Average scores among the state's public high schools ranged from a low of 795 to a high of 1,502

A record breaking number of riders used PATH in 2017.

Feeling cramped on PATH trains lately?

It may be because a record breaking 82.8 million riders squeezed on to trans-Hudson trains in 2017, 4.3 million more than in 2016.

Last year was the first time PATH ridership topped 80 million since the Port Authority took control of the railroad in 1962, officials said. This marks the third time this decade that PATH shattered ridership numbers. Records were broken in 2011 and in 2012.

One reason was 900,000 additional NJ Transit commuters used PATH after Morris & Essex line trains were re-routed to Hoboken during Amtrak's Penn Station track project last summer. Despite that, the system had an average 97.7 percent on-time record, officials said.

"The sharp growth in ridership is attributed to a surge in new customers due to economic growth and activity, a surge in residential development near PATH stations, and an influx of additional riders who used the system during repairs and renovation of New York Penn Station last summer," said Scott Ladd, a PATH spokesman.

Transit advocates have expressed concern that PATH is close to capacity because of riders from new residential developments.

Some projects will help move more riders such as a Communications Based Train Control system being installed now, PATH officials said. A new station in Harrison is under construction. A planned project that hasn't started would extend the Grove Street station platforms to allow longer 10-car trains to be run.    

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

He previously served nearly six years in state prison for reckless manslaughter.

A Newark man previously convicted of a homicide has been sentenced for gunning down his childhood friend in a separate slaying, prosecutors said.

Mario Gayles. (Police photo) 

A jury previously had convicted Mario Gayles, 34, of murder, unlawfully possessing a handgun and possessing a handgun for an unlawful purpose in the July 2015 killing of Icrish Bostic, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Superior Court Judge John Zunic in Newark on Friday sentenced Gayles to life in prison, of which he must serve at least 63 years, the prosecutor's office said.

In a statement, Assistant Prosecutor Alexander Albu said Gayles -- who was represented by defense attorney Deirdre McMahon -- fired 11 times with a handgun at Bostic, 33, of Irvington, after a heated argument turned into a physical fight that ended with Gayles retrieving the weapon for use on the unarmed Gayles.

Bostic, who was unarmed, sustained gunshot wounds to his head, torso and legs, he said.

"The judge and jury in this case heard how the defendant shot the victim eleven times on a busy public street, not only killing the victim but endangering numerous civilians who were in close proximity," Albu said. 

The prosecutor's office said Gayles was later arrested after fleeing to Pennsylvania. He denied being in the area of Bostic's killing at the time of the shooting, but his account was contradicted by numerous witnesses, who told investigators he and Bostic were childhood friends and former roommates who had been close right up until the day of the shooting.

The prosecutor's office said Gayles previously served nearly six years in state prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to reckless manslaughter in a May 2003 killing in Irvington. In the 2003 case, authorities said, Gayles originally was charged with aggravated manslaughter and felony murder, among other offenses.

"Given these facts and the defendant's prior conviction for reckless manslaughter, life in prison was the only just outcome," Albu said.

At the time of his sentencing, prosecutors said, Gayles had amassed 31 arrests -- the first at age 11 -- and five felony convictions, two of which stemmed from his actions while in prison.

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

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An Essex man is suing the New Brunswick-based company, alleging asbestos grew inside his baby powder and gave him a deadly cancer

A Middlesex County courtroom heard the opening statements in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson Monday morning, alleging that the company's talc products caused an Essex County man to develop cancer.

Stephen Lanzo, III, 46, of Verona, alleges that his use of Johnson's Baby Powder throughout his life exposed him to asbestos, which lead him to develop mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that affects tissue in the lungs and abdomen.  

Lanzo, 46, and his wife, Kendra Lanzo are seeking monetary damages after "Lanzo regularly and frequently used and was exposed to asbestos-containing Johnson & Johnson talc powder products," which resulted in his contracting mesothelioma, 2016 court documents said. 

Lanzo is the second person to allege that the company's talc products have caused a user to develop the cancer mesothelioma. But it's the first case to be tried at the Middlesex County Courthouse, less than a mile from J&J's headquarters in New Brunswick. 

