Free Republic

June 30, 2012 For more than 30 years, Richard Miles and Reg Mead scoured the fields of their native Jersey with metal detectors, hoping to one day come across an ancient coin or two. Earlier this week, the detector beeped and they found the world's largest-ever stash of Celtic coins. Host Scott Simon speaks with Reg Mead about their find. Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Reg Mead and Richard Miles began to scour a field on their home island of Jersey...

A New Jersey cop who was spotted sleeping in his patrol car last summer has now lost a loaded handgun, according to his lawyer. Trenton Police Officer Richard Takach misplaced the Glock semi-automatic handgun in the city's West Precinct parking lot around 3 a.m. on Monday, his attorney Stuart Alterman said. "It's not a sign of him being careless," Alterman added. "It was an accident. Nobody intentionally loses a weapon. He was changing in and out of his duty uniform to his street clothes. He was transferring his weapon from his duty holster to an off-duty holster. And unfortunately he...

Christmas greetings from German soldiers occupying the British island of Jersey during the Second World War have finally been delivered 71 years later. Stolen by a group of island youths in December 1941 as an act of defiance against the Nazis, the holiday letters first resurfaced in 2006. Now, after Jersey's historical archive has catalogued their content, they have been sent on to their intended destinations in Germany. "Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year wishes you Soldier Emil Adam. Greetings to Maier, Fischer and Melcher," read a letter yellow with age delivered to Engelbert Josef Bergmann in Mühlheim am...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Federal agents arrested the mayor of New Jersey's capital city early Monday as part of an ongoing corruption investigation into bribery allegations related to a parking garage project that was concocted as part of an FBI sting operation. Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, a Mack supporter who owns a Trenton sandwich shop, were accused of conspiring to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right.

Federal authorities arrested Trenton, N.J., Mayor Tony Mack and more than half a dozen other people early Monday in connection with an ongoing corruption probe, NBC 4 New York has learned. Mack faces federal charges including conspiracy to obstruct commerce by extortion. Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni, a top campaign contributor, and six others were also taken into custody. Information on their attorneys wasn't immediately available. Specific charges against the suspects are expected to be outlined by Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, later Monday. ...

"Christie did spearhead legislation that increased pension contributions by public employees, tweaked benefits and halted cost of living increases," but did little or nothing to stop the costly practice of 'double-dipping.. which allows well-connected officials to 'retire,' start collecting a pension and then return to work for the state, often the next day or week." The most prominent of the double-dippers exposed recently just happens to be Christie's deputy chief of staff, Louis Goetting, "who gets $228,860 a year - $140,000 in salary, plus $88,860 as a state retiree." New Jersey Watchdog found at least 60 double-dippers in New Jersey...

Click the link

TRENTON — Stressing the importance of maintaining diversity at the highest levels of New Jersey’s judiciary, Gov. Chris Christie Monday nominated an openly gay African-American mayor and a Korean-American assistant attorney general to the Supreme Court.

The City of Jersey City is suing the developer of the $23 million municipal Justice Complex on Summit Avenue, which the city claims was so poorly constructed that the building's foundation is "in a state of collapse," putting people "at risk of bodily harm." The complex, which was completed in May 2001, houses the municipal court and offices for the prosecutors, judges and court staff. The city, along with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, accuses the developer and nearly two dozen architects, engineers and subcontractors of negligence, breach of contract, consumer fraud and 12 other counts.

Gov. Chris Christie has a name for people who visit Las Vegas in the summertime: "Stupid." Speaking at a news conference to introduce the new head of a state agency tasked with revitalizing Atlantic City, the nation's second-largest gambling market, Christie couldn't resist taking a shot at No. 1.

Issuing a one-year moratorium on "fracking," Gov. Chris Christie today issued a conditional veto of S-2576, recommending changes to the legislation that balances protecting New Jersey’s environment and drinking water and encouraging cleaner energy alongside the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. As currently written, S-2576 would permanently prohibit fracking in New Jersey, a drilling technique used for the exploration or production of natural gas, even as concurrent studies on the practice are underway by the federal government and no known natural gas deposits necessitating use of the fracking process have been proposed for development in New Jersey. “I...

A New Jersey school district has apologized to parents after requiring high school students to read books that include graphic depictions of lesbian sex and a homosexual orgy. “Some of the language is inappropriate,” said Chuck Earling, superintendent of Monroe Township Schools in Williamstown, N.J. “We were not trying to create controversy. We were just trying to get students to read.”

Since Tim Pawlenty ended his bid for the presidency last Sunday, his former staffers and key fundraisers have held off from endorsing another candidate or moving to another campaign. There’s a reason. Team Pawlenty is waiting on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to make a decision about entering the field as a presidential candidate, The Daily Caller learned Friday. Key staffers who formerly made up the Pawlenty campaign have been in discussions with Christie all week and the talks are still ongoing, sources told TheDC. They are reportedly very anxious to have Christie officially place his hat in the ring....

Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have signed off on $1.50 toll hikes for all Port Authority crossings that’ll go into effect next month, sources said. The final fare hikes are far lower than the ones the Port Authority rolled out last month, which called for a $4 increase on most crossings and were met with widespread disgust by politicians and the public. Christie and Cuomo are also calling for an audit of the agency. The new $1.50 hikes will apply to cash and EZ-Pass customers on all the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels. Cash payers will also...

New Jersey governor Chris Christie slammed President Obama at a recent press conference for not demonstrating competent leadership and not providing the American people what they want in a president. "You can't lead from behind," Christie said. "Leading is not a political strategy. It's a moral strategy."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is reportedly conducting focus groups to prepare for a presidential bid in 2012. "If Christie chooses to run, he would have wide support within the party and become the likely frontrunner for the GOP nom," Alter tweeted earlier.

Oh, man, what a bad day for New Jersey.First, Abercrombie & Fitch pays “Jersey Shore” “star” The Situation not to wear its clothing, and now Fitch — no relation — has gone and downgraded the entire state. What is it with these Fitches? Is anybody investigating the connection here? Full disclosure: I live in New Jersey.Fitch, the rater, not the retailer, writes: Fitch Ratings downgrades the State of New Jersey’s outstanding general obligation (GO) bonds to ‘AA-’ from ‘AA’.Fitch also downgrades to ‘AA-’ from ‘AA’ the rating on the Garden State Preservation Trust’s open space revenue bonds. Additionally, Fitch downgrades...

We may never know how he did it. It could have involved some sort of broad scale mind control experiment. Perhaps he brought in somebody from over the border in Delaware to cast a spell on the state legislature. But in New Jersey – a state generally defined by partisan warfare between liberal Democrats and really liberal Democrats – Governor Chris Christie has met the public workers unions on the field of battle and sent them running like pigs from the gun. New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a broad rollback of benefits for 750,000 government workers and retirees, the...

Fiscal Policy: A New Jersey state senator wants to establish a millionaires tax. Have Trenton policymakers learned nothing from their state's experience with fleeing wealth? State Sen. Shirley Turner wants to dig even deeper into millionaires' wallets by hiking the tax rate on every dollar earned in excess of $1 million annually. The Democrat proposes jumping the top personal rate to 10.75%. The current top rate is 8.97% on income exceeding $500,000 a year. The 10.75% top rate isn't new. It was in place before Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who has his hands full with spend-and-spend-again Democrats, took office...

Bob Hurley Sr. is about to hit a milestone few basketball coaches on any level have reached: 1,000 victories. He has won them the hard way at St. Anthony High in Jersey City, New Jersey, sweeping the hardwood floor before home games and riding yellow buses to cramped gymnasiums up and down the East Coast.