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Northeast Cities Among Most Diverse In US: Here's What A New Study Says
The US population is rapidly diversifying, with cities in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at the forefront, according to a new study.
WalletHub released its 2025 ranking of the nation's Most Diverse Cities on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Three Maryland communities topped the list of 501 locations, which were evaluated based on socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household, and religious diversity.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10.2 percent of Americans identified as multiracial in 2020, a sharp increase from just 2.9 percent in 2010.
"The most diverse cities demonstrate diversity in many …
PA Gunman In Valentine's Day Hotel Robbery Sought By Police In NJ
Authorities in Bergen County are searching for a 31-year-old man with Paterson, NJ and Wilkes-Barre, PA ties accused of an armed robbery in a hotel parking lot.
Henry X. Rodriguez is wanted in connection to an incident that occurred on Friday, Feb. 14, at approximately 8:12 p.m., according to Detective Sergeant Eric Larsen of the Mahwah Police Department.
Police say Rodriguez confronted a man and woman in the parking lot of a local hotel, brandished a handgun, and stole the woman’s purse before fleeing the scene.
Rodriguez is known to have ties to both Paterson, NJ, and Wilkes-Barre, PA. A…
Former NJ Firefighter Kills Wife, Takes Own Life In Mt. Pocono Murder-Suicide: Police
A New Jersey native killed his wife before taking his own life days before Christmas in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania, police announced on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Craig Zigarelli, 54, a former Rockaway Township, NJ, volunteer firefighter, fatally stabbed Joann Alberti, 47, inside their home on Brookville Terrace before turning a gun on himself, according to a Pocono Mountain Regional Police investigation and a Monroe County Coroner’s ruling.
Officers discovered the couple’s bodies on Dec. 23, 2024, at 1:54 p.m., after being dispatched for a welfare check. A concerned family member had reported…
PA Parents Sold NJ Heroin From Filthy Home With Kids Inside: DA
Two parents in Stroud Township are accused of selling heroin and fentanyl from their home while their young children lived in dangerous, squalid conditions, authorities announced on Friday, Feb. 7.
Jessica Walters, 35, and Robert Nochella, 35, were arrested after Monroe County detectives and Children and Youth Services discovered drug paraphernalia, scales, and packaging materials scattered throughout their home on Thursday, Feb. 6, officials said. Walters was reportedly withdrawing from fentanyl during the investigation, according to the criminal complaints.
The home, where Walters and Noc…
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar
Authorities who’ve charged four men with the brutal murder of a man outside a Garfield bar last month turned to the public for help finding a fugitive gang member from Pennsylvania who sources said repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest.
Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his four companions confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the pr…
Ex-Con Kidnapper Gets 43 Years, No Parole, For Rape, Arson, Assault Rampage Through NJ, NY, PA
UPDATE: An ex-con who kidnapped and raped his ex-girlfriend in Pennsylvania, then torched a used car dealership in Paterson and rammed a stolen SUV into police cars at both ends of the George Washington Bridge was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison.
Luis Figueroa, 42, first took a plea deal from the government that called for him to serve 26 years in a federal penitentiary.
Then he abruptly withdrew his plea, took his chances with a trial – and lost.
Federal jurors in Newark convicted Figueroa in May 2022 of kidnapping, criminal sexual abuse, illegal gun possession and assaulting…
DMV Imposter Dupes Victims Out Of $1,500 To $2,000 Each, More Pawns Possible, Lodi PD Says
A con artist impersonating a DMV employee took dozens of unsuspecting customers for a ride, fleecing them out of tens of thousands of dollars, before Lodi police put the brakes on the heartless scheme, authorities said.
Mohammad A. Aburomi, 61, actually had his victims meet him at the agency's offices in Lodi and Wayne, where he promised to help them cut the line for payments of $1,500 to $2,000 each, investigators found.
"He had a two-way radio and all the garb, including a black shirt that identified him as a DMV worker," Lodi Police Sgt. Dominic Miller said. "He even had applications tha…
Hudson Man Kidnaps, Sexually Abuses Mentally Impaired Woman, Shoves Her From Car: Authorities
A Kearny man kidnapped a mentally incapacitated Paterson woman he’d met online, had sex with her in his car, a nearby park and his apartment, then shoved her out of the vehicle when he realized her family was following him, authorities charged.
A four-month manhunt ended when Horus G. Nunez-Velazquez, 35, was captured in Pennsylvania, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim M. Baycora said in a joint announcement on Friday.
Nunez-Velazquez “met the (32-year-old) woman online, picked her up from her residence and took her to a nearby park and subsequentl…
