Free Republic

A Jersey Shore police chief was suspended after reportedly showing up drunk to an accident scene and getting into a scuffle with one of his own officers — who later slammed his boss onto the hood of a police cruiser and told the chief to leave before he “gets a problem.” The confrontation between Bradley Beach Police Chief Leonard Guida and Sgt. William Major erupted on the night of Nov. 9, when the chief allegedly walked up to a suspected drunk driving crash on Main Street and began berating Major about his uniform, according to bodycam footage obtained by TAPinto,...

The seventh dead whale in a little over a month washed up on the Jersey Shore this week, sparking a debate about the impact of off-shore activities on marine life. The 20-foot-long humpback whale was found on the beach on Thursday afternoon in Brigantine, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) confirmed Friday. “Due to the incoming tide and low light last night, staff returned at daybreak this morning to take photos,” the update read. “Plans are underway for a necropsy to be performed on the animal.” Thursday’s discovery occurred just miles from where another dead whale was found in Atlantic...

The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race is heating up between Democrat candidate John Fetterman and Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. The open seat is crucial in determining the Senate’s balance of power. Although Fetterman has had a consistent lead in the race, Republicans are hopeful Oz will help keep the Senate seat red, despite key differences between the two candidates. According to political analyst Terry Madonna, senior fellow in residence for political affairs at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, the two candidates greatly differ in personalities, styles and policies. “I mean, it’s rare to find those kinds of huge differences,” Madonna said...

Don’s Pizza King in Belmar has closed after 54 years in business. The Asbury Park Press reported the beloved pizza place was shuttering following a Sept. 5 Facebook post in which the restaurant cited staffing shortages. It was owned by Don Iglay, known to some locals as “The King.” “At a minimum, the King needs a break,” the post read. “Like everyone he’s been short-staffed all summer to the point where he is out waiting on people and cooking the pizza!” Whether the restaurant, located at 811 Main St., would be closed permanently or temporarily was not specified in the...

TOMS RIVER, NJ – We’re from the government…and we’re here to help you…get vaccinated. If you haven’t been vaccinated and you live at the Jersey Shore, you can expect a state official to come knocking on your door this week. It’s part of a new COVID-19 vaccination drive announced by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. Governor Phil Murphy this week said he has created a “COVID-19 Community Corps” and will knock on 134,000 doors and make 60,000 phone calls to shore residents in Jackson, Middletown, Howell, Atlantic City, Toms River, Brick, and Jackson. “We’re not stopping,” Murphy said. The COVID-19...

Whether you consider it a glimmer of hope or an act of sheer stupidity, Jersey Shore beaches are reopening. You may be thinking to yourself that a trip to your favorite beach at the Jersey Shore is just what your cabin fevered mind and soul need. Heck, just yesterday, I spoke with a good friend at the Jersey Shore. She basically said, C’mon down. We’d BYO food. We’d stay outside — no in-house bathroom breaks. (Fortunately, there’s an outdoor shower drain. Ew.) There would always be six feet — heck, make it eight feet! — between us. What could go...

It’s Valentine’s Day and that means love, right? Sappy greeting cards. Heart-shaped candy. Professions of undying romance blah, blah, blah.Let’s talk about something that actually matters today: New Jersey people and all the things we love, love, love no matter what day of the year it is. One of the many punchlines thrown our way is that we’re a joyless bunch who are quicker to hate something than to embrace it as our own. Not true! Well, not always true, anyway. Here are 25 items, behaviors and misfortunes of others we Garden Staters love above all else. Enjoy your price-gauged...

There are about 9 million of us living here, and we all can’t be delusional. Apart from those who live here primarily because of job or family, most New Jerseyans live here because they like it here! New York City is a quick PATH or train ride away — why live there? The Shore, the Pine Barrens, beautiful countryside, diners, beaches, the nation’s most diverse city, small towns, great scenic highways — does any state pack as much variety into one compact package as New Jersey? Nope. Here are the 50 best reasons to live in New Jersey, from someone...

The thousands of people who descended upon the Jersey Shore town for President Donald Trump's 'Keep America Great' rally at the Wildwoods Convention Center left behind a sea of trash in the parking lot — including their abandoned beach chairs and blankets — after the rally wrapped up.Rally-goers were allowed to bring chairs as they waited in line — some for up to 48 hours before the event — but they weren't allowed to bring them inside the venue.Factor in the blankets they used to stay warm, and all their drinks and food they were snacking on during the long wait...

