A Hit And Run driver struck and killed a 17 year old Boy on Cedar Rapids Ave Cor. Millville Rd Police are setiing up a command to conduct an investigation on the hit and run.
Misaskim Is at the Hospital and at the seen………More Details To Follow
Update 10:01 The bochur that was taken from this world is believed to be a member of the werther family, may we only hear simchos.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A senior U.S. government scientist who helped investigate a series of deadly anthrax attacks in 2001 has died from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to charge him with carrying out the attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. The newspaper identified the man as Bruce Ivins, 62, and said he had worked for the last 18 years at government biodefence research laboratories in Maryland. It quoted people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and the FBI investigation.
It said Ivins had been informed of his impending prosecution shortly before his death on Tuesday after swallowing a massive dose of pain killers.
The anthrax was sent through the mail to media organizations and politicians shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The attacks killed five people, crippled national mail service, shut down a Senate office building and spread fear of further terrorism.Viewed as a skilled microbiologist, Ivins helped the FBI analyze materials recovered from one of the anthrax-tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator’s office in Washington, the newspaper said.
New Jersey Governor Corzine
As he soaked up the sights and culture of Israel during a five-day trade mission halfway around the world last week, Gov. Jon Corzine often felt like New Jersey was just a Turnpike exit away.
From the first day of his journey to the last, Corzine stumbled upon reminders of his home state in all corners of the country.
Tourists recognized him during breakfasts at the hotel. Summer interns in the Knesset government headquarters told him they hailed from the Garden State. A cluster of Jersey schoolteachers descended on him at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.
“It feels like I’m in New Jersey most of the time when I am in a public forum,” Corzine said early on in the trip.
New Jersey and Israel often invite comparisons over their similar size and population, as well as specializing in some of the same industries. New Jersey’s large Jewish community also makes for strong cultural ties.
But for the governor and his traveling posse, last week took the link to another level.
Bradley Abelow, Corzine’s chief of staff, took to calling the New Jersey state Legislature “our Knesset,” after the famously combative Israeli legislative branch.
Parallels popped up when driving around the country. Spotting a nasty traffic jam on the main north-south highway leading to the urban center of Tel Aviv, Ambassador Asaf Shariv, consul general of Israel in New York, pointed to the green exit signs and grinned. “It’s like the Turnpike, no?”
The governor’s motorcade – led by a blue stretch limousine provided by the Israeli government — was itself an attention magnet. Curious passers-by who were told the governor of New Jersey was inside sometimes asked if he was the one who romanced an “Israeli guy,” Shariv said.
Corzine’s predecessor, former Gov. James E. McGreevey, resigned from office after admitting a homosexual affair with Israeli national Golan Cipel, who claims McGreevey sexually harassed him.
One-on-one connections were equally bizarre. Visiting Israel’s leading technical university on Tuesday, Corzine made small talk with a professor showing off a surveillance camera embedded in a miniature helicopter. Soon they found common ground: both used to live in Summit.
Another random encounter brought Corzine face to face with Kenny Kleinerman, who said he worked with former Gov. Thomas Kean on developing E-ZPass.
By Thursday morning, it was hardly a surprise when Tal Brody – the Trenton Central High School graduate who achieved Israeli basketball superstardom – stopped by Corzine’s hotel.
“It was like musical chairs in terms of people coming to meet with him,” said Abe Foxman, a Bergen County resident and national director of the Anti-Defamation League who stumbled upon the governor in the hotel dining room one morning. “He’s so comfortable, you’d think he was in Jersey.”
The constant stream of connections clearly amused Corzine as he hawked Jersey as a home for Israeli business. On a tour of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot Thursday afternoon – the last public stop on his official trip – Corzine was shown an exhibit of dangling mirrors meant to portray chaos.
Want chaos? “Come to New Jersey,” he said.
“You’re from New Jersey?” asked his young tour guide, Hadas Cahalla.
“Yes,” said the governor. “Are you?”
For once, the answer was no. NJ.com
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex in northeast Iowa Monday morning to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, said Tim Counts, a Midwest ICE spokesman.
Agents are also executing a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States, he said.
Immigration officials told aides to Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, that they expect 600 to 700 arrests. About 1,000 to 1,050 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s employment services agency.
Chuck Larson, a truck driver for Agriprocessing, was in the plant when the agents arrived. “There has to be 100 of them,” he said of the agents.
