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Mass NJ Transit Delays To, From NYC As Heat Rises

NEW JERSEY — NJ Transit service to and from New York City is delayed up to 90 minutes following Amtrak overhead wire issues Tuesday morning, transit officials told Patch.

The news comes on the first day of what is slated to be an extended heat wave in New York and New Jersey, with temperatures projected to reach nearly 100 degrees later this week. Read more: NYC Activates Emergency Plan As 'Dangerously High' Heat Approaches NJ Transit trains were halted about 8 a.m. Tuesday after the wire issue
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200+ NJ School Jobs To Be Axed, Despite $44.7M In Last-Ditch State Aid

More than 200 school positions are on the chopping block, spanning from Essex to Cape May counties. The cuts will affect teachers from elementary to high schools, as well as administrative jobs like principals, clerks, aides, custodians, security guards and more. Murphy noted earlier this year the upcoming school year’s budget will be the single largest investment into public education in state history, and would fully fund the state’s school funding formula for the first time. That formula was
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Murphy Downplays Shore Mayhem As Cops, Lawmakers Demand Change

The weekend’s chaos in Seaside Heights led to a total 90 arrests (72 adults and 18 juveniles arrested) in the municipality and a curfew for kids under the age of 18, police said. Related: 90 Arrests As Proms, Memorial Day Combine For Chaotic Weekend In Seaside Heights

“Civil unrest” in Wildwood was also reported early Sunday, prompting a state of emergency that was lifted hours later. Read more: Authorities Issue Warning After Chaotic Weekend In Ocean City, Wildwood

But aside from the three “
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Biden Releasing Nearly 1M Barrels Of NJ Gas To Lower Pump Prices

NEW JERSEY — The Biden administration plans to sell one million barrels of gasoline from two reserves — including one in New Jersey — in order to lower gas prices for American motorists ahead of the summer, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

New Jersey’s own Port Reading reserve will be supplying 900,000 barrels of fuel, with Maine’s South Portland reserve providing the additional 98,824 barrels. The gasoline sale is intended to create a bidding process that ensures fuel will be sold a
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16 ‘Bad Businesses’ Caught Stiffing Employees, NJ Says

NEW JERSEY — Sixteen Garden State businesses were added this month to a state list of employers who have failed to pay wages, benefits and taxes and are thus barred from receiving public contracts, according to the state Department of Labor.

As of May 17, a total of 161 businesses are listed on the state's Workplace Accountability in Labor List, or WALL, with the newest additions reportedly owing the state or their workers a combined $992 million for violating the New Jersey workers’ compensati
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NJ Schools Calling Police At Record Rate: See Complete Breakdown

NEW JERSEY — Authorities are being called to New Jersey schools at record rates, according to a Patch analysis of school police notification data.

New Jersey public schools called police 9,637 times during the 2022-23 school year, a 21 increase in calls from the year prior and more than a 23.5 percent increase since 2018-19 (the last full year before the pandemic), according to the latest School Performance Report released by the Department of Education last month. The latest report saw 2,743 c
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NJ Sales Tax Hike Proposed In Lieu Of Big Biz Tax Increase

Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-36), the chairman of the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee and a construction industry executive, raised the idea of increasing the sales tax to 7 percent in lieu of Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed billion-dollar tax hike for roughly 600 businesses during a Tuesday budget hearing in Trenton. The increase from the Garden State’s current 6.625 percent rate would be "more stable than the corporation business tax on the higher earning income companies, which could vary from year to y
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School Layoffs, Sport Program Cuts May Be Avoided Under 2 New Laws

The new measures seek to boost funding for the 140 school districts facing state aid cuts — some in the double digits — announced in February. As a result of budget shortfalls, some districts considered raising taxes, hiring freezes and paused renovation plans. Read more: Job Cuts, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes, Sports Nixed: NJ Schools Face Budget Woes “This additional funding and the flexibility permitted will help districts to address staffing issues and other problems created by current funding s
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Voodoo Doll, Dictionary, Bra Found Among Jersey Shore Trash: See List

It’s part of a laundry list of hundreds of items discovered by environmental nonprofit Clean Ocean Action, which listed its rarer finds as part of the 2023 Beach Sweeps Report released last week. "By removing, tallying, and learning more about litter, volunteers make beaches and waterways cleaner and safer for wildlife and people, and provide evidence of a pollution problem," COA said in its annual sweeps report, now in its 38th year.

The nonprofit then compiles the data into an analysis used t
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Job Cuts, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes, Sports Nixed: NJ Schools Face Budget Woes

By eliminating 368 staff positions and pushing class sizes up to 60 or more students, according to Toms River Regional School District Superintendent Michael Citta. The school district of roughly 14,500 pupils already reached an agreement to sell 17 acres of land to Toms River Township to help fill a hole in the district's budget last year, though Citta warned the district would face a far worse problem in 2024-25.

"It has been a rough couple of weeks," Citta told the district's Board of Educat
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Wages Fall In More Than Half Of NJ Counties, New Data Shows

NEW JERSEY — While New Jersey remains near the top of the list of U.S. states with the highest average salaries, residents in 13 of the 15 largest counties in the state saw wages drop last year, according to new federal data.

The latest figures, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month, report as much as a 3 percent decline in average wages from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023 in some parts of the state. Monmouth County saw the largest average wage loss at 2.
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Kids’ Summer Curfew With $250 Fine May Be Coming To NJ Shore City

The 10 p.m. curfew, which passed unanimously on its first reading, will begin May 15 for those under 18. Children supervised by parents, traveling to or from work or participating a school, religious or recreational activity will be exempt, the ordinance reads. Parents who knowingly let their kids violate the curfew will face a $250 fine.

