The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office leads the investigation into two individuals found dead inside a house in Irvington Township overnight.
According to a preliminary investigation, police responded to an address on Adams Street to investigate reports of a domestic violence dispute around 3:29 a.m.
When police entered the bloodied and gruesome apartment, they found a severely injured, unconscious and unresponsive man and a woman suffering bullet wounds on the second floor.
A gun was found near the couple’s bodies.
Residents on the block identified the woman as Ms. Daquasha Jackson, 31, a former Newark Central Ward resident, and the male (suspect) is Mr. Dane Lawrence, 32.
Medical personnel pronounced the couple dead at the scene of an apparent murder-suicide.
RLS Media learned that police found Jackson’s baby inside the residence, but no injuries were reported to the child.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A local protest against gun violence is being planned in Essex County, New Jersey in solidarity with the national “March For Our Lives” event in Washington D.C. on Saturday, June 11.
There will be a rally from 10 a.m. to noon at Military Park, 51 Park Avenue in Newark, along with several others across the nation, according to an online locator.
The American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, BlueWaveNJ and New Jersey Education Association are sponsoring the march at Military Park.
Find out what’s happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
According to a news release, other speakers at the march will include gun-violence survivors, March for Our Lives student activists, teachers, medical workers and school support personnel. NJ Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D, 29th Legislative District), AFTNJ President Donna M. Chiera, NJEA President Sean Spiller and Newark physician leader Dr. Chris Pernell will also address the crowd. Supporting organizations include Action Together New Jersey, HPAE and Moms Demand Action Essex County.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin are among the community leaders expected to speak at the event.
Find out what’s happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Every single mass shooting is the result of a policy failure,” Menendez said. “It’s time we go beyond thoughts and prayer.”
“Assault weapons equipped with high capacity magazines have no place in our schools, in our supermarkets, in our theaters or on our streets,” Menendez said. “It’s time we pass meaningful gun safety measures, such as expanding background checks and reinstating the assault weapons ban.”
Platkin said that the Garden State has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, but added that it’s important not to “relent in our effort to protect New Jerseyans — and particularly our children — from senseless gun violence, and to hold accountable those who perpetuate such violence.”
This is the second time that March for Our Lives activists will protest in Newark. In 2018, 4,000 participants rallied for change after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 students and staff members.
“As much as I love standing up for what’s right, and helping out my friends, I hate that we still have to have the same discussions four years later,” said Jessica Delgado, a March for Our Lives NJ member and event organizer.
“We want change … We demand it,” Delgado said. “Not just mass shootings, but ending gun violence in all our communities.”
“What will it take to create safe communities? Everywhere we look, gun violence is decimating our families and communities. Whether it’s the mass shootings in shopping malls, concerts, schools, and places of worship, the retaliatory gun violence in urban neighborhoods haunted by the legacy of economic disinvestment, racism, and poverty, or the solitary suicides committed nationwide with increasing frequency, gun violence adds up: over 100 Americans die from it every day. 100+ lives lost every single day. We started March For Our Lives (MFOL) to say, ‘Not One More.’ No more school shooting drills. No more burying loved ones. No more American exceptionalism in all the wrong ways.”
Organizers are blaming several causes for the prevalence of gun violence in the United States:
GUN GLORIFICATION – “Gun glorification is the belief embedded in our culture that power and safety are derived from guns. In this country, we put guns on a pedestal and prioritize firearm access over access to human needs. This makes guns extremely easy to access—easier than housing or medical care.”
ARMED SUPREMACY – “Armed supremacy is the use of guns and the threat of gun violence to reinforce power structures, hierarchies, and status. It is how individuals or groups of people reinforce their perceived value relative to those with less power. It is how white supremacy and patriarchy survive.”
POLITICAL APATHY – “Political apathy and corruption is the gradual destruction of the democratic principle that power comes from the people. It happens when politics fails to change lived outcomes for those it’s meant to serve. Politicians use voters to gain power for themselves, but the voters get little in return. People become apathetic because they are not valued or empowered.”
POVERTY – “Poverty is the state of not having enough material possessions, income, or resources to meet basic human needs. The communities facing the highest rates of everyday gun violence have been intentionally impoverished—systemically denied resources and opportunity by the state for generations.”
MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS – “There is a national mental health crisis. While we fight to end gun violence, there is another mass-scale public health emergency happening simultaneously. Millions of Americans are struggling with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness and lack of access to mental health support and care. People with mental illness are often mischaracterized as being a threat to others, when in fact, they are at higher risk of becoming a victim of gun violence themselves, including suicide. We refuse this scapegoating.”
Organizers have released a detailed plan to combat gun violence in the United States, which can be seen here. They include:
HOLD GUN LOBBY ACCOUTABLE – “The gun lobby and industry must be held accountable for decades of illegal behavior and misguided policies intended to shield only themselves and perpetuate the proliferation of armed supremacy. We must reexamine the dangerous District of Columbia v. Heller interpretation of the Second Amendment, initiate both FEC and IRS investigations into the NRA, and fully repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).”
DIG DEEPER – “Gun violence in America is so deeply entrenched that the state itself is a major perpetrator. To properly address gun violence in America, we must confront the ways law enforcement’s brutal targeting of communities of color, and Black people in particular, contributes to gun deaths and injuries. To do so, we must end the war on drugs, stop the school-to-prison pipeline, and dramatically reduce the scope and size of policing to replace it with new forms of public safety that work for everyone instead of a select few. We must also redefine what safety looks like for our communities. This means addressing poverty—manifested in homelessness, food scarcity, disparate access to healthcare. Our investments and advocacy efforts must center community, including programming, mutual aid, and preventative and destigmatizing work that reflects cultural competence.”
END GUN GLORIFICATION – “A key piece of this roadmap is to end gun glorification by advocating and passing legislation to raise the national standards for gun ownership. This includes a national licensing and registry system that promotes responsible gun ownership; a ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other weapons of war; policies to disarm gun owners who pose a harm risk; and a national gun buy-back program to reduce the estimated 265–393 million firearms in circulation by at least 30%.”
ELEVATE VOICES – “While sensible gun reforms such as gun licensing enjoy wide support across the American electorate, our democratic institutions are fraying. A fully functional democracy that works to elevate—not stifle—the voices of people over corporate interests and influential lobbies is a powerful tool for preventing gun violence and supporting community self-determination. We call for automatic voter registration, the prohibition of voter ID laws, and campaign finance reform, including overturning Citizens United. We also call for reform to our judiciary system, including increased diversity of judges, state responsibility for public safety, and increased judicial transparency and accountability.”
EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE – “Young people turned out in record numbers in 2020 to support President Biden and Vice President Harris, and tipped the scales in many swing states that were crucial to victory for Democrats. In order to restore faith in government, the Biden-Harris Administration must address the unique concerns of young voters starting with a comprehensive plan to combat everyday gun violence ravaging communities nationwide, especially communities of color. To start, they must appoint at least two senior-level positions in the White House: a National Director of Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) and a Director of Youth Engagement. The Director of GVP will be tasked with operationalizing agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others which have long been structurally weakened by the gun lobby. The Director would likewise empanel a committee to study and recommend related reforms. The Director of Youth Engagement should be a young Millennial or Gen-Z, and serve on the Domestic Policy Council, advising the President and senior staff on issues of importance to young Americans. Finally, a record level of violence requires a record level of funding: at least $1 billion in emergency and discretionary agency funding must be directed towards community violence intervention programming and increased data collection and research on gun violence prevention.”
Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.
2021 NJ property taxes: See how your town compares
Find your municipality in this alphabetical list to see how its average property tax bill for 2021 compares to others. You can also see how much the average bill changed from 2020. For an interactive map version, click here. And for the full analysis by New Jersey 101.5, read this story.
8 sharks you may find off New Jersey’s coast
LOOK: Food history from the year you were born
From product innovations to major recalls, Stacker researched what happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.
Inventions you probably didn’t know are New Jersey born
50 Most Popular Chain Restaurants in America
YouGov investigated the most popular dining brands in the country, and Stacker compiled the list to give readers context on the findings. Read on to look through America’s vast and divergent variety of restaurants—maybe you’ll even find a favorite or two.
Sports at any level tend to bring out people’s most competitive instincts, but sometimes that competitive fire is tempered by sportsmanship. Such was the case recently in an important high school baseball game.
According to the Daily Journal, Pitman High School was playing Schalick for the right to go to the South Jersey Group 1 sectional semifinals. NJSIAA rules state that a pitcher can only throw 150 pitches in a five-day span, obviously trying to preserve young arms.