Larson said the agents told workers to stay in place then separated them by asking those with identification to stand to the right and those with other papers, to stand to the left.
“There was plenty of hollering,” Larson said. “You couldn’t go anywhere.”
When asked who was separated, Larson said those standing in the group with other papers were all Hispanic
ICE spokesman Harold Ort in Postville did not confirm or deny that anyone had been detained, but went on to say that the children of those detained would be cared for and that “their caregiver situation will be addressed.”
“They were asked multiple times if they have any sole-caregiver issues or any childcare issues,” Ort said.
Aides to Braley said they have been told that “hundreds” of arrests are expected because the action is more of an “investigation” than an immigration raid, and specific individuals are being targeted for arrest as part of the investigation.
Counts described the events in Postville as a “single site operation.” He said he was not aware of any other immigration raids being conducted elsewhere Monday.
Postville Police Chief Michael Halse said he did not know anything about the raid until Monday morning.
Postville is a community of more than 2,500 people that includes natives of German and Norwegian heritage and newcomers who include Hasidic Jews from New York, plus immigrants from Mexico, Russian, Ukraine and many other countries.
The Agriprocessors plant, known as the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, is northeast Iowa’s largest employer.
About 200 Hasidic Jews arrived in Postville in 1987, when butcher Aaron Rubashkin of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood reopened a defunct meat-packing plant with his two sons, Sholom and Heshy, just outside the city limits. Business boomed at the plant, reviving the depressed economy while pitting the newcomers against the predominantly Lutheran community.
Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said that the Postville immigration investigations were warranted despite concerns that federal official violated the constitutional rights of people in past raids.
“Remember our concern has not been about whether or not there should be raids,” Vilsack said. “It’s the way the raids have been conducted and the way in which American citizens’ rights have been violated by virtue of sort of a roundup process that’s used and what we think are inappropriate and unconstitutional actions on the part of immigration officials.”
Vilsack and others have alleged that immigration officials used humiliation, opposite-sex searches and long periods of secrecy in the Dec. 12, 2006, raids at Swift & Co. in Marshalltown, Iowa, where 90 people were arrested on immigration charges. UsaToday.com
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CHENGDU, China (AP) — One of the worst earthquakes to hit China in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people Monday, trapped about 900 students under the rubble of their school and caused a toxic chemical leak, state media reported.
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated a hilly region of small cities and towns in central China. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan province and more than 200 others were killed in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.
Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Sichuan province’s Beichuan county after the quake, raising fears that the overall death toll could increase sharply.
Passaic New Jersey Mayor Samuel Rivera will plead guilty on Friday tomorrow ( 05/09/2008 ) to taking bribes last year.
The mayor will be resigning from his office tomorrow. He will plead guilty for a plea deal. As more will come we will update you.
You heard this story first from P.C.J.N
Fresh off his victory in the Florida Republican primary, Sen. John McCain was poised to take another big prize on Wednesday.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani plans to drop out of the presidential race and endorse McCain at an event in California, two GOP sources with direct knowledge of the plans said.
Giuliani was a distant third with the results from Tuesday’s voting almost final.
While Giuliani didn’t say he was withdrawing from the race, he did speak of his campaign in the past tense at one point.
“I’m proud I ran a positive campaign,” he told supporters. “I ran a campaign that was uplifting.”
An endorsement would give McCain added momentum heading into a debate Wednesday night — and the Super Tuesday contests next week.
The remaining GOP White House hopefuls face off Wednesday at a CNN-Los Angeles Times-Politico debate being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
With 99 percent of Republican precincts reporting, McCain held a 36 percent-31 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Giuliani had 15 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who held 14 percent.
A top campaign official from McCain’s camp has been in “ongoing discussions” with Giuliani’s campaign about endorsing McCain’s candidacy, a GOP official familiar with talks told CNN Tuesday.
A source close to Giuliani confirmed that discussions were taking place and said there is talk among the staff that an endorsement could come Wednesday in California. The source said McCain and Giuliani need to talk, but “we are working to make it happen.”
“We have a ways to go, but we’re getting close, and for that, you all have my profound thanks,” McCain said as he claimed victory.
Above is a picture of a car that was smashed from falling ice. Please be considerate for your fellow freinds. Please take the extra fiew minutes to clear snow or ice off your car. Please use caution when driving leave extra time.
It was unseasonably warm last week, but it didn’t keep me from encountering people who sympathized — just barely — with this column’s call to ban the kind of road hazard that we call the Snow and Ice That Fall Twice.