Last year, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury favored J&J in a similar lawsuit in which a 61-year-old woman said she developed the cancer, also because of her use of the company's baby powder, Reuters reported.

Several other cases across the country have also accused the pharmaceutical giant's powder products of causing women's ovarian cancer.

Jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $417M in baby powder suit

NJ Advance Media watched opening statements through an online broadcast by Courtroom View Network Monday, one week after the trial was slated to start. Judge Ana Viscomi had excused jurors for one week to allow for an evidentiary dispute.

"It's true, we don't know how many Johnson & Johnson users have mesothelioma," Lanzo's lawyer, Moshe Maimon said in opening statements Monday. "And the fact is that the defendants have never studied that."

Lanzo's suit claims J&J knew its products contained asbestos, but didn't properly warn its consumers. The company, represented by Drinker Biddle & Reath and Kirkland & Ellis, argues that its products never contained asbestos, and that the plaintiffs used faulty test methods to prove otherwise.

The defendants in the case also include Imerys Talc America and Cyprus Amax Minerals Co.

After a lunch break, jurors were presented with information about the formation of asbestos and the environments in which it grows.

The plaintiff and defense said they plan to utilize many expert testimonies throughout the trial, which is slated to run through the end of February. 

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

In the last 3 years, at least 15 children died after the state had opened investigations into their well-being.

Who sparkled this week in #NJHoops?

New Jersey native and former American Ninja Warrior star Kacy Catanzaro has officially joined World Wrestling Entertainment's NXT. Watch video

"She worked out at the Performance Center last January and has been on WWE's radar ever since, even attending last year's Mae Young Classic," the release said. "Now, she takes her first true steps to becoming a WWE Superstar."

After earning Southeast Regional Gymnast of the Year and Eastern College Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Year honors at Towson in 2012, "Mighty Kacy" Catanzaro moved on to American Ninja Warrior, where she became the first woman to qualify for the finals and then was the first and only woman to complete a City Finals course. She has also twice been featured on Sports Illustrated's Fittest 50, a list of the world's best female athletes.

#NXTSEBRING here we come [?] pic.twitter.com/VEL0Yb5Pag

-- Kacy Catanzaro (@KacyCatanzaro) January 20, 2018

Catanzaro tried out with WWE at its performance center in Orlando, Fla. last January, and it was announced in August that she signed a contract with WWE.

The WWE held its Royal Rumble in Philadelphia on Sunday, which featured wins by Shinsuke Makamura and Asuka, but possibly most notable was the debut of former MMA star Ronda Rousey. 

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A New Jersey mortgage fraud conviction in 2000 set the wheels in motion for the deportation of well-known immigration activist Ravi Ragbir. Now his attorneys are trying to set aside the verdict.

A high-profile New York immigration rights activist released this week by a federal judge has been waging a legal battle in New Jersey to set aside the criminal conviction that first led to the order for his deportation.

Attorneys for Ravi Ragbir, executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition in New York, have sought a stay of removal in federal district court in Newark, as they argue for the reversal of his 2000 conviction and sentencing on wire fraud charges.

"We're challenging on the basis of fundamental errors that were made in his conviction and sentencing," said Alina Das, a professor at NYU School of Law where she co-directs the Immigrant Rights Clinic.

Ragbir, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who now lives in Brooklyn, came to the United States in 1991. He had been a lawful permanent resident before he was charged and convicted in New Jersey of wire fraud in 2000 in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. After serving his sentence, Ragbir was ordered deported in 2006, but released on supervision while he fought the order for his removal in immigration court.

According to Das, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had agreed to defer the deportation order while his legal fight continued, but said the agency abruptly moved on Jan. 11 to detain him during a routine check-in and made plans to put him on a plane back to the Caribbean.

Attorneys for Ragbir contend he was targeted because of his activism.

A well-known voice in New York's immigration community, Ragbir is director of a New York coalition of 150 faith-based organizations that advocates for immigration rights. In the wake of his detention, his attorneys sought an immediate order to get him released, leading to a high stakes hearing in Manhattan on Monday, where U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest harshly criticized ICE.

Declaring it unconstitutional and cruel for authorities to "pluck him out of his life without a moment's notice," Forrest ordered Ragbir to be immediately freed.

