The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is issuing a public safety campaign this week focused on the hazards of lithium-ion batteries, warning residents that failure to handle powered devices properly can lead to sudden fires and drastically reduce escape times during a home emergency. The initiative coincides with Fire Prevention Week, observed nationally from Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. Authorities emphasized that while lithium-ion batteries power a vast array of everyday technology — from smartphones and laptops to e-bikes and power tools — they can quickly become unstable if punctured, swollen, improperly charged or exposed to extreme heat.

The National Troopers Coalition, a powerful national police labor bloc frequently criticized by civil rights advocates for opposing law enforcement oversight and systemic reform, announced a slate of congressional endorsements in New Jersey on Tuesday, including all three incumbent Republicans. The National Troopers Coalition (NTC) has not included any Black women in its recently announced 2026 congressional endorsements, but it is supporting all three of New Jersey’s GOP congressmen: Reps.

Although he missed more than 140 roll calls in Congress while hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. voted four times for a proposed federal moratorium on state and local regulation of artificial intelligence that could have prevented New Jersey from enforcing new protections intended to keep the cost of powering massive data centers from being passed along to residential customers.

Russia’s mounting losses in Ukraine and the United States’ prolonged confrontation with Iran are exposing a common weakness in wars launched by vastly stronger powers: The ability to destroy does not guarantee the ability to compel surrender. In Ukraine, Russian forces are suffering heavy casualties while Ukrainian troops reclaim territory in a strategically important eastern sector. In the Middle East, seven months of American military pressure have failed to resolve a confrontation that continues to disrupt energy supplies and erode public support at home.

Six teenagers were injured, one critically, when an SUV left the roadway and struck them on a sidewalk Tuesday afternoon, Lindenwold police said. The victims range in age from 14 to 16. One teenager was trapped beneath the SUV and rescued before being flown to a hospital in critical condition, police said. The other five were taken by ambulance to area hospitals with injuries police described as not major.

By James J. Devine Nearly a decade after a Stockton University watchdog report warned that New Jersey's tax expenditure reporting was a fiscal black hole, a new NJTODAY.NEWS analysis finds the state is still handing out billions in tax breaks while keeping the public in the dark about who benefits and whether the giveaways work. The original brief, published in January 2017 by the…

Hunterdon County leaders offered sharply divergent views Friday on the 7th Congressional District race, with local Republicans defending U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. as an independent-minded liberal after Democrats supporting moderate challenger Rebecca Bennett described him as a rubber-stamp vote for the Trump administration. Republicans pointed to a Heritage Action scorecard showing Kean with a 46% session score and a 52% lifetime score, arguing that it demonstrates weak alignment with conservative policy positions rather than lockstep loyalty.

The president’s war, inflation & political weakness are becoming a serious liability for Republicans President Donald Trump’s deteriorating approval ratings and voter anger over rising prices and the war with Iran are creating increasingly difficult terrain for Republican congressional candidates, prompting GOP groups to retreat from one major Senate battleground as Democrats expand their offensive into Republican-held districts. The clearest evidence emerged in North Carolina, where a dam browe when the Senate Leadership Fund, a major Republican super PAC, announced it is pausing television advertising intended to help Trump-endorsed Republican Michael Whatley defeat former Democratic Gov.

By James J Devine In 2020, a monstrous crime shook New Jersey. A gunman, seeking to assassinate U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, killed her 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl and grievously wounded her husband. The response—Daniel’s Law—was born of grief and a genuine desire to prevent such horror from recurring. But grief is a poor legislator and we know where good intentions lead us.

A major new study from Brown University reveals that roughly 44% of U.S. pre-K-12 schools are located within one mile of a known environmental hazard site, including Superfund sites, brownfields, and Toxics Release Inventory facilities. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that approximately 8% of schools (nearly 10,000 schools enrolling 3.36 million students) sit within a quarter-mile of these hazards.

Six people were wounded in shootings in Trenton and Sicklerville over the weekend, while authorities investigated the deaths of three people found with apparent gunshot wounds inside a Montgomery Township home Friday. The latest shooting occurred Sunday night at a Wawa on the 400 block of Sicklerville Road in the Sicklerville section of Winslow Township. Officers responded around 9 p.m. to a report of a gunshot victim, police said.