The Schalick pitcher, Luke Pokrovsky, had pitched on Wednesday and Saturday in their previous wins and was pitching again on Monday. Both the Pitman coach and the Schalick coach were keeping track of the pitch count (as they always do), but they had different numbers regarding the number of pitches thrown.
Pitman coach John Hopely had Pokrovsky at 151 pitches when the Schalick coach, Sean O’Brien, pulled him out of the game, thinking that he had just thrown his 150th pitch.
There was some back and forth and consultation with NJSIAA to clarify the rule, but eventually it was determined that Pitman had the basis for a protest, which, if upheld, would result in Schalick forfeiting the game they had won 5-4.
So what did Pitman coach Hopely do? Nothing. He didn’t protest, he didn’t lobby for the forfeit, he took the loss rather than trying to advance on a clerical error. He had compiled all the necessary documentation but didn’t send it in. He told the Daily Journal, “I don’t feel right,” he said. “It didn’t affect the game.”
He said that not all of his players (and their parents) agreed with his decision, but he said that if the roles were reversed, he would hate to see his players lose a playoff game due to a technicality.
So, Schalick is advancing, but Pitman High School is a winner, too.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.
LOOK: States With the Most New Small Businesses Per Capita
These are the best hiking spots in New Jersey
A trip to New Jersey doesn’t have to be all about the beach. Our state has some incredible trails, waterfalls, and lakes to enjoy.
From the Pine Barrens to the Appalachian Trail to the hidden gems of New Jersey, you have plenty of options for a great hike. Hiking is such a great way to spend time outdoors and enjoy nature, plus it’s a great workout.
Before you go out on the trails and explore some of our listeners’ suggestions, I have some tips on hiking etiquette from the American Hiking Society.
If you are going downhill and run into an uphill hiker, step to the side and give the uphill hiker space. A hiker going uphill has the right of way unless they stop to catch their breath.
Always stay on the trail, you may see side paths, unless they are marked as an official trail, steer clear of them. By going off-trail you may cause damage to the ecosystems around the trail, the plants, and wildlife that live there.
You also do not want to disturb the wildlife you encounter, just keep your distance from the wildlife and continue hiking.
Bicyclists should yield to hikers and horses. Hikers should also yield to horses, but I’m not sure how many horses you will encounter on the trails in New Jersey.
If you are thinking of bringing your dog on your hike, they should be leashed, and make sure to clean up all pet waste.
Lastly, be mindful of the weather, if the trail is too muddy, it’s probably best to save your hike for another day.
I asked our listeners for their suggestions of the best hiking spots in New Jersey, check out their suggestions:
Every NJ city and town’s municipal tax bill, ranked
A little less than 30 cents of every $1 in property taxes charged in New Jersey support municipal services provided by cities, towns, townships, boroughs and villages. Statewide, the average municipal-only tax bill in 2021 was $2,725, but that varied widely from more than $13,000 in Tavistock to nothing in three townships. In addition to $9.22 billion in municipal purpose taxes, special taxing districts that in some places provide municipal services such as fire protection, garbage collection or economic development levied $323.8 million in 2021.
Given all the hype we are hearing regarding the “pop up” parties, or riots, it’s maddening as a small-town resident that the state is not acting in a way that will protect residents and law enforcement officers.
Flyers circulating around social media are calling for thousands to descend on the next target town, Point Pleasant Beach, on Saturday, June 18, and in Long Branch on June 19.
Paul Kanitra/Facebook
Paul Kanitra/Facebook
We saw what happened with the public drunkenness, drug use, violence, and property damage to residences and police cars when the mob descended on Long Branch in May of this year.
Long Branch chaos on May 21, 2022. (TikTok user ogden1)
Long Branch chaos on May 21, 2022. (TikTok user ogden1)
One mayor isn’t having it. He’s standing up and fighting back.
Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra posted a video on Facebook the other day calling out the state attorney general and governor for doing nothing to help.
He refutes the direction to ignore the social media invitations saying, correctly if you ask me, the promotions have already gone viral so local acknowledgment might help officials better prepare.
The mayor is focused on doing everything within his legal ability to protect his residents and cops. Unfortunately, the governor’s response was weak and political and doesn’t address the problem nor offer a solution.
Seems to me that the same politicians who gave the rioters over the summer of 2020 a pass, despite the violence and destruction, all because they were afraid to get embroiled in a discussion of race. Bottom line.
