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NJ Celebs Honored By Kennedy Center NJ Celebs Honored By Kennedy Center
NJ Celebs Honored By Kennedy Center East Orange is taking center stage at this year's Kennedy Center Honors. Queen Latifah and Dionne Warwick, both natives of East Orange, are among the 46th Kennedy Center honorees for lifetime artistic achievement. The duo, along with Billy Crystal, Barry Gibb and Renee Fleming, will be feted at a ceremony later this year. Latifah said she was humbled to be honored by the Kennedy Center.  "When we started on this journey decades ago, we were often told, ‘No’," Latifah said. "No, you won’t be able to leave New Jersey. No, if you rap you can’t sing. No, singers can’t become actresses. No, ac…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
NJ's Natalie Classen Killed In Reading Shooting Was 'Talented Athlete With Relentless Drive' NJ's Natalie Classen Killed In Reading Shooting Was 'Talented Athlete With Relentless Drive'
NJ's Natalie Classen Killed In Reading Shooting Was 'Talented Athlete With Relentless Drive' Support was surging and condolences pouring days after the Reading, PA shooting death of New Jersey resident Natalie Classen. The 30-year-old woman was gunned down around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, June 15 while walking with a group on North 10th Street, police in Reading said. When they arrived at the intersection with Greenwich Street, a man with another group approached and shot her once, investigators said.  The suspect and his group fled the area, while Classen flagged down a cab and was taken to Reading Hospital, the department said. She died of her injury while officers were still securin…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting UPDATE: The leader of a Bloods subset that ruled some East Orange, Newark and Orange neighborhoods must spend the next 10 years in federal prison after he got stung selling PCP to an undercover agent. Tyree Thomas, 29, of Irvington -- known on the street as “Hellboy” -- had two loaded guns to protect the drugs and proceeds in a stash house that was raided after he repeatedly peddled phencyclidine to the agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Agents seized a 9mm Glock 19 and a .380-caliber Grendel P1O…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Shooting Spree Continues: Man, Woman Wounded Paterson Shooting Spree Continues: Man, Woman Wounded
Paterson Shooting Spree Continues: Man, Woman Wounded A woman took a bullet in the leg and a man one in the hand in a burst of gunfire Monday night on a Paterson street. Both victims were reported in stable condition at St. Joseph's University Medical Center following the shooting on West Broadway between Matlock Street and Totowa Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. May 22. Police found the 37-year-old Paterson woman at the scene, responders said. The 35-year-old East Orange victim was brought to the hospital in a private vehicle, they said. A woman took a bullet in the leg and a man one in the hand in a burst of gunfire Monday night in Paterson…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Politics
North Jersey Pols Demand Apology From White House After NJ Mayor Turned Away During Ramadan North Jersey Pols Demand Apology From White House After NJ Mayor Turned Away During Ramadan
North Jersey Pols Demand Apology From White House After NJ Mayor Turned Away During Ramadan A consortium of mayors throughout North Jersey are demanding an apology from the White House to Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah after he was denied entry for a celebration marking the end of Ramadan. Khairullah, who was recently sworn in for his fifth term as mayor, was told by Secret Service Monday, May 1 that he had not been cleared for entry.  Khairullah received the news just hours before he was set to arrive. Khairullah was also recently interrogated for three hours at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "As mayors who value transparency and the U.S. legal sys…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Fugitive Captured After Walking Out Of JC Medical Center: Authorities Fugitive Captured After Walking Out Of JC Medical Center: Authorities
Fugitive Captured After Walking Out Of JC Medical Center: Authorities A fugitive who walked out of Jersey City Medical Center was captured by U.S. Marshals and Port Authority police, authorities said. Shatora Franklin, 27, of Brooklyn was originally seized at the Holland Tunnel on a warrant out of Essex County on April 14 after she skipped a court date following an arrest in late March, law enforcement sources said. She needed to go to the hospital for an undetermined condition, however, and was taken to the medical center, they said. Franklin then walked out -- apparently shoeless -- and was gone before authorities determined which agency was responsible f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Two $50K Powerball Winners Sold In North Jersey Two $50K Powerball Winners Sold In North Jersey
Two $50K Powerball Winners Sold In North Jersey Two New Jersey Powerball players won big on Wednesday, April 5. The two second-tier prizewinning tickets matched four of the five white balls and the Power Ball, taking home the $50,000 prize.  The winning numbers for the drawing were: 03, 05, 09, 42, and 52. The Red Power Ball number was 11. The tickets were sold at Horizon House Deli in Fort Lee and Power Gas in East Orange. 

