrimination against several city officials.

NEWARK — Placed on leave, and currently facing an investigation for alleged abuses of power, Newark firefighter Capt. Anthony Graves has filed a lawsuit accusing several top Newark officials of racial discrimination and retaliation.

In the lawsuit, Graves alleges that his removal from active duty and the ongoing investigation into his activities as part of an anti-illegal dumping task force are retaliation for him raising concerns about what he now claims are unqualified department personnel.

Filed on Oct. 20, the lawsuit reveals a deep vein of acrimony between Graves and named defendants Mayor Ras J. Baraka, fire director James Stewart, fire chief John Centanni and other fire department officials.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/07/newark_fire_directors_office_raided_by_corruption.html

Included among the allegations:

• Graves claims that after being given the responsibility of conducting eligibility checks on prospective firefighters and fire investigators, he was "harassed" by his superiors for disqualifying relatives and "political allies" of several city and fire department officials.
• While working as a detective with the fire department's investigations unit in 2014, Graves claims he was placed on restrictive duty after informing his supervisors that a former member of the investigations unit had allegedly failed to obtain a required investigator's certification.
• Supervisors denied Graves his employee rights by refusing to process filed grievances over the alleged harassment.
• The disciplinary action and alleged harassment stems from discrimination because he is African-American.

Reached at his home last week, Graves said of the accusations, "I stand by all of it."

A spokesman for the Newark Fire Department declined to comment on Graves' allegations, citing the ongoing nature of the lawsuit. A spokesman for Stewart also declined to comment on the suit. The city's law department has not returned calls for comment.

Beyond the accusations, Graves' lawsuit also sheds new light on the professional standards investigation into his activities.

Initiated by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, it was later taken over by the Union County Prosecutor's Office because of a previous relationship Graves had with an investigator within the prosecutor's office, sources told NJ Advance Media.

According to multiple law enforcement sources, investigators are focused on allegations that Graves misused powers granted to him as a member of the fire department's Arson unit to pull over vehicles for reasons unrelated to any fire investigation.

In his first public comment addressing the investigation, Graves told NJ Advance Media that he has "done nothing wrong" before deferring additional questions to his attorney.

Graves, a 16-year veteran of the department, was promoted to captain along with three others during a ceremony in October 2014, and was later appointed to supervise the Arson Squad.

Following his promotion, a Newark firefighter filed an internal complaint alleging that Graves had illegally pulled him over while driving in November 2014, the complaint states.

Months later, one of Graves' supervisors submitted a separate grievance in January 2015 alleging that Graves told a civilian that he could have him shot, the complaint states.

In the complaint, Graves denies all accusations of wrongdoing. He was reassigned out of the investigations unit in March 2015, pending the outcome of the investigation, and placed on sick leave two months later, where he remains.

In July, detectives with the Union County Prosecutor's Office's Corruption Unit raided the offices of Fire Director James Stewart in search of records related to the dumping task force, several sources told NJ Advance Media.

Members of the unit left with computers and other files of documents from offices belonging to both Stewart and a secretary, which the sources said were related to an investigation.

In response to questions about the status of the investigation into Graves' activities, a spokesman for the Union County Prosecutor's Office said he could neither confirm or deny the existence of the investigation.

Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

The owners of the famed Iberia Restaurant placed their 5.2-acre site along Ferry and Market streets on the open market earlier this month

NEWARK - Bidding has opened on a large piece of property in the Ironbound District that stakeholders say could forever change the course of Newark's most iconic neighborhood.

The owners of the famed Iberia restaurant placed the 5.2-acre site on the open market earlier this month, and are courting developers who may see it as a prime parcel for a high-rise office or residential tower.

Frank Giantomasi, a real estate attorney with Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi who is representing the owners in the potential sale, said the site - with frontage on major thoroughfares Market Street and Ferry Street - could be key in the city's plans to attract new professionals seeking both easy access to Newark Penn Station and amenities including restaurants, shopping and nightlife.

"This could be the first development that truly creates a walking class of commuters," he said.

While skyscraping buildings are commonplace downtown, the structures have always remained west of Penn Station. Similarly, boons of retail and mixed-use development have popped up downtown around the Prudential Center and Military Park, though Giantomasi said similar growth in the Ironbound would open up even greater possibilities.

