Free Republic

BERGENFIELD -- The former northern New Jersey political boss Joseph Ferriero was found guilty by a federal jury this afternoon, according to a report in The Record. During the third day of deliberations, Ferriero was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of mail fraud, according to the report, but was acquitted on five other mail fraud counts.

Every time you think politics has hit a new low, it finds a way to go lower. I thought we had reached the nadir last month when Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie!" at President Barack Obama while he was speaking to a joint session of Congress. But then The New York Times caught me up on what has been happening in New Jersey. Campaigns there are rarely elevated affairs, but the battle between Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Christopher Christie has sunk to new depths. As the Times pointed out, a television ad for...

Authorities say a New Jersey teenager threatened to rape and kill his teacher if she did not give his entire class an "A++" for the last school year. Authorities say the 14-year-old boy made the threats in an e-mail sent in May. He has been identified only as a student at the Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology. He is also accused of threatening to rape the teacher's mother and sister if the grades were not changed within 48 hours. The boy turned himself in to Passaic County authorities Friday and was charged with making terroristic threats and criminal...

NEWARK—Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and Edward Cheatam, an official in both Hudson County and Jersey City, were charged today in a one-count Indictment with conspiring to extort corrupt cash payments, illicit political contributions and other benefits under color of official right, in return for Beldini’s and an elected Jersey City official’s influence in Jersey City government matters, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., announced. Beldini, 74, and Cheatam, 61, both of Jersey City, were originally arrested on a criminal Complaint on the morning of July 23, 2009, along with 42 other individuals, resulting from a two-track federal...

Republican and former federal prosecutor Chris Christie has a double-digit edge over incumbent New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine in the latest Quinnipiac poll out today. In the polling outfit’s first measure of likely voters in the November race, Christie leads 50%-40% as Corzine is facing his lowest ever approval ratings. A majority, 56%, say they disapprove of the job the governor is doing while 36% approve. It’s a notch lower than his 54%-38% rating in late May. Christie has more support within his own party ranks, with 88% of Republicans saying that are backing him while just 73% of Democrats...

Hannity talks to Chris Christie and Giuliaini.

President Barack Obama holds up a team jersey presented to him by Philadelphia Phillies baseball shortstop Jimmy Rollins, left, as Obama honored the 2008 World Series champions Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, May 15, 2009, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington President Barack Obama makes the Hawaiian 'shaka' hand gesture as he acknowledges Philadelphia Phillies baseball outfielder Shane Victorino, second from left, who is from Hawaii, as Obama honored the 2008 World Series champions Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, May 15, 2009, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. Manager Charlie Manuel is at left.

With just over three weeks until the June 2 Republican primary for governor, Lonegan's creeping poll numbers have forced his opponent to redirect ad spending against him. In short, there are signs Chris Christie has grasped the risk of underestimating Steven Mark Lonegan. Lonegan, 53, campaigns with the single-mindedness of a bloodhound and the subtlety of a rattlesnake. "That's part of his power: There's no bull," said Kristian Fraga, an independent filmmaker whose documentary, "Anytown, USA," chronicled the 2003 Bogota mayor's race. "He's definitely a force."

A member at ar15.com sent his congressman a teabag in the mail to protest their spending, and now his congressman's office is threatening him. The member says, "I told her no malice intended and asked if it was illegal to mail a teabag. I told her it was a in protest in response to the votes of the Congressman. I also told her I thought maybe they would enjoy a good cup of tea this afternoon. She was not amused but acted dumb as to why I sent it. She also said a RECORD of this would be made." Here...

Suspected Pedophile Nabbed Police arrested a suspected pedophile in New Jersey after launching a public appeal in the wake of a two-year international manhunt. Chip Reid reportshttp://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4081758n (AP) A rare international alert seeking a man shown in dozens of raw child porn images quickly led to the arrest of a small-time actor, who painted faces at children's parties and performed as "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen." Wayne Nelson Corliss told authorities he had sex with three boys in Thailand six years ago, an experience he described as "euphoria," a prosecutor said Thursday at Corliss' first court...