"It ought not to be -- and it has never before been -- that those who have lived without incident in this country for years are subjected to treatment we associate with regimes we revile as unjust, regimes where those who have long lived in a country may be taken without notice from streets, home, and work. And sent away," said Forrest in court packed with his cheering supporters.

"We are not that country," she continued. "And woe be the day that we become that country under a fiction that laws allow it."

ICE, which called Ragbir "an aggravated felon," said it was considering an appeal.

"The agency is similarly concerned with the tone of the district court's decision, which equates the difficult work ICE professionals do every day to enforce our immigration laws with treatment we associate with regimes we revile as unjust," said ICE in a statement.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the activist continue to challenge his 2000 felony conviction in New Jersey.

According to court filings, Ragbir had worked in sales for Household Finance Corp., a now-defunct mortgage lender. His job was to solicit mortgage applications, which would be processed by the company's underwriter for titling verification and appraisers. Several of those transactions later became the focus of a criminal investigation involving the owner of a local real estate business who was submitting fake applications and recruiting others to do the same.

At trial, federal prosecutors alleged that Ragbir was the "inside guy" at Household Finance.

He was convicted after trial, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to pay $350,001 in restitution.

Dozens of immigration activists, clergy members and others participate in a protest against the imprisonment and possible deportation of Ragbir in New York earlier this week. (Spencer Platt | Getty Images)

Das said Ragbir had been a low-level associate charged criminally with doing something that was not necessarily a criminal offense in the Household Finance case.

In a challenge before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty seeking a legal order to have the court to correct its original judgment, attorneys for Ragbir asked that his conviction and sentencing be vacated, claiming "overly broad jury instructions permitted the jury to convict Mr. Ragbir of conduct that is not fraudulent," as well as questioning whether he received effective legal counsel.

His legal team also sought an order to stay his removal from the United States until the questions over his conviction were resolved.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Newark, however, said the court lacked jurisdiction to halt his deportation. 

They added that Ragbir filed his petition 11 years after his conviction, 10 years after that conviction was upheld by an appellate court, and six years after he was ordered deported.

"Granting a stay of removal in the present case would impede the government's interest in expeditiously enforcing removal orders and controlling immigration into the United States," they wrote.

ICE said it had no comment on Ragbir seeking a stay of deportation.

A hearing on the case is set for February in Newark.

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

Prosecutors said that at one point, the men heated up a knife on the stove and threatened to kill the mother and infant child.

Four Jersey City men on Tuesday admitted terrorizing a family of three during an armed home invasion robbery last summer in West Orange, prosecutors said.

Edward Bentura, 33, Yodelin Diaz, 25, Lidio Martinez Miese, 30, and Jesus Quinones, 38, all pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Martin G. Cronin to armed robbery, conspiracy, burglary and weapons offenses as part of plea agreements with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

The men each had been facing a total of 17 counts, including terroristic threats and tampering with evidence, under an indictment returned by a grand jury in Newark after their arrest by West Orange police last June.

In a statement, Assistant Prosecutor Jason Goldberg said the husband of the victim family had just returned from IKEA and was unloading his car when Bentura, Diaz, Miese and Quinones broke into the home on June 8.

After assaulting and binding the husband with zip ties, the men menaced his wife at gunpoint, the prosecutor said, before heating up a knife on the stove and threatening to kill both her and the infant child she held.

The four robbers tripped an alarm when they realized the home had a surveillance system and subsequently fled with the equipment, Goldberg said, after the mother had already covertly texted family and police using a hidden cellphone.

West Orange police later arrested Bentura, Diaz, Miese and Quinones on Interstate 280. At the time of their arrest, the prosecutor's office said, the men were found to be in possession of the stolen video surveillance equipment, as well as cash, zip ties and masks.

"This just result would not be possible if not for the bravery and vigilance of the victims in the face of danger, as well as the prompt and thorough efforts of the West Orange Police Department," Goldberg said in a statement.

The prosecutor's office said the plea agreements carry recommended sentences of 15 years in state prison, of which the men each would be required to serve more than 12 before being eligible for parole.

