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(NEWARK, N.J.) — Five years after high levels of lead were detected in the water of 30 public schools in Newark, New Jersey, the city faces a new challenge of convincing residents affected by the crisis that the water is now safe to drink.

Newark resident Marcellis Counts said he grew up feeling neglected by the city and that’s caused public distrust to run deeply.

“The water is just a clear example of how things are able to be neglected,” Counts said. “Many people already knew that a lot of our water was bad anyway. So I always grew up not even drinking from water fountains when I went to school and stuff like that. So it was like that distrust.”

After major signs of contaminated water appeared in 2016, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection required Newark to monitor lead levels. The city reported lead levels above the federal action level, which they said were due to corrosion of old lead water pipes throughout the city, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Two years later, Newark reported one of the highest amounts of lead in any major U.S. city by 2018.

“We are now in panic mode in this city because the feds had to come in to tell us to stop drinking the water,” said Newark resident Donna Jackson in 2019.

Newark city leaders responded by providing water filters and water bottles to more than 40,000 households.

Shakima Thomas’ 7-year-old son, Bryce, tested positive for lead in 2018, even though she said the pipes in her home were made of copper.

“We haven’t got another test since that first test because it was such a traumatizing experience for him … So I have no idea what his level is at this point,” Thomas told ABC News.

In 2019, New Jersey officials announced a $120 million loan from the Essex County Improvement Agency, and a city ordinance, to expedite the city’s efforts to replace the lead pipes – at no cost to any resident.

Since then, Newark has replaced more than 22,000 lead service lines.

Yet, in March of 2021, Thomas paid a private lab to test the lead in her water. According to the results, the lead from her kitchen sink far exceeded what the Environmental Protection Agency says is an acceptable level.

“I felt bad, I felt terrible. I think any parent will feel that way. Here we’re supposed to protect our kids, and that’s the situation that was completely out of my control,” Thomas said.

The EPA also states there is no safe limit for lead in drinking water and that low levels of lead exposure in children have been linked to various conditions, including learning disabilities and impaired hearing.

Thomas said she also got a water test from the city of Newark in April, but the city said it had lost her results, according to emails shared with ABC News.

The city of Newark told ABC News that there are resources available to help children who have been affected by lead, but Thomas said those services were denied to her son.

“I took that as, ‘Yeah, [your child] has lead in his system, but he’s not poisoned enough for us to help.’ So that’s how I took it,” Thomas said.

According to a 2018 report by the National Institute of Health, low-income populations are disproportionately affected by lead exposure.

As of 2021, a little more than 27% of Newark’s population lives in poverty, which is more than double the national average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just a few weeks ago, 4-year-old Anailah tested positive for lead. Her mother, Crystal McMillian, said that she noticed her daughter was having trouble focusing.

“I received a phone call from the doctor’s office stating that my daughter had lead levels [that are] high,” McMillian said. “It’s hard for her at times to sit down. She acts out at times and it’s just her attention span.”

McMillian said she had an inspector come to her home to test paint, which is another potential source of lead, but she says no one has come to test the water.

“They didn’t even offer to test my water to see if the water is causing the issue … They’re not concerned if the lead is coming from the water or the paint or something else that’s causing this problem,” McMillian said. “I want to know what’s causing my baby to have and her levels to be really high.”

For now, McMillian said she goes to the Newark Water Coalition Distribution site twice a week and fills jugs of water so that she can have drinking water at her home.

The Newark Water Coalition told ABC News there has not been a drop in demand for people coming to get water, despite the city replacing nearly all lead service lines.

Kareem Adeem is the Director of the Newark Department of Water and Utilities. He said that he understands that trust doesn’t come easily, but residents need to work with the city.

“Yes, we’ll be able to get someone to our house to test the water. We’re testing thousands, thousands of water samples… and one may get lost or mixed up, but we’re here to help you,” Adeem told ABC News. “Don’t get frustrated. Work with us. We’ll get it done.”