Public servants have a duty to protect citizens and hold criminals accountable for their actions. It’s time we take a hard look at DAs and prosecutors who are playing politics with public safety.
LOOK: States With the Most New Small Businesses Per Capita
Every NJ city and town’s municipal tax bill, ranked
A little less than 30 cents of every $1 in property taxes charged in New Jersey support municipal services provided by cities, towns, townships, boroughs and villages. Statewide, the average municipal-only tax bill in 2021 was $2,725, but that varied widely from more than $13,000 in Tavistock to nothing in three townships. In addition to $9.22 billion in municipal purpose taxes, special taxing districts that in some places provide municipal services such as fire protection, garbage collection or economic development levied $323.8 million in 2021.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill’s own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.
As an enhanced police presence continues at all schools in New Jersey in the wake of the Texas school massacre, but more districts are adopting policies that will placed armed guards inside school buildings.
The latest is Middle Township in Cape May County.
Middle Township Board of Education members will vote on Thursday on a proposal to place armed security inside all school buildings.
Superintendent David Salvo told 6 ABC it was the recommendation of police chief Chris Leusner, and expects the measure to pass.
The new security measures would involve retired police officers armed with 9m handguns who have undergone special training. It would not take effect until the start of the next school year.
Middle Township would become the second New Jersey district to place armed guards inside school buildings.
The board issued a statement after the vote which said, “This action, along with increased funding for mental health services, is a commitment from our administration, board and township to put our children first and foremost.”
For now, Middletown has only committed to having armed guards inside school buildings through the end of the current year.
Placing armed security inside school buildings has been debated for years as mass shootings have become more common. The murder of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, was the catalyst for a handful of districts in New Jersey moving forward with enhanced security.
There has been concerns there would not be enough retired police officers available to meet the demand for security, but there has been a recent spike in retirement amid the law enforcement community.
According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, officers must have retired within the last three years and be less than 65 years of age to qualify for Class III status to be hired as an armed school security officer.
NJ teachers and educators caught in sex crime busts
Over the past few years, state lawmakers have taken on the challenge of dealing with accused child predators among the ranks of teachers and educators.
In 2018, the so-called “pass the trash” law went into effect, requiring stricter New Jersey school background checks related to child abuse and sexual misconduct.
The follow individuals were arrested over the past several years. Some have been convicted and sentenced to prison, while others have accepted plea deals for probation.
Others cases are still pending, including some court delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 NJ property taxes: See how your town compares
Find your municipality in this alphabetical list to see how its average property tax bill for 2021 compares to others. You can also see how much the average bill changed from 2020. For an interactive map version, click here. And for the full analysis by New Jersey 101.5, read this story.
New Jersey’s smallest towns by population
New Jersey’s least populated municipalities, according to the 2020 Census. This list excludes Pine Valley, which would have been the third-smallest with 21 residents but voted to merge into Pine Hill at the start of 2022.
As we head into another primary election night, we’re not just looking for races that will determine which party controls Congress or governs battleground states. We’re also looking at individual candidates who are shaping the world of politics.
Tonight, at least three incumbent Republicans are facing challenges from Trump-inspired candidates, though only one represents a safe Republican seat. And in Los Angeles, one candidate for mayor could rewrite what it means to be a Democrat in a liberal oasis.
Kim symbolizes everything the Republican establishment wanted to move toward after its losses in the 2020 election, when Orange County voters sent her to Congress.
She was a Republican who championed fiscal conservatism, not Trumpism. A Korean American immigrant, she appealed to voters of color in a district with a significant Asian American and Pacific Islander population.
And after the 2018 Democratic wave left House Republicans with just 13 women, she and at least 17 other G.O.P. women elected to the chamber in 2020 hoped to change a narrative that their party is the standard-bearer for white men.
Keeping members like Kim in Congress is critical to moderate Republicans’ goal of nudging the party away from Donald Trump — not to mention Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert and Matt Gaetz.
That’s why the stiff challenge Kim now faces from a Trump-inspired candidate, Greg Raths, presents a problem not only for holding a district that Joe Biden carried, but also for demonstrating that the Republican Party is bigger than its white, working-class base.