That’s the kind of white junk that leaves the other guy’s car or truck, hits your windshield and makes your whole life flash in front of you. You know the kind:
* The Route 17 kind that killed Ridgewood’s Michael Eastman nearly 12 years ago.
* The Route 287 kind that caused Hawthorne’s Bob and Mary Mahon to chase after the car whose icy load smashed their windshield last year.
* The Route 80 kind that ran Kinnelon’s Tara Varner and her 2-year-old off the road last month.
Shouldn’t New Jersey fine drivers whose vehicles carry snow? Currently, statute 39:4-77.1 makes it illegal only when it causes damage or injury.
Cathy Eastman understands this because the vehicle whose icy load crushed her husband’s skull was long gone by the time police arrived. Tara, Bob, Mary and most of the 2,000 readers who sent me petitions early this year also get it.
But not some folks I’ve encountered. “There are thousands of SUVs, many driven by women,” said Pequannock’s E.L. Quigley. “They can’t clean ice off the tops of their vehicles.”
Ray R. also sympathizes, but:
“Do you have suggestions for clearing … snow from an SUV that’s been out overnight WITHOUT damaging the hood, roof rack or moon roof?” asked the Fair Lawn man. “Pushing snow off is easy, but after past storms, thick solid ice and packed snow didn’t budge after the car’s heater was on for 20 minutes.”
* Run a garden hose over the car with the heater running, but do this for short periods to avoid cracking the windshield.
* Put old cardboard, canvas or a rug over the vehicle before it snows, and yank it off after the storm.
* Run the engine for an hour, long enough to free frozen snow, or at least to help clear it.
Some consider all this unnecessary. One woman, 72, said: “If I can clean my SUV, so can anybody.” Cathy Eastman, who’s 5 feet 1, says she does it. NorthJersey.com And Passaic News.
Passaic New Jersey —Three people escaped death early Sunday morning after the car they were riding in plunged off rt 21 onto a local street , police and fire officials said.The male driver and the two passengers were able to escape from the vehicle before Police and E.M.S arrived.
The accident happened on Rt 21 but the car fell about 15 feet to the ground upside down near Columbia and Passaic street. According to police, the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle around 1 a.m. The car struck the guard rail, flipped over and took a tree down and fell to the ground. The rear window of the car popped out, allowing an escape route. Police said the driver and passengers were taken by Hatzolah Of North Jersey And Passaic E.M.S as well as Paramedics from the scene. Their conditions are not known at this time but they were transported to Saint Joes Trauma Center
cident. Hatzolah E.M.S. requested Paramedics as well as Fire Department for one aided in the back seat that was trapped in one of the cars. Hatzolah E.M.S transported four patients with paramedics aboard and Passaic E.M.S. transported one patient. All of the 5 patients were transported to Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson. One of the drivers of one of the cars was under 18. Passaic Police and Passaic County Sherrif also on scene. One resident who heard the crash said he heard the accident and he was amazed by the 15 Hatzolah Volunteer’s that responded so quickly. He said, “It’s truly amazing to have such a reliable organization”.PASSAIC — A fire at 220 Sixth St. destroyed one second-floor apartment, leaving heavy water and smoke damage in several nearby apartments and on upper floors. The Saturday night blaze also forced the city Housing Authority to relocate 12 residents, while 10 others found alternate lodging on their own, Sgt. Hershel Rawls of the Passaic Police Department, said Sunday.
In all, eight apartments were vacated as a result of the fire, according to the police report, Rawls said.
No residents were hurt in the blaze, although two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated and released from St. Mary’s Hospital, said Deputy Fire Chief Allen Roman.
A third firefighter suffered more serious injuries to his ankle including torn ligaments, Roman said. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson where he was treated and released.
Roman said the firefighter will be off duty until his ankle can be surgically repaired. The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. and the blaze was brought under control by 11:23 p.m., Roman said. Though the cause of the fire is still under investigation, investigators believe it was possibly started by someone smoking in bed. Northjersey.com
| NEW YORK (AP) — Gun-toting carjackers made off with a FedEx delivery truck after accosting the driver at a stoplight in Manhattan early Friday, police said.
