Blinken names ex-NSC official to be new State Dept spokesman
April 11, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday chose an ex-National Security Council communications official to be the next spokesman for the State Department.
In a statement, Blinken announced that Matthew Miller will assume the role as the daily face of American foreign policy from the State Department podium at the end of April.
$300M NJ statehouse renovation wraps up as governor moves in
March 22, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's statehouse building, part of which dates to the 1700s and was called a fire trap, is once again open after a renovation spanning almost six years and nearly $300 million in taxpayer money.
Videos show tense standoff before fatal NJ police shooting
March 17, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A five-hour-long standoff between police in Paterson, New Jersey, and a well-known anti-violence worker in the city — that ended with officers fatally shooting him in his brother's apartment — began with sobbing pleas from the man’s mother to end the ordeal.
States shield addresses of judges, workers after threats
March 14, 2023 GMTJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Following threats and attacks on public officials, state lawmakers across the U.S. have stepped up efforts to shield personal information from being publicly disclosed about judges, police, elected officeholders and various public employees.
Man killed, officer wounded in struggle after chase in NJ
March 12, 2023 GMTDEPTFORD, N.J. (AP) — A police officer was wounded and a man was killed during a struggle in New Jersey last week, authorities said.
A Deptford Township officer tried to stop a pedestrian shortly after 12:30 p.m.
SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: Justice Jackson gets hometown honor
March 7, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The naming of a Miami-area street for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson brings to four the number of sitting Supreme Court justices similarly honored and makes possible a high court-focused road trip between Florida and New York.
Whale safety research planned near East Coast wind farms
March 2, 2023 GMTSEASIDE PARK, N.J. (AP) — As dead whales continue to wash ashore on the U.S. East Coast — and particularly the Jersey Shore — officials and academics are planning a wide array of monitoring and research aimed at preventing or minimizing harm to whales and other marine life during construction and operation of offshore wind farms.
States move to crack down on nurses with bogus diplomas
March 1, 2023 GMTALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Medical licensing officials in multiple states are scrambling to stop nurses with fraudulent academic credentials from caring for patients, after three Florida schools were accused of selling thousands of bogus diplomas.
Supreme Court seems to favor Jersey in dispute with New York
March 1, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed ready Wednesday to allow New Jersey to withdraw from a commission the state created decades ago with New York to combat the mob's influence at their joint port.
Murphy unveils $53.1B budget, renewing property tax rebates
March 1, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday unveiled a $53.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2024, about 5% more than the spending plan he signed for the current year, proposing more school aid, a renewed property tax rebate program and billions more for public pensions, transportation and other projects.
Some Democratic-led states seek to bolster voter protections
February 25, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers in several Democratic-controlled states are advocating sweeping voter protections this year, reacting to what they view as a broad undermining of voting rights by the Supreme Court and Republican-led states as well as a failed effort in Congress to bolster access to the polls.
Hit man in political murder-for-hire sentenced to 20 years
February 23, 2023 GMTNEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The man who admitted to helping carry out a murder-for-hire plot engineered by a former New Jersey political consultant was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
Bomani Africa appeared in federal district court for sentencing in the 2014 death of Michael Galdieri, the son of a former state senator, after pleading guilty just over a year ago.
NJ uses new law to bypass local OK for offshore wind project
February 18, 2023 GMTOCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey utility regulators used a controversial law Friday enabling them to bypass local authorities and grant approvals needed for an offshore wind project to proceed.
The state Board of Public Utilities granted Orsted, the Danish wind energy developer, approvals toward several easements and permits that authorities in Cape May County had refused to grant the company.
Figure in NJ murder mystery sentenced for Conn. robberies
February 16, 2023 GMTNEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Right before he was sentenced to a decade in prison for a pair of Connecticut bank robberies, Bomani Africa told a judge Thursday that, at age 62, he's too old and ill to keep living a life of violence.
NJ groups fight power plants, wait for environmental law
February 15, 2023 GMTNEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Residents of largely minority areas in New Jersey are fighting three proposed gas-fired power plants as they wait for the state's environmental justice law — signed with great fanfare nearly three years ago — to take full effect.
Workers get support for Atlantic City casino smoking ban
February 13, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City casino dealers pushing for a smoking ban received support from several state lawmakers Monday at a long-awaited hearing on a bill that would end smoking inside the nine casinos.
Freedom-versus-common-good debate roils New Jersey forests
February 9, 2023 GMTSHAMONG, N.J. (AP) — Sprawling across 1.1 million acres of pine trees, sandy soil, remote wetlands and home to rare plants and animals, the New Jersey Pinelands is the personification of the free-as-a-bird Great Outdoors.
NJ charges Paterson officer who shot, wounded fleeing person
February 6, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's top law enforcement official brought criminal charges Monday against a police officer he said shot a fleeing person in the back, wounding him severely.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the state filed charges of second-degree aggravated assault and official misconduct against Paterson Police Officer Jerry Moravek.
NJ governor rebuffs Republican critique over being ‘woke’
January 10, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Inviting a national political spotlight, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday took implicit aim at GOP rivals who criticize blue states for being “woke" while also calling for responsible government and bipartisanship in his annual state of the state address.
NJ governor bars TikTok, other platforms from state devices
January 9, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that his administration is barring certain “high risk” social media platforms like TikTok on state devices.
The decision applies to state agencies under the executive branch and comes as a third of U.S.
New Jersey sets aside $15M for abortion provider upgrades
January 4, 2023 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey will award $15 million in zero-interest loans and grants to health care facilities that provide abortion services for facility improvements and increased security, Democratic Gov.
Chief justice: Judges’ safety ‘essential’ to court system
December 31, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — With security threats to Supreme Court justices still fresh memories, Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday praised programs that protect judges, saying that “we must support judges by ensuring their safety.”
Atlantic City betting it can put COVID behind it in 2023
December 30, 2022 GMTATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — How well Atlantic City's nine casinos do in clawing their way back to where they were when the COVID pandemic hit nearly three years ago will go a long way toward determining what kind of year 2023 will be for the New Jersey resort town.
Divided appeals court rejects 4 insider trading convictions
December 27, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — A divided appeals court on Tuesday rejected the insider trading convictions of four men, including an ex-government employee turned consultant, prompting a sharp dissent from a judge who says the ruling may prompt insiders to sell confidential government information to the highest bidders.