Anti-Trump fervor is powering a razor-thin lead for a Democrat in a usually safely Republican district. Is New Jersey on the crest of a Blue Wave?

Heading back to school through the years in New Jersey.

This is a totally unscientific and opinionated theory ... but I think I know why it was harder to go back to school at the end of the summer when I was a kid than it is now.

We spent more time outdoors. School takes place indoors.

Climbing trees, for instance.Courtesy of the Hatala family 

This isn't a rant about "kids nowadays," it's simply a pragmatic look at the difference between then and now. Then, not as many homes had air conditioning as now; going outside didn't seem like a bad choice. There weren't as many things to DO inside, and again, I'm not making any judgments about imagination and creativity; there were only a handful of channels on TV and no videotapes or video games.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

I think the main reason we saw the start of school with foreboding was that we'd spent most of our time outdoors all summer, and school was going to place us indoors for a solid seven hours. Add in how many new advancements have come to the classroom -- technology, activities and, in many, air conditioning -- and I'd bet we would have been just a bit more eager to go back.

Well, okay, maybe not "eager." Perhaps "accepting."

Here's a gallery of vintage photos of the start of another school year in New Jersey. And here are links to more galleries you'll enjoy.

Vintage photos of going back to school in N.J.

Vintage photos of schools and students in N.J.

Vintage photos of returning to school in N.J.

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

A video of the kicked-out students has gone viral.

A Newark charter school has come under fire over the past week after a video was posted to Facebook of a group of students saying they were not allowed in school because of minor uniform infractions on the first day of school.

The high school students in the Aug. 29 video, who attend Marion P. Thomas Charter School, said they were dismissed from school. They made their way to the park across the street where Facebook user Ma'at Mys was leading a youth basketball camp at the park. He asked what they were doing, and began recording.

The videos, which have been re-posted by various Facebook users, have amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

According to Interim Chief School Administrator Misha Simmonds, students who did not meet all of the uniform requirements were dismissed, and their parents were then called and told that students could return to school once they had corrected their uniforms. Marion P. Thomas' website lists the proper school uniform as -- khaki pants, blue shirts with the school logo, belts, and black shoes.

In the video, Mys asks a boy in a Marion P. Thomas polo shirt, "Why aren't you in school?"

The boy replies that he wasn't allowed in school because he has a white stripe on his sneakers.

"And they say because you have white on your shoes you can't get into school?" Mys asks. "That's crazy."

The widely viewed video has generated hundreds of comments online, some of them critical of the school, while others said the parents are responsible for making sure their children adhere to uniform policy.

Simmonds said after the school began getting responses from the community about the first day of school, it felt the policy of turning students away wasn't the best approach for student safety. The next day, the school sent out a letter explaining the uniform policy is meant to "bridge socioeconomic differences between students," and prepare them for the workplace.

"Our high school team wanted to ensure our students complied with this policy...their best intentions lead to some students being asked to return home," the letter read.

Simmonds said in the letter that the school has contacted the families of those who were dismissed from school on the first day and the school would no longer turn away students who are out of uniform. On the second day of school, students who were not in uniform, or had dress code violations were given belts, black socks or black tape to cover any non-black parts of their shoes, Simmonds said. 

If students had serious uniform infractions they were kept in school but out of class and their parents were called, she said. 

An post was also made on the school's Facebook page announcing a "Uniform, Footwear and Accessories Fundraiser" in order to help families in need and to stock an emergency closet for students.

"We don't want the lack of a uniform or the cost of a uniform to be the reason a student misses school," Simmonds said, adding that the school is looking forward to the rest of the school year.

According to the school's website, Marion P. Thomas was founded in 1999 by the New Hope Baptist Church. The school currently enrolls 1,600 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and describes itself as "the largest minority led, independently operated free public charter school in New Jersey."

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

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Newark has three other Starbucks locations: on Broad Street, inside Newark Liberty International Airport and the Rutgers-Newark campus.

Another Starbucks is opening in Newark -- at Penn Station. 

The Board of Directors for New Jersey Transit recently approved a 10-year lease with the coffee giant for retail space inside the busy Newark train station. 

