New Jersey
In Bob Menendez's hometown of Union City, little love for now-convicted senator • New Jersey Monitor
Residents of Union City struggled to beat the 100-degree heat on Tuesday afternoon. And across the Hudson River in a Manhattan courtroom, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, the city’s former mayor, failed to beat the rap.
On the day Menendez was convicted on all 16 charges in his federal corruption trial, residents of this densely populated Hudson County town made it clear: He got what he deserved.
Jose Ovalles is a bodega worker who was walking down Bergenline Avenue in front of Cuban restaurant El Artesano soon after the jury in Menendez’s case announced its guilty verdict. Ovalles said the senator has lost the trust of his constituents.
“People around here don’t believe in him no more. And why not? Because of what he did,” he said. “There was all this love for him, and now it’s gone.”
The claims at the center of the Menendez case involved “shocking levels of corruption,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told reporters Tuesday. Prosecutors said Menendez accepted gold bars, cash, and other items as bribes from three businessmen and, in return, did favors for Egypt and Qatar and interfered in two criminal cases to help friends and associates.
The two men he was tried alongside, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, were also convicted on all counts.
Menendez’s road to becoming a convicted felon deviates far from his promising start. The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez was elected to Union City’s school board at the age of 20 and soon became an aide to the city’s then-mayor, William Musto. Musto was a father figure and mentor to Menendez until Menendez testified for prosecutors at Musto’s 1982 racketeering trial.
After Musto was convicted and sent to prison, Menendez rose. He became Union City’s mayor in 1986 and was later elected to the state Assembly and state Senate. Voters sent him to D.C. in 1992 to represent parts of Hudson County in the House, and in 2006, he became a U.S. senator.
Even as his stature grew and he moved to other parts of the state, Menendez remained a commanding presence in Union City. But on Tuesday, residents here seemed to be shaking the senator off like a bad habit.
“Menendez kept saying, ‘They’re coming after me because I’m Latino.’ No, it was him,” said Kimberly Perez, 17, a Union City student. “He shouldn’t have done what he was doing in the first place. He better pay for what he did, and in return, maybe he’ll start doing the right thing and get forgiveness.”
Outside La Rica deli and grocery store at the corner of 45th Street and Hudson Avenue, just a block away from the apartment building where Menendez grew up, other residents were less charitable.
“You put these people in power to help you, right? To help do stuff for the state of New Jersey, right? Well, they might do some, but then they do other stuff,” said Omar Roberts, 58, a housekeeper originally from Venezuela. “We have problems with corruption in South America, too. In terms of America’s image to the world, a guy like Menendez got so high up, but then he got caught. That’s a fact, and it’s better for everybody that he got caught.”
Outside of City Hall, the scene of many of Menendez’s previous triumphs, Deandre Lamar, 49, a tile worker and union member, said the verdict did not surprise him.
“It’s Jersey politics, for sure. It always seems weird how people have all these connections and how much things go down,” Lamar said. “A senator is supposed to serve the people, and you’re taking bribes? This is not right. So, Menendez got away with it for a long time. Until he didn’t.”
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For Nora Corthren, the work goes far beyond organizing events or telling stories. It’s about helping people see themselves in hockey.
As the NHL’s Manager of Content, Audience Development, and Social Impact, Corthren works at the crossroads of storytelling and community engagement, helping shine a spotlight on initiatives that make our game of hockey more welcoming and inclusive. From Pride programming to the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award and Hockey Fights Cancer, her role focuses on highlighting the people and organizations making a difference throughout the hockey world.
Over the past four years, Corthren has witnessed meaningful growth across the sport.
“It really has been wonderful to just see the hockey world continue to grow and develop and become more welcoming and more diverse and more inclusive,” she said.
Much of that progress comes from grassroots organizations working to create safe and welcoming spaces for players and fans from all backgrounds. Corthren’s job often involves identifying those stories and using the NHL’s platform to amplify them.
“I think it’s something that a lot of people who do the grassroots work of trying to make the game a more inclusive and welcoming space, they don’t do it for the attention,” she said. “They very much do it for the impact.”
That ability to elevate organizations and individuals making a difference has become one of the most rewarding parts of her work.
Among the initiatives closest to Corthren’s heart is the NHL’s continued involvement in Pride celebrations, including the annual New York City Pride March. For years, the league has marched alongside local hockey organizations and teams from across the New York metropolitan area, including the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Sirens, and New York Rangers.
For Corthren, the importance of that presence cannot be overstated. Seeing the NHL shield, the NHL teams’ logos, and even, yes, NJ Devil, are important parts of representation to a marginalized community.
