Free Republic

The New Jersey attorney general has announced an investigation into the 2022 general election in Monmouth County after some votes were double-counted, possibly flipping the outcome of a local school board race. Democrat Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Civil Rights Director Sundeep Iyer said last week that the state retained former Attorney General Peter Harvey and his law firm on a pro bono basis to investigate Monmouth County's administration of the November election and provide recommendations to improve future elections. "Based on public reports regarding the 2022 General Election in Monmouth County, a full investigation is warranted to encourage and...

n antisemitic New Jersey man went on a shocking hours-long crime spree targeting Hasidic Jews — having warned his family to expect “a blood bath,” according to police documents. Dion Marsh, 27, was charged with three counts of attempted murder as well as bias intimidation for allegedly running down two men and stabbing another in the chest on Saturday, Ocean County prosecutors said. The spree started with a violent carjacking in Lakewood Township just after 1 p.m. — and only ended nearly 10 hours later when he was arrested at home in Manchester, prosecutors said. Two of his victims —...

A brush fire in Lakewood the Brick border Sunday afternoon grew into a major forest fire by the evening, damaging 30 homes and buildings and forcing the closure of the Garden State Parkway. The fire’s footprint was less than a quarter of a football field when first reported about 1 p.m. near Airport Road and Cedarbridge Avenue, officials said. It jumped across Airport Road and spread to nearby buildings before crossing the Parkway, Lakewood police Capt. Steve Allaire told The Lakewood Scoop. A neighborhood of homes was temporarily evacuated, and the parkway was eventually closed in both directions from Exit...

The state changed their locks, but that didn’t stop a New Jersey diner from inviting patrons to eat inside, despite coronavirus restrictions. Lakeside Diner owners Debbie and Brian Brindisi received a call from their alarm company at 4:30 a.m. Friday to notify them that all of the doors had been broken into in Forked River, NJ.com reported. “We came down here,” Debbie said. “The [Ocean County] sheriff’s department was here. A locksmith was here. Lacey Township police were here. They were changing the locks.” But Brian managed to get inside and refused to leave — then welcomed the breakfast crowd for...

TOMS RIVER, NJ – Years ago, political double-dipping, holding of more than one public job by a public official, was a big problem. Governor Chris Christie enacted a law to prevent double dippers at the state level, including local Mayor Michael Reina of Jackson. Reina worked as mayor of Jackson and held a politically appointed state job at the New Jersey Department of Homeland Security. When Christie enacted his double-dipper law, Reina was forced to stop taking his municipal salary and was eventually given a new double-dip safe haven in Ocean County. Christie’s law prevented state-level double dipping, but one...

JACKSON-A report in the Lakewood Scoop on Thursday said National Security Advisor John Bolton was heading to New Jersey to meet with religious leaders, community leaders and GOP officials to address a pattern of anti-Semitism against Orthodox Jews by the Jackson Township Republican Club. Bolton, a former Trump aide was invited by Dr. Richard Roberts, President Trump’s former Advisor on Jewish Relations who has pledged his support to combat what has become a culture of anti-Semitism within the Jackson Republican Club. In recent years, Jackson Township has experienced a population surge of Orthodox Jews, after neighboring Lakewood Township is running...

A baby girl found crawling across a New Jersey road Saturday prompted officials to launch an investigation -- and a photo of the shocking incident has gone viral on social media. The motorist who spotted the child, Cory Cannon of Eatontown, told the Asbury Park Press he spotted the toddler crawling across the road in Lakewood at around 5 p.m. "I thought it was a toy or something until she moved," he told the newspaper. "I knew I needed to get some sort of proof and my GPS was open on my phone, so I used my work vehicle to...

The seven wealthy New Jersey couples, including a rabbi and his wife, who allegedly gamed the system to collect about $2 million in unmerited welfare benefits may just be the tip of the iceberg. “There will be more individuals served charges. We will not be speaking to the timing of those arrests at this time,” a spokesperson for the Ocean County, New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office told FOX Business Thursday.

SEASIDE PARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Police are investigating an explosion in Seaside Park at the site of a 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The incident, which occurred around 9:30 a.m., happened on the route of the Third Annual 5K Semper Five race. The Ocean County Sheriff's Department confirmed that no one has been injured and that there was no damage to the surrounding area. The investigation is still active. Officials said participants in the run to benefit Marines and sailors had been scheduled to pass by the area around the time the blast occurred. But the start...

The reconstruction of Sandy-battered Route 35 is soaking New Jersey taxpayers with tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns, an Asbury Park Press investigation reveals. The newspaper found that the project, announced by Gov. Chris Christie in 2013, is already $76 million over budget and a year behind schedule. The potential final cost of $341 million means that the 12.5-mile road construction in Ocean County will cost a jaw-dropping $27.3 million per mile — making it one of the most expensive road projects in the state. The Asbury Park Press, which called the project a “boondoggle,” found that the...

Updated 4:37 p.m. | New Jersey Republicans avoided a nightmare scenario Wednesday night in the highly competitive, open-seat race for the 3rd District. Ocean County Republicans endorsed former Randolph Mayor Tom MacArthur as their preferred nominee. The endorsement comes five days after the Burlington County GOP also backed MacArthur.

TOMS RIVER, N.J. Jurors in Ocean County have spared the life of a Bronx man who was found guilty of torturing and killing a mother and her son during a robbery in Barnegat. Dwayne Gillispie will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jurors were divided on the death penalty for one of the deaths and agreed the 23-year-old should not be executed for the other. Christine Staton and her 25-year-old son were killed in 2000. Prosecutors presented witnesses at the trial who described a plot in which Gillispie, his uncle and a third man set up a gun...

Military officials are investigating an incident during which an Air National Guard fighter pilot fired 20 mm rounds over South Jersey last night. The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Officials, in announcing a news conference for this afternoon, said only that the discharge of an undetermined number rounds occurred in the airspace for the Warren Grove target range in the Pine Barrens. But residents of Little Egg Harbor Township in Ocean County said investigators had converged on the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School and that it apparently was related to the fighter jet incident. The military affairs...