It's not clear when the Seattle-based chain plans to move into the 1,050-square-foot space. The company did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday. 

Newark has three other Starbucks locations: on Broad Street, inside Newark Liberty International Airport and on the Rutgers-Newark campus. 

Starbucks will pay a total of $1.7 million for the space over 10 years, agenda documents from the Board of Directors meeting on Aug. 8 show.

The company also plans to spend $750,000 on improvements to the space. The annual rent will be $150,000 with yearly increase of 2.5 percent. The station reportedly services more than 27,000 commuters every weekday.

The area around Newark Penn Station could see significant development. 

Mayor Ras Baraka last fall signed a controversial proposal to to allow buildings near Penn Station to reach 12 stories, up from eight stories, in exchange for the buildings meeting certain environmental standards. 

The first 12-story building under that new criteria was approved in June. The 403-unit residential building with 3,300 square-feet of retail space will sit on 28-50 McWhorter Street and 51-57 Union Street.

Mulberry Commons, a public park and commercial hub under construction, will connect downtown Newark to Penn Station and the Ironbound section of the city. 

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

The Garden State has a whole lot more than gardens.

A look at the top linebackers and defensive backs in New Jersey this season

NJ Advance Media breaks down the top scoring threats back in 2018.

University administrators said the campus police have never discharged a weapon in the line of duty

Montclair State University campus police became the subject of widespread debate after a video of officers drawing their guns on a student and another man went viral Wednesday afternoon.

The men were in a fight when an officer approached them near Clove and Village roads, campus police said. They were arrested on assault charges.

One of the men was a 20-year-old Montclair student from Keyport, and the other was a 22-year-old from Hoboken, university spokeswoman Erika Bleiberg said Thursday afternoon. 

Montclair student Jaffer Mehdi filmed the incident from upstairs in a parking garage near the campus' NJ Transit train station and tweeted it. The tweet picked up more than 4,000 retweets and dozens of comments by Thursday morning.

MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE New Jersey pic.twitter.com/vcLnN1slg1

-- Jaffer (@jaffer_mehdi) September 5, 2018

The university said Wednesday evening that police first became involved in the incident when an officer near the scene saw the fight and called for backup.

He identified himself to the men as a law enforcement officer and ordered them to stop fighting and to lay on the ground, but the two men who were outside the car refused to comply, according to a statement released by the university. The officer kept his weapon drawn until backup arrived.

"Because of the uncertainty of the situation, the officer drew his weapon to secure the scene until backup arrived," Karen Pennington, vice president of student development and campus life, said in the statement.

When additional officers arrived, the two men were once again ordered to the ground. One of the men refused to comply and resisted arrest, the statement said. He was subdued to the ground and handcuffed, the university said.

In the video Mehdi posted, officers can be seen surrounding a black Mercedes Benz sedan. One man, wearing a yellow baseball cap, was leaning against the side of the car with his hands behind his head.

Another man in a red T-shirt briefly struggled with an officer before the officer tackled him. He was handcuffed on the ground by two officers.

Two more men were taken out of the Mercedes, ordered to the ground and searched by the officers, the university said. Both can be seen at the end of Mehdi's video.

"Due to the uncertainties surrounding this altercation and vehicle stop, the officers took every precaution necessary to make sure that members of the campus community were not at risk," Pennington said in the statement."

"While the optics in the video may be unclear, the reality is that the officers acted according to New Jersey Attorney General guidelines and the process worked."

University officials said no one was injured in the incident, except for one officer who sustained minor injuries. However, Mehdi tweeted that the man in the red T-shirt "requested EMS after the cop tackled him."

Mehdi's viral video sparked debates on social media. Some said the officers went too far, while others say the video doesn't capture the whole story. 

But why tf this cop gotta have his gun drawn [?] pic.twitter.com/gZlufcRl4U

-- THE DREAM (@Chaheen_Payne) September 5, 2018

bc the original officer had asked the two men to stop fighting & they refused his orders.. MSU released a letter addressing these events on campus today & maybe it's best you ask a MSU student about it before assuming that MSU police are racist. The chief of police is black FYI.