United Airlines is the largest carrier at Newark Liberty International Airport, handling approximately 68% of all passenger traffic, but most of those civilian flyers have no idea that military equipment is being transported to Israel on those same planes. Although military shipments were paused for about six months due to President Donald Trump's unprovoked and illegal war against Iran, United Airlines has resumed shipping military cargo to Israel aboard civilian passenger flights, according to records reviewed by The Intercept, following a six-month suspension during the joint US-Israeli assault on the Islamic Republic.

by Dana DiFilippo, New Jersey Monitor State, county, and municipal officials got more than $60 million in national opioid settlement funds over the past year that was meant to be spent to repair harms caused by the deadly overdose crisis. Instead, it funded concerts, inflatable bounce houses, DJs, dirt bike demonstrations, police canines, ice cream, movie nights, bicycles and gym gear for cops, graduation parties, college-prep programs, vehicle wraps, attorney fees, pet sitting, fishing, summer camps, meals, and more, according to spending…

A federal judge on Thursday declared a 30-year-old law criminalizing noncitizen voting unconstitutional and dismissed a case against a Jamaican woman accused of illegally casting a ballot in the 2020 presidential election. U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz ruled that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority when it enacted the federal prohibition on noncitizen voting in 1996, concluding that the Constitution leaves the power to establish voter qualifications to the states.

The ‘Press 3’ option returned Tuesday following sustained pressure from lawmakers and advocates Specialized crisis services for LGBTQ+ youth on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline were restored Tuesday, ending a 14-month gap that began when the Trump administration abruptly shut down the program in July 2025. The “Press 3” option, which connects LGBTQ+ young people with counselors trained to address their specific mental health needs, resumed after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and advocacy groups pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to deploy $33.1 million in congressionally appropriated funding.

"When New Jersey announced in July that a voter registration snafu had allowed fewer than 400 noncitizens to vote since 2023, the response from Republicans — and much of the political press — was apoplectic," said Jim Saksa, who wrote about the discarded ballots for Democracy Docket. More than 360,000 mail ballots cast in the 2024 federal election were rejected for technical, non-material reasons, according to federal data reviewed by Saksa for Democracy Docket — a figure that dwarfs the number of fraudulent votes that have prompted congressional investigations and calls for sweeping new voting restrictions.

Two years after The New York Times reported that multibillion-dollar corporations were gobbling up primary care practices, the pace of consolidation has only accelerated. New research reveals that health insurers now control a rapidly growing share of the Medicare primary care market, even as the shortage of primary care doctors—who practice in one of medicine’s lowest-paid, least glamorous fields—continues to worsen.

Workers at the Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery in Linden have voted to authorize a strike as contract negotiations approach a Thursday deadline, adding a labor dispute to longstanding questions about the refinery’s environmental and economic impact on the city. Members of Teamsters Local 877 voted 92 percent in favor of authorizing a strike, with about two-thirds of the membership participating, according to Teamsters Local 877 President Jeff Sanford.

There is an unusually simple way for mem bers of Congress to tell voters where they stand on abortion: Put their names on legislation. That opportunity has been sitting in plain sight in the House. Rep. Christopher Smith, the New Jersey Republican dinosaur whose opposition to abortion has been a defining feature of his congressional career, introduced H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025.

Mahmoud Khalil launched his memoir, "No Land to Stand On," before a packed crowd at Book Culture near Columbia University on Monday night, in what human rights lawyer Steven Donziger described as "a major literary and political triumph." Donziger, who won a $9 billion verdict against Chevron as a human rights lawyer, interviewed Khalil at the event and offered a blunt assessment of what the book documents.

Former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell is challenging the state investigation that led to his resignation last week, arguing that investigators reached false conclusions and never gave him a meaningful opportunity to respond to the allegations against him. Caldwell, 66, resigned Sept. 25, one day after Gov. Rebecca 'Mikie' Sherrill issued a demand for him to step down following the release of a 61-page report by former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher S.

Workers who live in states with anti-union laws – the so-called “right-to-work” states – earn almost severn percent less than those who live in states favorable to collective bargaining, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows. That translates to about $4,000 a year less for those living in states that have adopted misleadingly named right-to-work laws – which are all about…

Days after he made a false promise to payoff voters with $5,000 in taxpayer money, the Republican tyrant’s threatening to audit citizens who don't send cash donations to his campaign apparatus. A fundraising email sent in President Donald Trump's name is pressuring supporters to "pledge" to vote for Republican candidates in the midterm elections, warning that their files have been "flagged" and that the matter could "escalate."

The White House has spent more than $1.7 million in taxpayer money on a series of television ads prominently featuring President Donald Trump, drawing sharp criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike who allege the spots amount to political propaganda ahead of the November midterm elections. The White House defends them as patriotic public service announcements. The ads, which carry the disclaimer “Paid for by the U.S.