"This says positive things for Newark, shows that the development is not all on the downtown side. This is more community development, as opposed to being driven by the arena or the performing arts center," Giantomasi said.

The Ironbound District, with its vibrant population of Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants living in the dense neighborhoods of brick and clapboard houses, is often counted as among the most unique in all of New Jersey - a distinction locals would like to maintain.

The Iberia property is currently home to both the restaurant and two storage facilities, but is mostly occupied by blacktop parking spaces, which city officials have often lamented as a deterrent to major development as they look to create a transit-oriented district similar to what has sprung up around the PATH station in Harrison.

"We're slowly losing against towns like Harrison, Jersey City, Hoboken to develop the area around Penn Station, so we can create the conditions to attract new people,'' East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador told the Star-Ledger last year.

Development has recently begun to bubble in the area, however, with national chains beginning to appear alongside more deeply entrenched family businesses, and plans for a boutique hotel and new apartment buildings underway.

Though similar declarations of a new age in the Ironbound have come and gone before, Giantomasi said he believed the neighborhood has too much to offer not to rise to even greater heights.

"Ferry Street is a unique street in America," he said. "It's the closest thing we have to a Bourbon Street or something like that, with restaurants, nightlife, eating and drinking."

61-year-old was found in Maplewood on Dec. 11, authorities said.

61-year-old was found in Maplewood on Dec. 11, authorities said. File photo. (Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

MAPLEWOOD -- Authorities have identified the 61-year-old man who was found dead in a Maplewood brook last week.

Lawrence Mancuso, of South Orange, was found in the brook behind Maplewood Library on Dec. 11, Maplewood Police Capt. Dawn Williams announced in a release Monday.

The Essex County Medical Examiner's Office is investigating to determine Mancuso's cause of death, Williams said. Authorities previously indicated that the death did not appear suspicious.

Police found the man's body at about 8:17 a.m., after reports of a possible body in the water, officials said. No other information about his death was immediately available.

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

 

The Expresser app lets ordinary Joes rub elbows with celebrities - in text messages

However cute their little mugs may be, sometimes emoji are just not enough.

Why use a smiley face with a furrowed brow in a text message when you can have Chris Christie making a "Why I oughta!" face? And why send a speaker emoji with a red line across it when you can illustrate the concept with a picture of Larry David covering his ears ("Keep it down!!")?

Or -- better yet -- why not use your very own facial expressions to get your point across? 

Enter the Expresser app. Created by two friends from Essex County, the app provides a selection of celebrity faces, or photo "stickers," that can be sent to a third-party keyboard installed on cell phones. When users click on the keyboard's human emoji -- what they call "expressers" -- they can then paste that image into a text message.

Haig Jean, at left, and Ricky Isibor, founders of the Expresser app, met as engineering majors at NJIT. (Hairic/Expresser)
 

The result: a customizable stable of moments: Cookie from "Empire" nonchalantly filing her nails, Caitlyn Jenner grinning on the cover of Vanity Fair and President Obama, enraptured at the White House Correspondents' dinner.

With more than one million downloads of Expresser so far, the app has found an audience largely through word-of-mouth, say its creators, Haig Jean and Ricky Isibor.

"It's pretty much taken on a life of its own," says Isibor, 32. Celebrities including singer Chris Brown and rapper Fabolous have reached out to he and Jean after hearing about the app and seeing how users can paste their faces into everyday text conversations. 

Some of the expressers available on the app. (Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

The alternative -- doing a Google image search, saving the photo and then pasting it into the text -- proved too tedious a process for Jean and Isibor, and, they figured, many other texters.

The Newark natives both grew up in Irvington but met as engineering students in the Educational Opportunity Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Isibor majored in electrical engineering and Jean in industrial engineering. After college, Jean worked in sales and marketing for Verizon Wireless and Isibor worked as an electrical engineer. They had a background in coding but teamed with a developer to bring their idea for an app to life, forming the company Hairic -- a combination of their two first names -- in 2012.

In July 2014, Isibor and Jean, 33, released a beta version of Expresser, a free app they financed themselves. After Apple released iOS 8 -- its first mobile operating system to allow custom, third-party keyboards -- they came out with a new version of Expresser that could work with the iPhone's existing keyboard. By the end of the year, Expresser had generated more than 300,000 free downloads on Apple's App Store.