My wife is not a big fan of President Trump. So when I got back from covering the Trump rally in Wildwood Tuesday, she asked me a question: “Were there any empty seats?” Were there any empty seats at Woodstock? I’ve never covered a Trump event that didn’t evoke images of that 1969 rock festival. As with Woodstock, the organizers have no need to advertise the event widely. The mere mention of it is enough to attract massive throngs of the faithful. Another similarity is the opportunity to hear a lot of great rock music from the 1960s. I arrived...

As the weather turns from warm summer breezes to brisk chilly nights, the City of Cape May is transformed from a summer paradise to a winter wonderland. Numerous bed and breakfasts are decorated to the nines as holiday lights outline the beauty of the Victorian homes. Trees along the Washington Street Mall shine bright, lighting the way for shoppers looking for that perfect gift. A thirty-foot tree, decorated with colorful lights, is the centerpiece at Congress Hall. People bundled up in heavy coats -- appropriately dressed for a cold Thursday evening -- wandered the resort's annual Winter Wonderland that features...

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday ordered that the Mississippi flag, which carries a Confederate emblem, be replaced by the American flag at a state park that overlooks the Statue of Liberty. Murphy ordered the removal of Mississippi’s flag from a display of each state’s flag at Liberty State Park, a preserve of more than 1,200 acres in Jersey City that overlooks Ellis Island and Lady Liberty. Murphy is a first-term Democrat and a self-styled progressive who regularly cited the Emma Lazarus poem at the statue’s base that invites immigrants to America. New Jersey, he said, is rooted in...

Dawn Marie Addiego has served in the state Senate since 2010. (Courtesy) Republicans' power in New Jersey just shrunk again. In a rare and unexpected move, longtime Republican state Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego announced Monday she is switching parties and becoming a Democrat. “As gridlock in Washington dominates the news, it has become increasingly clear that in order to effect change you have to be part of the discussion and not on the outside looking in,” Addiego, who has represented South Jersey’s 8th District since 2010, said in a statement. “The people of the 8th District did not elect me...

The bitter war of words between Democrats that could lead to another state government shutdown in New Jersey raged into the night during the year's longest day. The state's Democrat-controlled Legislature defied Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by passing their own state budget Thursday night, despite the new governor's vow to veto it. And the body's top lawmaker accused Murphy of being dishonest and dictatorial. That came hours after closed-door negotiations broke down, with Murphy standing by his tax hike proposals and alleging his fellow Democrats are foolishly following in the footsteps of the state's previous -- unpopular -- governor, Republican...

<p>A viral video shows a young woman getting pummeled by a cop during a wild scuffle on a New Jersey beach at the start of the Memorial Day weekend.</p> <p>The 54-second clip captures a chaotic scene of two cops struggling to subdue the woman as a child cries and someone repeatedly shouts, “Stop resisting!”</p>

A great white shark that's been tagged by researchers was spotted off the Jersey Shore on Friday evening. The shark, whose name is Hilton, pinged about 60 miles off Atlantic City at 9:21 p.m. The 12-foot, 1,300 pound male shark was tagged by OCEARCH, a science research organization that tags sharks and monitors their travel.

Amid one of the most hotly contested presidential elections in generations — and one in which the Republican presidential candidate has claimed that the balloting process if “rigged” — thousands of New Jersey voters are at risk of not having their votes counted in November. Clerks in at least three Republican-heavy counties have reported that hundreds of mail-in ballots were erroneously returned to voters instead of being delivered to the county election boards. The problem is with new Post Office equipment that was unable to properly read the mailing address on some — but not all — ballot envelopes mailed...

A state agency that lost its bid to seize the home of piano tuner Charlie Birnbaum in state Superior Court last month plans to continue its lengthy legal battle to acquire the Oriental Avenue property.The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, or CRDA, on Wednesday filed a notice appealing the Aug. 5 decision from Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez, who wrote the state agency's effort to condemn Birnbaum's property is a "manifest abuse of the eminent domain power." The agency has targeted the brick walkup that has been in Birnbaum's family for more than four decades as part of a mixed-use development project in...

Just before New Jersey holds its presidential primary, Jesse Watters went "down the shore" to find out where Jersey Shore locals stand on the presidential race. He encountered a good number of Trump supporters on the boardwalk of Seaside Heights.

The mayor of this small beach town halted all incoming traffic from a major roadway for several hours on Sunday after it became too jammed with tourists. Mayor Matt Doherty announced in a tweet shortly after 3 p.m. that all traffic into Belmar from Route 35 would be shut down immediately. He said in the tweet that the town had “reached its capacity.” […] The 1.6 square mile beach town has an estimated population of approximately 6,000 people, but that number swells to more than 60,000 in the summer. He said a “perfect storm of good things” led to an...