New Jersey
Murphy says New Jersey is 'safest state' — NJ Top News
Here’s the stories you’ll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show with Eric Scott on Monday:
❎ SAT scores fell for the third straight year
❎ 63% of NJ high school seniors took the test
❎ Fewer colleges use SAT grades for admission
For the third year in a row, the average SAT scores has fallen among high school seniors who took the test in New Jersey.
More high school seniors took the SAT test for the 2023/2024 academic year despite fewer colleges and universities using the test as key admission criteria.
Educators suspect learning loss from the pandemic is contributing to the drop in average scores.
According to figures from the New Jersey Department of education, the average score in New Jersey dropped to 519 in math and 530 in reading/writing. A perfect score for either section is 800.
“Dip” in the pavement on Route 78 east at milepost 5
🔵Drivers have noticed a “dip” in the pavement on Route 78 East
🔵NJ DOT engineers checked the pavement and drainage to determine the road is safe
🔵Milling and paving takes place Monday night to smooth out the road surface
The complaints of drivers about a dip in the pavement on Route 78 have been heard and will be repaired on Monday.
Contributors to the I-78 Commiserator’s Club on Facebook had been commenting for several weeks about the issue in the right lane and shoulder near milepost 5 in Warren County. Some were concerned that it could develop into another sinkhole situation like the one on Route 80.
NJ DOT spokesman Steve Schapiro said that engineers checked the pavement and the drainage system to figure out what caused the dip in the road. The road was found to be safe but signs warning of a bump were put up along the road.
The state’s abandoned mineshaft map shows no mineshafts in the area along Route 78.
Divers investigate the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in Jersey City 4/10/25
🔴 A family of five was killed in a crash last week
🔴 New York Helicopter Tours halts operations ‘immediately’
🔴 NTSB investigating cause of the crash
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday that the helicopter tour company whose sightseeing chopper broke apart in flight and crashed in New York, killing the pilot and a family of five visitors from Spain, is shutting down operations immediately.
The FAA, in a statement posted on X, also said it would launch an immediate review of New York Helicopter Tours’ operating license and safety record.
The move came hours after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer had called on federal authorities to revoke the operating permits of New York Helicopter Tours.
The company’s sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, killing the tourists from Spain and the pilot, a Navy SEAL veteran.
At a news conference Sunday, before the announcement by the FAA, Schumer said the company should be required to halt all flights as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the deadly crash.
(Gov. Phil Murphy’s office)
🚨 NJ woman convicted of murder is freed by Gov. Murphy
🚨 Convict claims she killed her abusive boyfriend
🚨 Outraged prosecutors said she was the abuser and was not rehabilitated
Early on the morning of Sept. 4, 2010, Paige Pfefferle stabbed her 21-year-old boyfriend to death in the kitchen of her family’s Audubon Park home.
Pfefferle was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes. She rejected two plea deal offers from prosecutors before heading to trial.
She was sentenced to 30 years in prison with no eligibility for parole. State prison records showed she wasn’t supposed to get out until Sept. 21, 2043.
However, Pfefferle was freed from Edna Mahan Correctional Facility on Thursday. She was one of five convicted killers who received clemency from Gov. Phil Murphy this week.
“I’m grateful to be granted clemency so I can advocate for those who suffer from mental health issues and women and young girls who are survivors of domestic abuse,” Pfefferle said in a statement provided by the ACLU of New Jersey.
In a scathing response, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said they strongly objected to Murphy’s decision to commute Pfefferle’s sentence.
And they warn that Pfefferle’s “repeated lies” throughout her appeals process show she is not rehabilitated.
Gov. Phil Murphy, Attorney General Matt Platikin, interim U.S. Attorney for NJ Alina Hobbs
☑️ Gov. Phil Murphy and AG Matt Platkin are under investigation
☑️ Both Murphy and Platkin defended the Immigrant Trust Directive
☑️ Murphy says NJ law enforcement works daily with ICE
Gov. Phil Murphy denied the allegation that the Immigrant Trust Directive prevents New Jersey law enforcement from working with ICE in the face of an investigation by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
Appearing on the MeidasTouch podcast on Friday, Murphy said the state goes after criminals “hard” regardless of their immigration status. The Democrat said that directive has helped make New Jersey “the safest state in America,” by his estimation.
