Free Republic

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- For the second year in a row, this destitute city has been named the nation's most dangerous, according to a company's annual ranking based on crime statistics. Last year, the distinction seemed to hurt city boosters' feelings more than it harmed revitalization efforts. This time, city leaders are offended by the ranking, calling it unfair. "We're doing so many nice things now. It's unfortunate that somebody always wants to bad-mouth Camden," Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said. The city took the top spot last year from Detroit, which remained No. 2 in the most dangerous city rankings, to...

PHILADELPHIA - A former Philadelphia-area priest accused of abusing more than a dozen girls and taking an 11-year-old he had raped for an abortion performed a baptism this summer weeks after he was defrocked. Nicholas V. Cudemo performed the baptism at Christ the King Church in Haddonfield, N.J., on July 10, Camden diocese officials confirmed. A recent Philadelphia grand jury report found that Cudemo had sexual relationships with girls from Catholic schools where he taught from the 1960s to the 1980s, molesting one girl in the confessional and invoking God to seduce the youngsters. The report focused on abusive priests...

BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The fast combat support ship USS Camden (AOE 2) was decommissioned Sept. 29 at Pier Delta at Naval Base Kitsap, ending 38 years of naval service. More than 300 people attended the pierside ceremony held under a large ceremonial tent due to inclement weather conditions. Capt. Kenneth Norton, the ship's commanding officer, welcomed the audience that also included more than a half dozen former Camden commanding officers and approximately 100 former crew members who served aboard throughout the ship's career. "Today we are not only going to honor the decommissioning of the USS Camden, but we...

The New Jersey courts had rarely seen a hero quite like Judge Stephen Thompson. A decorated Army veteran who lost a leg after being shot 20 times in the Vietnamese jungle, he came home to earn a law degree. He rose to the state bench, where he presided over Megan's Law cases, earned a reputation for fairness and balance and later helped make the state's first drug court an unqualified success. Yesterday, that same Stephen Thompson went on trial, accused of going to Russia in 2002 to perform sex acts with a teenage boy. He is accused of videotaping that...

Stem Cell Research in Leech Underway at Rutgers-Camden For Immediate Release CAMDEN – Research underway at Rutgers University—Camden may provide an opportunity for medical and scientific advancements of stem cell knowledge without the current controversy. Stem cell research in human embryos is highly controversial and isolating a human stem cell from hundreds of microscopically developing cells is extremely difficult. The aquatic leech offers an effective alternative to human stem cells, suggests Daniel Shain, an associate professor of biology at Rutgers-Camden. A newly awarded $149,265 grant from the National Institutes of Health is allowing Shain and a team of Rutgers-Camden student...

An inquiry into the June deaths of three boys who suffocated while playing in the trunk of a broken-down car even as the police undertook a wide search concluded today with a finding that had long been suspected: No one thought to look inside the family car. Despite the failure of police officers to check the Toyota Camry - a place where at least one of the boys had been known to play - authorities said today that no one would be disciplined in the case. "I don't think any purpose would be served to have heads roll," Vincent P....

CAMDEN, N.J. — Three boys who suffocated in a car trunk last month were alive for at least 17 hours, slowly succumbing while police searched their neighborhood, a lawyer for the family of one of the boys says. Lawyer Peter M. Villari told The New York Times that officials of the Camden County prosecutor's office went over details of an autopsy report with him, the newspaper reported Tuesday. The boys, ages 5, 6 and 11, disappeared from the yard where they were playing a little after 5 p.m. on June 22. Their deaths were ruled accidental. Relatives searched for the...

ABOARD USS ANTIETAM (NNS) -- USS Antietam (CG 54), a cruiser equipped with the Aegis Combat System, has patrolled the Persian Gulf since arriving on scene with the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Carrier Strike Group in mid-March. The ship was a vital cog for the strike group as they conducted maritime security operations (MSO) and supported the coalition efforts in the region. Among the numerous operations conducted by Antietam in the Persian Gulf were Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations and protection of vital assets such as Iraqi oil platforms and Carl Vinson. Antietam is also responsible for...

The grieving dad of the 11-year-old mentally troubled New Jersey boy who suffocated in a car trunk with two younger pals blames the state's social-services agency, saying it should have put his son in a facility where he could have gotten help. "If he would have been put in a safe place, this wouldn't have happened. The child needed a lot of help," Anibal Cruz Sr. said yesterday. -snip-" [The division] did nothing," Cruz said. "Why didn't they lock the baby somewhere safe? When kids need help, they have to help them."