“If we want to encourage people with diverse backgrounds to run, when they’re elected, we need to stand up for them,” said Matt Gorman, a Republican consultant and Kim ally who was communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2018, when she first ran for Congress. “We can’t let them simply go it alone. We need to stand behind them.”
Gorman said Kim provided a template of how to appeal to Asian American voters in an area, Orange County, that has grown tough for Republicans. She has “a background that we need more of in this party,” he said.
Kim and her allies at the Congressional Leadership Fund, an outside group connected to Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, have spent upward of $1.5 million on the primary. In California congressional races, all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run on the same primary ballot, and the top two compete in the general election. The only Democrat on the ballot, Asif Mahmood, is expected to take one of those spots.
The late spending from Kim’s campaign and the Congressional Leadership Fund might be enough to keep her in the top two. Her leading Republican challenger, Raths, told us last week that he had been running a “stealth” campaign since early February, and that he was confident in his chances up until the barrage of spending from Kim and her allies.
“Now,” Raths said, “I’m a little nervous.”
Representative David Valadao of California
Why are election analysts putting a Central Valley seat in California that Biden carried by 13 percentage points in the “tossup” category?
Because of Valadao, the Republican incumbent.
After losing his seat to a Democrat in 2018, Valadao won it back in 2020. Now his concern is a fellow Republican: Chris Mathys, a businessman who said in an interview that he decided to run for Congress after Valadao voted to impeach Trump.
Valadao’s allies at the Congressional Leadership Fund have spent $370,000 in the primary, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad spending, both promoting him and attacking Mathys. In one ad, the group calls Mathys “recklessly liberal.”
Valadao may be helped by the fact that, while Mathys has sought out Trump’s endorsement, he has been unable to secure it. Trump has endorsed challengers to every House Republican who voted to impeach him and is running for re-election — except for Valadao.
Mathys was also unsuccessful in a lawsuit to change his title on the ballot to “Trump Conservative/Businessman.” Instead, he appeared on the ballot as “Businessman/Cattle Rancher.”
Valadao’s allies aren’t the only ones trying to shape the Republican primary. The Congressional Leadership Fund’s Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, which is affiliated with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is also wading in.
Between broadcast ads supporting the only Democrat in the race, Rudy Salas, and ads on cable, including on Fox News, the Democratic-aligned group has spent more than $100,000.
The group has also bought digital ads supporting Mathys, in an apparent effort to lift Mathys into the top two instead of Valadao. “Chris Mathys supports Donald Trump and is a veteran,” the narrator says in one ad. “Valadao voted to impeach Trump and against his border wall.” The ad then shows a segment from Sean Hannity of Fox News condemning Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
“Both parties know Valadao has a unique ability to outperform a typical Republican,” said Nathan Gonzales, a longtime election analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections, a political newsletter. “I think that’s why we saw a last-minute flurry of spending before the primary.”
Mathys recently retweeted House Majority PAC’s ad, introducing it by saying, “Sean Hannity talks about the impeachment of President Trump.” When asked about the ad, he said that he didn’t have any knowledge of the group or why it had bought the ad. “I have no idea what’s going on there,” he said.
Rick Caruso at a campaign event in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles last month.Credit…Allison Zaucha for The New York Times
Rick Caruso, a leading candidate for mayor of Los Angeles
Eric Adams’s election as mayor of New York last fall was a clear sign that Democrats were distancing themselves from calls to defund the police. But in Los Angeles, another liberal bastion, voters might take it a step further in the opposite direction.
Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer who was until recently a Republican, is likely to qualify for the general election alongside Representative Karen Bass, a longtime Democrat, and he even has a chance to win the mayor’s race outright tonight if he captures more than 50 percent of the vote.
Caruso has focused his campaign on issues of crime and homelessness, and he highlighted his opposition to the movement to defund police departments in an ad that depicted Los Angeles as a dangerous city, panning over encampments of tents for homeless people and ticking off homicide and shooting statistics.
As my colleagues Jennifer Medina and Jill Cowan wrote recently, a victory for Caruso would “be a stark shift in this overwhelmingly liberal city, which Senator Bernie Sanders easily carried in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.”
Representative Dusty Johnson of South Dakota
Johnson, South Dakota’s lone member of the House of Representatives, has often been overshadowed by starrier political figures in his state, like Gov. Kristi Noem and Senator John Thune, the second-ranking Senate Republican.
