I’ve been a fan of NJ Spotlight News from its early days as New Jersey Nightly News. Although it covers a wide array of Garden State topics, my personal interest has always focused on politics and the environment. Spotlight introduces its viewers to the most important daily news, presenting it through skilled, unbiased editing. Its news anchor and beat reporters are knowledgeable and professional.
What more could you want?
The New Jersey Legislature has a brief opportunity to save Spotlight News–and NJ Network, too. Please, don’t blow it.
Representative Tom Kean has not been seen for nearly three months but is on the ballot in Tuesday’s New Jersey primary.Credit…Andrew Seng for The New York Times
Representative Tom Kean Jr. has not been seen in public for nearly three months. The mystery of his disappearance grew gradually, beginning with a news update in March by a political website noting that the New Jersey congressman had missed a week’s worth of votes in Washington.
Missing a few votes isn’t necessarily cause for alarm. But after the Easter recess, two of Mr. Kean’s Republican colleagues in Congress from New Jersey told reporters they had been told nothing about Mr. Kean’s whereabouts. Soon, other Republican leaders said they were upset that their texts to Mr. Kean had gone unanswered. The story eventually gained traction when Dan Scharfenberger, Mr. Kean’s chief of staff, told The New York Times in May, “There’s no cameras where Tom is.”
Ahead of a congressional primary Tuesday, in which he faces no Republican opposition, Mr. Kean’s only known campaign events involved making phone calls to a New Jersey political journalist and to Republican leaders in his district, one of whom asked if the missing congressman needed anything.
“Just your prayers,” Mr. Kean replied, according to the official, Joe LaBarbera, chairman of the Republican Party in Sussex County.
Police pass over a barricade as they clash with protesters near the Delaney Hall detention center during a protest against the transfer of detainees and federal immigration policies on Saturday in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Newark officials instituted a mandatory curfew on Sunday around Delaney Hall after ongoing protests led to clashes between protesters and police officers late Saturday, even as Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that family members will again be able to visit loved ones at the immigration detention center.
Three people were arrested after the skirmish, according to Sherrill.
Protests have roiled Delaney Hall since last week over conditions inside the facility. Family visitation had been suspended after protesters blocked entry to the facility on May 24, but Sherrill said Sunday that the Department of Homeland Security agreed to restart it.
The curfew announced by Mayor Ras Baraka came after continued clashes between police and protesters outside the jail, including a Friday night confrontation that led police to temporarily clear the area.
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New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said Sunday that protesters were “collecting wooden poles and other blunt-force objects for use as weapons.” According to one group taking part in the protests, law enforcement fired rubber bullets at protesters.
Baraka’s curfew, which began Sunday at midnight, will be enforced between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in all areas within a half mile of Delaney Hall.
Doremus Avenue will be closed to all pedestrians, and only vehicles with “verified official business” will be allowed in the area.
Protesters and the New Jersey State Police faced off outside a Newark immigration detention center late Saturday, hours after Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged demonstrators to remain peaceful after an overnight confrontation that led to multiple arrests.
Officers in riot gear formed shield lines outside the Delaney Hall detention center, while mounted troopers and officers on foot worked to push demonstrators back. Protesters pressed against police barricades and shields, wielded makeshift shields of their own, and at times struggled with officers for control of metal fencing. Police later deployed tear gas and flash-bang grenades as they sought to disperse the crowd.
Earlier Saturday, at an afternoon news conference at a New Jersey State Police station in Newark, Ms. Sherrill said that demonstrators must “bring the temperature down” to avoid escalating immigration enforcement operations and endangering the lives of detainees and other immigrants in the state.
“We know what ICE has done in other states,” Ms. Sherrill said, standing beside the state’s attorney general and several law enforcement officials. “I refuse to let that happen in New Jersey. I will not give ICE a pretext to expand operations at Delaney Hall or across our state. I will not put lives at risk.”
State regulators are waging a multi-pronged campaign to tackle PFAS contamination from industrial sources, but they say funding from consent orders and existing EPA programs isn’t enough
NEW YORK – State regulators say they need the federal government to direct more financial support to water systems struggling with PFAS contamination. The total costs to implement destruction and control technologies nationwide will be in the billions, speakers at the annual Summit on PFAS Regulation, Compliance, and Litigation in New York City said on Thursday.
Katrina Kessler, a commissioner with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, said the federal government may need to consider a fee system or other revenue-generating authority from upstream producers of PFAS chemicals in order to ensure the cost doesn’t fall entirely on taxpayers.
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While she is “sympathetic” to passive receivers of contaminated material, such as wastewater treatment plants and landfills, Kessler said she’s worried about shrinking the pool of facilities that can be held responsible for shouldering the costs.
“Frankly, this administration likes to talk about polluter pays, but I’m not seeing a lot of leadership on the polluter pays side,” Kessler said. “How are states and local governments going to meet the costs without bankrupting small towns across the country without a true polluter pays model?”
Gov. Sherrill Caves To Shore Real Estate And Development Interests – A Kinder And Gentler Form Of Climate Denial
By Bill Wolf, Wolfnotes
There was no DEP testimony to correct the record, challenge the lies, and defend the Murphy DEP’s regulations.
That can only mean one thing: Gov. Sherrill supports the Legislative Veto and opposes the Murphy DEP regulations.
My sense is that instead of going through all the work of both Houses of the Legislature passing Resolutions twice to formally veto the DEP REAL regulations, that we’ll soon hear a “bipartisan” public announcement from DEP or Gov. Sherrill that the rule will be revoked and redrafted (to be a toothless version of this voluntary local “resilience” program). ~~~ “Earth Day Nightmare” -April 22, 2026
Today, on a Friday afternoon, Gov. Sherrill announced that she was throwing the Murphy DEP’s coastal flood rules under the bus.
Those rules were designed to protect people and property from climate driven sea level rise and extreme storm risks: (DEP Press Release):
We are taking a close, comprehensive look at the REAL rules to ensure they reflect our core priorities of protecting lives and property, supporting responsible development, and improving government efficiency. This extension gives us time to meaningfully engage with local leaders, communities, and other stakeholders across New Jersey to get this right,” said Governor Sherrill.
Core priorities?
The Gov. is not only throwing the DEP flood rules under the bus but also misleading the public about her reasons for doing so. The Gov. implies that the Murphy rule development process lacked adequate “Stakeholder” participation. In fact, DEP conducted extensive outreach and years of Stakeholder process and meetings. After over 5 years of stakeholder process and foot-dragging, the DEP extended the effective date of the rules by another 6 months after adoption, a highly unusual concession.