“What we don’t do is go after someone for jaywalking or where there is no probable cause of a crime and we are very clear on that,” Murphy said. “But if there are immigration issues, we cooperate regularly, frankly, daily, with federal authorities. If you are a criminal in New Jersey, we’re coming after you.”
The governor said if there is an “immigration angle,” the state will work with the feds. He said that New Jersey law enforcement is “obsessed with bringing justice on crimes and against criminals.” But the state is “not in the immigration business.”
“Law enforcement doesn’t fight fires. There are firefighters for that. We to not cross those wires but we are vigilant about crime in New Jersey and as a result we have the safest state in New Jersey,” Murphy said.
U.S. Attorney Alina Habba told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last Thursday night that she is launching an investigation into Platkin and Gov. Phil Murphy because she said the directive violates orders from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Trump to remove violent criminals from the country.
10 common complaints we have about New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Kyle Clark
It’s here! The ultimate 2025 summer guide of Jersey’s biggest artists coming to NJ
A complete list of artists you hear every weekend on New Jersey 101.5 that are touring the Garden State in 2025. Locations include venues in New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia.
All tours are in date order from May through November, with many artists reappearing on multiple dates for multiple shows.
Gallery Credit: Mike Brant
Start your day with up-to-the-minute news, traffic and weather for the Garden State.
Eric Scott hosts the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show from 6 – 10 a.m. on New Jersey 101.5.
Join the conversation by calling 1-800-283-1015 or download the NJ101.5 app.
Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
NJ pastor on trying to bring young people back to religion
Amid a growing number of people leaving religion, Rev. Preston Thompson of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Englewood is trying to bring young people back.
Michael Karas, NorthJersey.com
Last June, the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark launched a review called “We Are His Witnesses,” which aimed to consider potential consolidations or closures of some of its 211 North Jersey parishes.
But amid confusion and pushback from many parishioners, Cardinal Joseph Tobin said Wednesday that the archdiocese will now extend its review to allow for further study and conversations.
In a letter published on the Archdiocese website March 4, Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, noted the challenges remain the same: a steady decline in membership and a shortage of priests projected to grow worse in the coming years. He did not specify how much longer the process would take but said he would have more to announce in June.
The largest of New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses, the Newark Archdiocese serves approximately 1.3 million people in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.
Story continues after gallery.
Some parishioners, Tobin wrote, “came to believe — incorrectly — that the overall goal of We Are His Witnesses is to close churches. That has never been the purpose.
“This work is not driven by downsizing, but by mission: by the call to strengthen parish life so that it can truly form disciples and reach those who are not yet engaged in the life of the Church.”
The program’s aim is not to close churches, but to “strengthen parish life” he added.
He said a follow-up announcement would come on June 12 but reassured parishioners that “there is no need to fear that an immediate and wholesale closure of parishes will be announced.”
‘The Church is not a museum’
Current circumstances demand Church leaders to make difficult decisions, he said. “The challenges we face are real: fewer priests, fewer people in the pews, communities that look very different than they did even a generation ago, and financial strain. Ignoring the changed landscape does not preserve parish life; it weakens it. The Church is not a museum to preserve what it once was,” he wrote.
The initiative kicked off last summer, with meetings at churches around the region to allow parishioners to offer feedback. Many expressed fears about their future of their church, Tobin said.
Parishioners at many of the meetings and in letters to Tobin expressed concerns about the program. As a result, Tobin concluded that “it is clear that the communities of the Archdiocese need more time for honest discernment. We are extending this phase of our work to allow for deeper reflection and broader consultation throughout our local Church.”
“This is not a pause in mission. It is a call to take the mission seriously and to ask ourselves, with renewed honesty, what it means to be a missionary Church today.”