While Johnson has appeared content out of the spotlight he has quietly made some decisions that have upset Trump loyalists, like voting to certify the results of the 2020 election. Such moves have drawn a right-wing primary challenger, Taffy Howard, a state representative and Air Force veteran.
A super PAC associated with the Republican Main Street Partnership started spending to support Johnson when the race grew a little too close for comfort. The group conducted a poll about a month ago that showed Johnson polling ahead of Howard but hovering around the 50 percent mark, said Sarah Chamberlain, the group’s president. Chamberlain said that attacks on Johnson in campaign mail sent to voters had most likely taken a toll on him.
“We’re not throwing up red flags, but he definitely got a little bit soft,” Chamberlain said. “So we went in there to shore him up.” Now, she expects Johnson to win his primary. The group spent at least $120,000 and aired an ad that called Howard “liberal” and “anti-small business.” American Dream Federal Action, a PAC created by a cryptocurrency executive, also aired an ad supporting Johnson.
Before Johnson held the at-large congressional seat, it was represented by Noem. Johnson created some mild political drama a decade ago when he resigned from the state’s Public Utilities Commission shortly after winning his second term to that post in 2010 in order to take a position as chief of staff to Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
Meanwhile, Drain the Swamp PAC, a group that supported Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, aired an ad attacking Johnson for attending Biden’s inauguration, voting to certify the 2020 election and voting to form a House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
What to read
Seventeen months after the Trump-inspired storming of the Capitol, House Democrats plan to use a landmark set of investigative hearings beginning this week to try to refocus voters’ attention on Jan. 6. Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater preview the hearings.
Blake Hounshell took a break from On Politics to write about a curious political development in New Jersey, where a group of centrists are trying to topple the state’s ban on fusion parties — think New York’s Working Families Party — by creating a middle-of-the-road option for voters: the Moderate Party.
— Leah
Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us atonpolitics@nytimes.com.
Authorities say a man from Burlington County pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing three people, including a 9-year-old child, during two separate incidents in 2019 and now faces a mere 60 years in prison.
Under a plea agreement, 26-year-old Terrance J. Matthews of Willingboro will be sentenced to 60 years behind bars for each homicide, however, the sentences will run concurrently and he will be eligible for parole after 51 years, or 85 percent of his sentence.
Burlington County Acting Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw says the killing spree began during the early morning hours of February 18, 2019, when Matthews approached two men sitting in a car parked on Millbrook Drive and fired inside, fatally wounding 21-year-old Davell Williamson of Willingboro. The passenger was shot in the arm and treated at a local hospital.
On the evening of June 19th of that year, Williams killed his ex-girlfriend’s grandmother and brother inside of their Eastbrook Lane home. 68-year-old Jennifer Vassell and her grandson, 9-year-old Ishon Mathlin, Jr., were stabbed multiple times; Ishon was drowned in a bathtub.
The following morning, Westampton Township police officers were called to a Wawa store for a woman in distress.
The investigation revealed that Matthews and his ex-girlfriend, Krissida Williams, had entered the store, and Williams told a Wawa employee that Matthews had killed her family. Matthews then fled the store, and Willingboro Township police officers discovered the bodies after being dispatched to the house to conduct a wellness check.
Police say those murders happened while Williams was at work. When she got home, Matthews was waiting for her and he held her against her will all night.
The motive for the killings stemmed from an argument Williams and Matthews had during a telephone call earlier in the day.
Matthews was apprehended on June 20th, 2019, by the Camden County police officers following a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed his car into a utility pole. Bradshaw says he used his Facebook account to broadcast the chase live on social media.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 22nd.
Here are the FBI’s Most Wanted for Crimes Against Children
NJ teachers and educators caught in sex crime busts
Over the past few years, state lawmakers have taken on the challenge of dealing with accused child predators among the ranks of teachers and educators.
In 2018, the so-called “pass the trash” law went into effect, requiring stricter New Jersey school background checks related to child abuse and sexual misconduct.
The follow individuals were arrested over the past several years. Some have been convicted and sentenced to prison, while others have accepted plea deals for probation.
Others cases are still pending, including some court delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Is an automatic service fee, charged by some restaurants in New Jersey, essentially the same thing as a tip?
Not necessarily, according to the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.
Coming off the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and with inflation at highs not seen in decades, at least a few businesses have added such fees to dine-in bills.
