Category Archives: News you should know

Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck and Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson today announced the arrest of a correctional police officer on charges that he sexually assaulted an inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. Senior Correctional Police Officer Tyrell Harris-McLaughlin, 28, of Jersey City, N.J., was arrested today on second degree chargesContinue reading “Corrections officer accused of sexually assaulting inmate at women’s prison”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un blamed the US for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and he accused South Korea of hypocrisy, as he opened an exhibition showcasing his nuclear-armed nation’s weapons that has analysts and experts concerned. The “wrong judgement and acts” of the US meant instability could not be resolved, he said in anContinue reading “North Korean leader Kim Jong-un blames US for tensions in Asia”

The New Jersey Transit board of directors has awarded a $1.56 billion contract to Skanska/Traylor Bros. Joint Venture to build a new Portal North Bridge to replace a century-old rail bridge that has been the source of regular delays for years. The project, a vital component of the Gateway Program, will eliminate the critical issuesContinue reading “Contract awarded to replace Portal North Bridge, a rail line bottleneck”

William Shatner, the 90-year-old actor, best known to the world for his portrayal as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, has become the oldest person to fly to space following Blue Origin’s NS-18 launch on Wednesday of the New Shepard, a suborbital space vehicle developed by Blue Origin. Shatner said space was “unlike anythingContinue reading “90-year-old actor is the oldest person to fly to space”

As William Shatner prepares to be beamed up Wednesday for his first real-life spaceflight, and to become at 90 the oldest person ever to enter the final frontier, he’s bringing out the awe in the small handful of people around a rural Texas spaceport. Shatner and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission &Continue reading “Shatner boldly goes into space at 90”

New Jersey’s two leading gubernatorial candidates talked about various issues like taxes, school funding and COVID-19 before a raucous crowd on Tuesday night in the rival candidates’ second and final debate. The crowd repeatedly erupted into disturbingly harsh and noisey mob, which sometimes drowned out the candidates with boos, catcalls and screamed epithets. But JackContinue reading “Murphy & Ciattarelli have final debate in front of loud, chaotoic crowd”

The Biden administration Tuesday ordered a halt to large-scale immigration arrests at job sites, and said it is planning a new enforcement strategy to more effectively target employers who pay substandard wages and engage in exploitative labor practices. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs andContinue reading “Biden halts ICE raids at worksites”

The FBI raided the home of the vice president of the Proud Boys’ Philadelphia chapter late last week, seizing his computer, phone and other electronics to gather information on the attempted coup d’état at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Aaron Wolkind, 37, woke up around 4 a.m. Friday to find more than a dozenContinue reading “FBI raided the Delaware home of a Philadelphia terrorist group leader”

By Kithmy Wickramasinghe Several Rutgers students have formed a startup called Ararat Robotics with the aim of making it possible for humans to one day live in space from water that exists in craters on the moon.  Georgiy Aleksanyan, a School of Engineering junior as well as founder and CEO of Ararat Robotics, said theContinue reading “Rutgers students aim for human expansion beyond Earth”

Geological surveys have shown than the Moon contains three crucial resources: water, helium-3, and rare earth metals, and the prospect of mining on the Earth’s satellite may give rise to a new industry. Evidence that the Moon may be rich in metals such as iron and titanium was discovered using data from the US NationalContinue reading “Moon mining might muster metals”

A new University of Toronto study has discovered the oldest known cavities ever found in a mammal, the likely result of a diet that included eating fruit. The cavities were discovered in fossils of Microsyops latidens, a pointy-snouted animal no bigger than a racoon that was part of a group of mammals known as stem primates. ItContinue reading “55-million-year-old fossils suggests mammal had a sweet tooth for fruit”

By Wade Rathke It may be high-low bargaining, but at least progressives played their hands powerfully in order to get to try to get to the maximum number on Biden’s so-called social services infrastructure bill, retailed at $3.5 trillion.  Pramila Jayapal, Democratic Congresswoman from Seattle, and head of the 100-member Progressive Caucus in the HouseContinue reading “Progressives made a power play”

A health care provider specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility will pay $495,000 and implement new data security measures to settle legal claims following a data breach that compromised the personal information of 14,663 patients, including 11,071 New Jersey residents. The settlement resolves the state’s investigation into Diamond Institute for Infertility and Menopause,Continue reading “Fertility clinic to pay $495,000 to settle data breach investigation”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) target: to enable community solar systems to power the equivalent of five million households by 2025 and create $1 billion in energy bill savings. Reaching these milestones will help achieve the Biden-Harris administration’s goals of achieving 100% clean electricity by 2035 andContinue reading “Biden administration to up solar power for five million households by 2025”

A peer-reviewed Environmental Working Group study shows how water quality data, community water system maps and demographic data such as race and ethnicity can help identify where cumulative cancer risks from polluted tap water plague communities already threatened by other environmental injustices. The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, bolsters EWG’s August request that that the Environmental ProtectionContinue reading “Polluted tap water often plagues minority communities in America”

Prosecutors in Ocean County say Sherry Lee Heffernan will be extradited from Pennsylvania to face two counts each of murder and weapons charges but she says she’s being framed in the slaying of  her 87-year-old father and his girlfriend at his New Jersey Shore home. Heffernan, 55, was arrested Oct. 4 in Landenberg, Pennsylvania afterContinue reading “Daughter says she’s being framed for the murder of her father, his girlfriend”

A Pennsylvania man was arrested last week for crimes related to the attempted coup d’état at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of certifying the electoral votes in the presidential election. Michael James Dickinson, 30, of Philadelphia, is charged with federalContinue reading “Philadelphia terrorist charged in coup”

A U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged for trying to sell secret information about nuclear submarines to an undercover FBI agent who posed as an operative for a foreign country. The Justice Department said on Sunday that Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, both of Annapolis, Maryland, were arrested by the FBI andContinue reading “Navy engineer & wife tried to sell America’s nuclear submarine secrets”

Amid debate about the influence of changes in the Arctic on extreme weather, a new study reports that rapid warming in the Arctic is a likely driver of recent extreme winter weather in the United States. The results are published in the journal Science. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded findings establish a link between climate change and a phenomenon called theContinue reading “Rapid Arctic warming drives extreme winter weather events in the US”

With the faith and credit of the United States of America hanging in the balance and a catastrophic global recession like if the federal government defaults on paying its bills, GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell says Republicans will not support raising debt limit because he wants to make Democrats look bad. The day after theContinue reading “McConnell says Republicans won’t pay America’s bills, in hope of political gain”