Free Republic

“This is before and this is after. Before and after,” Cory Booker is saying on Snapchat. He’s just met a young fan with an Afro and is drawing the contrast to his own shiny bald head. It’s a routine he will repeat again later in the day and as he crisscrosses the country before the midterms. The New Jersey senator can’t say no to a selfie. If you are standing around looking idle, he’ll probably ask you to take one and upload the photo to his social media accounts for his millions of followers. Social media are Booker’s bread and...

School officials say a substitute teacher who told first-grade students in New Jersey that Santa Claus isn't real will not be returning to the school.

FBI agents raided the home of Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam just before 8 a.m. Monday morning, the agency confirmed to NJ Advance Media. At least a dozen agents were seen going in and out of the Ohio Avenue home Monday morning, removing more than 10 boxes. An FBI spokeswoman at the scene said both FBI and IRS agents were involved in the search of home. “We can confirm that our agents were executing search warrant at the home of Mayor Frank Gilliam,” said Doreen Holder, a public affairs specialist with the FBI’s Newark office, declining to comment on the...

State lawmakers’ investigation into Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration over its handling of a staffer’s sexual assault allegation has ratcheted up distrust between the governor and his fellow Democrats who control the New Jersey Legislature, NJ Advance Media has learned. The result? Big picture, the state’s top leaders haven’t met privately for nearly two months. It’s no better on the daily transactional level. For example, Murphy’s office yanked complimentary football tickets away from the co-chairwoman of the legislative committee investigating the allegations, sources say.

EDISON - It seems that more millennials are still living with their parents after graduating college, according to a report by the United States Census Bureau. The report found that 47 percent of adults ages 18 to 34 are still living at home in New Jersey, the highest percentage in the nation. Students at Middlesex County College tell News 12 New Jersey that factors like rent, car payments and other expenses leave them with no other option but to continue to live at home.

Jersey City cops received a reminder this week that pot is not legal yet. In a memo sent Monday by Deputy Police Chief Mark Miller, all police personnel were told they must arrest anyone they suspect of possessing marijuana, even small amounts. The warning comes five months after Mayor Steve Fulop announced on Twitter that his administration began deprioritizing marijuana arrests at the end of 2017, and as state lawmakers are on the cusp of legalizing recreational weed. It's not clear what led Miller to issue the memo, but sources with knowledge of the decision said it came after an...

Undocumented immigrants are already driving on New Jersey's roads, so why not give them a chance to get a driver's license so they can insure and register their vehicles? That's the viewpoint of a handful of state legislators who on Tuesday announced they have introduced a bill that would let undocumented immigrants apply for a license. They argue it'll make the state's roadways safer for everybody and support the Garden State economy. "We can't ignore the reality that undocumented immigrants are on the roads now, going to work, driving their children to school and doing the routine activities that all...

One of the Donald Trump’s top political allies in New Jersey says that Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) could face a primary challenge if he doesn’t stop bashing Trump. Nutley Commissioner Steve Rogers says that when Republicans like Bramnick bash Trump, they hurt the GOP brand. “Our party must return to its conservative roots-roots that are embedded in the Constitution,” Rogers told the New Jersey Globe. “I have been all over New Jersey and I find a hunger and thirst among Republicans as well as conservative Democrats and independents for a return to the values we embraced years ago.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker just visited 24 -- count 'em, 24 -- states stumping for Democrats in the midterm elections. He contributed $686,000 to House and Senate candidates across the nation. And along the way, New Jersey's dynamic Democrat stopped in all those early presidential primary states, plus a few that look to be big battlegrounds. A dry run for a potential 2020 bid? Even Booker wouldn't quarrel with that. "I will consider running for president," Booker told NJ Advance Media. "That's something that I will do. There's people in New Jersey who are talking to me about...

