Free Republic

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.

A 43-year-old immigration attorney from Queens, New York was found guilty of asylum fraud, making false statements to immigration authorities and aggravated identity theft in a federal court on Nov. 19.An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Andreea Dumitru Parcalaboiu operated a scheme to submit fraudulent asylum forms. She knowingly submitted more than 180 applications in which she lied about the applicants’ personal narratives of alleged persecution, criminal and travel histories. Parcalaboiu deliberately fabricated detailed personal stories of purported mistreatment of her clients,...

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal has issued a sweeping directive to state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to limit the type of assistance their officers can offer federal immigration authorities. The new rules, his office said, are designed to strengthen trust between police agencies and the state's diverse immigrant communities.

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...

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.

New Jersey's attorney general unveiled a broad new directive Thursday limiting when local police can ask someone's immigration status and turn unauthorized immigrants over to federal officials for deportation. Standing in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the new rules -- called the Immigrant Trust Directive -- are designed to improve relations between local police and immigrant communities. The new rules will draw "a bright line" between federal immigration officials and local police at a time when immigrants are growing more fearful of deportation and federal crackdowns...

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.”

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...

he house at 1212 1/2 West Front Street in Plainfield, N.J., is a conventional midcentury home with slate-gray siding, white trim and Victorian lines. When I stood in front of it on a breezy day in October, I could hear the cries of children from the playground of an elementary school around the corner. American flags fluttered from porches and windows. The neighborhood is a leafy, middle-class Anytown. The house is set back off the street, near two convenience stores and a gift shop. On the door of Superior Supermarket was pasted a sign issued by the Plainfield police: ''Safe...

A New Jersey college gave its students the chance to pick which new restaurant they wanted on campus -- so long as it wasn't Chick-fil-A. After students at Rider University voted for the fast casual restaurant as their top choice in the spring, the private college sent another survey this fall and excluded the fast casual restaurant "based on the company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community," according to the university. "Ultimately, we decided to lean in the direction of creating a welcoming environment where differences can be appreciated and where each individual can expect...

Monday on Fox News Channel’s “The Five,” correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera said he was “ashamed” of the way migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are being treated. Discussing border patrol agents using tear gas, Rivera said. “This goes to my soul. Fulfilling my role as the designated piñata on Fox News, I want to say I am ashamed. The tear gas choked me. We treat these people — these economic refugees — as if they’re zombies from ‘The Walking Dead.’ We arrested 42 people, eight of them were women with children! We have to deal with this problem humanely and...

The Atlantic City Democrat Committee announced an emergency meeting would be held Monday night at 6.p.m. "We, the Atlantic City Democratic Committee, plan to take action with regard to the egregious behavior of the mayor, Frank Gilliam, and council member-at-large, Jeffree Fauntleroy, from November 11, 2018," the committee said in a statement. The meeting comes in the wake of the Haven Night Club incident at the Golden Nugget in which Gilliam and Fauntleroy, both Democrats, were accused of assaulting people on Nov. 11

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...

<p>8:35 p.m.</p> <p>A fire company official working the chemical leak that forced the Delaware Memorial Bridge to shut down says if the flume “would have had an ignition source it could have been catastrophic.”</p> <p>Holloway Terrace Fire Company Public Information Officer George Greenley says the leaked chemical is ethylene oxide, a highly flammable gas that is a finished product stemming from methanol.</p>

Just when you thought New Jersey couldn't get any bluer ... Democratic leaders of the state Legislature in Trenton have quietly resurrected a controversial proposal to ask voters next November to approve a constitutional amendment overhauling how the state draws its legislative districts. Sponsors say the goal is to make the process of choosing state lawmakers more fair, rendering an electoral map more reflective of the voters in the Garden State. But critics warn Democrats are trying to rig the system in New Jersey -- home to 900,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans -- to tighten their grip on the...

A band of Democrats who are demanding House rule reforms have yet to reach a deal with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the group announced Friday, putting up a potential roadblock in Pelosi’s quest to reclaim the Speaker’s gavel. Nine Democrats on the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus have vowed to withhold their votes for Speaker unless the candidate agrees to overhaul the House rules. Pelosi, who has been open to such changes, met with the group last week and promised to put in writing the changes to which she would commit. But the Democrats say they have yet to receive...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps...

SunEdison is now eyeing bankruptcy, but Paul Pelosi invested right before a 2014 stock rally House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First...

Earlier this week, the newly-elected Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dropped by Rep. Nancy Pelosi's Capitol Hill office. She was not there to say hello to her new colleague but to show support for a group of environmentalists hosting a sit-in in the potential Speaker of the House's workspace. The move rankled party leadership and consultants. But what exactly was Representative-elect Ocasio-Cortez showing support for? It was the "Green New Deal", a massive overhaul spending plan of the United States' economy in an effort to supposedly combat climate change. According to Politico, Ocasio-Cortez met with members from the Sunrise Movement, a nationwide...