New Jersey

Meet the New Jersey high school swimmer heading to the Summer Olympics in Paris

Published

2 years ago

June 11, 2024

Meet the New Jersey high school swimmer heading to the Summer Olympics in Paris

BLACKWOOD, N.J. (CBS) — The Summer Olympics in Paris are now a little more than six weeks away, and a student in South Jersey is going for the gold.

Raekwon Noel feels most at home in the water, and the 18-year-old glides across the pool with ease. He started swimming at 4 years old, and ever since, Noel says he’s been chasing a dream.

“I was so excited to even start, like, learning the basics of kicking and throwing your arms, but I would never believe this where I am at now, so definitely a dream come true for sure,” Noel said.

Originally from Guyana in South America, Noel and his family moved to New Jersey in 2021.

This week, he’s graduating from Highland Regional High School in Blackwood after shattering school records. Now, Noel is looking to become one of the top swimmers in the world.

“That’s every kid’s dream as a kid to be an Olympic champion, and I really want to be that,” he said.

“He’s tall and lean and when he hits the water it’s just smooth,” said Tom Gratton, who is the swim coach at Highland.

Gratton said Noel not only helped the school win back-to-back conference titles in 2023 and 2024 but he’s also known as the team’s biggest cheerleader.

“Giving words of wisdom and encouragement at meets, cheering people on, he’s also kind of the team photographer. He’s always taking pictures and really celebrating everyone’s little achievement,” Gratton said.

Now, Noel’s school is cheering him on after he became the first student in Highland’s history to qualify for the Olympics.

Next month, Noel will be competing on the world stage in Paris swimming for Guyana. He admits he’s a bit nervous, but also excited and proud.

“It’s going to be an honor to represent my country, and in my heart, I’m representing Highland as well as New Jersey, so I’m really excited,” Noel said.

The senior has also signed a letter of intent to swim at Indiana University. Noel said he plans to major in biology with the goal of becoming an orthodontist.

Ryan Hughes

Ryan Hughes joined CBS News Philadelphia in June 2022. He previously worked at WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he’s covered stories ranging from weeks on the Surfside condo collapse, to the impact of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, and the Super Bowl in Miami.

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New Jersey

NJ’s biggest Catholic diocese hits pause on plan to merge parishes

Published

20 minutes ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

NJ’s biggest Catholic diocese hits pause on plan to merge parishes

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.

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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.”

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New Jersey

Devils Out to Rattle the Leafs | PREVIEW | New Jersey Devils

Published

12 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Devils Out to Rattle the Leafs | PREVIEW | New Jersey Devils

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.

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New Jersey

Former Lumberton, New Jersey, mayor Gina LaPlaca pleads guilty to 2025 DUI, sentenced to treatment program

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

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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