Tag: new jersey

Top Aide to Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka PLEADS GUILTY in Corruption Scheme — Faces Up to 20 YEARS in Federal Prison

A top aide to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has officially pled guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, admitting involvement in a pay-to-play corruption scheme that traded government favors for bribes.

Alina Habba, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced the plea in a blistering statement on X:

“Today a former Senior Aide to the Mayor of Newark plead guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

This is a clear example of a pay-to-play scheme, where public officials exploit their positions of power to obtain bribes in exchange for doing their jobs. This betrays the trust of the very community members they claim to serve.

I will not stand for public corruption anywhere in New Jersey.   These charges have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. This is what accountability looks like — and I will continue to fight for the people of New Jersey.”

Today a former Senior Aide to the Mayor of Newark plead guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. This is a clear example of a pay-to-play scheme, where public officials exploit their positions of power to obtain bribes in exchange for doing their jobs. This betrays…

— US Attorney Habba (@USAttyHabba) September 3, 2025

This latest scandal follows Mayor Ras Baraka’s own arrest just last month after storming into the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in an act of political grandstanding.

He was charged with criminal trespass before Habba’s office announced that the misdemeanor case had been dropped.

But Baraka hasn’t let the matter go. Instead of accepting responsibility, he filed a lawsuit against Acting U.S. Attorney Habba and Homeland Security Special Agent Ricky Patel, accusing them of “false arrest and malicious prosecution.” His attorneys even smeared Habba as a “political operative” in a 17-page complaint.

Habba responded on the lawsuit stating, “My advice to the mayor – feel free to join me in prioritizing violent crime and public safety. Far better use of time for the great citizens of New Jersey.”

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Parents Face Jail Time if Kids Go Wild: NJ Township’s Bold New Crackdown

In Gloucester Township, New Jersey, a new ordinance titled “Minors and Parent Responsibility” took effect following its passage by the township council on July 28, 2025.

This measure holds parents or guardians legally accountable for offenses committed by their children under 18, aiming to address public disturbances through increased supervision.

The ordinance emerged in response to escalating juvenile incidents, reflecting broader concerns about youth behavior in the community.

The catalyst for this law was a chaotic brawl at the township’s annual community day event on June 1, 2024, during a drone light show at Veterans Park.

Around 500 unsupervised youths gathered, leading to multiple fights that required assistance from neighboring police departments and resulted in 12 arrests, including 10 juveniles aged 13 to 17.

Two officers sustained injuries, and the event, which supported the Gloucester Township Scholarship Committee for over 40 years, was disrupted, prompting the cancellation of the 2025 celebration.

Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins described the 2024 incident as involving unprecedented disrespect and violence from unsupervised teens, many dropped off via rideshares from outside areas.

Under the ordinance, parents face graduated consequences based on the frequency of their child’s offenses.

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Power-Bill Crisis Spreads From Maryland To New Jersey, May Doom Democrats As ‘Green’ Implodes

A power bill crisis is gripping parts of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and is set to worsen, threatening to financially crush households as long-range forecasts point to a brutally cold winter. What began in Baltimore, Maryland – as first covered in our reporting one year ago– has now spread to New Jersey, where residents are furious over skyrocketing electricity costs. 

The common denominator in both states? A disastrous green energy agenda, pushed by radical leftist lawmakers, is dismantling reliable and cheap fossil fuel power generation in favor of unstable solar and wind. This has unleashed a power bill armageddon on working-class and middle-class households, as well as mom-and-pop businesses, all while baseload power demand surges in the era of AI data centers.

Fox News is beginning to latch onto the power bill crisis theme, starting with coverage of New Jersey residents who are absolutely furious over exploding power bills. This new development could severely damage the state’s Democratic leaders in the upcoming elections.

This all started when New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities approved a 17 to 20% rate hike for power bills in June. Many residents were shocked when they opened their bills at the end of last month. 

“$200 more, I know my electrical bill,” one Jersey woman told Fox News reporter CB Cotton, adding, “I was shocked. So to say the least, I’m very disappointed. This is killing us, and every time you turn around it’s something more. You only get little pleasures in life that you enjoy, and my air conditioner is one of them.”

Perhaps Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision to shutter the state’s nuclear and coal plants, without a one-to-one replacement for lost capacity on the grid, was a catastrophic error that is only now coming home to roost. He also prioritized offshore wind farms and other green energy projects, which have left the grid more fragile than ever.