Thomas said that she’s all but done working with the city after several unsuccessful attempts to have city officials test her water.

“I don’t think I can trust my elected officials because they’ve shown that they’re unreliable consistently,” Thomas said. “The only thing I can do is buy bottled water and bank on the fact that that’s safe, but I’d rather drink that than knowing I’m drinking lead.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A man convicted of killing three women and attempting to kill a fourth was sentenced Wednesday to 160 years in prison.

Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 25, will not be eligible for parole.

The Orange resident was convicted in December 2019 on three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of 20-year-old Sarah Butler, 19-year-old Robin West, and 33-year-old Joanne Brown. He was also found guilty of the kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder of Tiffany Taylor, as well as three counts of desecration of human remains and aggravated arson.

The murders and attempted murder occurred between August 2016 and November 2016, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The sentence today sends a clear and unequivocal message that each of these young women mattered,” said Acting County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens. “This defendant mistakenly believed that he could kill them and dump their bodies, and no one would care. He miscalculated.”

Butler, a Montclair resident who was attending Jersey City University, was murdered on Nov. 22, 2016, the prosecutor’s office said. Her body was found in Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange nine days later.

Brown, of Newark, was murdered on Oct. 22, 2016. Her body was found in a vacant home in Orange in December.

West, a native of Philadelphia who was living in Union Township, was murdered on Sept. 1, 2016 in Orange. Wheeler-Weaver set fire to her body and then torched the vacant home, the prosecutor’s office said.

Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.

An army veteran and his wife will return home after receiving new sentences for the second time since their 2015 conviction on multiple counts of child abuse.

Carolyn Jackson, 44, was given a sentence of time served and her husband, John Jackson, 46, who served as an Army major at the Picatinny Arsenal Installation in Wharton, was resentenced to home confinement for a year and a half, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which announced the new sentences on Wednesday.

The couple was arrested in 2013, after one of their biological children reported the parents’ ongoing abuse of multiple adopted children under their care, according to the Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors accused the couple of beating the children, fracturing multiple bones, depriving them of water while dehydrating them with salty foods, forcing them to drink hot sauce and starving them.

In one example, the Jacksons punished one of the foster children after catching the child sneaking food and drinking from the toilet, attorneys said. 

The child who reported the parents allegedly received 30 lashes with a belt as reprisal.

CRIME:NJ serial killer Khalil Wheeler-Weaver sentenced to 160 years in prison

LOCAL:Two more men say West Essex Middle School teacher sexually abused them

Authorities argued the couple did this in an attempt to “train” the adopted children, who were all under the age of four and developmentally delayed, how to behave.

In 2015, they were convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy, and John Jackson was discharged from the Army.

Carolyn Jackson was sentenced to two years in prison, while John was given probation and ordered to fulfill 400 hours of community service.

But two years later, an appellate court ruled errors had been made in their sentencing procedure, and ordered both to serve 3 years and 4 months in prison, with Carolyn receiving credit for time served.

Federal attorneys then appealed a second time, and once again, judges found multiple mistakes in the defendant’s sentencing, calling for new penalties.

Nicholas Katzban is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Email: katzban@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @nicholaskatzban 

TRENTON, NJ –Theresa Maughan, a high school social studies teacher at East Orange STEM Academy in East Orange, Essex County, has been named the 2021-22 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.

Maughan, who was born in Belize, Central America, emigrated with her family when she was in elementary school. Her social studies teacher’s efforts to save her family from deportation after their visa expired inspired Maughan to recognize the power educators have in their students’ lives and to pursue a career in education.

Maughan earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education from Rutgers University. She earned a master’s degree in administration and supervision of urban schools from New Jersey City University and is completing a second master’s degree in American history from Pace University.

An educator for nearly 40 years, Maughan credits her longevity in the profession to her lifelong commitment to professional development and to the camaraderie and collaboration embedded in her professional learning communities. She is passionate about learning and tells her students that she tries to learn something new every day.