Forced out of the truck and into another car, the driver was found around 1:30 a.m. in Brooklyn, police said. They were interviewing him later Friday. The driver wasn’t hurt, police and FedEx Corp. spokesman Steve Barber said. The FedEx Express truck was headed to a company facility in Newark, N.J., Barber said. While the driver was stopped at a traffic light on the far western side of midtown Manhattan, two men confronted him, brandishing a gun, according to police. Police and Barber said they didn’t know the truck’s contents or their value. Police described the truck as an 18-wheeler. |
Passaic City Councilman Marcellus Jackson has a date in federal court today to plead guilty to corruption charges growing out of a bribes-for-votes probe that netted 11 public officials across the state.
Jackson, 38, a Baptist deacon who was reelected to the City Council in May, was expected to admit his guilt during a scheduled 11 a.m. hearing before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton, her chambers said Monday.
He would become the sixth defendant to be convicted as a result of an FBI sting code-named “Operation Broken Boards.”
J. Gregory Reinert, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, said the office does not comment on upcoming pleas.
Clifton defense attorney Miles R. Feinstein confirmed that Jackson intends to plead guilty at the hearing. He declined to comment further.
The councilman was arrested Sept. 6 on charges that he solicited and accepted $16,500 in bribes in exchange for using his influence to steer business to representatives of an FBI undercover company.
The insurance brokerage, Coastal Solutions of Egg Harbor Township, employed cooperating witnesses and undercover agents who passed out more than $150,000 in bribes during the probe.
Former state Assemblyman Alfred Steele of Paterson and four past and present members of the Pleasantville Board of Education have so far admitted they accepted payoffs to influence the award of public contracts.
Three others — Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr.; Keith Reid, the former chief of staff for Newark’s council president; and James McCormick, a former Pleasantville school board member — have been indicted for allegedly extorting bribes and are awaiting trial.
Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera and Jonathan Soto, a former councilman, also arrested in the September sweep, have been granted 60-day continuances in their cases.
Between January and May of this year, authorities charged that Jackson met in Egg Harbor Township, at an Atlantic City hotel, and in cars in Clifton and Newark to accept bribes from the FBI’s operatives. Many of the meetings were recorded by the FBI.
Initially cautious, Jackson appeared to relax as the cash payments flowed.
“I appreciate it, baby. Good things is going to happen,” he allegedly said on April 5 after accepting $6,000 from one of the cooperating witnesses.
Rivera said Tuesday that Jackson has been a “longtime friend” and that “I have my prayers for him.”
“I wish him the best,” he added.
Rivera said he didn’t believe that Jackson’s plea would affect his case, “One thing doesn’t have to do with the other,” he said. He referred all further questions to his attorney, Henry E. Klingeman.
Jackson, 37, an inspector for the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission, has served on the City Council for more than six years. He first ran for election in 2001 and lost, placing sixth in a field of eight candidates. But the council appointed him to serve out Rivera’s council term after Rivera was elected mayor. Jackson then sought to be elected in a November special election. At that time, the state attorney general announced it would not try to bar Jackson from the ballot, despite a prior drug conviction.
Jackson has played an active role in city political life as the former president of the city’s Democratic club and the lone black councilman on the seven-member council. Jackson is a deacon at the Calvary Baptist Church in Garfield.
Since his arrest in September, Jackson has continued to attend City Council meetings and play an active role in politics.
Calvin Merritt, president of the Passaic chapter of the NAACP, said even if Jackson pleads guilty, he will consider him a friend.
“If he did what the government is saying, I would say it was an error of judgment on his part,” he said, then added: “Friendship goes beyond things like this. You can tell who your true friends are when trouble arises.” NorthJersey.com
We at P.C.J.N. wish Passaic City Councilman Marcellus Jackson all the best on behalf of the Passaic/Clifton Jewish Community.
Clifton New Jersey- – Clifton Police got several reports at about 6:45 Pm of several cars spinning out of control near the Broad Street exit on Rt 19. The Clifton officers got on scene and advised their dispatcher that they should call the State to come salt the Highway due to the Highway being like an Ice Skating Rank. Moments after the officer advised the dispatcher of the condition of the Highway another passenger car skid right in to one of the Police cruisers. The police officers car was pushed about 30 feet forward all-though their was very little damage to the vehicles. The Officer was taken to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Passaic by Clifton Fire Dept E.M.S. No one else was reported to have any injuries. The Route 19 Highway was closed down by the Passaic County Sherrifs Dept. untill the salt trucks come to salt the Highway and is safe.P.C.J.N was the first to report this story.