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NJ Township’s Parents Could Face Jail Time for Repeat Child Lawbreakers

New Jersey’s Gloucester Township enacted an ordinance on July 28 that holds parents accountable for their children’s lawbreaking activities.

The parents could face fines of $2,000 and the possibility of 90 days behind bars if their children continually misbehave, NJ.com reported on Friday.

“The ordinance includes 28 offenses that could make caretakers liable. They range from felonies, loitering, breaking curfew and chronic truancy to immorality, habitual vagrancy, and knowingly associating with immoral people,” the article read.

The report said teenagers and juveniles in the area have been committing a variety of offenses. The town’s 2024 Gloucester Township Day was upended when over 500 minors were involved in a brawl that spilled over to a shopping plaza.

Police arrested nine teenagers among 11 others they took into custody. In addition, three officers were hurt as a result of the chaos.

“It’s happening all over. I think it was in Ocean City, there’s another part of Philadelphia that had to shut down their little fairs because of fighting going on. And it’s happening a lot nowadays, so it’s very scary,” a neighbor in Gloucester Township told ABC 6 after the community event went downhill.

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Europe’s not the only one failing because of the Green New Deal; so is New Jersey

Thomas Kolbe has written about the collapse of the German economy, something pretty shocking to those of us who remember when the German economy seemed unstoppable. What’s slammed the brakes on that juggernaut is central planning that revolves around the whole Green New Deal theory. Other European countries are doing the same. Spain and Portugal had a catastrophic power outage thanks to their green energy policies, and, in England, people are getting cold and dirty in a very 19th-century way because of the UK’s drive for “Net Zero.”

Had Kamala been elected last year, America would almost certainly have gone down that path, too. As it is, California’s Gavin Newsom is now begging the refineries that he closed to reopen.

And it’s not just Crazifornia. According to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, the policies of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (a Democrat, of course) have been disastrous for residents of that state:

Despite flat electricity demand for the past two decades—and some of the lowest energy usage per capita among the 50 states—New Jersey residents pay some of the highest retail power prices in the country. As of April 2025, the Garden State ranked No. 12 in the nation, with prices more than 15% above the U.S. average. This gap has widened further in the wake of the recent decision by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to approve an additional 17% to 20% rate increase for most utility customers starting in June.

How in the world did that happen? Well, according to Paul H. Tice, who wrote the WSJ piece, the troubles began in 2017, when Murphy took office. Under his aegis, “New Jersey has shut down all its coal plants, reduced its natural gas-generation capacity, and increased its reliance on intermittent wind and solar power.” Trenton, the state capital (population 91,193), plans to have 100% clean electricity (that is, based on renewables) by 2035. I foresee that Trenton residents will soon be as cold and dirty as the British are.

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NJ lawmakers advance bill defining antisemitism after hours of testimony

An Assembly panel advanced a controversial bill that would create a state definition of antisemitism Thursday after more than seven hours of impassioned testimony from hundreds of supporters and critics alike.

Supporters cited rising rates of antisemitic hate crimes as a reason why lawmakers must pass the bill, which has more than 50 cosponsors.

Opponents said the bill, which would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, would violate free speech rights by criminalizing criticism of Israel. Several cited crackdowns on campus protests and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who the Trump administration detained and aims to deport after declaring his anti-Israel activism antisemitic.

The disagreement ran so deep that tensions exploded even hours before the Assembly state and local government committee’s hearing on the measure started. Pro-Palestinian advocates held a morning rally outside the Statehouse to condemn the bill, and several pro-Israel activists tried to disrupt it, prompting state troopers to scramble to defuse the resulting shoving match between both sides.

Things didn’t go much more smoothly inside.

Troopers had to open four overflow rooms to accommodate the crowds who showed up to testify, and testimony grew so heated that Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak (D-Middlesex), the committee’s chair, repeatedly pounded his gavel to restore order and threatened to have troopers remove disruptive spectators.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), the bill’s chief sponsor, kicked off the testimony just after noon. Four other Assembly members from both parties beside him also testified in support of the bill.

Schaer denied that the bill would infringe upon the First Amendment, saying its goal is simple — to combat rising antisemitism.

“A statutory definition of antisemitism gives law enforcement a clear lens to determine the motivation and/or intent behind a criminal act or bias incident that may have been motivated by antisemitism,” he said. “It may also be incorporated into policy development and anti-bias training. However, the legislation does not create new criminal penalties or criminalize protected speech. Instead, it ensures that when an individual paints a swastika on a synagogue, shouts slurs at a Jewish student, or otherwise targets someone based on their Jewish identity, we have a consistent, recognized standard by which to evaluate.”

