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Law enforcement in Ewing, N.J., reportedly broke up a party Friday night among 47 people in a small apartment, despite recommendations from health officials amid the coronavirus pandemic. The department confirmed they received an anonymous call about the alleged party Friday evening. Officers immediately dispersed the gathering that "the renter of the apartment called a 'Corona Party,'" according to a Saturday statement. The apartment renter, Wade E. Jackson, 47, was issued summonses for allegedly obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function, and violating the "Emergency and Temporary Acts," according to the statement. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D)...

A recent French peer review study by renowned infectious disease specialist Dr. Didier Raoult which was published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents showed promising results in the treatment of COVID-19 with Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). The French study also showed a significant decrease in “viral shedding,” from patients treated with HCQ. The lower the shedding, the less likelihood that the virus can be communicated to other individuals. As the medical profession evaluates different treatment options, public health officials should adopt early treatment measures with the existing tools at our disposal. HCQ is an inexpensive, safe drug that has been used...

Like a lot of you stuck at home, I find myself having family dinners most nights -- and it’s been nice. With our son home from college, my office closed, my husband’s gym shuttered and my mother’s doctor’s offices seeing only coronavirus cases, all of the outside-the-house, time-suck activities have dropped away. During the day, we each go about our business, but we come together around the kitchen table for an actual sit-down dinner. It feels like a sweet throwback to my childhood in the ‘70s, when Daddy came home and snoozed over the newspaper after work, and if you...

The doctor’s voice was filled with distress. Dr. Suraj Saggar didn’t have much time to talk. At times, he even sounded almost out of breath. Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck is under siege from the coronavirus, and he needed to get back to his patients. But first, he had a desperate message he needed to send. They need help. “It looks likes a war zone,” said Saggar, Holy Name’s chief of infectious disease. The hospital is in such dire need, it took the unprecedented step of pleading to the public for donations to buy critical supplies. Holy Name is...

If you’re going through hell, order pizza. I think it was Winston Churchill who said that, but someone should double check. I would go to the library myself and look it up but, well, you know. But I am quite sure this moment in time calls for pizza. Having that familiar cardboard box arrive at your front door, its contents steaming hot and deliciously glorious, is one of the few slices of normalcy we still have during the coronavirus pandemic. No pun intended.

Gov. Phil Murphy said he’s “really damned unhappy” to hear stories he’s hearing about New Jersey residents not abiding by his stay-at-home order to combat the coronavirus outbreak and warned Sunday to expected a law enforcement crackdown. “There’s too many people not paying attention to this. We’ve about had it. We’re not happy," Murphy said during a conference call to update the state on the latest cases. “We banned any social gatherings in the state. We want people to stay home,” he said. "We want all of these steps to be enforced aggressively.” Enforcement could include arrests, he said. Under...

Nearing the end of another 16-hour day overseeing New Jersey’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Judith Persichilli pauses at the door of her crisis conference room to answer a final question. Persichilli, the state health commissioner, has become a familiar face in the state as the woman who calmly announces how many people have tested positive and died of COVID-19 disease each day. Behind the scenes, she is the health official who has been running the state’s day-to-day battle against the virus. But at age 71, Persichilli is squarely in the age range that experts are warning to be most...

Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday announced he’s putting New Jersey into a virtual lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus, ordering New Jerseyans to stay at home except for necessary trips and mandating that all non-essential businesses close until further notice and others have people work from home. The measures will go into effect 9 p.m. Saturday, Murphy said while announcing that the state now has 1,327 confirmed cases of the virus that has infected hundreds of thousands across the globe. There have now been 16 known deaths from the virus in New Jersey. The governor said the actions...

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy says all New Jersey bars, restaurants, movie theaters and casinos will close at 8 p.m. Monday amid the coronavirus outbreak. Murphy made the announcement Monday morning along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. The same restrictions apply to those two states. The governors said essential businesses like supermarkets and gas stations will be able to stay open after 8 p.m., though all non-essential businesses must close.

All Atlantic City casinos will close until further notice effective 8:00 tonight. The governors of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have all agreed to a set of restrictions designed to halt the spread of COVID-19. Those restrictions include a ban on gatherings of 50 people or more and all bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, and casinos will close tonight until further notice. "We want everybody to be home, not out," Murphy said

Two New Jersey homeowners are being fined by their condominium association for placing an 18-inch-tall figurine of the Virgin Mary on their porch. Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara is representing Mary Jeanne Vassallo and her co-owner in what he describes as a “clear cut case of religious discrimination in housing.” On March 7, 2020, the not-for-profit, national public interest law firm sent a demand letter to the managing agent of the condominium association and the association’s board members seeking appropriate resolution on the owners’ behalf. “I am confident that we can prevail on the claims in this...

Days after Hoboken officials announced the city’s first positive case of COVID-19, the mayor declared a mandatory nightly curfew in the latest attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Mayor Bhalla detailed the curfew in a city blogpost late Saturday night, outlining the details of a nightly curfew that will run from 10 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. each night. The curfew is scheduled to begin Monday evening. All Hoboken residents will be required to remain indoors during the curfew hours except for emergencies and required work, the mayor said. In addition to nightly curfews, restaurants and bars...

The next Democratic debate isn’t in Paterson, New Jersey, but it should be: that unlikely city is blazing new trails in multiculturalism and diversity. On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously (with two members not voting) to grant preliminary approval to the Islamic call to prayer being broadcast over loudspeakers in the city. This followed the swearing-in earlier this month, on the Qur’an, of course, of Paterson’s new police chief, Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora, the first Muslim police chief in an American city. Celebrate diversity, right? Sure. The problem is that it is by no means certain that this diversity will...

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...

Police on the street responding to the December attack on a Jersey City kosher market in December.AP Citing the deadly attack in December on a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, as well as the arrests last year of a number of white supremacists allegedly plotting violent attacks, New Jersey officials Friday said homegrown extremism remains the biggest terrorism threat to the state. The Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, in its annual assessment report, said of the 44 domestic terrorist incidents reported in the United States last year, four had a nexus to New Jersey.“The ever-changing threat landscape in...

Man was handed to ICE after traffic stop, advocates question if cops violated NJ policy

Philip Cerone, 29, of Maywood, is a former teacher's aide serving probation for criminal sexual contact. The victim is suing Cerone and two districts where he worked.Bergen County Prosecutor's Office A 20-year-old woman has sued two school districts in Bergen County claiming she was sexually assaulted by a teacher’s aide and officials at two schools did nothing to intervene. The woman claims Philip Cerone, of Maywood, carried on an illegal relationship with her from April 2016 to October 2017 while she was a student at Hackensack High School and a volunteer under Cerone’s supervision at South Hackensack Memorial School...

David Caldwell and Lissa McGowan recreated the original photo from 1986 with Caldwell's son, Zayne.Provided by Renata Freydin When David Caldwell pulled his own baby book out from storage, a week after his son Zayne was born, he never expected to see a familiar face in the old photo: his son’s NICU nurse. Lissa McGowan, a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, had helped take care of Caldwell when he was born in November of 1986, six weeks early.Decades later, she also helped take care of Caldwell’s son, who was...

Englewood man charged with sexual assault of 10-year-old

A man was arrested Wednesday after he was caught secretly videotaping two women in the bathroom of the Barnes & Noble in Clifton, authorities said Friday. Juan Mejia, 44, of Paterson, was charged with two counts of invasion of privacy and two counts of endangering the welfare of children after videos of suspected child pornography were found in his home after he was arrested, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and Clifton Police announced Friday.The mother of one of the victims said in a Facebook post that her daughter texted her from the stall of the bathroom and said she saw...