TRENTON, N.J. – Road crews around the state were gearing up Wednesday for a winter storm expected to drop as much as 10 inches of snow in northern New Jersey on Thursday.
The National Weather Service was expected to issue a winter storm watch for Warren, Sussex, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties for Thursday morning through late Thursday night.
Forecasters expect the storm won’t hit until after morning rush hour, with the worst weather coming late Thursday afternoon.
“It looks like northern Jersey is definitely going to be hardest hit with the snow,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Wanton. He said the southern half of the state would mostly see sleet and freezing rain.
State road crews said they were prepared to handle whatever the storm brings.
“We’re in a pretty good situation,” said Joseph Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which also operates the Parkway.
“All of our equipment is ready to go; it’s not all worn and torn from an entire season of snow,” he said. “We’re pretty much just under full capacity for our salt.”
Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Newark Liberty International Airport was prepared with 500 tons each of salt and sand, as well as thousands of gallons of deicing fluids and snow removal equipment.
Clifton New Jersey There was a fatal accident this morning at about 4:05 am on Rt-21 South by Rt-46 and Rt-20 when a car was driving down Rt-21 a 3 lane 55 mph highway the wrong way and hit a oncoming car at high speeds. The crash had 2 people in 1 car and 1 in the other the accident took the life of 1 left 1 in likely to expire condition 1 in critical condition. At the time of the accident Clifton F.D. had no Ambulances available so they sent 4 fire trucks all of Clifton’s Fire Fighter’s are E.M.T. Garfield E.M.S. Passaic E.M.S. Nutley E.M.S and Hatzolah E.M.S. all were on scene 2 Pt were xported to Saint Joes Trauma Center in Paterson with Paramedics aboard. The Highway is expected to be closed for most of the day for the investigation.
You heard this story first on Passainews.wordpress.com
Passaic New Jersey A serious fire a 3rd alarm fire at 150 Passaic street in the downtown section of Passaic . Passaic P.D.Passaic County Sheriff.Passaic E.M.S. Paterson E.M.S. Hatzolah Passaic E.M.S. Passaic,Clifton,Paterson.Wallington.Carlstadt,Little Falls Fire Dept all on scene several people were taken out of the building and transported for smoke inhalation to Saint Mary’s .Fire started at about 6:30 fire burnt for around 3 hours un
till the Fire fighters were able to knock it down. Passaic Police Arson Squad is on the scene doing there investigation.There are about 50 people homeless some were being brought to the Howard Johnson on route 3 for the night.
AP VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France – Rampaging youths rioted overnight in Paris’ suburbs, hurling Molotov cocktails and setting fire to dozens of cars. At least 77 officers were injured and officers were fired at, a senior police union official said Tuesday.The violence was more intense than during three weeks of rioting in 2005, said the official, Patrice Ribeiro. Police were shot at and are facing “genuine urban guerillas with conventional weapons and hunting weapons,” Ribeiro said.
Some officers were hit by shotgun pellets, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. She said there were six serious injuries, “people who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes.”
The riots were triggered by the deaths of two teens killed in a crash with a police patrol car on Sunday in Villiers-le-Bel, a town of public housing blocks home to a mix of Arab, black and white residents in Paris’ northern suburbs.
Residents claimed that officers left the crash scene without helping the teens, whose motorbike collided with the car. Officials cast doubt on the claim, but the internal police oversight agency was investigating.
Youths first rioted Sunday and again overnight Monday to Tuesday, when the violence apparently got worse.
Police barricades were set on fire and youths threw stones and Molotov cocktails at officers, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding areas, youths set fire to 36 vehicles, the area’s prefecture said.
Youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. A police union official said a round from a hunting rifle pierced the body armor of one officer who suffered a serious shoulder wound.
Among the buildings targeted by the youths was a library, which was set afire.
In Sunday’s violence, eight people were arrested and 20 police officers were injured — including the town’s police chief, who was attacked in the face when he tried to negotiate with the rioters, police said. One firefighter also was injured.
Residents drew parallels to the 2005 riots, which were prompted by the deaths of two teens electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police in a suburb northeast of Paris.
A recent study by the state auditor’s office indicated that money poured into poor French suburbs in recent decades had done little to solve problems vividly exposed by the 2005 riots, including discrimination, unemployment and alienation from mainstream society.