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by Sam Barron
News
Stolen Car Driver Says She's Returning It To Owner: Lyndhurst PD Stolen Car Driver Says She's Returning It To Owner: Lyndhurst PD
Stolen Car Driver Says She's Returning It To Owner: Lyndhurst PD A driver wanted on multiple warrants told a Lyndhurst police officer who stopped her in a stolen SUV that she was returning it to the owner, authorities said. Toshi Gray, 49, of East Orange was carrying illegal prescription drugs and paraphernalia when Officer Nicollette Villani stopped an Acura MDX on Kingsland and Riverside avenues around 2:30 a.m. Monday, March 27, Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Gray told Villani she knew that the SUV was stolen and was bringing it back to its owner, the lieutenant said. She was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property and minor drug and parapherna…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Shooting, Bus Crash End East Orange Police Pursuit Shooting, Bus Crash End East Orange Police Pursuit
Shooting, Bus Crash End East Orange Police Pursuit A law enforcement officer fired a shot and an NJ TRANSIT bus was involved in a crash during a pursuit in East Orange on Sunday, responders said. An SUV apparently was being pursued when it crashed and its three occupants bailed out at the intersection of Springdale and Arlington avenues near the Garden State Parkway overpass around noon on March 26. No serious injuries were immediately reported from the collision, which knocked the bus onto a resident's lawn. No one apparently was struck by gunfire. The trio vanished. Detectives work the scene of the crash and bailout following a purs…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Bridal Shop Worker Admits Scamming Future Brides Out Of Gowns NJ Bridal Shop Worker Admits Scamming Future Brides Out Of Gowns
NJ Bridal Shop Worker Admits Scamming Future Brides Out Of Gowns A 53-year-old New Jersey bridal shop worker admitted to conning brides out of wedding dresses, authorities announced. Nidelka Mayers, of East Orange, pleaded guilty during a virtual hearing this week to five counts of theft by deception, officials in Essex County said. Victims told authorities that they had each purchased and paid for wedding dresses at Maplewood Bridal on Springfield Avenue, in Maplewood, dating back to August 2022, but had not received them, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. They had also stopped hearing from the business. Mayers was…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Housemate Admits Killing NJ-Born Sculptor In Maryland Housemate Admits Killing NJ-Born Sculptor In Maryland
Housemate Admits Killing Nj-born Sculptor In Maryland A Maryland woman has admitted to killing her 92-year-old sculptor roommate, a New Jersey native, and attempting to make it seem like a natural death, authorities said. Julie Birch, 27, has pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of East Orange native Nancy Ann Frankel, whom she first attempted to suffocate, then strangled to death during an incident in July 2021, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. Montgomery County Police and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue personnel responded to a Spruell Drive home on July 28, 2021, in Kensington, to conduct a death inve…

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by Zak Failla
News
Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup
Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup An ex-con from Essex County who served 13½ years in federal prison for holding up banks in Fair Lawn, Clifton and Belleville within weeks of one another was convicted Monday of robbing an East Orange cellphone store at gunpoint just two months after his release. Kenneth Graham, 50, of Newark, was wearing a black mask and blue jeans when he entered the downtown Boost Mobile store on Central Avenue and announced a robbery in the middle of the afternoon on Jan. 18, 2021, federal prosecutors said. Graham pointed a gun at a store employee, who was ordered to place several cell phones from a dis…

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by Jerry DeMarco