Of the four defendants, only Quinones is an American citizen. Bentura, Diaz and Miese will be deported after serving their prison terms, authorities said.

Their sentencings have been scheduled for April 8.

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

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In the complex world of music, sometimes keeping things simple is the biggest challenge.

In the complex world of music, sometimes keeping things simple is the biggest challenge. Friday night's New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concert, conducted by Xian Zhang at Newark's NJPAC, was a case in point.

This performance kicked off the final weekend of NJSO's Winter Festival, and the program began with Benjamin Britten's 1934 "Simple Symphony." Written when the British composer was only 20 years old, this 17-minute work is a straightforward, all-strings delight.

Based on piano tunes Britten wrote when he was even younger (the first from when he was nine!) the four movements sounded fresh and lively under Zhang's baton. In the first movement, the band found a bright sound, and in the second movement, they displayed precise pizzicato playing. Zhang layered the different string sounds with skill, giving the piece texture, all the while keeping the tempi firm.

In the third movement (called the "Sentimental Saraband"), the romantic, lush melodies sounded full, but never over the top. Same with the "Frolicsome Finale," which opened with furious chords and achieved an almost Beethoven-esque bloom by the end. Nothing showy, just good clean playing.

Zhang also kept things simple and sublime after intermission with a fine rendition of Dvorak's ninth symphony. This is the third time the orchestra has played this piece in five years, but the "New World" symphony (written here in America in 1893, with the Czech composer influenced heavily by Native and African-American folk songs) was a good choice to close out this "America, Inspiring" festival.

Zhang conducted without a score and coaxed taut, bold playing throughout, allowing the grandeur of Dvorak's score to grab you -- but also kept the pace going through the lyrical, flowing melodies that come later.

The first movement, Adagio, featured strong horn playing and the famous Largo that followed boasted a strong performance by Andrew Adelson who made the "Going Home" English horn melody sing with beauty. The Molto vivace was fast and fuming, and the final movement survived some rough horn passages to end strongly. If it didn't sound much different than countless other "New World's" these ears have heard, there's no shame in making a masterpiece sound like it should.

This was not the case with the third piece on the program, which came in between the two mentioned above. This was Korngold's violin concerto, featuring guest soloist Chloe Hanslip on the fiddle. The 1945 piece may not quite be considered a masterpiece, but it still gets played quite a bit these days because it's a crowd pleaser, and in the right hands can sound like one. 

It's hard to top the 1953 RCA recording, featuring Heifetz and the LA Philharmonic, but other soloists and orchestras have breathed life into Korngold's film-score-inspired concerto. From the opening moments of Zhang and Hanslip's rendition, it was clear they had a very different take on the material. Rather than brimming with the youthful lightness of Korngold's golden-era of Hollywood themes, Zhang favored dark sounds and slow tempi. She made the piece brood rather than boil. (The piece can be played in just over 20 minutes; here, it lasted more than 25.) Hanslip, for her part, delivered all the virtuoso notes, but usually with an earthiness rather than sweetness.

Given the clarity of the other two pieces on the program one must assume Zhang was trying to make a point, that Korngold's matinee melodies have a darker, almost Wagnerian, side to them. Maybe? But to this audience member, it felt like the slow pace and favoring of rhythm over melody throttled the piece, which meandered when it should gallop, and lurched -- rather than accelerated -- to its Hollywood ending.(Hanslip and the band provided more serious-sounding cinema music as an encore: a haunting evocation of John Williams' theme from "Schindler's List.")

Korngold, like Britten, was a child prodigy, and deep down his music is simple. Zhang went a different direction, a real departure for her; and even if it wasn't to my taste, I credit her for being able to give a familiar piece an almost entirely different sound and feel. America inspires in many different ways.

James C. Taylor can be reached writejamesctaylor@gmail.com. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook. 

Dianthe Martinez Brooks, 42, of West Orange, is the latest to plead guilty in a kickback scheme at the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A former consultant for Newark's watershed corporation admitted she defrauded the non-profit by taking payments for work that was never performed, becoming the latest person named in the million dollar kickback scheme that helped topple the agency responsible for treating and delivering water.