Maughan is a curriculum writer and has developed and presented several interdisciplinary professional development workshops for her school district. She has served as a mentor for new teachers and students studying history. She has previously been named the Teacher of the Year at East Orange High School, East Orange Campus High School and East Orange STEM Academy. She is also the 2021 Essex County Teacher of the Year and the NJ History Day/National History Day Patricia Behring Senior Division Teacher of the Year. For more than a decade, Maughan has attended the summer workshops held by the New Jersey Amistad Commission, and she is proud to be serving as an Amistad Scholar.

Maughan lives in Randolph with her husband, Niall. They are the parents of two children. Bre is a social studies inclusion teacher in Livingston and Ryan is a recent graduate of The College of New Jersey now working in marketing and sales.

“Teaching has always been a noble profession and now more than ever, it is important we have people of strong character, steeped in the principals of truth and knowledge,” said NJEA President Sean M. Spiller. “It is fitting that in this moment, at this time, we have a history teacher as our NJ State Teacher of the Year. Theresa’s expertise and voice serves as a guiding path to show how educators teach critical thinking skills, how students learn to draw conclusions based on facts, and how important it is to share the stories of all people. Congratulations, Theresa. We are so proud of you.”

“Theresa Maughan represents the very essence of our profession,” said NJEA Vice President Steve Beatty. “She has an infectious passion for her curriculum that is matched only by her passion for her students. Leading with compassion and a palpable desire to see her students succeed, she will serve as a perfect representation of New Jersey’s teachers on the national stage. Congratulations, Theresa, we are humbled by your dedication to your craft.”

“When I think about what makes great teachers, I think about Theresa Maughan,” said NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson. “As a history teacher, she infuses the present into the past, and, in doing so, illuminates new worlds for her students. It is her thoughtful and honest approach to teaching events of the past that ensure every student feels seen and valued. Teachers like Theresa are building a brighter future for students and public schools. Congratulations, Theresa, your words and your works will continue to make a difference.”

While the global pandemic may alter or delay some of the perks of being the State Teacher of the Year, as the New Jersey Teacher of the Year, Maughan is entitled to an all-expense paid, six-month sabbatical from January through June 2022 to attend national and state conferences, to tour the state visiting classrooms and to work on various initiatives at the New Jersey Department of Education, courtesy of program sponsor ETS. ETS also provides $3,000 worth of technology equipment. NJEA will provide a rental car, equipped with EZ Pass, to help her travel to speaking engagements and meetings across the state. NJEA also will provide complimentary access to all major NJEA workshops and training opportunities, a $500 clothing allowance, media training and communications support, and funding for a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with the other state teachers of the year and the President of the United States.

NEWARK, N.J. — Five years after high levels of lead were detected in the water of 30 public schools in Newark, New Jersey, the city faces a new challenge of convincing residents affected by the crisis that the water is now safe to drink.

Newark resident Marcellis Counts said he grew up feeling neglected by the city and that’s caused public distrust to run deeply.

“The water is just a clear example of how things are able to be neglected,” Counts said. “Many people already knew that a lot of our water was bad anyway. So I always grew up not even drinking from water fountains when I went to school and stuff like that. So it was like that distrust.”

After major signs of contaminated water appeared in 2016, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection required Newark to monitor lead levels. The city reported lead levels above the federal action level, which they said were due to corrosion of old lead water pipes throughout the city, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Two years later, Newark reported one of the highest amounts of lead in any major U.S. city by 2018.

“We are now in panic mode in this city because the feds had to come in to tell us to stop drinking the water,” said Newark resident Donna Jackson in 2019.

Newark city leaders responded by providing water filters and water bottles to more than 40,000 households.

Shakima Thomas’ 7-year-old son, Bryce, tested positive for lead in 2018, even though she said the pipes in her home were made of copper.