) -- Commuters across New Jersey faced a slow ride to work one day after a blast of snow and sleet brought traffic to a stop and led to a wave of criticism of Gov. Phil Murphy. Murphy held a briefing in Woodbridge Friday morning to address the concerns. He was flanked by members of his administration who led the state's response to the storm. "I can understand and appreciate entirely and completely the frustration that I am hearing, and our team is hearing from commuters," Murphy said. "Every storm gives us a test. This is not the first, by...

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that the Garden State would set aside more than $2 million to provide legal aid for low-income immigrants facing deportation. The first-year Democrat announced the allocation in the current fiscal year's budget hours before a federal judge barred the Trump administration from enforcing a recently enacted rule denying asylum to anyone who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. "Families who came to New Jersey for a better life do not deserve to be torn apart by the federal government's cruel and discriminatory policies," Murphy said in a statement. The budget agreement calls for $925,000 to...

Five people - including children - were found dead at the scene of a mansion fire in Colts Neck Tuesday afternoon, a law enforcement source told NJ Advance Media. The fire broke out around 12:45 p.m. at a massive 15-year-old home on Willow Brook Road. Detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office major crimes unit are on the scene. Multiple fire companies from surrounding towns as far away as Spring Lake have responded to help battle the blaze. Property records show the house is owned by Keith Caneiro, and Jennifer Caneiro.

New Jersey is doling out $2.1 million in taxpayer money to groups to provide legal help to undocumented immigrants facing deportation. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who included the money in his first state budget, announced Monday his administration has reached an agreement with four groups to help immigrants who can't afford an attorney. The state allocated $925,000 each to Legal Services of New Jersey and the American Friend Service Committee.

The Bayonne Bridge was shut down in both directions Thursday afternoon, making for a worse commute for those driving in the snow, sleet and rain. The bridge was shutdown by Port Authority due to slippery conditions and several cars becoming stuck on the incline of the renovated bridge, which is steeper than it used to be, spokesman Joe Pentangelo said.

6 great hikes in New Jersey to experience this Fall

GOP lawmaker faces tough re-election against Democrat Tom Malinowski LEDGEWOOD, N.J. — Nobody dislikes New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance. The moderate Republican voted against what were supposed to be his party’s major legislative achievements this Congress: the tax overhaul and the repeal of the 2010 health care law. And unlike many of his GOP peers, he’s actually held town hall meetings. His civility and the carefulness with which he chooses his words hark back to a different political era. All that goes over well in his well-educated, affluent 7th District, where voters narrowly backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. But that...

Any New Jersey Freepers headed out to vote today: be forewarned.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez led Republican rival Bob Hugin by 15 percentage points among likely voters in a poll released a day before New Jersey voters go to the polls. Menendez was ahead of Hugin, a former Celgene Corp. executive, 55 percent to 40 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday. It was the second straight survey to give him a double-digit lead after several polls showed a tight race. A Stockton University poll released Friday had Menendez ahead, 51 percent to 39 percent. Menendez never trailed in any survey.

Declaring that “it is unfair that whites have more money than minorities,” Sen. Cory (Spartacus) Booker (D-NJ) has concocted a plan to hand wads of cash to “deserving black kids.” Dubbing these giveaways “opportunity accounts,” Booker boasted that “there’s no telling what these young people are capable of doing if only they had the money to do it.” Under Booker’s scheme minority youths would be eligible for “no strings grants of up to $50,000 they could use for wealth-building purposes. Most of the investment opportunities in the ghetto require cash. We’ll be giving these youngsters cash they could use to...

Toilet paper and rainbows of silly string dangling from trees, soap smeared on car windows and overflowing foam fountains. Eggshell shards scattered across yards and driveways with with gooey yolks sliding down window panes. Each Halloween in New Jersey, some residents awake to find such sights on their manicured lawns and once-sparkling windows. It's the sign that someone (probably your local teens) had a good time the night before on Mischief Night — which is, apparently, a very Jersey thing. The night of Oct. 30 has long-proved a prankster's paradise. But in recent years, more and more police departments have...