Dianthe Martinez Brooks, 42, of West Orange, pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark to one count of wire fraud. Martinez Brooks submitted false and inflated invoices to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. for her political consulting company DMart127 LLC, court documents show.

Her company provided services to elected officials and candidates in Essex County. 

Paulette Pitt, the attorney representing Martinez Brooks, said in an email that "the details surrounding this incident in an otherwise exemplary life will be provided at sentencing."

The watershed corporation, which serviced half a million northern New Jersey residents, dissolved in 2013 after widespread charges of corruption and mismanagement were detailed in multiple investigations of the agency, including by The Star Ledger. It later filed for bankruptcy. In a blistering report, the state Comptroller's Office in 2014 found the agency was siphoning millions of public dollars and making illegal payments and sweetheart deals.

The former director of the watershed, Linda Watkins Brashear, of West Orange, is serving more than eight years in federal prison for soliciting bribes in exchange for no-work or over-inflated contracts. Other managers, contractors and businessmen have also been ensnared in the federal investigation. 

Donald Bernard Sr., special projects manager for the watershed, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for working with Brashear from 2008 to 2013 to solicit bribes.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Martinez Brooks conspired with Brashear and Bernard between May 2011 and March 2013 to defraud the watershed. Martinez Brooks helped secure $225,666 in contracts for herself, a relative's company and West Orange businessman Kevin Gleaton for work that in most cases was never performed, Carpenito said.

Those payments were kicked back to Brashear and Bernard, authorities said. 

Gleaton previously admitted to paying kickbacks to officials in exchange for no-work contracts; Martinez Brooks' relative, who owned a consulting and web design company, was not named. 

Newark resident Guy Sterling, of The Newark Water Group, which led efforts to expose corruption at the agency, said he was happy the U.S. Attorney's office was continuing its investigation. 

"We think there are other people who are culpable," he said. "We hope that (the U.S. Attorney's Office) continues the investigation, because we feel there are at least a half dozen other people who could potentially be charged."

A federal judge last year dismissed a lawsuit by the watershed's trustees against U.S. Sen. Cory Booker who was the city's mayor at the time and whom the trustees argued failed to properly oversee the agency while he served on its board.

Dan O'Flaherty, another member of The Newark Water Group, said Martinez Brooks' actions -- which came after the citizen group raised concerns and the City Council requested a probe of the agency -- could have been stopped if Booker had done more to correct the problems. 

Martinez Brooks faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She will be sentenced May 21. 

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

The Somerset Prosecutor's Office and the Watchung Police Department are seeking two men who were caught on video entering the home.

The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office and Watchung police are looking for two suspects who burglarized the home of a neighboring police chief. 

North Plainfield Police Department Chief William Parenti confirmed Tuesday that his home was burglarized last week. Parenti, who lives in the Watchung area, said he notified local police that a police uniform, badge and weapons that are kept inside a safe were stolen from his home. 

"My family is hurting," Parenti said Tuesday. "We had personal things stolen, this is not a happy time."  

Watchung Police and North Plainfield Police released photos of two men who they say were going door to on the morning of the burglary. The prosecutor's office's statement said the men were caught on Parenti's home security system. 

A press release from the prosecutor's office said the burglars got into the house through a rear window and that clothing, cash and jewelry were also missing from the home. 

The release also said a vehicle was taken out of the driveway and was later found on fire in Irvington, Essex County. 

The Watchung police and the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Burglary Task Force are investigating the incident. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Watchung Police Department at (908) 756-3663.

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Who shined in the past week on the basketball court?

A Newark woman confronts the man she says molested her as a child in an Instagram video that went viral.

As Iyonah Fard delivered remarks during her cousin's funeral last September, she looked up and saw an awful piece of her past seated in the pews at an Irvington church.

It was her aunt's ex-boyfriend, a man, Fard says, who molested her when she was 6 years old while two cousins and a younger brother slept beside her.

"I choked up," said Fard, now 23, of Newark. "I didn't expect to see this person."

She asked a family member to make the man leave.

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns

The request was not honored. And that, said Fard, has been the big problem since the alleged incident happened in 2001. Except for her mother, many relatives ignored what happened, swept it under the rug, Fard says.

Disgusted that the man not only was permitted to attend the church service but also the repast, Fard took matters into her own hands.