“We haven’t got another test since that first test because it was such a traumatizing experience for him … So I have no idea what his level is at this point,” Thomas told ABC News.

In 2019, New Jersey officials announced a $120 million loan from the Essex County Improvement Agency, and a city ordinance, to expedite the city’s efforts to replace the lead pipes – at no cost to any resident.

Since then, Newark has replaced more than 22,000 lead service lines.

Yet, in March of 2021, Thomas paid a private lab to test the lead in her water. According to the results, the lead from her kitchen sink far exceeded what the Environmental Protection Agency says is an acceptable level.

“I felt bad, I felt terrible. I think any parent will feel that way. Here we’re supposed to protect our kids, and that’s the situation that was completely out of my control,” Thomas said.

The EPA also states there is no safe limit for lead in drinking water and that low levels of lead exposure in children have been linked to various conditions, including learning disabilities and impaired hearing.

Thomas said she also got a water test from the city of Newark in April, but the city said it had lost her results, according to emails shared with ABC News.

The city of Newark told ABC News that there are resources available to help children who have been affected by lead, but Thomas said those services were denied to her son.

“I took that as, ‘Yeah, [your child] has lead in his system, but he’s not poisoned enough for us to help.’ So that’s how I took it,” Thomas said.

According to a 2018 report by the National Institute of Health, low-income populations are disproportionately affected by lead exposure.

As of 2021, a little more than 27% of Newark’s population lives in poverty, which is more than double the national average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just a few weeks ago, 4-year-old Anailah tested positive for lead. Her mother, Crystal McMillian, said that she noticed her daughter was having trouble focusing.

“I received a phone call from the doctor’s office stating that my daughter had lead levels [that are] high,” McMillian said. “It’s hard for her at times to sit down. She acts out at times and it’s just her attention span.”

McMillian said she had an inspector come to her home to test paint, which is another potential source of lead, but she says no one has come to test the water.

“They didn’t even offer to test my water to see if the water is causing the issue … They’re not concerned if the lead is coming from the water or the paint or something else that’s causing this problem,” McMillian said. “I want to know what’s causing my baby to have and her levels to be really high.”

For now, McMillian said she goes to the Newark Water Coalition Distribution site twice a week and fills jugs of water so that she can have drinking water at her home.

The Newark Water Coalition told ABC News there has not been a drop in demand for people coming to get water, despite the city replacing nearly all lead service lines.

Kareem Adeem is the Director of the Newark Department of Water and Utilities. He said that he understands that trust doesn’t come easily, but residents need to work with the city.

“Yes, we’ll be able to get someone to our house to test the water. We’re testing thousands, thousands of water samples… and one may get lost or mixed up, but we’re here to help you,” Adeem told ABC News. “Don’t get frustrated. Work with us. We’ll get it done.”

Thomas said that she’s all but done working with the city after several unsuccessful attempts to have city officials test her water.

“I don’t think I can trust my elected officials because they’ve shown that they’re unreliable consistently,” Thomas said. “The only thing I can do is buy bottled water and bank on the fact that that’s safe, but I’d rather drink that than knowing I’m drinking lead.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ELIZABETH, NJ — On Sept. 29, a Union County grand jury returned a six-count indictment against a man charged with killing his former girlfriend and kidnapping their 2-year-old son, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel announced Sept. 30.

Tyler Rios, 27, of East Orange, is charged with one count each of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, desecrating human remains, endangering the welfare of a child, contempt by violating a domestic violence restraining order and theft in connection with the kidnapping of his son and murder of the child’s mother, 24-year-old Yasemin Uyar, of Rahway. The indictment alleges that on July 8, Rios kidnapped their child, Sebastian, and murdered Uyar.

The July incident that resulted in a widely broadcast Amber Alert launched a multistate investigation, which led to the recovery of the child and the discovery of Uyar’s body in Tennessee.