Dozens of Jewish groups, mayors, and others echoed that support.

“The Jewish community must stand up to the bullies who see this bill as a threat to their ability to harass and intimidate us,” said Jason Shames, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey.

But DaWuan Norwood, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition conflates protected political speech with unprotected discrimination.

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Military Bases in Indiana, New Jersey Will Be Converted to Migrant Holding Centers

The Secretary of Defense has confirmed that a military base in Indiana and another in New Jersey will be converted to house detained immigrants who are awaiting deportation.

Since Trump came into office this year, the administration has added sixty facilities to the list of those used to house migrants marked for deportation, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Now, two more are being added to that list. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth supplied a letter to Congress to inform them that Camp Atterbury in central Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey will be available “for temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security to house illegal aliens,” the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.

In the letter, Hegseth insisted that turning space over to immigration enforcement “will not negatively affect military training, operations, readiness, or other military requirements, including National Guard and Reserve readiness.”

The timeline to begin shipping migrants to the bases has not been determined.

Camp Atterbury already has facilities to accommodate 7,000 in its dorm-style housing for families, and open barracks for singles. The buildings are equipped with central heating and air conditioning, and bathroom facilities.

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Messy New Jersey Voter Rolls Have More Than 32,000 ‘Questionable’ Voter Records, Report Says

Registered New Jersey voters pick a new governor in the Nov. 4 general election, but before that the state really needs to clean up its voter list.

After reviewing New Jersey’s statewide voter roll, a report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) shows an “urgent need for improved list maintenance practices,” after identifying more than 32,000 registration issues, many of which could allow people to vote more than once.

PILF found 14,059 duplicate registrations, with voters registered in New Jersey and at least one other state at the same time. But PILF did not look at all 50 states, meaning there are certainly more to be found. PILF identified duplicate registrations in New Jersey and Florida (6,972 cases), New York (5,725), and Pennsylvania (925).

PILF also found 15,655 registrations using fictitious birth dates, which are sometimes used as placeholders — such as New Jersey’s most common placeholder date, 1800-01-01, that is, 225 years ago. The PILF report found 5,166 such birthdates in Essex County, 2,108 in Passaic County, and 1,928 in Middlesex County.

Of the 15,655 registrations with bad birth dates, 85 percent are marked as active voters, the report shows. But PILF says it is an easy fix. The organization took a random sample of 10 such registrations and compared the “New Jersey voter roll, Social Security records, and Experian reports,” and within minutes found the correct birthdates for all 10. PILF found that seven voter registrations were accurate after the proper birth date was added; Social Security records indicated that two registered voters had died more than 20 years ago; and one individual had seemingly relocated to St. Lucie County, Florida, and registered to vote there in 2017.

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New Jersey Police Chief Accused of Leading a Secret Sex Cult

The daughter of a New Jersey police chief is accusing her father, and others, of having engaged in “ritualistic” sexual abuse against her and her sisters over a period of years.

The unnerving claims are part of an ongoing lawsuit the woman has filed, likening her father and others to participating in a sort of cult while the alleged abuse took place.

Leonia Police Chief Scott Tamagny, as well as a neighbor and acquaintance of his named Kevin Slevin, are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit launched by Tamagny’s 20-year-old daughter, where court documents assert the young woman, and her sisters, endured years of sexual abuse from their father and others.

Courtney Tamagny has recently taken the claims against her father public, detailing her alleged years-long abuse on various podcasts.

According to court documents, Slevin and her father would regularly abuse her in her home, as well as taking her out into the woods nearby to further the alleged abuse with “ritualistic” worshippers serving as both an audience and participants. 

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62-Year-Old Woman Charged for Driving Through Anti-ICE Protesters Who Were Surrounding and Pounding on Her Car in New Jersey

A 62-year-old woman has been charged after driving through a crowd of anti-ICE protesters who surrounded and began pounding on her car in New Jersey.

Linda Roglen, 62, of North Bergen, was driving past the Noches De Colombia on Fairview Avenue in the borough of Fairview when she encountered a group protesting ICE raids on Saturday.

One of the protesters confronted her car, and she sped up, allegedly running over his foot.

The man falls to the ground, Roglen stops, and the protesters swarm her vehicle and begin banging on the windows.

At this point, the car is surrounded, and Roglen slowly drives through. At least one protester can be seen throwing something at her vehicle as she leaves the scene.

The incident was captured on video from multiple angles and shared on social media, where leftists expressed outrage over her actions.

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