Msgr. Richard Arnhols, pastor emeritus of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Bergenfield and a member of a committee of pastoral leaders helping to guide the review, said that, “Based on the input from the priests and people of the parishes which took place last fall, Cardinal Tobin has approved a period of additional study and reflection before any decisions are made.”
The first step is further conversation among parish priests, which will take place this month, he said.
Gregory Hann, a religious instructor at St. Vincent Academy in Newark, applauded Tobin’s decision. “If we continue to do things the way we have been doing them, we become a stagnant Church and we allow the comforts of our culture and the outside to keep us from moving from the Cross to glory.”
Nicholas Grillo of Bloomfield, a parishioner who attended several listening sessions at Holy Rosary Church in Jersey City, approved of the decision. “Hopefully the pause will give them time to reevaluate this going forward,” he said.
He added that it was a “waste of money” to pay large sums of money to a consultant that “doesn’t understand the intricacies of the Archdiocese of Newark,” he said, referring to the Catholic Leadership Institute, a Pennsylvania group that the archdiocese has engaged.
Instead, Grillo suggested, “they should put together a group of lay parishioners and priests from the diocese who can collaborate on a better path forward.”
THE SCOOP
The Devils began their season-high seven-game homestand with a decisive victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. The win was their second consecutive victory after picking up a win in St. Louis earlier in the week.
There’s not a lot of runway left in the season, and stringing together a run of victories is at the top of their minds. New Jersey is 11 points out of the final Wild Card spot, and 13 out of third in the Metropolitan Division. Tuesday will mark the Devils final game before the NHL Trade Deadline, which is on Friday at 3 p.m.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are having a down year, based on where the expectations were set heading into the season. The Leafs have struggled to gain any traction in their season and sit just two points ahead of New Jersey with 64. Toronto is 12 points out of third in the Atlantic Division, and nine points out of a Wild Card spot.
The Leafs have a tendency to give up an abundance of shots to their opponents, ranking first in the league in shots against, per game with 31.8, which bodes will for a Devils team that averages 29.4 shots per game, ranking sixth in the league. Despite their overall struggles, the Leafs do have the league’s fourth-best penalty kill, working at an 83.1 percent efficiency.
New Jersey
Former Lumberton, New Jersey, mayor Gina LaPlaca pleads guilty to 2025 DUI, sentenced to treatment program
A former mayor in Burlington County, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to DUI and child endangerment charges after a 2025 traffic stop, according to prosecutors.
Lumberton Township committee member Gina LaPlaca, 46, was indicted last spring on child abuse charges after county prosecutors said she was observed driving drunk with her young child in the car, while serving as the township mayor.
Police arrested her at her home after reviewing video from a witness showing her swerving out of her lane and nearly hitting a utility pole. Lumberton police discovered her blood alcohol concentration was .30%, over three times the legal limit of .08%.
On Monday, LaPlaca was sentenced to three years in a diversionary program for first-time offenders after pleading guilty to driving under the influence and a fourth-degree child abuse charge. As part of the plea deal, LaPlaca will avoid jail time as long as she abides by the terms of the program.
Under the terms of the Pretrial Intervention or PTI program, she must attend regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and comply with any requirements set by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
Judge Craig A. Ambrose also ordered LaPlaca to have an ignition lock device on her car that will prevent it from starting up if the driver has consumed alcohol. She said in court she had already installed one in October 2025, the county prosecutor’s office said.
If LaPlaca violates the terms of the PTI program, she could be prosecuted for the child abuse charge.
LaPlaca completed an intensive treatment program in May 2025 and said in a statement that she is “fully committed to my recovery” and is doing the “daily, intentional work” that comes with it. She apologized to Lumberton residents while acknowledging a private struggle with alcohol addiction that was no longer private.
“The weight of my actions is something I carry deeply,” she said in a statement shared on social media. “What I did was wrong. It was dangerous. It was inexcusable. I drove while intoxicated with my child in the car — a choice that could have caused irreversible harm. That reality is something I will live with, and learn from, for the rest of my life.”
LaPlaca served as mayor through 2025 but remains on the township committee. Terrance Benson was sworn in as mayor of Lumberton this year.
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