Mostly Cloudy 71°
News
Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months
Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months UPDATE: A Peruvian woman was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for trying to smuggle nearly 15½ pounds of cocaine hidden in chocolate candy through Newark Airport. Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 60, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, was nabbed after flying in from Lima in March 2019. She had seven kilos of coke "concealed within wrapped chocolate candy in her luggage," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Malgarejo took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty this past June to a single count of importing controlled s…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
$1 Million Powerball Ticket Sold In NJ $1 Million Powerball Ticket Sold In NJ
$1 Million Powerball Ticket Sold In NJ UPDATE: Two lottery tickets winning $1 million each were sold in New Jersey. A $1 million Powerball ticket was Saturday's drawing was sold in New Jersey. The retailer was not immediately announced. The million-dollar ticket wins the second-tier prize, but no one in the US won the top-tier prize of $457 million. No one across the country won the top prize as the jackpot for the next drawing Wednesday jumped to $472 million with a cash option of $342 million. The winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing were 5, 36, 39, 45, and 57. The Powerball drawn was 11 with a Power Play of 2X.

SHARE

by Cecilia Levine
News
Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US
Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered the detention of a former New Jersey resident who was captured in England after kidnapping his son four years ago. Amitkumar Kanubhai Patel, 38, “obstructed the parental rights of his child’s mother by kidnapping the child and failing to return him to the United States when ordered to do so,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He even told the mother that he was “never bringing the child back to the United States,” Honig said. Patel, most recently of Vadodara, India, had lived with the Cherry Hill woman from August 2015 through Ju…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Weather
New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path
New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path Forecasters are watching powerful Hurricane Larry churning in the Atlantic Basin, warning it could wind up being an even stronger storm than Ida, which left a trail of destruction through multiple states. The latest projected track for the Category 3 storm, packed with 115 mile-per-hour winds, still keeps it well off the US coast. But impacts from Larry "will be far-reaching even though the storm may stay hundreds of miles away from the Atlantic beaches from Florida to Maine, AccuWeather says. Potential for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding across parts of the Northeast on Wednes…

SHARE

by Joe Lombardi
News
COVID-19: NJ Suffers Highest Daily Death Total In 3 Months, Blamed on Delta Variant, State Says COVID-19: NJ Suffers Highest Daily Death Total In 3 Months, Blamed on Delta Variant, State Says
Covid-19: NJ Suffers Highest Daily Death Total In 3 Months, Blamed on Delta Variant, State Says New Jersey reported 20 newly confirmed COVID-19 deaths in its latest statistical summary, the highest single-day death total this summer, state officials said. The 20 latest COVID fatalities did not occur on the same day, but all were confirmed as positive on Tuesday. It marked the highest total coronavirus deaths in the Garden State reported in one day since 25 deaths due to COVID were announced by the state Health Department on May 26. New Jersey’s seven-day average for confirmed COVID-19 cases - at 1,494 on Tuesday -- rose 20% in just a week and nearly 300% in one month, state data shows…

SHARE

by Jon Craig
News
COVID-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says COVID-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says
Covid-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says A new study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that COVID-19 vaccines offer better and more protection against reinfection of the virus than just natural immunity among those who already have been infected. On Friday, Aug. 6, the CDC released the findings of a new study of nearly 1,000 Americans who previously tested positive for COVID-19 but remained unvaccinated. According to the study, those who were unvaccinated proved to be more than twice as likely to become infected for a second time than those who were fully vaccinated against the virus. Researchers …

SHARE

by Zak Failla
News
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Call it a statistical oddity: Despite an historic spike in drug overdose deaths across the United States last year, the total reported for New Jersey ticked up barely 1% over 2019 – compared with an increase of more than 32% in New York, over 17% in Pennsylvania and more than 10% in Connecticut, the CDC reported. More than 93,000 people across the country died from drug overdoses amid last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That total represented a 29.4% increase from the 72,151 deaths projected nationwide for 2019, according to an annual…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom
CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom Fully vaccinated teachers and students do not have to wear masks while in the classroom starting this fall under brand-new COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday, July 9. The updated recommendation comes as more than 55 percent of the United States' population has received at least one vaccine dose, including more than 47 percent who are fully vaccinated.  Children under the age of 12 are not currently eligible to receive any of the three COVID-19 vaccines in the nation. The CDC's updated guidance recommends that individuals who are no…

SHARE

by Nicole Valinote
News
Family Of Bicyclist Killed In Newark’s Ironbound Settles Suit For $2.5M Family Of Bicyclist Killed In Newark’s Ironbound Settles Suit For $2.5M
Family Of Bicyclist Killed In Newark’s Ironbound Settles Suit For $2.5M The family of a mechanic who was struck and killed on his bicycle in The Ironbound has reportedly settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $2.5 million. Renato Gomes, 42, was struck and run over by a tractor-trailer hauling fuel as he rode his bicycle on July 10, 2018 in the Down Neck neighborhood of Newark where the Brazilian native worked, authorities said at the time. Surveillance video captured images of the horrific crash at Adam and Thomas streets, where he was pronounced dead, they said. Renato Roberto Gomes was born in São Paulo, where worked at a Mercedes Benz plant before emigrating…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen
Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen A Somerset County man who flew to the Philippines to have sex with a minor he met online is headed to federal prison for nine years. James A. Diggs, 45, of Somerville, told a U.S. District Court judge earlier this year that he used a messaging app to “persuade, induce, entice, and coerce” the victim into having sex with him during what became an October 2018 visit to the Southeast Asian country. He headed there out of JFK Airport in Queens at least seven times over four years, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachel A. Honig said. Rather than go to trial, Diggs took a deal from the gove…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport
Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport Two people in two days this week admitted smuggling more than 22 pounds of cocaine combined into Newark Airport. Perez Omar Gibbs, 38, of Jamaica told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference that he hid more than six pounds of coke in two bags of coffee and four picture frames aboard a flight from Montego Bay, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. In an unrelated case, Honig said, Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 59, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, told another judge in Newark that she concealed more than 15 pounds in chocolate candy on a flight …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
AAA: Memorial Day Weekend Gas Prices Will Be Highest They've Been In Years AAA: Memorial Day Weekend Gas Prices Will Be Highest They've Been In Years
AAA: Memorial Day Weekend Gas Prices Will Be Highest They've Been In Years With millions of Americans set to hit the road for the Memorial Day holiday, prices are peaking at the pump. Drivers are set to pay the highest prices in seven years, according to AAA, following a gas shortage that impacted the East Coast when the Colonial Pipeline was temporarily shut down due to a cyberattack. Nationally, the average price of gas as of Wednesday, May 26 hit $3.04 per gallon, down one cent from a week ago, but up from $2.89 a month ago. A year earlier, the average price was $1.96 per gallon. According to AAA, the national average has stabilized following the Colonial Pip…

SHARE

by Zak Failla