She angrily confronted him, videotaping the encounter on her smartphone, and posted the clip on Instagram the same day. It didn't go viral, however, until December, three months after the funeral.

"I don't know what happened," Fard said. "It just took off."

More than 1.4 million people have viewed the 60-second video at a time when the #MeToo movement is on the rise to highlight sexual assault and harassment.

The video begins with Fard saying, "Hey everybody. There's a time and a place for everything, so I'm trying to be strong. But I want to introduce y'all to somebody." Then, she trains her smartphone on the man she says she hadn't seen in 17 years.

"This guy right here, when I was 6 years old, he molested me in the bed when I was with my cousins,'' Fard says as the man continues to eat.

He does not respond, looking up once, as she goes on talking.

"Remember when you was touching on me. ...  You remember that?"

Fard goes on to say that he didn't want her aunts to know what happened, and recounts how he told her not to tell them, thinking money might keep her quiet.

"And you put a quarter in my pocket," she says, her voice rising. "You remember what you did?"

The video ends shortly after that with the man still silent, looking down and wiping his hands on a napkin.

Fard said the assault happened only once, but there had been several other failed attempts until that morning when she slept over at an aunt's house because her mother had to work.

"I woke up to it," Fard said. "I was hoping one of my other cousins in the bed would wake up."

Fard said her mother, Tykie Fard, filed charges, but it's unclear what happened after. Several attempts to contact the man recently were unsuccessful.

Time passed, and Fard's mother, whom she adored and was close to, died in 2008. Her father, Yusef Fard, and mother were separated. He was in North Carolina at the time of the alleged incident and said he didn't find out in a timely manner.

"It was a hard pill to swallow'' Mr. Fard said.

He applauded his daughter's courage, and like many, was surprised to learn what she had done on social media until a friend from Egypt told him about the video clip.

"Iyonah is the type of person who doesn't back down from a fight," he said. "I totally have her back."

The man in the video is not a stranger to the criminal justice system. He is a registered sex offender. According to court records, he was convicted in 1987 for an attempted rape in Maplewood and was sentenced to seven years. In 2000, he was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child.

He had also been charged with sexual assault of a victim younger than 13, but those charges were dismissed in a 2002 plea deal. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to distributing heroin. He violated parole four times between 2009 and 2012, and was also charged with resisting arrest in 2010.

GOING VIRAL

Since posting her video, Fard has been interviewed on podcasts, internet radio, and a New York City radio station. Websites have picked up the post, and her Instagram followers jumped from 5,000 to 12,000. Her Facebook page has maxed out at 5,000 friends, and she's started a group page for newcomers. Twitter has blown up, too. 

MORE CARTER: Newark residents not on board for proposed homeless veteran shelter | Carter 

Fard said that the comments and support she has received has helped her push back against family denial. Posting the video was her testimony to what she couldn't say as a child.

Even as Fard shared her story with me over breakfast last Friday at Kings Family Restaurant in Newark, a customer, who said that she, too, had seen the video, stopped at the table when she realized who was talking.

"Thank you. Keep telling your story," said Delores Davis of Newark.

Davis had to leave, but contacted later that day, she said Fard, "opened the door for more women and young girls to come out. She stood for them."

Fard said growing up was difficult, and she spent a lot of time confused and off-track. She was just 14 when her mother died. Her last year of formal education was as a freshman at University High School. She was sent to live with her dad in North Carolina, but she ran away. Sent to live with another relative in Georgia, she left home again.

Eventually, she found her way back to Newark.

"I felt like this was the only way I could feel her," she said, referring to her mother.  "She was ripped out of my life so early."

After seven years of instability, moving from place to place, staying with friends and acquaintances, she earned a General Educational Development diploma from Youth Build, a community development agency.

Today, Fard, who has a 3-year-old son, is a bartender and plans to enroll in community college to become a paralegal. She sees herself helping children, letting them know that it's OK to tell their truth, just as she did.

She knows young people out there have seen her story. Several of them --more males than females who've had her experience  -- reached out, writing to her on Instagram at 5buttaball; Facebook at Iyonah Irene and Twitter @5ButtaLOVE_

On the day Fard exorcised her demons, she made sure the man understood the scope of her anger. On her way out from the repast, Fard picked up a plate of food and smashed it in the man's face, she said.

