ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County residents with old or unwanted electronics can safely dispose of them at a free, public event on Saturday, May 21.
The Essex County Utilities Authority is bringing back its Computer and Electronics Recycling Day, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Essex County Public Works (Fleet Management), 99 West Bradford Avenue in Cedar Grove.
Items that will be accepted are: computers, monitors, printers, fax machines, scanners, telecom equipment, speakers, televisions, keyboards, mainframes, VCRs, stereos, DVD players, toasters, irons and cellular telephones.
Items that won’t be accepted include smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms.
According to county officials:
“The Essex County Computer and Electronics Recycling Day is for Essex County residents only. Residents are not charged when they bring materials, but they must provide proof of residency at the site. Commercial businesses may not drop off materials. For more information, call the Essex County Utilities Authority at 973-792-9060 or visit www.ecuanj.com.”
“Recycling computer hardware and electronic devices helps remove lead and other dangerous chemicals from our waste stream, which is important for us and our children,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said.
“Our collection days are very popular and I am glad our residents understand the importance of recycling,” DiVincenzo added.
Newark, N.J. – The New Jersey State Police have arrested Tyquan R. Black, 19, of Irvington, N.J., for allegedly running an auto theft trafficking network in Newark, Essex County.
On March 20, 2022, troopers from the New Jersey State Police Troop ‘B’ Totowa Station were notified that a Porsche Cayenne was stolen out of Wyckoff Township, N.J. During the investigation, troopers received live updates from Porsche through the Global Positioning System (GPS) and located the vehicle at a stop light in Newark. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Tyquan R. Black, fled in the Porsche, ran a red light and subsequently struck an ambulance in the same location. Tyquan Black who was not injured during the crash, was arrested. Through various investigative means, it was learned that Black was responsible for trafficking twelve cars totaling over one million dollars.
Tyquan R. Black was charged with eluding, assault by auto, obstruction, criminal mischief, receiving stolen property and leading an auto theft trafficking network. He is detained in the Essex County Jail.
This case is being prosecuted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Charges are mere accusations, and the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty.
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A 15-year-old girl killed in a shooting in Paterson’s 5th Ward late Wednesday night had been a talented dancer who used to help mentor youngsters, according to the founder of the Paterson Jumpstart community program.
The victim, who lived in North Haledon, became the third teenager killed by gunfire in Paterson this year. Four men between the ages of 21 and 32 were also injured in the shooting, which happened at about 10:20 p.m. on Essex Street near Madison Street, authorities said.
Authorities have not yet released the girl’s name.
“She was definitely a leader,” Jamie Bland, executive director of Jumpstart, said of the girl who was killed. “She could have been a lawyer or something like that. She always spoke up about what she thought was right.”
Bland said the teenager had been a dancer in Jumpstart since she was about 5 years old and stayed in the program until just before the pandemic. The girl would often help other participants with their homework, Bland said.
Bland said she was going to invite the teenager to come talk to youngsters currently in the program about the importance of going to college. The teenager often spent time at a relative’s house in the neighborhood where she was killed, Bland said.
The community leader said she was told by people familiar with the shooting that the girl had walked out of a bodega when she got caught in a spray of bullets aimed at the corner. The girl, Bland said, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said the girl suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
“All the kids are hurting,” Bland said of city youths she knows through Jumpstart. “She was so well-loved.”
Councilman Luis Velez, who represents the section of the city where the shooting happened, said the area is plagued by drug dealing and gang activity. Velez said he frequently gets complaints from residents about the illicit activity and passed them along to the Paterson Police Department.
“I’ve asked for extra protection in that area,” Velez said. “You have to take a strong approach there. This is a troubled area. They got [police] cameras there, but it doesn’t make a difference.”
Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora did not respond to a message seeking his response to Velez’s assertions. Mayor Andre Sayegh did not respond to a reporter’s text message seeking his comments about the crime.
The girl became Paterson’s ninth homicide victim of the year. At this point in 2021, Paterson had 10 homicides and was on its way to setting a record for killings for the second consecutive year.
The other teenagers killed by gunfire this year were both 18 years old — Nashaun Warren, an Eastside High School student, and Robert Cuadra, an honor student at Harp Academy who had already secured a college scholarship.
Warren was fatally shot on March 19 near the corner of 15th Avenue and East 24th Street in the 5th Ward. He died from his wounds 10 days later.
Cuadra was killed on Jan. 19 in the crossfire of a gang shootout on Godwin Avenue in the 4th Ward while he was bringing family groceries home.
Wednesday’s incident was Paterson’s 30th shooting of 2022, incidents in which eight people were killed and 28 injured, according to statistics compiled by Paterson Press from news releases issued by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. Nine of those shootings have happened in the 5th Ward, with only the 4th Ward having a higher number of gun incidents in the city.