An investigation led by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office — and assisted by members of the FBI’s Newark Field Office and satellite offices, the New Jersey State Police, and the Rahway Police Department — led to Rios being identified as a suspect in the case after Sebastian did not show up for day care on July 9 and Uyar did not arrive for scheduled work shifts, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Grady, who is prosecuting the case. A welfare check was conducted on Uyar’s home by members of the Rahway Police Department, but no one was found inside, Grady said.

Shortly thereafter, the state police issued an Amber Alert that was sent to privately owned cell phones, broadcast on electronic billboards along highways in New Jersey and beyond, and widely shared via social media.

Through the efforts of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and the above-named agencies — as well as a result of assistance from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee — Sebastian was found unharmed in Monterey, Tenn., on July 10, when Rios was taken into custody without incident. Later in the day, investigators located Uyar’s body in a wooded area nearby, off I-40.

An autopsy performed on Uyar revealed that her death resulted from strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Rios was extradited back to New Jersey on July 16 and remains housed in the Essex County Correctional Facility pending an Oct. 12 post-indictment arraignment before Judge John M. Deitch of the Union County Superior Court.

“We are grateful for the collaboration with the many local and federal law enforcement agencies who assisted our office in not only apprehending Mr. Rios, but also in safely recovering Sebastian Rios, locating Ms. Uyar’s remains and bringing them both home to their family,” Daniel said. “And we hope that this can bring some small measure of comfort to all those grieving Yasemin.”

Convictions of crimes of this nature can be punishable by terms of up to life in state prison.

These criminal charges are mere accusations. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty in a court of law.

Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, a 25-year-old convicted serial killer, spoke for the first time Wednesday before a judge sentenced him to 160 years for murdering three women in 2016, desecrating their remains and brutally raping another victim who escaped.

“My heart goes out to the families…,” said Weaver as he stood in Superior Court of Essex County before a judge, at times his voice barely discernable. “However I was not the person who committed these crimes.”

“I was set up, I was lied on and framed by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.”

The sole surviving victim, Tiffany Taylor, begged to differ. She sat just feet away from him in the Newark courtroom on Wednesday and during her hours-long testimony during trial two years ago, when she described in harrowing details how he raped her and attempted to strangle her to death.

“As far him saying that he still didn’t do it, it makes me feel like he has no type of remorse about it at all,” said Taylor, who granted NJ Advance Media permission to identify her despite being a victim of sexual assault. “Like, he hasn’t even shed a tear about anything. So he’s not sorry at all about what he did. I’m over 100 percent sure it was him.”

Wheeler-Weaver, who was living in Orange at the time of the murders, intends to file an appeal of his conviction.

But on Wednesday, for the time being, there was no more debating his innocence. A jury in 2019 found him guilty on all 11 charges he went up against, including three counts of murder and desecration of human remains, attempted murder, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated arson and kidnapping.

His victims were all women, most of them marginalized by society.

They were Sarah Butler, 20, Robin West, 19, and Joanne Brown, 33. Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells previously said West, Brown and Taylor would do sex work for money in order to survive and were all homeless at one point.

The mother of West knew a different version of her daughter that may have not been emphasized during trial. She remembered her daughter dancing and singing in church before she started going down a different path as a teen.

“She will forever be and is my middle child,” said Anita Mason. “She loved music, loved to dance, loved to sing, loved her family, loved little children, loved elderly people, she loved dogs and all living in things. Early in life, she expressed the desire to join the air force because she loved planes – or to be a veterinarian because she loved dogs.”

West had to be identified by dental records after Wheeler-Weaver burned her body in an abandoned Orange home, prosecutors said during the trial.

“Robin Daphne Michele West did not — and I repeat — did not deserve to be strangled to death and set on fire to be left in a house, weighing over a little 60 pounds due to the destruction of that fire,” West’s mom continued. “Questions in my head: Was she alive? Did she fight? What were her last words?”