North Wildwood Police Chief John Stevenson said police officers will not stop young people who aren’t “creating problems” or causing disturbances, but the ord
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Were NJ Bridges Inspected After 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake?

But how quickly were bridges in the state inspected in the aftermath? The New Jersey Department of Transportation's in-house inspection teams were sent into the field “immediately” to inspect NJDOT’s bridges near the earthquake epicenter in Hunterdon County following the April 5 quake, NJDOT press manager Steve Schapiro told Patch.

The teams were instructed to inspect all the bridges along interstate and state highways, working systematically outward from the epicenter. Operations staff inspect
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Were NJ Bridges Inspected After 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake?

NEW JERSEY — The 4.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Garden State earlier this month caused water main breaks in Randolph Township, unstable and “leaning” homes in Newark and even partial facade crumbling to a 264-year-old mill in Readington that fed George Washington’s troops.

But how quickly were bridges in the state inspected? The New Jersey Department of Transportation's in-house inspection teams were sent into the field “immediately” to inspect NJDOT’s bridges near the earthquake epic
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19 Hospitalized From Botched Botox Shots Sold In NJ, Elsewhere: CDC

NEW JERSEY — Counterfeit or mishandled units of botox, an injection used to smooth wrinkles, are being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after at least 19 women in several states reported harsh reactions to the product, the agency said Monday.

The bad botox, which hospitalized nine of the 19 women to date, was sold in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Washington, the agency said. Four of the women were “treated with
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Free Tree Program Nixed By NJ Officials In 2024: Here’s Why

NEW JERSEY - Two annual tree reforestation programs helmed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — including a free seedling program for young residents — won’t be offered in 2024 due to inventory issues, Patch has learned.

The affected Tree Seedling Catalog and 3rd Grade Free Tree programs distribute hundreds of thousands of seedlings annually via the New Jersey Forest Service Nursery in Jackson (Monmouth County), state officials said. But “unforeseen circumstances,” includi
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40 Quake Aftershocks And Counting: See Where NJ Is Still Rumbling

NEW JERSEY - More than three dozen earthquake aftershocks have been reported around the Garden State since Friday morning’s 4.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The strongest aftershock occurred near Gladstone at 3.8 magnitude about 6 p.m. on Friday, the USGS said. The most recent aftershock was recorded Sunday evening at 1.3 magnitude near Califon. More aftershocks are likely to follow, USGS officials warn.

"According to our forecast, there is a 1% chance of one
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New NJ School Performance Reports Released: See District Rankings

The New Jersey Department of Education released the latest School Performance Report this week, with school districts scored from 0 to 100 based on factors like standardized test scores, student academic growth and graduation rates, among other metrics. Some measures, like academic growth, are now included in reports again after the Department of Education canceled statewide assessments in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data shows a 91.1 percent four-year graduation rate (
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After Baltimore Bridge Collapse, A Question: How Safe Are NJ Bridges?

NEW JERSEY — The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday is raising questions in New Jersey and elsewhere about the overall safety of bridges.

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of the 6,820 in New Jersey. Of the total number of bridges, 1,766 are in good condition, 4,612 are in fair condition and 442 are in poor condition. Those bridges include 3,034 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible fo
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How Segregated Is Your NJ School? See District Breakdown

NEW JERSEY - More than 130 of about 700 Garden State K-12 school districts are considered segregated with at least 80 percent of students of one race, and 41 school districts with at least 90 percent of students of one race, according to a Patch analysis.

The school districts span from Bergen to Cape May counties and consist of 103 majority-white schools, 15 majority-Black schools and 25 majority-Hispanic schools, according to 2022-23 enrollment data released by the New Jersey Department of Edu
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What The New Affordable Housing Law Means For NJ Homeowners

Touted as a significant reform for one of the most expensive states in the nation, the legislation aims to move the responsibility of municipal affordable housing quotas for low- and moderate-income families from court settlements to the Department of Community Affairs, which will rely on a formula for mandatory affordable units lifted from a 2018 state Supreme Court decision. “One of our Administration’s top priorities has been to establish New Jersey as a national leader in expanding affordabl
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Domestic Terror Poses Greatest Threat To NJ, Homeland Security Says

The agency's latest threat assessment, published last month, noted white racially motivated extremists will focus on attacking vulnerable targets due to "high casualty potential" and writing or posting hateful material to threaten others and share their motivations. White supremacist attacks have resulted in 51 deaths and 53 injuries in the last five years, the office said, with a third of all attacks and threats from domestic extremists in the U.S. taking place in the Garden State and surroundi
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2.6K Bias Incidents Fueled NJ's Largest Hate Crime Surge to Date: AG

Over 2,699 bias incidents reported in the state last year marks the highest annual total on record since the state began tracking them in 1994, according to preliminary data released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office this week. Findings show dramatic increases in incidents targeting Black individuals, with 1,101 incidents making up more than 34 percent of all bias incident reports last year (a 10.5 percent increase from 2022's reports). 497 bias incidents in 2023 were motivated by anti
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Bill Seeks To Block Traffic Fines For NJ Drivers In Other States

The bill, dubbed the Automated Enforcement Inoculation Act (S-3067), would bar the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission and other state agencies from providing personal information found on New Jersey drivers licenses to other states for the purposes of collecting a fine for violations captured via camera ticketing systems. The cameras work by capturing a drivers' license plate if caught speeding, using plate information to access personal data (such as name, address, phone number and social secu
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