N.J. Officer Allegedly Performed Sex Acts On Cows MOORESTOWN (CBS 3) ―Authorities announced Moorestown Officer Robert Melia Jr., 38, has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty after allegedly engaging in sex acts with cows between June and December of 2006.

CHILDREN from the Jersey House of Horrors were loaned to rich paedophile yachtsmen as galley SEX SLAVES, a News of the World investigation reveals. The youngsters were told by care staff the boat rides were treats—only to be assaulted and RAPED at sea by pervert toffs. Details of the sick attacks emerged as we discovered even more blood has been found in a bath in the dungeon underneath the Haut de la Garenne home—and in the drains. UNDER THREAT: Ministers voted to have investigator Harper taken off case And our reporters have been told how builders on renovations at the...

New Jersey has the most millionaire households in the country, according to a marketing company's fifth annual ranking. The Garden State moved up from No. 2 in 2005 and 2006 to No. 1 last year on the index, compiled by Phoenix Affluent Marketing Service, which does research for companies that sell luxury products, investments and the like to the wealthy. According to the service, in 2007, 7.12 percent of New Jersey's 3.2 million households had a total of $1 million or more liquid or investable assets. That includes items such as savings, stocks and bonds, precious metals, the cash value...

MAHWAH, N.J. (CBS) ― Bergen County parents are floored by a new school lunch policy. Their children were forced to eat their lunch on the floor. Mahwah School Superintendent Charles Montesano won't let CBS 2 HD in his high school, specifically anywhere near the floors inside. Yet, that's exactly where students have been eating their lunch. That's right. Nearly 1,000 students attend classes at Mahwah High School daily, and at lunchtime, a good majority of them are on the floor, as seen in pictures obtained exclusively by CBS 2 HD. (snip) Renowned microbiologist Dr. Philip Tierno warns 80 percent of...

.."The project instructed students to create an advertisement defending the use of slave labor to run a newly built plantation in South Carolina."..

.."The lawsuit accuses the Bush Administration of circumventing the public rule-making process by fundamentally and arbitrarily changing the program via letter, which would have the effect of denying health insurance coverage for over 10,000 New Jersey children."..

Teacher declares doll hanging from noose in Watchung is racist: WATCHUNG — The owner of a Halloween costume store here said a window display depicting a man hanging from a noose will be removed after a Scotch Plains woman complained, saying it was appalling and racist. Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, said the display she saw Sunday in the window at the Halloween Scene store in the Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22 West depicted a stuffed doll resembling a black man, wearing a labor suit and hanging from a...

EMERSON, N.J. (NorthJersey.com/AP) -- Students in 12 northern New Jersey towns are expected back in classes on Friday. Thursday classes for about 14,000 students were canceled after the mayor of Emerson on Wednesday received a letter threatening that the town's three schools and two others in unnamed nearby towns would be "blown out'' at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Authorities worked through the night Wednesday and into the day Thursday to check about 60 school buildings, Bergen County Police Capt. Kevin Hartnett said. His department got help from police and sheriff's departments from New Jersey and New York, which lent officers and...

ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 7 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wowed the crowd. So did Gov. Jon S. Corzine. And there to cheer them on, relishing every partisan barb aimed at President Bush’s policies on Iraq, the economy and health care, were about 1,000 of the state’s most ardent Democrats. But the person who all but upstaged the state Democratic Party’s annual convention here was a Republican who was 117 miles away in Newark: the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, whose office announced on Thursday the arrests of 11 current or former public officials — including two Democratic assemblymen —...

Montville Township was tops among eight New Jersey towns included in Money magazine's best 100 places to live in the United States, weighing in at No. 13. No New Jersey town made the top 10, but six Garden State towns were in the top 50, including the Middlesex County Borough of Sayreville, which was 47th on the list. Hillsborough (23rd), River Vale (29th), Marlboro (33rd), Berkeley Heights (45th), Readington (58th) and Moorestown (78th) rounded out the Jersey selections. Moorestown had been the top choice in 2005.Middleton, WI., was the best place to live, the magazine said. Towns were ranked on...