Too bad that part didn't make the video.

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

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

The fire broke out on South 20th Street around 7:20 a.m.

Firefighters are battling large house fire in Irvington that has spread to two neighboring homes and sent smoke plumes visible for miles. 

UPDATE: 5 families displaces as fire in vacant house spreads

The fire broke out around 7:20 a.m. on the 400 block of South 20th Street, an official said. 

pic.twitter.com/zTsT96pMsb

-- NFD (@NewarkFireDept) January 31, 2018

There are no reported serious injuries as of 9:05 a.m. but EMS, firefighters and police are still on the scene of the smoky blaze.

A police captain about a block away from the fire said the amount of smoke has started to diminish.

One firefighter was treated for minor injuries, according to WABC-7. 

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

Paper Mill's new play "The Outsider" stumbles in a self-congratulatory sense of enjoyment in its own humor

There is perhaps nothing more ripe for lampoon than the current state of cable-news driven electoral politics in America, and so "The Outsider," a new comedy send-up of government's dumbing down -- now receiving its east coast premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn -- is wholly appropriate and timely. Playwright Paul Slade Smith's execution of this concept--stretching a single joke out over two and a half slow hours before reaching a predictably moralistic conclusion with a romance shoehorned in for reasons that remain unclear--is far less successful than the idea. There are a few good jokes here, including one killer gag denuding the paint-by-numbers vacuousness of political rhetoric, but the play spends most of the long evening spinning its wheels with a self-congratulatory sense of enjoyment in its own humor.

Ned Newley (Lenny Wolpe) has just been elevated from Lieutenant Governor to the top spot after scandal chased his boss out of office, but his brilliant mind for governance notwithstanding, Newley is a public relations disaster. Once his televised swearing-in ceremony featuring five minutes of mumbling stage fright goes viral, Newley's ever loyal, unflaggingly idealistic chief of staff, Dave (Manoel Felciano) recruits some desperately needed help from an accomplished pollster, Paige (Julia Duffy). With a special election looming, matters seem dire, but a surprise phone call from hotshot political consultant Arthur Vance (Burke Moses) raises spirits. Vance sees something in Newley he loves--a regular guy politician who can poll as "real"--and swoops in from D.C. to mold Newley into the folksy, relatable public official for whom America yearns. As the Newley administration becomes increasingly circus-like, Dave worries that the mind and soul of a great public servant will be drowned in the backwash of the news cycle.

The cast does a fine job with their one-dimensional characters, and Wolpe especially finds room to give the governor some depth and shading, but the effort to enliven "The Outsider" is consistently labored. Most of that task falls to Erin Noel Grennan as Louise Peakes, a familiar stereotype of the ditsy office assistant who elicits laughs from being oh so very airheaded: forgetting names, mispronouncing words, struggling to figure out telephone technology. There's no pratfalls, but they'd fit. Director David Esbjornson seems to have given his actors free reign to find something compelling about these characters by any means necessary, a task with mixed results. Moses's Arthur Vance, for example, is clearly and successfully a slick, soulless political manipulator, as Felciano's Dave is a harried idealist rendered queasy by the pageantry unfurling around him, but they are only that. For two and a half hours.

The most direct target of this play's satire is the American public's desire for politicians that are supposedly genuine and "real," even though their relatability is as carefully crafted as their hair. "Real" is of course as constructed a political category as everything else, invented and honed by strategists. Still, Smith and the Paper Mill seem to have chased after the real in their favor for an ungainly play over something more carefully crafted. "The Outsider" can satirize strategists all it wants, but calling in a discerning dramaturg and a clear-eyed editor might be the best decision for its theatrical future.

THE OUTSIDER

Paper Mill Playhouse

22 Brookside Drive, Millburn

Tickets available online (https://tickets.papermill.org/). Running through Feb. 18.

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

Who is standing out midway through the season?

Squatters might have started the fire

Three houses in Irvington were seriously damaged and five families displaced after a fire that started in a vacant house spread to surrounding residences.