-- meliss (@almighty_meliss) September 6, 2018

In compliance with state law, police submitted a "use of force" report to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office after the incident. 

The Montclair student was charged with simple assault, and the Hoboken man, who isn't a student, was charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Both were processed and issued summons to appear in court. They were released later that night.

The other two individuals were released at the scene without any charges.

No member of the campus police department has ever discharged a weapon in the line of duty since its inception in 1976, the university said.

Resisting arrest for whatever reason isn't okay. People fail to realize cops only get crazy when people resist. Viewers only focus on how brutally the person gets taken down when they're only doing their job.

-- Kahleel (@spxcejay) September 6, 2018

All I will comment is that I want to know why the person in red resisted arrest in this particular situation. I will not get into the "they shouldn't have resisted arrest" dialogue when we all know that isn't the case most of the time, and is why we kneel.

-- diabla (@nelsy_lorraine) September 6, 2018

Gianluca D'Elia may be reached at gdelia@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @gianluca_delia. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The 39-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene, investigators said.

Essex County authorities have arrested a 39-year-old Newark man in a fatal shooting that left another man dead in East Orange on Wednesday.

Dwayne Little-John. (Essex County Correctional Facility)

The county prosecutor's office, in a statement, said Dwayne Little-John, 39, was arrested inside Newark's city limits after an East Orange police officer saw his vehicle leaving the scene where Archie C. Crooks was found shot to death.

The prosecutor's office said police found Crooks, also 39, of Avenel, unresponsive inside a parked vehicle in the 100 block of Evergreen Place around 5:20 p.m. after responding to a report of shots fired in the area.

Crooks was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Investigators Thursday evening did not specify a motive for the killing, saying only that the investigation was ongoing.

Little-John has been jailed in the Essex County Correctional Facility on charges of conspiring to commit murder and eluding police.

The prosecutor's office has asked anyone with information about the shooting to call its tip line at 877-847-7432.

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

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

A 20-year-old NJIT student and son of a Paterson City councilman died Wednesday night when he was hit by a construction vehicle while riding his bicycle in Newark.

A 20-year-old New Jersey Institute of Technology student, whose father is a councilman in Paterson, died Wednesday night when he was hit by an NJ Transit construction vehicle while riding his bicycle in Newark, officials said.

Kevin Milfort-Sanchez, of Paterson, was the son of Paterson 5th Ward Councilman Luis Velez.

An excavation vehicle "operated by NJ Transit" was traveling north on McCarter Highway when it hit Milfort-Sanchez near Gouverneur Street around 8:30 p.m., Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly said in a release.

Milfort-Sanchez was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:10 p.m.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh also mourned him in a Facebook post.

"Our hearts are heavy at City Hall today. Please pray for Councilman Luis Velez and his wife, Evelyn," the post stated. "Tragically, they lost their son last night. May Kevin rest in peace."

The driver of the excavation vehicle stayed on the scene after the accident and no charges were filed as 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Fennelly said.

The accident was being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office and the Newark and NJ Transit police departments.

NJ Transit declined comment because of the "pending investigation," NJ Transit Spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said.

Anyone with information may call the prosecutor's tip line at 877-847-7432.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

These are the big names and future stars of college football.

While home values decreased in almost all counties from 2008 to 2012, the markets closest to New York City have bounced back in recent years.

North Star suspends students with disabilities at a disproportionately high rate, violating their rights, according to a new complaint.

By Patrick Wall, Chalkbeat Newark 

Newark's largest charter-school network suspends students with disabilities at a disproportionately high rate, violating their rights, according to a new complaint filed with the state.

The complaint alleges that North Star Academy gave suspensions to 29 percent of students with disabilities during the 2016-17 school year. The network disputes the complaint's allegations and says the actual figure was 22 percent.

North Star removed students with disabilities from their classrooms for disciplinary reasons, including suspensions and expulsions, 269 times that school year, according to the complaint filed by an attorney at the Education & Health Law Clinic at Rutgers Law School in Newark. The complaint is based on state data and reports by parents who contacted the clinic.