Projections released in April by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) predicted that military escalation in the Middle East would put tens of millions of people at risk of falling into poverty across 162 countries, Nine months into the conflict that President Donald Trump launched without authorization or provocation, the UNDP's early projections for the war's global fallout have proven too optimistic, according to a review of agency data, international reports and economic indicators.

The Trump administration's attempt to cover up an Iranian cruise missile strike failed this week when the Pentagon quietly added eight Marines injured in the Sept. 14 attack to its casualty database, nearly two weeks after the vessel they were operating on was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. Most congressional Republicans have voted at least seven times against resolutions that would end the unprovoked and unauthorized war, so the fumbled cover-up adds to the embarrassment associated with the incompetent prosecution of violence and its domestic consequences, such as rising gasoline prices.

A line of cowardice on immigration runs straight from Bill Clinton in 1996 to Donald Trump in 2026. By James J. Devine Thirty years after President Bill Clinton signed a sweeping immigration crackdown, the machinery created with overwhelming bipartisan support has become the legal foundation for President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign — while a bipartisan attempt to overhaul the system in 2013 remains a stark reminder of a path Congress abandoned.

The nation’s largest small-business advocacy organization endorsed three Republican members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation for reelection Tuesday, putting a spotlight on a sharp divide over wages, worker protections and the role of government in addressing the cost-of-living pressures facing New Jersey families. The National Federation of Independent Business endorsed Reps. Jeff Van Drew of the 2nd Congressional District, Chris Smith of the 4th and Tom Kean Jr.

U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia is inviting residents of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District to an in-person town hall Wednesday evening in Chatham Borough, where she plans to discuss the economy, immigration, artificial intelligence, voting rights and her work in Congress. The community town hall is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30. Attendance is free, but advance registration is required, and the exact location in Chatham Borough will be provided to people who RSVP.

Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit private equity firms, insurance companies and other for-profit corporations from owning or controlling medical practices, an effort aimed at curbing the growing influence of corporate investors over physicians and patient care. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined Reps. Val Hoyle of Oregon, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia in introducing the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act.

The nor'easter that battered the Jersey Shore this weekend carved away beaches and dunes in what Atlantic City Beach Patrol officials are calling the worst erosion since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. A half-mile stretch north of Steel Pier took the hardest hit, with the storm cutting into dunes, exposing previously buried structures and leaving steep drop-offs along the shoreline. Deputy Chief Dave Russo, a longtime member of the Beach Patrol, gave the storm a nickname.

A fourth-generation South Jersey family farm ordered to pay more than $550,000 after a federal labor investigation will take its constitutional challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court this fall in a case that could determine how far federal agencies may go in imposing monetary penalties through their own administrative courts. The us Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Nov. 10 in…

Democratic congressional nominee Rebecca Bennett dominated the only face-to-face debate of the race Sunday night, leaving Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. scrambling to defend his record on health care, the economy and the war with Iran in a performance that political observers described as a rout. The debate, sponsored by Rider University and a political gossip blogger, may be the sole direct encounter between the candidates before the November midterm elections in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, a swing seat that has flipped party control in each of the past two midterms.

A slow-moving nor'easter battered the Jersey Shore on Sunday, driving seawater into coastal streets and forcing local fishing fleets to remain docked as warnings stretched along the Atlantic seaboard. The storm, crawling northward along the coast, combined high tides with sustained onshore winds to push water into low-lying areas from Cape May through Monmouth County. Emergency officials reported flooded roadways in several shore communities, with the highest impacts occurring during the morning high tide cycle.

An 18-year-old Hightstown man has been arrested and charged in connection with two assaults on women in the borough, including the alleged sexual assault of a 34-year-old woman earlier this month, authorities said Thursday. Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta D. Marbrey and Hightstown Police Chief Frank Gendron said an investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and the Hightstown Police Department resulted in the arrest of Christian Arevalo.

New Jersey's 7th Congressional District gets what may be its only look at the two major-party candidates Sunday night, when Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic challenger Rebecca Bennett meet for a Rider University-sponsored debate — but NJTODAY has uncovered a 674-page Democratic research report painting Kean as an out-of-touch multimillionaire career politician who has voted against working-class interests and staked out extreme conservative positions on social issues.

President Donald Trump, a coward and a liar who got out of Vietnam with five draft deferments—including a bogus bone-spurs claim—keeps posting artificial intelligence-generated pictures of himself as a Medal of Honor-winning four-star general — and angry veterans are calling on Congress to do something about it. Veterans and other critics are calling Trump a fraud over the AI-generated images that depict the draft-dodging commander-in-chief as a decorated four-star general — a portrayal they say amounts to stolen valor.