The pace of gun violence in the city has dropped compared to last year, when there had been 40 shootings in Paterson by May 12.
“An investment in the child care sector is an investment in our state’s economic future,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “Working families need reliable, safe, affordable, accessible, and high-quality child care.” – EDWIN J. TORRES/NJ GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on May 11 approved the creation of the $54.5 million Child Care Facilities Improvement Pilot Program for child care centers and family child care homes.
In the first phase of the program, the NJEDA will provide nearly $15 million in grants of up to $200,000 to licensed child care centers in New Jersey, which can be used to cover facility improvement costs.
“An investment in the child care sector is an investment in our state’s economic future,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “Working families need reliable, safe, affordable, accessible, and high-quality child care. The program announced today will help us ensure that child care centers statewide can meet those needs while simultaneously securing their long-term financial resiliency.”
The first phase launches this summer, making grants between $50,000 and $200,000 available to pay for improvements, including installing energy efficient windows, creating additional classroom space, purchasing new playground equipment, replacing flooring, remediating environmental hazards, or putting in child-height sinks or toilets.
“Reliable and quality child care services are vital to New Jersey’s economic infrastructure, and during COVID-19, parents and caregivers across our state and nation bore the brunt of service disruptions during the global pandemic,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan.
Sullivan said that child care providers serving low-income children through the New Jersey Department of Human Services Child Care Assistance Program were significantly impacted during the pandemic. So, 40% of the Phase 1 funding is being set aside for child care providers in the Opportunity Zone-eligible census tracts.
“Child care providers enrich our children’s learning experience from the earliest ages and it is incumbent upon us to begin their educational journeys off right,” said NJDHS Commissioner Sarah Adelman. “The Child Care Facilities Improvement Pilot Program will be a crucial complement to our existing grants for child care providers as we seek to enhance the places where the youngest New Jerseyans get their starts.”
“We know that COVID-19 hit child care centers particularly hard, both with respect to their enrollment perspective and the effect it had on its workers as they juggled their own families’ needs,” said NJEDA Executive Vice President of Economic Security Tara Colton. “By supporting enhancements to child care facilities statewide, the program announced today will strengthen this important sector and accelerate the state’s economic recovery.”
SEASIDE HEIGHTS — A 51-year-old man has been indicted on a murder charge stemming from a 29-year-old woman’s stabbing death one year ago.
Police responding to a call on the morning of May 1, 2021, found Alecia Perreault had been stabbed in the neck, inside a room at the Offshore Motel.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The same call to police had named Gerardo Ruiz as a suspect and said he was staying at the Surfside Motel.
Gerardo Ruiz (OCPO) Seaside Heights hotel murder 2021
Gerardo Ruiz is charged with murder (OCPO)
When officers arrived at his room, they found Ruiz had overdosed on drugs.
He was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River for treatment and was then detained in a secure medical facility.
Ruiz, of Seaside Heights, was indicted by an Ocean County Grand Jury on Wednesday, in connection with the death of Perreault, also of Seaside Heights, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced.
New Jersey’s license plate designs through the years
Unbelievably Expensive Divorces
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.
Assemblyman Christian Barranco (R- Morris, Essex, Passaic) has prime sponsored legislation to give parents a greater say in what and how their children are taught in public schools and access to more information about the operations of public school districts.
Titled the “Parents Bill of Rights Act”, the legislation (A3800) prohibits school districts from interfering with or denying the rights of parents and guardians the right to review copies of school curricula, books and other educational materials. The legislation comes on the heels of the recent disclosure that the State Board of Education is embarking on a plan to have school districts teach children as young as six and seven a sex education curriculum – including lessons on gender identity — that many parents find objectionable or not in the best interest of children
“This legislation will put the operation of school districts where it belongs, in the hands of parents and taxpayers,” said Barranco, the father of three school age children. “It is not the province of educational elites, or the special interests that they align with to determine what our children learn.”
Among its many provisions, the Parents Bill of Rights Act forbids school districts from denying parents or guardians copies of curricula, books and education materials used in the classroom as well as the names and professional qualifications of teachers and guest lecturers; and the names of third-party individuals or organizations that receive contracts or funding through the school district.
Districts also must provide parents – prior to the start of new school year – with copies of the syllabi and books for each class the student is enrolled in. And districts must allow parents to be heard at school board meetings. Districts must obtain from parents or guardians written permission for the school district to collect biometric data – such as finger prints, palm prints, DNA, retina scans — from students.
Parents who are denied the rights under the proposed legislation can file civil action against the district. The state Attorney General’s office may also seek an injunction against the school districts that fail to uphold the rights of parents, according to the legislation.
“It is sad that in the 21st Century the classroom has become the battlefield of the culture wars brought on by the progressive left, whose sole aim is to undermine America and the American family,” said Barranco.