Prosecutors never said Butler, of Montclair, did sex work in the past, but that Wheeler-Weaver pressured her to do so after connecting with her on a social media app, Tagged. Her family spoke of the holidays they won’t be able to experience with Butler.

“I hope you find it in your heart that you can give him the longest maximum sentence,” said her dad, Victor Butler. “And I hope that he lives for a very long time and they make him suffer every night in there like he made our girl suffer.

He turned to Wheeler-Weaver and said, “I hope you suffer, boy, every night.”

Butler’s body was found in Eagle Rock Reservation, covered under some branches. Wheeler-Weaver was found to have strangled her using her sweatpants leg, the judge said Wednesday.

No one was present to speak on behalf of Brown, one of the oldest victims at the time of her death, who was was found dead in a vacant Orange home with tightly wrapped duct tape around her mouth and face. But the prosecutor, Wells, said was equally loved by her family and friends.

“She struggled throughout her life with homelessness, mental illness and poverty,” Wells said. “And nonetheless, and as I think we all see by observing this entire case…each life in this case mattered. Each of these victims mattered.”

Wheeler-Weaver’s mother, aunt and brother were present at the sentencing, but they declined to speak before the judge. The brother at one point shortly after the judge handed down the 160-year sentence tried to get up and leave but was instructed by a sheriff’s officer not to.

His public defender asked the judge for leniency based on his age and pointed out he had no prior convictions. Wheeler-Weaver won’t be eligible for parole until after 140 years.

Superior Court Judge Mark Ali said the purpose of the sentence was to ensure that Wheeler-Weaver “never walk among free society again.”

Assistant Prosecutor Mira Ohm, who also tried the case, said she couldn’t emphasize enough how much the surviving victim made a difference in the case. She also thanked those who knew Butler, who helped lure Wheeler-Weaver to police by setting up a fake social media account.

She said Wheeler-Weaver’s family offered support to the families of the victims during the trial.

“Their suffering is also respectful of the surviving family members,” she said during a press conference after the sentencing.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II noted that about 45% of the approximately 89,000 missing persons in the United States are people of color. This case stood out, he said, because it got the appropriate attention from his office, the media and community members stepped in to help.

Yet, there could possibly be more victims by the hands of Wheeler-Weaver, Stephens said. He did not give many details.

“There certainly could possibly be others,” Stephens said when asked about it. “In fact, there’s another case, at least one, that we’re looking at with a possible tie-in.”

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.

There were no heated attacks, no rowdy audience, and even some common ground.

In their only debate before the Nov. 2 election, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and her Republican challenger, Diane Allen, on Tuesday night offered viewers a vastly different experience from the one many may have seen during the first debate last week for the two candidates atop the tickets. That event included nonstop clashes between Gov. Phil Murphy and GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli.

Oliver and Allen’s hour-long debate, sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and held at Rider University, was more civil.

» READ MORE: Murphy, Ciattarelli clash in NJ gov race’s 1st debate

Both have more experience in government than their running mates: Oliver was a school board member and Essex County commissioner, then served in the state Assembly, where she was speaker. Allen, the longtime Philadelphia news anchor, represented South Jersey as a state senator for two decades.

Most of their discussion centered on policy issues, and the candidates even took the same view once or twice, such as during a discussion on improving the quality of school lunches.

Here are some notable topics they discussed:

Asked how she would define “white privilege,” Allen didn’t hesitate — a contrast to Ciattarelli’s response to a similar question from a caller during a radio appearance on WNYC last week. He declined to answer.

“I suppose white privilege is the fact that for many people who are white, we are able to accomplish things and do things thinking we’re doing it on our own, when in fact, perhaps we’re doing it because we’re being given a little leeway because of our color,” Allen said. “Most of us are probably not aware of that as it happens.” She added that kids should learn about slavery and the nation’s history, but that it should be done in a way that brings people together.

Oliver, who is Black and was born and raised in Newark, said white privilege was “historical in nature.”