Those numbers stand in sharp contrast to ones at Newark Public Schools, where students with disabilities were sent out for disciplinary reasons just 87 times that school year, according to state data. Overall, just 1.3 percent of special-education students and 1.1 percent of all students were suspended in 2016-17, according to the attorney's analysis of state data. Excluding North Star, the city's charter schools together suspended about 9 percent of students with disabilities, the analysis found.

North Star serves roughly 5,000 students in 13 schools across Newark. Founded in 1997, it is New Jersey's largest charter-school network and one of its highest performing, with its predominantly low-income students routinely outscoring their peers in the state's wealthiest districts.

Its students are also suspended more often than their peers at many schools. At North Star, 23 percent of students received suspensions in 2016-17, compared to 6 percent of students statewide, according to publicly available state data.

The complaint, filed on Aug. 17, alleges that North Star does not adequately modify its discipline policies to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities -- particularly those with behavioral challenges, who find it hard to follow the schools' strict rules. As a result, those students are unfairly punished, causing them to miss class and be separated from their general-education peers in violation of federal disability law, the complaint alleges.

"These discipline policies have a disproportionate and discriminatory impact on students with certain disabilities," according to the filing, which was addressed to the state education department's Office of Special Education Policy and Procedure.

A state education department spokesman confirmed that the complaint is being investigated.

North Star denies the allegations, saying it properly adjusts its discipline policies based on the needs of students with disabilities.

The allegations add to an ongoing nationwide debate over school discipline and the harmful impact that punitive policies can have on black and Hispanic students and those with disabilities, who tend to be suspended at higher rates. Across the country, many district and charter schools alike have tried to move away from suspensions and toward an approach known as "restorative justice," which pushes students to try to repair any harm their behavior has caused.

Nationally, students with disabilities are suspended at about twice the rate of their non-disabled peers -- a disparity that is slightly higher at charter schools, according to a recent analysis of 2013-14 data. Meanwhile, new research suggests that students do worse academically after being suspended, adding to prior research showing that students who have been suspended are more likely to get caught up in the criminal justice system and drop out of school.

North Star is part of the Uncommon Schools network -- one of several large charter-school organizations whose reliance on strict discipline and demanding academics is sometimes called "no excuses." Some of the schools have softened their discipline policies in recent years, but others have held firm, insisting that their no-nonsense approach to misbehavior creates a safe, orderly environment where students can focus on academics.

According to the complaint, North Star continues to take an exacting approach to managing behavior. Each week, students receive behavior points in the form of "paychecks." They can lose points for even minor infractions, such as not paying attention in class or violating the school-uniform code. If their points dip below a certain level, they can be sent to detention or suspended, the complaint says.

The complaint alleges that some students with disabilities struggle to follow the rules, and wind up being punished at a higher rate than non-disabled students. Federal data from the 2014-15 school year appear to support that claim. In that year, students with disabilities made up 7.2 percent of North Star's enrollment, yet they received 16.5 percent of in-school suspensions and 12.9 percent of out-of-school suspensions, according to data compiled by the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights.

Barbara Martinez, a North Star spokeswoman, said the network's suspension rates have declined since 2015. She added that network officials "would be surprised to see a meaningful discrepancy" in suspension rates today between students with and without disabilities.

She also said the network believes the suspension rate for North Star students with disabilities cited in the complaint is incorrect. The network has asked the state education department to provide "the underlying data source so that we can understand where any confusion may have arisen," she added.

She also noted that the department has repeatedly renewed the network's charter, a process that involves on-site inspections and a review of school data -- including data related to special education. She added that North Star students with disabilities perform in the 75th percentile on the state PARCC exams among all New Jersey special-education students.

"We take great pride in the high-quality instruction and support that we provide to all our special education students to meet their individualized learning and behavioral needs," she said in a statement. "North Star has a 20-year record of success in delivering on its mission of preparing all students to get to and through college -- including our special education students."

The complaint was filed by Deanna Christian, an Education & Health Law Clinic attorney who has represented parents in arbitration cases against North Star. She said she filed the complaint after several parents raised concerns about the network's discipline policies. (The Education Law Center, a Newark-based advocacy group that has represented parents in lawsuits against North Star, endorsed the complaint, saying that it has received complaints from North Star parents about students with disabilities being "inappropriately" suspended.)

