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Amir Meshal has a fascinating history. He's originally from New Jersey, but back in 2007 he was detained and interrogated by the FBI in Kenya after escaping from Somalia. Somehow, his travels brought him to Minnesota, and to a mosque in Bloomington, which kicked him out this summer. Friday prayers bring hundreds to the Al-Farooq Youth and Family Center, which is perhaps the largest mosque in the Twin Cities. But not everyone is welcome -- not after Meshal began attending prayer and hanging out earlier this year. In June, the center called police and had Meshal, 31, removed and ticketed...

Jersey City schools kicked off the new school year with a festival today, but noticeably absent were teachers. The school district's "I Love Jersey City Public Schools Back to School Festival" was a bash held between the Statue of Liberty and the soaring Goldman Sachs Tower in Liberty State Park on Saturday. The second annual event was an opportunity for the entire school community "to get together and have fun," said Dr. Marcia Lyles, superintendent of Jersey City Schools

TRENTON---- Wall Street analysts at Fitch Ratings today downgraded New Jersey's bond rating for the second time this year, citing the state's poor economic performance, Gov. Chris Christie's rosy revenue forecasts — which failed to materialize — and his decision to plug the resulting budget gap by cutting $2.4 billion from payments scheduled for the state's strained pension system. Fitch said Christie's decision to cut the pension payments this year marked a "repudiation" of a bipartisan plan he signed to fix the beleaguered pension system, which is underfunded by nearly $40 billion, according to state estimates. Instead of pumping bigger...

A New Jersey recreation center memorializing John F. Kennedy won’t be renamed after President Obama following a reversal by local officials. The Willingboro Township Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday to rescind its controversial decision to rename the John F. Kennedy Center, which once served as the town’s former high school, as the Barack Obama Center. More than 200 people reportedly applauded the decision during a meeting in the building’s auditorium, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "We have to listen to the people,” Mayor Eddie Campbell told the newspaper. “The people have spoken, and we believe in government by the people.” …

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stepped out on the international stage Wednesday to talk trade with Mexico, but he stayed mum on one of the most pressing questions confronting the two countries and his party: immigration reform. On a trip designed to help school him in foreign policy and court Hispanic voters should he seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, Christie stuck to economic issues and spoke of a “North American energy renaïssance” in which the U.S., Mexico and Canada ramp up investments and do away with “foolish” regulations. […] But there was no acknowledgement of the need for...

Three premier Atlantic City casinos will be closing in the next two weeks with the lost of almost 6,000 jobs. Another casino closed earlier this year, making the total job loss close to 8,000 - one quarter of casino employment in the city.Over the last few years, tax revenue from casinos has fallen precipitously which have led to massive budget problems for the city. The recession is to blame, but Atlantic City's problems go deeper than it being a one industry town. Philly.com: The closing of three casinos, starting with Showboat and Revel this weekend followed by Trump Plaza two...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US lawmakers on Friday "strongly condemned" what they called Beijing's harsh pre-Olympic crackdown in China's Muslim-populated far northwest Xinjiang region. The bipartisan leadership of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in a statement cited "credible" reports about a July 9 conviction in a closed trial of 15 minority Muslim Uighurs on terrorism charges that led to "the immediate execution of two" of them. Three others were given suspended death sentences and the remaining 10 received life imprisonment, it said. These are "abuses of due process and rule of law," said caucus co-chairmen Democrat Jim McGovern and Republican Frank...

Helmetta, New Jersey (My9NJ) - Steven Wronko is a Helmetta, New Jersey resident who recently taped local police officer, Richard Recine, saying that he doesn't have to follow the U.S. Constitution because President Obama doesn't. .... Well now, the Helmetta town council met last night to discuss an ordinance that would ban the unauthorized taping of a public official in a public municipal building, such as the recording Wronko uncovered of officer Recine. .... Wronko went to city hall to file an OPRA request related to the animal shelter because he suspected neglect. That is when and where officer Recine...

--snip-- Despite President Obama's call to end deportations of nonviolent undocumented people, repeat border offenders remain on ICE's priority list. A minor legal infraction also has complicated Benito's case. He arrived illegally in the United States in 2000, left in 2004 to visit his widowed father in Puebla, Mexico, and was caught coming back through Arizona and deported. He sneaked back in that year to rejoin Bautista and the daughter who was then their only child.