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The father of a missing 6-year-old boy found his son's body and those of his two young friends in the trunk of a car Friday, two days after the children disappeared from a nearby yard where they were playing. A neighbor, Carmen Cilla, said she saw David Agosto open the trunk of the car and collapse to his knees screaming. It was not immediately clear how the three boys got into the vehicle or whether foul play was involved. Yolanda DeNeely Aguilard, an aide to Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, confirmed the bodies had been found. She had no...

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Some white students at a South Jersey Catholic school walked out of classes Tuesday in protest over a speech by the New Jersey Secretary of State Regina Thomas. Tensions have been building up at Paul VI High School since Thomas' speech on racial justice last week.

Program will coordinate federal, state, local crime fighters in targeting gangs. Fresno has been chosen as one of five communities nationwide to receive targeted help in reducing gang crime, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. The effort will enlist federal crime fighters, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Washington. As part of the relatively new Violent Crime Impact Team program, the Justice Department plans to target armed career criminals with a combination of state, federal and local forces. "The initiative has shown how we can fight crime better, expand freedom, and open new opportunities in communities that had...

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) A man who was killed while attempting to rob a store last week was responsible for three recent rapes that had spread fear among students and workers in the city’s relatively safe downtown area, authorities said Wednesday. Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said the state police DNA lab confirmed that Antonio Diaz Reyes, 32, was the rapist. “The DNA results were a perfect match,” Sarubbi said at a news conference. The rapes in November and December were brazen daylight attacks at knifepoint. Investigators decided to check Reyes’ DNA against samples taken after the three sexual assaults...

Here is the elusive sighting of M & M on the morning of September 19th. ALL the best-known search engines had lost it, but thanks to AlltheWeb.com and Aristeides I found it again. I will add it to the Muhammad/Malvo Timelines sometime soon. Sniper suspects slept here: Before the attacks in Maryland and Virginia began, Muhammad and Malvo slept in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn in PetersburgBy:JENNIFER FRANCIS , Staff Writer 10/30/2002 PETERSBURG VA - Just two days before sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo allegedly shot and killed a clerk outside an Alabama liquor...

Camden reports its 54th homicide A store owner shot a robber who held a knife to his wife. The 2004 total was second to the city's 60 killings in '95. By Troy Graham Inquirer Staff Writer Hours before one of the most violent years ever in Camden came to a close yesterday, a store owner shot and killed a knife-wielding assailant, the city's 54th homicide of 2004.A man walked into Camden City Wireless & Fishing Supply at 27th Street and Westfield Avenue around 12:30 p.m., grabbed the owner's wife, and held a knife to her, saying he intended to rob...

Police officers in North Camden arresting a suspect in an armed robbery. CAMDEN, N.J., Dec. 23 - If anybody was surprised that Camden was recently ranked America's most dangerous city, it wasn't the people who live here. In the past 12 months, there have been 53 homicides, including a 12-year-old shot to death on his porch for his radio, more than 800 aggravated assaults, including a toddler shot in the back of the head, at least 750 robberies and 150 acts of arson, more than 10,000 arrests and one glaring nonarrest - a serial rapist on the loose downtown. All...

CAMDEN, N.J., Dec. 23 - If anybody was surprised that Camden was recently ranked America's most dangerous city, it wasn't the people who live here. In the past 12 months, there have been 53 homicides, including a 12-year-old shot to death on his porch for his radio, more than 800 aggravated assaults, including a toddler shot in the back of the head, at least 750 robberies and 150 acts of arson, more than 10,000 arrests and one glaring nonarrest - a serial rapist on the loose downtown. All in a city of 79,000, nine square miles small. For decades, Camden...

Camden, N.J. overtakes Detroit as most-dangerous city in U.S. 11/21/2004, 11:58 p.m. ET The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Camden, N.J. has become the nation's most-dangerous city, according to a Kansas company's yearly ranking based on crime statistics. Camden, which was ranked third last year, took the dubious honor from Detroit, which fell to second in this year's ranking, followed by Atlanta, St. Louis and Gary, Ind. Camden area officials downplayed the designation, saying many steps have already been taken to reduce crime in the city. "Irrespective of labels and characterizations by outside groups, the Camden anti-crime partnership, along...