“I wish this legislation was not necessary. But I cannot sit on the sideline and allow school officials to dictate to parents what their children learn, nor can I sit by quietly and allow political indoctrination to replace skill development in our children,” added Barranco.
United States Senator Bob Menendez, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz to Receive Honorary Degrees
JERSEY CITY, N.J. |New Jersey City University(NJCU) will award 1,876 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in a double ceremony during its 2022 Commencement exercises on Thursday, June 2 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The first ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and will include graduates from the School of Business and the College of Professional Studies. The second ceremony will commence at 3 p.m. and include graduates from the William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences and Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe College of Education.
United States Senator Bob Menendez, the State of New Jersey’s senior senator and a Hudson County native, and New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz will receive honorary doctorate degrees. Ruiz will speak during the 11 a.m. ceremony and Menendez will address the graduates during the 3 p.m. session. [See biographic profile below.]
NJCU will also honor representatives of its milestone 50th anniversary class of 1972 and 25th anniversary class of 1997.
The ceremonies will celebrate students receiving their degrees in January 2022, May 2022, and August 2022. The ceremony may be viewed live at:https://www.youtube.com/user/NJCUTUBE.
A total of 1,204 graduates are expected to participate in the ceremony — 901 undergraduates, 278 graduate, and 25 doctoral recipients.
Doors will open at 10 a.m. for all graduates for the 11 a.m. ceremony, and at 2 p.m. for the 3 p.m. commencement.Additionally, each ceremony will have its own direct viewing link.
Biographical Profile of Honorary Degree Recipients
Senator Bob Menendez
United States Senator Bob Menendez will address NJCU’s second commencement ceremony at 3 p.m.
A three-term United States Senator representing New Jersey, Senator Bob Menendez’s story is quintessentially American. He grew up the son of Cuban immigrants in a tenement building in Union City, N.J. and rose to become one of 100 United States Senators. Senator Menendez was originally appointed to the U.S. Senate in January 2006, elected to a full six-year term in November of that year, and re-elected in 2012 and again in 2018.
He currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the 117th Congress— one of the oldest and most revered Committees in the Senate—at a time when world affairs have a dramatic impact on our economy at home. He has earned a national reputation for his international leadership in the Senate, which pairs with his long-time reputation as a fighter for New Jersey families who puts their economic security ahead of powerful special interests.
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has established himself as a new foreign policy leader for a new century, seeking to do globally what he has done in New Jersey – supporting the most vulnerable in our society and lending a voice to those least able to speak for themselves. As Chairman, he has focused the Committee’s work on key foreign policy issues of the day including strategic competition with China, confronting the global pandemic, and restoring the United States’ place as a leader around the globe. He has stood by democracy activists struggling to reform governments from Cuba to China to Russia and advocated for women and children struggling against oppressive poverty in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, he has evoked a strong national security posture in the face of tyrannical leaders of Russia, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela
In April 2021, Chairman Menendez successfully concluded a decade’s long effort for the U.S. government to officially recognize the Ottoman Empire’s genocide against the Armenian people.
Senator Menendez has been widely recognized for his leadership on promoting safe and healthy families. He has championed legislation to support mothers suffering from postpartum depression, help families meet the challenges of autism, and keep young athletes safe from harm on the playing field. He also serves on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and has championed increased consumer protection and corporate accountability, fairness in lending, affordable housing, and comprehensive approaches to community revitalization. He served as Chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development where he fought for smart growth, jobs for the 21st Century and updates to our nation’s aging transportation system.
As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, he has sponsored legislation increasing access to health care, advocated for fairness in the tax code to help middle class families get college educations and be able to retire, and pushed for trade initiatives to ensure America’s global competitiveness.
A product of New Jersey’s public schools and a graduate of two of the state’s universities, Senator Menendez, now 68 years old, learned early the importance of standing up for what’s right, no matter how powerful the opposition. He first entered public service as a 19-year-old college student when his high school would not provide books to students who could not afford them. This motivated him to launch a successful petition drive to reform the local school board and a year later won a seat on that very board. He stood up to corruption in Union City and went on to become its mayor (1986-92), a state legislator in the New Jersey Assembly from the 33rd district (1988-91), a New Jersey State Senator (1991-93) and was elected to Congress in 1992 — where he would serve for 13 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey’s 13th district.
He quickly rose to leadership positions and has given New Jerseyans a seat at the table during critical negotiations on every issue since then: war and peace, jobs and the economy, education, health care, veterans issues, world affairs, transportation, and housing.
Senator Menendez’s career has been a tribute to his desire to protect the powerless from the powerful and ensure fairness for every American. He led the fight in Congress to make sure New Jersey received its fair share of recovery funds to help communities rebuild after Superstorm Sandy, chaired Senate Banking Committee hearings to hold the administration accountable for getting relief resources out of Washington and passed landmark bipartisan legislation providing relief to homeowners hit with unreasonably high flood insurance premiums.