After a man in his 60s was beaten by a group of teenagers in Pat­erson on Wednesday night, a city councilman said it looked like an example of a supposedly trending national game called “knockout.” Fears that the game, blamed for at least one death in New Jersey, had taken root locally were fanned earlier in the week when a lone assailant randomly punched three people in separate incidents in Hackensack. On Thursday, authorities said neither case appeared to fit the criteria to be called the knockout game, which they said typically involves a group of people approaching a victim...

George Soros gave $500,000 apiece to House Majority PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund. Climate-change activist Tom Steyer gave the biggest super PAC donation in July with $7.5 million. Super PACs spent July beefing up for the fall campaign. Many groups filed new disclosure reports this week, leaving a paper trail littered with big checks from big names. Democrats dominate the list of notable July donors ... Michael Bloomberg is staying plenty active in his post-mayoral days. Aside from funding his gun-control-focused super PAC, Bloomberg has written checks to Senate Majority PAC and super PACs that backed...

State officials are moving ahead with plans to construct a $10 million extension of Jersey Avenue into Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The proposed roadway would cross the Morris Canal, giving motorists a shortcut to Liberty State Park from Downtown Jersey City.

Thousands of drivers in New Jersey were caught on camera allegedly running red lights but were never informed of the potential fines they faced because of a technical glitch. And the state Judiciary has asked local courts to throw out all 17,000 alleged infractions. The state lawmaker who today brought the issue to the public’s attention — Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon —said it's is just the latest example of why New Jersey’s red light camera should not be renewed when it reaches its December expiration date. ... The news of the glitch comes just days after the former CEO of Redflex...

Four Jersey City police officers who were at the scene of the fatal shooting of Police Det. Melvin Santiago last month are still out on administrative leave.

A Seattle man who confessed to killing four people in Washington and New Jersey this year said each shooting was part of a mission of vengeance against the U.S. government for its actions in the Middle East, according to court documents released Wednesday. Ali Muhammad Brown, who had already been charged in the targeted killing of a gay couple in Seattle and the point-blank shooting of a New Jersey college student, was charged Wednesday with the April slaying of 30-year-old Leroy Henderson in Skyway, Wash., according to the King County Prosecutor's Office. According to a criminal complaint filed in King...

The man accused of gunning down a Livingston [NJ]teenager in his car earlier this summer told investigators the murder was an act of retribution for U.S. military action against Muslims in the Middle East. . . .[Ali Muhammad]Brown, 29, also confessed to killing the other men, all of whom, like Tevlin, were shot multiple times in isolated areas late at night. He described the murder as a “just kill” – carried out against an adult male who was not in the company of any women, children or elderly persons, court papers said. . . .

They’ve turned to politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and union reps to try to save their jobs at three Atlantic City casinos scheduled to close soon. Now, hundreds of soon-to-be unemployed dealers, cocktail servers and hotel workers are turning to what many say could be their last, best chance. “We’re praying for God to open new doors to them,” said Rev Eric McCoy, president of the Atlantic City Fellowship of Churches. Clergy members and the main casino workers union organized a rally and prayer service Wednesday night for the nearly 8,000 workers who will be jobless when Revel, the Showboat and Trump...

Hackensack residents were warned to be alert as police hunted for a man who randomly approached and punched three others Monday night in what may be the first local incidents of “the knockout game.” The activity has resulted in one North Jersey death...... .... the assailant was described as a 6-foot-tall or taller black man with an athletic build who was wearing a black V-neck short-sleeved T-shirt, black pants and a Brooklyn Nets cap.

Hackensack Police have warned residents to be alert as they hunt for a man who randomly approached and punched three others in what may be the first local incidents of the so-called “knockout game” that has resulted in one North Jersey death and plagued urban areas nationwide. The three separate sudden assaults took place Monday night within a span of less than 15 minutes and involved the same man, who appeared to be acting alone, police said.

On Tuesday August 12, Marc Leibowitz alerted Homeland Security that a black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) was hanging on a house in Garwood, New Jersey. As a former Israeli paratrooper he understood the importance of reporting suspicious activity. The black flag that was hanging in New Jersey is an indisputable identifier of jihadist terrorist groups including al-Qaeda. It is one of several variations of the ‘Black Flags of Jihad’. It is a variant design of the Black Standard Al-Raya flag a.k.a. The Black Banner, Banner of the Eagle and The Banner. The white writing...