(By comparison, the current top-ranked free app on the iOS store is the game Monument Valley. The app, which previously cost $4 and was recently made free, claimed 500,000 downloads last year in little more than a month.)

Jean and Isibor revamped Expresser in February of 2015, adding in-app purchases through which anyone could pay $4.99 for the app to turn their photo into an expresser. In October, they released a new version of the app for Android. 

A blurb pops up when you press an expresser, detailing the context for the image. (Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

Jean and Isibor are hoping that Expresser isn't only an app where people go to find memes to use in texts -- Jean estimates there are more than 300 expressers -- but also one where they go to learn more about them. The app provides a short blurb for each image that adds context. 

For instance, when you press the photo of Gene Wilder from the 1971 film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" -- a picture known as the "Condescending Wonka" meme -- you get a little blurb that says, "Gene made this expression in a scene in which Willy Wonka asks the children if they would like to see a new candy he is working on called 'The Everlasting Gobstopper.'" 

"The real purpose of the app is to be like a Wikipedia for these funny memes," Isibor says. 

Users can submit their own expressers or send in a photo and pay for a custom expresser. (Expresser/Hairic)
 

The app itself is responsible for about 80 percent of the images used for the emoji, which are devised with the help of requests and recommendations. The other portion -- user images -- are submitted through an approval process. In this way, random non-celebrity faces can be seen alongside Lloyd (Jim Carrey) from "Dumb and Dumber" and a dramatically sobbing Kim Kardashian.

Isibor and Jean employ app developers, photo editors and server administrators. So far, they say they haven't run into any copyright violation issues.

"Should that change, we plan to work within a take-down notice model, if a license holder complains," Isibor says. 

The app also includes links to some celebrities' Instagram pages at the bottom of the descriptive entries for their expressers. 

"Martin Lawrence reached out to us," Isibor says. "It's like a chain reaction." 

Their next goal is to form partnerships with more celebrities and brands (there are already ads in the app) -- Isibor says one such project is in the works. 

"We're definitely just one step away from signing a deal with a major person to take us to the next level," he says. 

The inevitable smiling (?) Trump. (Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

But the idea of everyone being a celebrity in their own circle seems to have struck a chord. 

"I think the users are more excited to see their own faces," Jean says. "There's one of my own face that I use a lot." He generally calls this expresser his "excitement" face, handily deployed for trash-talking during a bowling game, for instance. 

The son of Haitian immigrants, Jean is married and lives in Fanwood. Isibor, who lives in Morris County, comes from a family of six, including three pharmacists, one other engineer and a prospective medical student. He says his entrepreneurial spirit comes from his father, a part-time professor at Essex County College who started Newark Transitional, a homeless shelter, in the 1980s.

Jean and Isibor found another mentor in Travis Kahn, who works with dozens of early-stage technology startups at NJIT's New Jersey Innovation Institute.

"They have one of the most essential elements of a successful entrepreneur, and that is drive," says Kahn, 33, of the pair. A former executive director TechLaunch, a technology accelerator in northern New Jersey that supports startups, Kahn also teaches entrepreneurship at Stevens Institute of Technology. Very few startups can claim the kind of traction that Jean and Isibor have gained, he says. 

"They're part of a growing club of people who are really pushing the entrepreneurship scene in Newark," he says. 

Kahn says what strikes him about Expresser and its sense of humor is that it not only holds celebrity appeal, but also can be easily integrated into a mobile routine. When he got his hands on emoji of his childrens' faces, he realized how much he would actually use them in daily text messages. 

"It's a part of my life that I get a kick out of," he says. "And that's stickiness."

Jean and Isibor say they have potential investors interested in Expresser. In the meantime, they've been reinvesting earnings from in-app purchases -- they're not releasing information on how much they've made -- into improvement and expansion of the company, with the hopes of getting their expressers on other messaging services and social media.

"With the right resources, we know this can become a reality," Isibor says.

Only a few more days until [?] day... #whoiscooking #isWalmartstilloutofpattipies #waitingoninvites #expresser

A video posted by Expresser (@expresserapp) on Nov 21, 2015 at 4:54pm PST