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Stamford Connecticut- Tonight at the 85th Agudah Convention at the Westin Hotel several Hundred protester’s expected anti Agudah. On scene is Swat team’s Bomb Squad’s State Police Local and State Authorities preparing for possibly thousand’s of Satmar Chassidim. The Satmar sect plans to protest the Anti Agudah movement they are sending approximately 15 buses. Police are on scene cornering off sections of the road towards the Hotel. The hotel is going on complete lock down soon. We at PassaicCliftonJewishNews are first to report this story. We will update as it comes available. Update As of 10:00 only 15-20 Neturei Karta people have shown up but Police made them stay down the road from the Hotel. Also they now have a Helicopter above and Bomb Sniffing Dogs as well as many authorities Local and State.
Passaic N.J. At 2:57AM Their was a flipped over car on Main Ave and Brook Ave with no one around. Passaic Fire,Police and Hatzolah E.M.S all on scene and no one in the area driver fled away. The driver must have crawled out the window that was a half a block away.Car was towed to Police head quarters for investigation.
The teenager shot and injured during a chase with Roselle police Friday night is a high school football player and the son of a Plainfield police officer, authorities said.
The 16-year-old victim was shot around 6:30 p.m. as he crouched in an alley off Locust Street and refused to show his hands, authorities said. Andre Crawford, president of Plainfield’s police officers union, identified the victim as Marquise Randle, 16, who plays football at Plainfield High School.
The shooting appears accidental, said Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow, whose office is investigating the incident.
“He wouldn’t comply with officer commands to show his hands,” Romankow said. “As they attempted to pull him up, an officer’s weapon was accidentally discharged.”
Plainfield Police Chief Edward Santiago confirmed the victim is the son of Khisha Bethea, a six-year Plainfield police veteran. He declined to comment further.
The Roselle officers were responding to report of “suspicious activity” in the hallway of an apartment building on the 100 block of West 2nd Street. When police arrived, Randle fled the building and into a dark alley on the 100 block of Locust Street, Romankow said.
Officers found Randle crouching in dark and refusing to show his hands, authorities said. As police tried to drag him to his feet, a gun belonging to Officer Craig Howlett accidentally discharged, according to a Union County Prosecutors Office press release.
Howlett, 26, has been a police officer for two years, authorities said.
Randle was shot in the torso taken to University Hospital in Newark. His injury is not life-threatening, Romankow said.
No further details were immediately available. The incident is still under investigation. NJ.com
WASHINGTON – A hostile country led by anti-American ideologues appears close to developing its first nuclear weapon and, as a U.S. election approaches, the president and his advisers debate a preemptive military strike. Newspaper columnists demand action to stop the nuclear peril.The country was China, the year was 1963 and the president was Lyndon Johnson.
Now it is Iran that is said to be bent on acquiring nuclear arms and President Bush who has declared that “unacceptable.” Some U.S. officials and outside commentators are again pushing for a preemptive attack.
But the White House and its partisans may be inflating the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, say experts on the Persian Gulf and nuclear deterrence. While there are dangers, they acknowledge, Iran appears to want a nuclear weapon for the same reason other countries do: to protect itself.
Bush, by contrast, has suggested that a nuclear-armed Iran could bring about World War III. The president and his top aides, along with hawkish commentators, have suggested that Iran might launch a first strike on Israel or the United States, or hand nuclear weapons to terrorist groups Tehran supports.
There is “only one terrible choice, which is either to bomb those [Iranian nuclear] facilities and retard their program or even cut it off altogether, or allow them to go nuclear,” Norman Podhoretz, a foreign policy adviser to GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, said last month.
A source tells TheYeshivaWorld.com that a few hundred students at the Lakewood High-School (public school) are rioting at this time for an unknown reason. Reports of Lakewood police officers being assaulted as well. Numerous PD agencies responding. (East 7th Street @ Somerset Avenue) Further details to be posted shortly.
Update 12:34
Police are on the scene at Lakewood High School, where multiple students have been arrested after a large fight broke out.A police spokesman says one student has also been taken to a local hospital for a laceration.Police say they learned about the fight shortly before 11 a.m. Monday. Officers from neighboring Jackson, Toms River, Brick and Howell are helping at the scene.Police don’t have any information about why the fight broke out or exactly how many students have been arrested
Passaic News site is now back up for good. We have found a strong team willing to post True News in Passaic And Clifton. We now have a team of 12 people working around the clock to keep this site going . We Thank our 100s of Passaic/Clifton residents who have asked us to reopen.
