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New Jersey lawmakers routinely skip votes, driving demands for reform
Voting on bills is one of the most impactful actions a state legislator can take, but dozens of New Jersey lawmakers skipped more than 10,000 votes in the current legislative session, a New Jersey Monitor analysis has found. Twelve of the Legislature’s 120 lawmakers failed to vote more than 250 times each, representing almost 40% […]
Report: N.J. Parole Board too often refuses to release inmates, needs oversight
The New Jersey State Parole Board routinely refuses to release parole-eligible inmates from prison, leaving many people languishing behind bars far longer than sentencing judges intended, the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender says in a recent report calling for more oversight. The 1979 Parole Act requires inmates to be paroled as soon as they’re […]
Acting A.G. takes aim at law criminalizing sexual activity by people with HIV
Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck told county prosecutors Wednesday they should exercise caution before using a decades-old state law that criminalizes certain sexual activity by people living with HIV. The 1997 law makes it a third-degree crime for someone living with HIV to engage in an “act of sexual penetration” without the informed […]
Few surprises in sleepy lieutenant governor debate
The first question at the only debate in the race for New Jersey lieutenant governor pretty much set the tone for the rest of the hourlong event Tuesday night at Rider University: Does this office you’re both seeking really need to exist? Moderator David Wildstein might as well have asked if the debate needed to exist: […]
Senate race pits veteran GOP leader against young Democratic mayor
Voter disillusionment with politics often boils down to indistinguishability. This old white guy seems just like the other old white guy. Every candidate ever pledges to reduce taxes. And sure enough, the candidates battling for the open state Senate seat in the 21st District — which covers 16 municipalities in Morris, Somerset, and Union counties […]
With Bridgegate at center stage, race for humdrum Bergen County post heats up
A county clerk is the unglamorous workhorse of local government, a keeper of records who is tasked with everything from processing passport applications to maintaining property deeds. In New Jersey, it’s an elected position that doesn’t typically make headlines or fill campaign coffers. But then Bridget Kelly is not your typical political candidate. “People tried to […]
Judge faces removal for her conduct in dispute with daughter’s school
A New Jersey Superior Court judge in Union County inched closer to being booted off the bench, with the state Supreme Court on Thursday ordering her to answer why she shouldn’t be removed or disciplined for getting into a protracted dispute with her daughter’s school. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct in May 2018 found Judge […]
Lawsuit challenges Atlantic City’s ban on safe-needle access
The South Jersey AIDS Alliance has sued Atlantic City to block a new ordinance that bans syringe access effective Oct. 12. Three anonymous residents who use the city’s Oasis Drop-In Center for syringe access are also named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state Superior Court in Atlantic County. More than 1,200 people visited Oasis […]
N.J.’s top court strengthens consent standard in sex assault cases
For years, sexual assault victims typically were treated like criminal defendants, forced to prove their innocence, until the Me Too movement in 2017 sparked systemic reforms and conversations about consent. Still, in a 2018 sexual assault case, a New Jersey appellate court used a legal standard that applies to criminal defendants to decide that a […]
New law aims to cut teacher shortages
In an effort to reduce longstanding teacher shortages, Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed a law that will create new pathways to the classroom for would-be teachers who lack the proper credentials. Under the law, the state Department of Education will create a five-year pilot program in which officials will issue “limited certificates of eligibility” […]
Skyrocketing rates of anti-Asian hate show no signs of slowing
Ritu Chandra is a stand-up comedian, so deft at delivering a punchline that she was on stage almost every weekend before the pandemic. So she’s comfortable being the center of attention. But the unwelcome attention of a stranger in her local park one recent summer morning has left her with lingering nightmares — and a […]
Judges can’t ignore jury verdicts in deciding sentencing, N.J.’s top court rules
Judges cannot consider conduct defendants are acquitted of in deciding how to sentence them when they are found guilty of lesser offenses, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision issued Thursday. The ruling came in the consolidated appeal of two defendants who were tried in unrelated cases that left three people dead […]