Some add the fees to try and counteract credit card processing fees on each transaction, which have also been steadily rising, an NJBIA spokesman said to New Jersey 101.5.
As customers are not required to leave a tip — other restaurants and bars might use automatic gratuities to help ensure staff are compensated fairly.
One such recent case was in Hudson County — at a Cajun-style restaurant in Bayonne that sparked split public reaction.
An 18% service fee has been added to dine-in bills at the Hook & Reel, according to a Facebook post within Bayonne Talks, prompting over 300 comments before the private community group closed further discussion.
A number of commenters said that it was a sign that people had been failing to tip appropriately, while other commenters said they don’t believe they should be “forced” to tip a certain amount.
Within the same Facebook thread, those who are or have been servers pointed out that 100% of tips don’t stay with one individual, but have to be shared among others at the establishment, such as bartenders and bussers.
A request for a response from the restaurant was not answered as of Tuesday.
For tax purposes, even if those automatic fees are going to restaurant staff, they cannot be considered tipped wages.
Automatic gratuities are allowed under federal labor laws, though a service charge cannot count as a tip credit against employees’ minimum wage.
Employers must take out payroll taxes from automatic service charges before distributing them to staff.
Another difference is that such employers can take a tax credit for tipped wages – but not for service charges.
(Getty Stock)
(Getty Stock)
Bad tipping on the rise
Has tipping really gotten to be a dire situation?
Americans are worse tippers now than before the pandemic based on a recent survey from CreditCards.com — which also suggests the issue is partly generational.
While 77% of “Gen Xers” (ages 42-57) and 87% of baby boomers (ages 58-76) in a recent survey said they “always tip restaurant servers,” just 52% of “Gen Zers” (ages 18-25) and 60% of millennials (ages 26-41) said the same.
More than four in ten (43%) combined Gen Z and millennial restaurant-goers leave nothing at least some of the time, according to the survey.
The average tip amount was 20% across all generations in the same survey — as “Gen Xers” leave an average tip of 20% and “boomers” give 19%, on average.
We’re coming up on another summer at the Jersey Shore! Before you get lost in the excitement of sunny days on the sand, we’re running down how much seasonal/weekly/daily beach tags will cost you, and the pre-season deals you can still take advantage of!
See the Must-Drive Roads in Every State
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New Jersey’s new legislative districts for the 2020s
Boundaries for the 40 legislative districts for the Senate and Assembly elections of 2023 through 2029, and perhaps 2031, were approved in a bipartisan vote of the Apportionment Commission on Feb. 18, 2022. The map continues to favor Democrats, though Republicans say it gives them a chance to win the majority.
LOOK: Food history from the year you were born
From product innovations to major recalls, Stacker researched what happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.
UPDATE, June 8: Dover was found, unharmed, in Newark on Tuesday night, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
FRANKLIN (Somerset) — Authorities have asked for the public’s help in finding a township woman last seen over a week ago. She is considered to be an endangered missing person.
Shekinah D. Dover, 29, was reported missing to the Franklin Township Police Department by her mother on May 30 around 5 p.m., according to Acting Somerset County Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart.
Detectives have confirmed seeing her on surveillance video in Somerville a day earlier, May 29, around 2:45 p.m.
Dover was last seen walking on Grove Street towards Main Street.
As of Tuesday, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit was assisting the ongoing missing person’s investigation.
She has been described to police as 5 foot 8, 160 pounds — and was last seen wearing a sage green Nike hoodie sweatshirt, black leggings, burgundy flat shoes and a silver ring on her right finger.
Anyone with potential information on the woman’s whereabouts can contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the Franklin Township Police Department at 732-873-5533 or via the STOPit app.
Information can also be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477).
NJ teachers and educators caught in sex crime busts
Over the past few years, state lawmakers have taken on the challenge of dealing with accused child predators among the ranks of teachers and educators.
In 2018, the so-called “pass the trash” law went into effect, requiring stricter New Jersey school background checks related to child abuse and sexual misconduct.
The follow individuals were arrested over the past several years. Some have been convicted and sentenced to prison, while others have accepted plea deals for probation.
Others cases are still pending, including some court delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
50 Most Popular Chain Restaurants in America
YouGov investigated the most popular dining brands in the country, and Stacker compiled the list to give readers context on the findings. Read on to look through America’s vast and divergent variety of restaurants—maybe you’ll even find a favorite or two.