Bribery bust details: ‘Will need that
green broccoli for the 1st entree’
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/6/07
BY MICHAEL RISPOLI
AND JONATHAN TAMARI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
Details of the accusations made in federal court Thursday against the 11
public officials arrested on charges of accepting bribes are:
– Assemblyman Alfred E. Steele, D-Passaic, allegedly accepted $15,500 in cash from an undercover agent and two cooperating witnesses posing as insurance brokers looking for local contracts. In exchange, Steele allegedly arranged meetings with Paterson, Orange and Newark officials who were seeking government contracts. The Orange official is likely the city’s mayor, Mims Hackett Jr., who was also charged. Steele, a member of the Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee, resigned as an undersheriff in Passaic County at noon today, said Bill Maer, spokesman for Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale.
– Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera allegedly accepted $5,000 in cash in exchange for promising to help the purported insurance brokers become the city’s “broker of record.” According to the FBI’s account, Rivera, a Democrat, boasted of his influence with the City Council and Passaic Valley Water Commission. – Assemblyman Mims Hackett Jr., D-Essex, allegedly accepted $5,000 in cash to help stir up business for the brokers. Hackett is also mayor of Orange. – Former Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto allegedly accepted $12,500 in cash to help the brokers win business. In a text message the day after a key council vote, Soto, a Republican, wrote to a cooperating witness, “will need that green broccoli for the 1st entree.”
– Passaic City Councilman Marcellus Jackson, a Democrat, allegedly took $16,500 from the purported insurance brokers.
– Keith Reid, chief of staff to Newark City Council President Mildred Crump, met
with an undercover agent and cooperating witnesses who posed as an insurance brokerage business wanting to do business with government agencies. Reid said he had relationships with people “who we can pick up the phone and call who can open doors.” Acting as an intermediary, Reid helped them obtain government contracts from several municipalities, including Newark, and accepted $5,000 in cash payments for his assistance in trying to obtain contracts. Reid, a Democrat, also accepted money from the “business” to pass along to other officials.
– Jayson Adams, a member of the Pleasantville Board of Education, accepted $7,500 in cash payments from an undercover witness posing as a roofing business employee in exchange for the contracts, as well as agreeing to share profits generated from the supposed insurance brokerage business from the board. In addition, Adams, a Democrat, acted as an intermediary for other officials on the school board.
– Maurice “Pete” Callaway, a member of the Pleasantville Board of Education,
accepted a total of $11,500 in cash payments in exchange for votes in favor of steering roofing contracts, through intermediaries. He is a Democrat, An associate, Louis Mister, also a Democrat, accepted $1,500 of those payments.
– James T. McCormick, a former member of the Pleasantville Board of Education,
conspired with other board members and had $3,500 wired to his secret bank account in exchange for voting in favor of contracts for the “insurance” firm.
– Pleasantville Board of Education President James Pressley allegedly took $35,800 in cash and checks for helping the roofing and insurance companies. After taking one payment of $7,500, instead of the $25,000 he was expecting, Pressley, who is not affiliated with a political party, complained, “I went through a lot of aggravation last night (during a vote) because I was anticipating it. (The cooperating witness) told me that he would have the 25 ready for me today,” according to the FBI charges.
– Pleasantville Board of Education member Rafael Velez allegedly accepted $4,000 in cash from a cooperating witness in exchange for helping the insurance brokers. Another official charged in the scheme said he would steer another $10,000 to Velez, a Democrat, according to the FBI.
FBI Makes 11 Corruption Arrests In N.J.
By Jonathan Dienst, Brian Thompson and Joe Valiquette
NEW YORK — Eleven public officials were charged Thursday in a widespread FBI corruption investigation, officials said.
At least one state assemblyman, several local mayors and school board officials were arrested by FBI agents in early-morning roundups. The officials are expected to be arraigned on corruption charges in Trenton Thursday afternoon.
United States attorney Chris Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun are expected to explain the charges at a 3:30 p.m. press conference in Trenton.
WNBC.com has learned that several of the officials were allegedly caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in a sting operation. Others were charged as part of related corruption investigations. The accused officials served in at least three counties, including Essex, Atlantic and Passaic.
Sources told WNBC.com that those charged include Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera, Passaic Council members Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson, Orange Mayor Mims Hackett and Passaic Assemblyman Alfred Steele.
The charges are just the latest in dozens of corruption-related arrests across New Jersey in recent years. Christie and Newark FBI Director Weysan Dun have said after terrorism investigations, public corruption remains a top priority.