Christian, who is doing a yearlong fellowship focused on the rights of students with disabilities who attend charter schools, requested suspension data from the state for general- and special-education students in district and charter schools. She found that North Star had one of the highest suspension rates in the state for students with disabilities, even though the network's share of special-education students was far below the state average, according to the complaint.

Federal law requires that students with disabilities be taught alongside non-disabled peers whenever possible. The complaint alleges that North Star violated disabled students' rights by improperly suspending them, which reduced their learning time and separated them from their peers. It relies on parent reports and North Star's written policies, saying it is the clinic's "understanding" that the discipline code is applied "without regard to a student's disability status" and that the code is rarely modified for students with disabilities.

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The complaint calls on the state to investigate North Star's discipline policies and their effect on students with disabilities, including whether those students are held back more often than non-disabled students. It suggests several remedies, including additional training for teachers and administrators in "positive interventions" to manage the behavior of students with disabilities.

"These exclusionary disciplinary policies are keeping kids out of class," Christian said in an interview. "And when kids are not in class, they're not learning."

North Star made a parent available to interview for this story. The parent, Crystal Williams, has four students at North Star, including Jayson, an eighth-grader at the network's Valisburg Middle School.

Williams disputed the complaint's claim that North Star does not modify its discipline code for special-education students. She said school staffers have gone out of their way to accommodate Jayson, who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

For instance, the school allots Jayson extra behavior points at the start of each week and teachers give him three warnings before deducting points, Williams said. A dean has even allowed Jayson to run laps in the school hallway and do pushups in the gym when he is having trouble focusing, she added.

Still, Williams said that Jayson was suspended about 10 times last school year for infractions that included throwing a book and giving the middle finger to a teacher. She also picked him up from school several times after he misbehaved but before he was suspended, she said.

However, Williams defended Jayson's multiple suspensions, saying they were only for "egregious" violations and that the policy keeps all students safe. She added that he was given work to do whenever he was suspended, and that he was always given a "fresh start" when he returned to school.

"It is a little inconvenient not to have your child in school," she said. "But the greater lesson is that for us to be a community, your child has to behave correctly."

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for its newsletters here: chalkbeat.org/newsletter

Miss any boys soccer action this week? NJ.com has you covered.

NJ Advance Media breaks down the top keepers for 2018.

The East Orange resident hasn't been seen since Thursday morning

Authorities are asking for the public's help as they search for an 11-year-old East Orange girl who has been missing since Thursday morning.

Angel Riley Izraael (New Jersey State Police) 

Angel Riley Izraael was last seen walking on Telford Avenue in Newark toward South Orange Avenue around 8 a.m., State Police said. She was supposed to board a school bus, but never did.

Angel was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and carrying a grey backpack. She wears glasses, is 5-foot-3, 130 pounds and has brown eyes and hair. 

Anyone with information about Angel is asked to call East Orange police at 973-266-5000.

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

Municipal Court Judge Wilfredo Benitez cannot hear DWI cases for at least a year. Watch video

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday censured a municipal judge for his profane tirade against state troopers who suspected him of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Judge Wilfredo Benitez accepted the recommendation of the court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, waiving his rights to fight the censure before the state Supreme Court.

A public censure is among the tougher punishments that can be meted out to a judge by the Supreme Court, though the justices opted not to suspend or remove him from the bench. Benitez is still barred from hearing DWI cases until 2019, however.

In September 2019 he can make an application to the court to resume hearing DWI matters.

Benitez's attorney, Brian Malloy, was not immediately available for comment.

Judge arrested and profanely berated police, but beat DWI rap

In 2016, troopers found Benitez parked on the shoulder of Interstate 80 shortly after 2 a.m. While the pair of troopers conducted field sobriety tests, Benitez invoked his judgeship, saying, "I mean, what are you trying to do? I mean, (indiscernible) university, I'm a judge."

As they placed handcuffs on him, the complaint states, Benitez told the troopers he would never do anything to hurt them because, "I'm a (expletive) judge."

