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Exchange visitors have returned to work at the Jersey Shore at pre-pandemic levels

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Exchange visitors have returned to work at the Jersey Shore at pre-pandemic levels


From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Yordan Yordanov is spending his second summer in a row in New Jersey.“It will remain my second home for life,” he said. “Even though I’ve been here…overall, six months.”

Yordanov is from Bulgaria and has always wanted to see what life is like in America. He is in the United States on a J-1 visa, which allows overseas residents to enter the country on a work-study visitor exchange. He is one of 25 overseas students working at Playland’s Castaway Cove in Ocean City, New Jersey, this summer.

The boardwalk attraction employs 300 people overall during the summer tourist season. On any given year, Playland employs between 20-25 exchange visitors, according to Brian Hartley, vice president of the boardwalk attraction.

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“We pretty much try to just keep it to that,” he said. “This way we can really make sure that they’re taken care of.”

Though COVID is still a pandemic, according to the World Health Organization, Hartley hopes life does not return to the early days of the public health emergency.

“We had a lot of kids who were afraid, parents were afraid for the kids to get a job, especially here,” he recalled, “you’re collecting tickets from people, you’re kind of touching them, people are sitting in seats, and someone else is sitting in it. We were going around washing them between every ride.

Playland also didn’t receive any overseas help in 2020.

The federal government under the Trump Administration suspended J-1 visas as it tried to limit the spread of COVID, according to the American Immigration Council.  Restrictions were eased the following year under the Biden Administration. However, there was a backlog in American embassies overseas.

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Hartley said things have slowly returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“In 2021, I think we only have four or five [students,]” he said. Then it was a slow start getting going in 2022. A lot of the embassies were still closed for a while. But everyone now is really back into the full swing of things.”

A State Department spokesperson said that substantial improvements were made last year in reducing wait times across all visa categories.

For the last couple of years, the Alliance for International Exchange reported that more than 4,900 overseas students came to the U.S. for a summer work travel program.

Lisa Murray, director of the exchange program at the American Immigration Council, said she is also seeing a return to pre-pandemic activity in exchange programs.

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“It’s taken us a few years to kind of get back up to our pre-COVID numbers. I would say that we are definitely there now.”



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New Jersey

Garden State Equality director resigns amid child endangerment, assault charges

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Garden State Equality director resigns amid child endangerment, assault charges


Christian Fuscarino resigned Tuesday as executive director of Garden State Equality amid charges of child endangerment and assault after an incident last month with a child in his Neptune City home.

“I resigned from Garden State Equality to ensure that the organization’s work is not impacted by a private family matter,” Fuscarino, a nationally recognized advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, said in a statement on social media.

“While my loved ones and I have been working through this moment together with care and love, the press has turned a deeply personal situation into a public headline,” Fuscarino said.

“Everyone involved is safe and navigating this situation responsibly,” he added.

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Fuscarino asked that the matter “be seen for what it is: a private family moment, not a public spectacle.”

Fuscarino, 35, is charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child by a caretaker and two counts of simple assault, according to court documents.

An affidavit of probable cause alleges Fuscarino pulled the child from bed about 8 p.m. on Nov. 9 and struck the victim multiple times in the face with an open hand, pushing the child into a wall during the encounter.

The incident was captured on a home security video system, according to the affidavit.

The child was later taken to the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center in Freehold for a forensic interview. The child made no disclosure of physical abuse, the affidavit states.

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However, another person living in the home told investigators they witnessed Fuscarino strike the child and intervened.

The state Division of Child Protection and Permanency obtained the video and notified the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 20.

A Neptune City police detective arrested Fuscarino on Nov. 21. The case has since been referred to the prosecutor’s office, court records show.

In a statement Tuesday, Garden State Equality said they had placed Fuscarino on leave after learning of the charges.

By Wednesday, Fuscarino’s bio on the Garden State Equality website had been removed.

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“Garden State Equality takes allegations against our staff seriously and we oppose violence of any kind,” the agency said. “We respect the courts and will allow that process to be handled by them.”

Fuscarino had served since 2016 as the executive director of Garden State Equality, the largest LGBTQ+ organization in New Jersey, which is based in Asbury Park.

With 20 years of experience in LGBTQ+ advocacy, Fuscarino had been at the forefront of efforts to protect transgender rights, combat hate violence, and implement groundbreaking healthcare and education policies.

In a July 2018 story posted to NJ.com, Fuscarino said he wanted to dedicate his life to helping New Jersey’s LGBTQ+ community so that others would not have to suffer the indignities that he endured in adolescence.



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10 hospitalized, including some students, after crash involving school bus in New Jersey

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10 hospitalized, including some students, after crash involving school bus in New Jersey


MOORESTOWN, N.J. (WPVI) — Ten people, including several students, were hospitalized Tuesday after a school bus crash in Burlington County, New Jersey.

The collision happened around 3 p.m. at Borton Landing and Hartford roads in Moorestown.

Township officials said in a Facebook post that a car and school bus collided at the intersection, injuring six students, the bus driver and three occupants of the passenger vehicle. All injuries appear to be minor, officials said.

“We have been made aware of a bus accident on one of our routes. There are no significant injuries for our students,” Moorestown Township Public Schools said in a statement.

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The remaining students on the bus were taken to a nearby school, where they were picked up by family members.

School counselors will be available this week to provide additional support to students.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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Wrong-way driver charged in I-80 crash that injured N.J. State Police trooper

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Wrong-way driver charged in I-80 crash that injured N.J. State Police trooper


An alleged drunk, wrong-way driver was arrested following a crash on Interstate 80 in Warren County, officials said.

Robert Felegi was driving a pickup truck west in the eastbound lanes in Knowlton when he crashed head-on into a New Jersey State Trooper’s vehicle near milepost 1.4 around midnight Tuesday, State Police said.

The trooper had emergency lights and sirens activated while trying to alert motorists of a hazard ahead, authorities said.

The trooper suffered minor injuries, while Felegi was not hurt.

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Felegi, 67, of Middleport, Pennsylvania, was charged with assault by auto and driving under the influence.

He was brought to the Warren County jail ahead of a detention hearing. An attorney for Felegi is not listed in court records.

investigation, and no additional information is available.



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