The son of immigrants, Bob understands the importance of New Jersey’s Liberty State Park, in the shadow of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, at the gateway for millions of immigrants who came to this nation seeking the American Dream and a better life for them and their children. This inspired him to become one of eight Senators who wrote and fought for comprehensive immigration reform legislation that passed the Senate in 2013 with an overwhelming bipartisan show of support.
Senator Menendez received his B.A. from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City and his J.D. from Rutgers University. He currently lives in Bergen County with his wife Nadine. He’s the father of two children, Alicia and Robert Jr., and the proud grandfather of Evangelina, Ofelia, and Olivia.
New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz
Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz will address graduates during the 11 a.m. ceremony.
First elected in 2007, Senator M. Teresa Ruiz became the first Puerto Rican elected to the Senate. Re-elected four times— 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2021 — she is a five-term state senator representing New Jersey’s 29th Legislative District and Essex County, including most of the east side of the city of Newark, and all of Belleville, N.J.
In January 2022, Senator Ruiz was elected as the State Senate Majority Leader, andis the highest-ranking Latina legislator in state history. She was previously elected by her colleagues to serve as Senate President Pro Tempore in 2018 and 2020 and was the first Latina to hold the position.
Senator Ruizis the past chair of the Senate Education Committee. Throughout her time in the Senate, she has fought for equity in educational spaces, acting as the leading force in expanding access to early childhood education throughout the state. She also spearheaded the law to build on the federal free and reduced meal program so that all students who qualify for the program could receive breakfast and lunch at no cost, eliminating the reduced category. Furthermore, she has sponsored laws to increase diversity within school curriculum and strengthen the Amistad Commission.
Senator Ruizhas also focused on expanding employment opportunities for underserved communities, and sponsoring bill packages aimed at expanding apprenticeship programs in the state and increasing teacher diversity. The apprenticeship package, which was enacted, created more accessible pathways to careers in high growth industries by incentivizing business participation in apprenticeship programs. In addition, she has taken a targeted approach at mitigating the barriers which prevent people of color from obtaining and retaining full time teaching positions, advancing legislation to establish educator apprenticeship programs, provide loan redemption opportunities and expand alternate route programs.
Senator Ruiz was a prime sponsor of the 2013 law making undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition rates at New Jersey public colleges and universities. She also sponsored the 2017 law requiring the Commissioner of Education to develop guidelines for school districts to ensure a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment for transgender students.
In 2016, Senator Ruiz authored a law which requires college loans granted by the state to be forgiven in the event of a student borrower’s death. She also sponsored a law to limit the suspension and expulsion of students in preschool through second grade, and another to provide stronger academic support to students with reading difficulty.
Senator Ruiz sponsored the law creating the New Jersey Advisory Council on End-of-Life Care to ensure the special needs of those approaching the end of life are met. She sponsored a 2009 law prohibiting individuals from purchasing more than one handgun a month.
The senator also authored a law that overhauled the state’s teacher tenure statute. Signed in 2012, the act put standards in place requiring tenure to be earned and maintained through ongoing performance measurements, and ensures educators get the support they need when deficiencies are identified.
Senator Ruiz was also the prime sponsor of a 2020 law to allow candidates to use campaign funds to cover childcare expenses incurred due to campaign activities.
The Senator received a bachelor’s degree from Drew University. She was a 2010 Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow, and a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program.
She is vice chair of the Essex County Democratic Party and is deputy chief of staff to longtime Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. — himself a 1976 graduate of NJCU (then Jersey City State) and a member of the NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame. She served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Born and raised in Newark, Senator Ruiz, 47, resides in the city with her husband Samuel Gonzalez, and five-year-old daughter, Silver Inaru.
About NJCU: New Jersey City University is an institution of higher learning with an audacious goal: the development of our students, our city, our communities, our state, and the world beyond. We are a game-changing force for our students and their families. Whether our students are enrolled in one of our 50 undergraduate, 30 graduate or three doctoral programs at our three locations — our main campus in Jersey City, our School of Business located in the heart of the Jersey City Financial District, or our newest location at NJCU @ Fort Monmouth which expands bachelor’s and master’s degree offerings along the Jersey Shore, NJCU provides an affordable, diverse environment, and an exceptionally supportive faculty—all of which prepares them to be critical thinkers in a global landscape.
We’re also changing the game for our city, our communities, and our state. As the educational anchor institution in Jersey City, we’ve established partnerships to ensure the area’s growth directly benefits our students and community members. We seek to improve the lives of everyone in the Garden State, whether creating a home for the arts, bringing educational programs to K-12 students, offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with community colleges, or providing professional development opportunities for adults.
At NJCU, we’re not just educating minds, we’re nourishing souls and lifting communities. We’re changing the game.