© 2007 by WNBC.com. All rights reserved
Reader Submitted Article
Passaic, NJ – The Jewish community is being targeted with frivolous tickets.
Why the Jewish community? Because they know we’re easy to ticket. We don’t put up much of a fuss, we just politely take our undeserved ticket and go about our business. We are the city’s cash cow.
This morning, a Passaic police officer, #318, was seen circling the area in front of Kosher Konnection on Main Avenue only! He would drive down the strip of Main in front of Kosher Konnection, turn around at the Kosher Konnection Parking lot, and then turn around on Van Houten and go back. When he wasn’t driving, he kept his car parked in front of the kosher bagel shop right next door to Kosher Konnection.
This officer, #318 was observed ticketing 4 orthodox Jews in a row this morning! Is this racial profiling?
Two days ago, CBS TV exposed (http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_225220548.html) [PCNJ Note: as reported here] that the NYPD was giving out frivolous tickets in order to make their quotas. This seems to be what is happening in Passaic. As much as cities deny quotas, the article states that NYC actually admitted to having quotas in 2006.
A letter to the editor printed in the Herald two days ago (click here to view) called The City of Passaic a “Police State,” and wrote that “The city of Passaic, in my opinion, gives out tickets and prosecutes cases to raise money for the city coffers, not to punish wrongdoers, or obtain justice.”
Recently there were uproars in Passaic’s Jewish community, when Police officers ticketed and tried to tow a Jewish volunteer ambulance service’s ambulance (click here for that article in The Herald), and when police officers ticketed a Jewish woman in front of Kosher Konnection for trying to help her friend with an emergency (click here for that article on PCJN).
The real question is, who hires the Police? Who runs the city?
We have 3 Jewish councilmen and one councilwoman who works for a Jewish councilman, giving the Jewish officials a clear majority on the council, and therefore, almost absolute control of the city.
Why do they not stop these abuses against the Jewish community, and against citizens of the city in general?
Ulster County, NY – There is a search in progress for two groups of Jewish boys lost hiking in the State Park. Fire Department, N.Y. State Police, Sheriff’s, EMS, & Hatzolah are all involved with the search. They are staging at the local fire house. The search is for two groups of lost hikers in the woods near the Ice Cave Mountains in Minnewaska State Park. New York State Police are in contact with them via cell phones, and hope to locate them soon. Misaskim is on Scene with very bright lights. [You read it first on PCJN. We will update you as the updates become available.]
Update 00:14 - Park Rangers have located both of the groups on the “Red Trail” and are in the process of bringing them out of the forest. Hatzolah as well as the local EMS are waiting their arrival to examine them.
Update 00:31 - all are Baruch Hashem okay. Everyone is out of the forest safe and sound.
We at P.C.J.N would like to thank the New York State Police, the Park Rangers, Hatzolah, E.M.S., and all the local fire fighters who helped bring these boys to Safety.
A massive freeway bridge has collapsed into the Mississippi River near Minneapolis in the US, with reports of two dead.
According to reports, at least eight cars fell into the river and at least two people are dead.
The bridge, the 35W four-lane state highway which connects the University of Minnesota with downtown Minneapolis, collapsed about 6.05pm, during the evening rush hour.
Tons of concrete have collapsed and people are injured. Survivors are being carried up the riverbank.
Some people are stranded on parts of the bridge that aren’t completely in the water.
Over the past several months the bridge was being repaired, with workers closing a lane or two at a time.
Update ; 20:01 Truck sliced in half
The road was carrying bumper to bumper traffic when the 500-foot (160 metre) steel arch bridge collapsed. The bridge, built in 1967, was 64 feet above the river.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation told local media that 200,000 cars a day use the bridge.
Local media said a school bus taking children back to the city from a field trip was among the vehicles that were involved.
Aerial footage of the collapse shows cars and other vehicles strewn across the collapsed bridge.
At least three sections of the bridge have collapsed into the river and a fourth section was in danger of collapse
Cars hung over the edge of the collapsed bridge, trucks were cut in two or on fire and other vehicles lay precariously on collapsed sections of the structure.
Paramedics have set up a triage clinic near the scene and at least 20 people have been taken to local hospitals.
There is no reason to think the collapse of a freeway bridge in Minneapolis was terror-related, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Update: 20:30 A 3rd person confirmed dead.
Update: 06:30 At least 9 people dead and at least 20 missing