“When New Jersey was founded and created, colonists were able to receive 140 acres of land if they were willing to settle in our colony,” she said. “That sets the tone for intergenerational wealth.”

Both touched on abortion, a topic that has been again elevated as a campaign issue, due to the controversial Texas law banning the procedure after about six weeks and Murphy’s advocacy of the Reproductive Freedom Act, a bill on hold in the legislature that would codify access to abortion in New Jersey.

Oliver said she believed that bill would become law, saying it had broad support.

“There is no turning back as it relates to Roe v. Wade,” she said.

Allen said that the Texas law is too restrictive but that the freedom act is too lenient. It’s a theme Ciattarelli has campaigned on as well, saying many Democrats don’t support late-term abortions.

“This law in New Jersey, were it to pass, would mean that you not only could have abortions during the first six months, but you could have an abortion in the seventh, the eighth, or the ninth month, right up until the day a child is born,” Allen said.

Such abortions are rare. Nationally, abortions performed after 21 weeks made up about 1% of procedures performed in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The governor’s record on women has for months been targeted by Allen and Ciattarelli, who cite the scandals over alleged behavior by male staffers that emerged from his 2017 campaign, and pervasive abuse at the soon-to-be-closed Edna Mahan women’s prison in Hunterdon County.

Oliver said that she had known several governors but that Murphy is the only one who has brought women to the table on a regular basis for major decisions.

“Half of our cabinet is comprised of women. Women holding very important and prestigious positions. Women who are able to take their departments in a number of different directions,” she said. “That didn’t exist in other gubernatorial administrations. You had to, like, call daddy to ask. That doesn’t happen in a Murphy administration.”

Allen retorted: “But if there’s an issue, and the woman has a problem, he’s nowhere to be found.”

A note to those that drive dump trucks: always make sure the back of your truck is fully lowered before driving.

For one Jersey truck driver, he learned that lesson the hard way after cops in Ocean County say he brought down a utility pole early Tuesday morning because the bed of his truck wasn’t down.

Cops in Manchester Township were called out to County Road 547 near Ridge Ave. just before 7:00 Tuesday morning for the report of a crash. There, cops found a Kenworth dump truck with a severed utility pole on top of it.

They say,

The investigation revealed that the dump truck pulled onto County Road 547 southbound from the property of 3858 County Road 547. When the dump truck entered the roadway, the rear open-box bed was partially raised. At that point, the elevated rear open-box struck the power lines that crossed the roadway. The crash caused tension in the power lines subsequently breaking the utility pole.

The driver, 33-year-old Jason Veloso of Rahway, was not injured.

Police say their investigation is still ongoing, but at this point, driver error appears to be the primary contributing factor.

The 25 Most Dangerous Roads in New Jersey

There are continuing signs the latest COVID-19 outbreak being fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant is waning.

New Jersey’s Rate of Transmission (r/t) has fallen to .88, continuing a week-long trend. For weeks, the r/t had been above one, signaling a expansion of the outbreak.

Now, the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker map shows three New Jersey counties have dropped out of the “High” risk of transmission tier.

The CDC map includes four risk levels: low, moderate, substantial and high.

Essex, Mercer and Union Counties are now listed as having a “Substantial” risk of community transmission, which is an improvement.

The level is determined by the number of cases per 100,000 and the positivity rate over the past 7 days. New Jersey’s overall spot positivity rate is 4.01%.

Mercer County is now listed as having a spot positivity rate of 2.44%, Essex County at 2.45% and Union County at 2.87%. Only 125 counties out of more than 3,200 nationwide have a community transmission rate listed as “substantial.”

The CDC recommends wearing a mask in all indoor locations, regardless of vaccination status in counties where the transmission risk is deemed moderate or higher. Across the entire U.S., fewer than 20 counties are reporting a transmission rate of “low.” None of them are in New Jersey. Nearly 3,000 counties, the vast majority of the United States, has a transmission rate of “high.”