New Jersey
Burlington County breaks ground on its first emergency shelter
The county previously launched its “Housing Hub” in 2019 to assist residents who have emergency housing needs or are experiencing homelessness. More than 2,800 people were served by the hub in 2023. Currently, a network of agencies and providers collaborate to get people experiencing homelessness or a housing emergency temporary shelter, according to Pastor Darlene Trappier, founder and executive director of Mt. Holly-based Beacon of Hope.
“We do have contracts where we’re able to put them in motel placements,” she said. “We’re able to provide the motel placements throughout the year until cold blue season starts.”
Trappier herself experienced homelessness when she was living in Los Angeles as a 19-year-old with a 5-month-old baby. Her mother took her public assistance check and gave her a half-hour to leave the house.
“I had a choice, I either could go to the park with him … or I go down to Skid Row,” she said.
She chose to go to the park, but said she appealed to God to take her out of her situation and “put me in a position where I can help others not feel what I can feel.”
For Trappier, the new county-run shelter is “a haven of hope” that she likens to one-stop shopping because of its proximity to the county’s Human Services building, which is across the parking lot from the site of the shelter.
“They can go there to get the services that they need, and come back over here,” she added. “It’s all encompassed together to meet not just a part of one person’s needs.”
The shelter is expected to be complete in approximately 16 to 20 months. It will cost more than $18 million. Nearly $6.5 million in federal and state grants will pay for the building.
Some residents have opposed the shelter, saying it will worsen homelessness. Hopson said that the shelter will help people and give them easy access to services that will help them.
“The reality is most homeless people are the ones at risk, not our residents,” she said. “It is my hope that they will find it in their hearts to understand why this is such a need and why we’ve selected this location.”
New Jersey
Proposed tax credit could help pet owners with everyday expenses, vet bills in New Jersey
Thursday, May 28, 2026 11:54AM
The costs of having a four-legged friend can add up. But New Jersey pet owners could see some relief.
State lawmakers are considering a bill to allow tax credits to dog and cat owners.
The proposed bill would give pet owners a $300 tax credit for everyday pet expenses and up to $600 for veterinary bills.
The bill is moving through the New Jersey legislation and has been referred to the Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
New Jersey
Officials warn of NJ Transit train chaos if NBA Finals go to Game 6 with World Cup match same day
NEW JERSEY (WABC) — New Jersey Transit train riders should be prepared for chaos if the NBA Finals reach Game 6 at Madison Square Garden on June 16.
Getting to Penn Station from New Jersey will be nearly impossible after 5 p.m. becasue it’s the same day as the France vs Senegal match at 3 p.m. at MetLife Stadium.
NJ Transit will only run dedicated World Cup trains westbound from Penn Station New York from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ahead of the 3 p.m. match.
Eastbound NJ Transit trains will run into Penn Station New York, until the match ends at about 5:30 p.m.
After 5:30 p.m., the trains will discharge all passengers at either Newark Penn Station or Newark Broad Street Station, where passengers will be directed to either PATH or Newark Light Rail to get to Hoboken, and ultimately to the PATH 33rd Street Station. PATH will transport those passengers at no extra cost.
Knicks fans traveling into Manhattan for the 8:30 p.m. game may have to transfer through Newark and take the PATH into the city.
After discharging the passengers, the NJ Transit trains will then become dedicated World Cup trains for the next three hours to bring up to 40,000 fans back to Penn Station New York.
Regular eastbound service will resume about three hours after completion of the World Cup match, or about 8:30 p.m.
NJ Transit will advise Knicks fans headed in to Game 6 to arrive at MSG before 5 p.m., or be prepared to change trains in Newark.
At the conclusion of the Knicks game, regular rail service out of Penn Station New York back to New Jersey on all rail lines will be available.
Knicks fans will not have to utilize PATH to get back to New Jersey after the Knicks game.
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New Jersey
The House Is Our Firewall. NJ-07 Is How We Build It. – Insider NJ
I do not come to this fight as an abstract matter of principle. I come to it as an immigrant, as a woman, as an LGBTQ+ ally, and as a mother of two daughters. I have spent a decade fighting to advance protections for marginalized communities — in policy committees, in legislative hearings, in the unglamorous work of advocacy that rarely makes headlines. And I can tell you: what is happening right now is different. The rollbacks are no longer incremental. They are structural. And they are personal.
When I think about what is at stake in this moment, I think about my daughters. I want them to live in a country where they are free. Where their identities are not questioned. Where they never have to wonder whether they belong. This past year has shown that that future is not guaranteed. It has to be fought for. And right now, that fight runs directly through the United States House of Representatives.
The current administration is executing a coordinated assault on the institutional frameworks that protect civil rights and foster inclusion. The weaponization of anti-DEI policies is erasing marginalized identities from public and corporate spaces. Voter suppression tactics are systematically targeting Black and brown communities. Federal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals — particularly queer and trans youth — are being dismantled in favor of discriminatory policy. The threatened gutting of the Department of Education puts public schooling, the single greatest engine of upward mobility, at risk — with the heaviest burden falling on low-income students and students of color. And for immigrants, the threat of mass deportations and family separation is not a hypothetical. It is a daily reality.
When the executive branch operates with such open hostility toward equity, a compliant Congress is not a passive failure. It is a dangerous liability.
We need a House of Representatives that will aggressively assert its oversight authority, use the power of the purse to defund harmful initiatives, and hold this administration fiercely accountable. That firewall can only be built by flipping competitive seats. And the path to the House majority runs directly through New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
To win NJ-07, we need a candidate who can neutralize the standard partisan attacks used against challengers in swing districts — and Rebecca Bennett is exactly that candidate. As a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and Air National Guard officer, her patriotism and national security credentials are unimpeachable. As a healthcare business leader, she brings private-sector credibility that resonates with this district’s voters. And as a working mother who understands what is actually at stake for families, she brings the moral clarity this moment demands.
Biography alone does not flip a district — infrastructure does. Bennett has built a campaign capable of going the distance in one of the nation’s most expensive media markets, with a top-tier team, formidable fundraising, and the organizational depth to compete against incumbent spending. She is not just a compelling candidate. She is our ONLY shot at defeating Tom Kean Jr.
I got into this work because I believe that the arc of history bends toward justice — but only when people work to bend it. I want my daughters to inherit a country that is still bending. Rebecca Bennett is running to make sure it does. That is why I am with her, without reservation, and without hesitation.
Anjali Mehrotra is a fierce advocate for representation and gender parity in all walks of life but especially at all levels of elected office. She served as a National Board member for National Organization for Women, on the state board for American Association of University Women of New Jersey and on the cabinet of Emerge New Jersey. All three organizations actively work to increase the number of women in Congress.
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