Rosie O’Donnell is returning to Broadway, if only briefly. O’Donnell will join the Tony-nominated revival of “The Rocky Horror Show” as the Narrator for a two-week engagement from Oct. 6 through Oct. 18 at Studio 54, producers announced Tuesday. She steps in while current Narrator Rachel Dratch takes a short leave from the production. Dratch returns on Oct. 20. The casting marks O’Donnell’s first return to Broadway in more than two decades, excluding a 2014 appearance at the Tony Awards.

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, joined Sherrill in calling for Caldwell to step down after the investigative report was released. Neither senator had publicly demanded his resignation before investigators issued their findings. Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco, who had called for Caldwell's resignation while the investigation was still underway, said after the report was released that its findings confirmed the seriousness of the allegations…

Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigned Friday, a day after Gov. Mikie Sherrill called on him to step down following an independent investigation that substantiated sexual harassment and repeated violations of state ethics policies. Caldwell, 66, submitted his resignation Friday afternoon, Sherrill announced at a news conference. The Democratic governor had given Caldwell until Friday to resign after releasing the findings of the investigation Thursday.

Nearly 30% of New Jersey schools sit within a mile of a known brownfield site. The children inside have no way to know what’s in the soil. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 44% of pre-K-12 schools across the United States are located within one mile ofContinue reading “New Jersey schools sit on or near toxic hazards. What can you do about it?”

Gov. Mikie Sherrill called on Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to resign Tuesday after an independent investigation substantiated allegations of sexual harassment and found he repeatedly violated state policy, giving him until Wednesday to step down. The investigation, initiated by the state's Chief Ethics Officer and conducted by a former state attorney general, found Caldwell engaged in "serious, repeated violations of state policy" and failed to uphold the responsibilities of his office, according to a statement released by the governor's office.

Utah's Republican United States Senator, John Curtis, called on the Judiciary Committee leadership to investigate the business dealings of presidential family members, urging the panel to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to testify about whether they used their proximity to power for private gain. In a three-page letter sent Monday to Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Curtis said the inquiry is necessary to restore public trust in government and to ensure that congressional oversight does not begin and end with a change in party control of the White House.

While much of the nation's attention is on the court order restoring White House access to top media outlets, an Iowa state judge on Wednesday dismissed President Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit against veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register newspaper. The decision handed down by Judge Scott J. Beattie is the latest in a string of setbacks in multiple groundless legal actions brought by Trump and his allies claiming “fake news” in a pursuit of Selzer.

A federal lawsuit targeting a New Jersey school district’s student privacy policy could have serious consequences for vulnerable young people, mental health experts and LGBTQ+ research organizations warn, as the case intensifies a national debate over parental rights, student safety and gender identity in schools. Moms for Liberty, represented by the conservative legal organization Thomas More Society, filed suit Aug. 24 against the School District of the Chathams, challenging Policy 5145.7, which allows school staff to respect a transgender student’s chosen name and pronouns without automatically notifying the student’s parents.

by Benedict Vigers Americans’ perceptions of government corruption in the U.S. are at their highest level in 20 years, with 89% of U.S. adults saying it is widespread. That figure is up 10 percentage points from last year and well above readings in the 72% to 79% range between 2010 and 2025. Democrats’ perceptions of government corruption have risen the most sharply since 2024 compared with other party groups.

An independent committee of human rights lawyers and scholars says the $667 million verdict against Greenpeace was the product of a fundamentally unfair trial, citing judicial bias, a tainted jury and a “wildly exorbitant” damages award unsupported by evidence. A 40-page report released by the Independent Trial Monitoring Committee concluded that Energy Transfer’s lawsuit violated Greenpeace’s rights to a fair trial, equality before the law, free expression, association and assembly—and infringed on the sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

An analysis of state incident data from the Gun Violence Archive reveals a widening gap between the toll of mass shootings in New Jersey and the number of suspects brought to justice, with 19 people killed and 112 wounded in 27 such events since November 2022, while only 10 total suspects have been arrested. In 22 of the 27 shootings, authorities made no arrests at all, according to the data.

A poll conducted by Republican pollsters shows incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is planning to make false accusations against his Democratic opponent, Rebecca Bennett, according to a survey released Tuesday. The poll, which was commissioned by the Kean campaign or one of several allied dark money PACs, tested a series of negative statements about Bennett,Continue reading

President Donald Trump's joint fundraising committee sent an email this week promising recipients "high-priority, need-to-know information that is not readily available for everyday Americans." It told readers to sit down before reading, to make sure they were alone, and to ensure that "NO Leftists" could see over their shoulder. The email's claim of "information that is not readily available for everyday Americans" is false.