A notorious mob hitman who once testified against John “Junior” Gotti before cleaning up his life and becoming a councilman in New Jersey has been arrested on extortion and loansharking charges that, if proven, reflect a return to the lifestyle of his youth.
John Alite, 63, was arrested on Friday in New Jersey, where he was sworn in early last year as a councilman in the borough of Englishtown. Released after a court appearance Saturday, Alite is scheduled to return to court for a detention hearing Wednesday.
His attorney, Douglas Anton, responding to an email seeking comment, said he did not want to speak about the case before the next court appearance.
Alite faces multiple counts of extortion, corporate misconduct, loansharking and terroristic threats.
Alite provided loans at exorbitant rates before threatening violence to collect on them, authorities said, citing the discovery in his home of metal knuckles, an expandable baton, six baseball bats and about two dozen knives, including switchblades.
The baseball bats, authorities said, included one stored near his home’s front door and five more in a kitchen storage bench.
An officer of the New Jersey State Police, an investigative arm of the attorney general’s office, said in court papers that it appeared that the weapons found in Alite’s residence were intended for use in collecting debts.
According to court papers, Alite had threatened one person he had lent money to, saying he would strike him across the head with a baseball bat if he didn’t meet his demands.
Alite also had bragged that he had in the past endeavored to “gut” people like “fish,” the court papers said.
In a release, prosecutors said Alite carried out crimes in part through his corporation, Straightened-Out Entertainment Inc.
They said he illegally obtained property and money from his victims by threats of violence in ways that reflected his 2009 testimony at a Gotti trial that ended with a deadlocked jury.
Alite told a Manhattan federal court jury that he killed a childhood friend to earn respect from fellow mobsters.
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The Garden State set a record for monthly iGaming revenue in May. Read how much for the biggest month ever in New Jersey iGaming.
New Jersey online casinos have been going strong all year, but May 2026 was especially notable. The Garden State’s iGaming market earned a record-breaking $276.3 million last month. This amount eclipsed the previous record of $273.2 million set in December 2025.
NJ online casino revenue for May 2026: $276.3 million
The $276.3 million earned in May 2026 represents an 11.9% year-over-year (YoY) increase from May 2025, when NJ online casinos earned $246.8 million.
This was yet another strong month and double-digit increase for New Jersey iGaming. The state had an identical 11.9% YoY uptick last month, when iCasinos made $263.1 million.
Year-to-date earnings for New Jersey gaming sites are $1.32 billion through May 2026. That’s up 14.4% compared to the same time period last year, when New Jersey had $1.16 billion through May 2025.
Golden Nugget enjoyed the strongest month
According to the May 2026 New Jersey iGaming revenue report, the Golden Nugget brand led all NJ iCasinos with $86.45 million. Of the three online casinos operating under Golden Nugget’s license, FanDuel made the most with $63.24 million from casino games online. BetRivers and Golden Nugget Online earned $12.43 million and $10.79 million, respectively.
Resorts Casino Hotel had the second-best month with $53.89 million. It doesn’t break down revenue by each online casino. But DraftKings is the biggest operator on this license on account of its progressive jackpot slots.
Retail casinos stay flat
Last month, brick-and-mortar casinos joined in the party with an 11.7% YoY increase. This month was a different story. New Jersey land-based casinos made $265.6 million in May 2026, just a 0.1% increase over the $256.3 million made the previous May.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa had the best month among NJ retail casinos, earning $72.9 million. Hard Rock Atlantic City also had a solid month with $49.9 million, while Ocean Resorts rounded out the top three with $46.8 million.
Sports betting sees a big revenue decrease
In April 2026, sports betting had the largest growth out of New Jersey gambling verticals with a 12.8% YoY increase. However, May 2026 was a different story since NJ bookmakers earned $85.2 million—a 16.9% decrease from the $102.5 million made in the previous May.
The Garden State isn’t an outlier here since other states, like New York and Pennsylvania, also struggled with sports gambling revenue last month. US sportsbooks largely saw a smaller hold in May 2026 and are also dealing with increased competition from prediction markets.
iGaming continues to lead the way
Total gaming revenue for the state was $627.1 million in May 2026, representing a 2.0% YoY increase from the $614.7 million made in the previous May.
iGaming definitely looks to carry the torch moving forward. Many gambling operators are banking on real-money online slots to boost their revenue, while retail casinos and sports betting are currently struggling.
Responsible gambling
Legal US online casinos promote responsible play by allowing players to limit losses, sessions, wagers, and logins. They also offer timeout options for account breaks lasting days to weeks. Self-exclusion is a long-term option that shuts off access to an account for months or years.
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