Benitez also allegedly asked the troopers whether they would show him any "courtesy," and while being read his Miranda rights, lashed out with threats.

"You're wasting your time and you know it," Benitez said, according to the complaint. "I'll fight you. You know you're being a dick. I will (expletive) fight you."

He was ultimately issued a summons for driving under the influence, of which he was later found not guilty by a Superior Court judge in Bergen County.

Start by guaranteeing them a free lawyer.

Democrats in Hudson county finally caved to loud protests on Thursday and agreed to phase out of their contract to jail unauthorized immigrants for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
 
Activists are right to be outraged at the Trump administration's jailings of churchgoing dads and schoolteachers, who languish behind bars for months while even a sex offender gets out with an ankle bracelet. But ending the ICE contract is the wrong approach.
 
The strategy here is to compel counties nationwide to kill their contracts with ICE, leaving the administration no choice but to stop detaining so many people because it has nowhere to put them. Essex and Bergen county jails are the next likely targets.

Hudson County signals end to controversial ICE contract
 
Yet given the fight put up in blue Hudson county, what's the likelihood that enough of this country will kill these lucrative contracts, forcing firings of public workers and potential hikes in property taxes?
 
More likely, the detainees will simply be transferred to remote locations, further away from their families and lawyers. So we agree with legal advocates who say this isn't the best way to defend them against President Trump.
 
Protestors have a point, though, when they call this "blood money." Now that we are jailing pizza guys alongside criminals, Essex, Hudson and Bergen counties have been collectively taking in about $6 million a month from ICE, WNYC's Matt Katz reported.
 
So why not take a piece of that blood money and make life better for these people?

Critics slam Hudson freeholders for ICE contract renewal
 
Start by guaranteeing them a free lawyer. Gov. Murphy allocated $2.1 million in the last state budget to work toward a universal representation program, but it likely won't be enough. So why not also create a county legal aid program with the ICE profits?
 
Immigrants arrested in New York usually end up in Hudson and Bergen jails, where they get free lawyers funded by a New York program. But most picked up in New Jersey go to Essex county jail, where they don't have the same guarantee.
 
Until Hudson county stops housing immigrants for ICE, it has a small grant program to provide at least some free lawyers to detainees. Counties in California, Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin have more robust programs.
 
Fighting to kill the ICE contract in Essex county jail, which houses about 800 immigrant detainees, only sends them elsewhere. Instead, push Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo to provide more services for them here.
 
A spokesman for DiVincenzo said Friday he'd consider providing free lawyers. We must ensure jail conditions are good, too. But at the end of the day, to seek justice, you need a qualified attorney. It's months behind bars, versus the rest of your life.
 
Currently, legal aid clinics with limited resources pick the cases they think they have the best chance of winning. That's not always easy to determine in a brief interview. And you can't overstate the importance of a good lawyer.

Look at the Egyptian teacher from Jersey City who ICE tried to deport back to the country where he faced a death sentence. He just won asylum here.
 
More than 10 times as many immigrants have been able to win their cases with a guaranteed lawyer, according to a study by the Vera Institute for Justice. Imagine how hard it is to defend yourself in court, given the complexity of immigration law, especially if English isn't your first language.
 
Seth Kaper-Dale, a pastor leading the fight to kill the ICE contracts, is right that jailing a dad who's lived here 20 years like a criminal is amoral. But forcing him to be transferred doesn't defend him against Trump's deportation machine.
 
Instead, demand better services here than anywhere else, starting with a top-notch lawyer.

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The Essex County Prosecutor's office released few details about the Friday night shooting

Prosecutors say they're investigating a police shooting that occurred in Irvington on Friday night.

The shooting occurred sometime around 11 p.m. on Nye Avenue, First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly said Saturday morning.

The county agency did not release any other details as of 9 a.m. Saturday. 

Fennelly noted the investigation was required by state guidelines and does not mean prosecutors suspect any wrongdoing by police.

"As per the attorney general guidelines, every time a police officer discharges a gun, the prosecutor's office investigates," Fennelly said.

Irvington police and city officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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

Top performances, upsets, big-game wins, news and notes in Week 1 HS football hot takes