None of the occupants of the houses were hurt, but one firefighter was treated for a minor injury, according to Irvington Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers. The blaze is believed to have been started by squatters, who fled.

The fire on the 400 block of 20th Street broke out in the second-floor around 7:20 a.m. It was brought under control at around 10 a.m. 

At the height of the fire, flames shot out of the roof of the home and smoke could plumes could be seen for miles. 

Arson investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. The Red Cross of New Jersey said it's assisting the affected families. 

Irvington U/D 2nd Alarm Plus 487 21st Street Had Heavy Fire in three 2.5 Story Wood Frames Ext to garages In rear on the 20th St Side. Main fire bldg collapsed. Primary Search in Both Exposures are NEG. Request Red Cross for 6 so far. pic.twitter.com/E1DQARUvJN

-- NorthJersey FireNews (@NJFires) January 31, 2018

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

Four decades after the music was first staged, it continues to excite audiences while introducing them to the music of entertainer Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller. Crossroads Theatre's production of the show comes to NJPAC Feb. 1-4.

It's been 40 years since "Ain't Misbehavin'" had its Broadway debut, exciting audiences with its lively songs and dances, and thrilling critics, including those who honored the production with a Tony Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. 

That amazes and thrills Murray Horwitz, who wrote the show's book with Richard Maltby Jr.

"If something you write is good, you flatter yourself into believing it's something that may survive you," Horwitz said. "I think 'Ain't Misbehavin'' will." 

"Ain't Misbehavin'" will enjoy a run at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Feb. 1-4. The show is a co-production with Crossroads Theatre Company, which had a successful run with the production during its 2011-12 season. Then as now, two-time Tony nominee Andre De Shields is directing the show.

Broadway's Andre De Shields returns to NJPAC to helm Ain't Misbehavin'

De Shields has been said to have "Ain't Misbehavin'" in his DNA, having starred in its first award-winning Broadway run and serving as a mentor ever since for those attempting to fill his bowler hat and pinstriped suit. De Shields, who was also an original cast member of Broadway's "The Wiz," has said "Ain't Misbehavin'" "left a cookie on my soul."

"Andre is one of the most capacious intellects working in American theater, really smart and really talented, and he's bringing all that to bear in this production," Horwitz said.

The show is often called "The Fats Waller Musical." Set in a smoky jazz club during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 30s, the show features five singers and dancers who perform songs by Waller and other composers of the era. 

Waller, who died in 1943, was more than a great piano player and composer of songs that are now part of the American Songbook. He was a great comedian, Horowitz said, a natural performer whose lyrics told stories. That Waller's bright star has faded is upsetting to Horwitz.

"He was one of the greats and people need to be reminded of that," he said.

Waller's best known-works include the show's title track as well as "Viper's Drag," "Honeysuckle Rose," "Black and Blue" and "The Joint in Jumpin'." All are featured in the show, but in a specific sequence so as to tell a story. 

"This is not a jukebox musical," Horwitz stressed.

While most of the show's songs were at least co-written by Waller, Horwitz and Maltby wrote lyrics for some of his traditionally instrumental pieces. Horwitz admits wondering how Waller would feel about that.

"I was always thinking or wondering, 'What would Fats do?'" he said. "There were times when I felt like Fats was coming up to me and putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'"

He also likes to believe that Waller would be pleased to learn that the show is introducing new fans to his music more than 70 years after his death.

"I like to think Fats is putting his hand on their shoulders, too," he said.

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

1 Center St., Newark.

Tickets: $59-89, available online at www.njpac.org. Feb. 1-4. 

Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.  

The charges against her were upgraded from assault to murder after he died from his injuries, prosecutors said.

A 35-year-old Newark woman has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend, authorities said Wednesday.

Norma Vasquez. (Essex County Correctional Facility)
 

Norma Vasquez, 35, had originally been charged with the aggravated assault Sunday of Ricardo Valla, 34, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. 

Vasquez's charges were upgraded after Valla was pronounced dead on Monday at University Hospital, Acting Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino and city Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose said in a joint statement.

Records show Vasquez remains jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

The prosecutor's office said the investigation into Valla's death is active and ongoing, and asked anyone with information to call its homicide/major crimes tips line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432. 

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

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