New Jersey

Mikie Sherrill wins Democratic primary race for N.J. governor

Published

9 months ago

June 11, 2025

Mikie Sherrill wins Democratic primary race for N.J. governor

Sean Higgins, Sherrill’s director of communications, said the campaign will focus on introducing Sherrill to the entire state over the next several months.

“She has dedicated her life to serving the people of this country, and the people of New Jersey,” he said., “Mikie is going to be a governor for everybody, she’s going to build more affordable housing and bring costs down, she’s going to deliver.”

Higgins said Sherrill is very different from Ciattarelli.

“Mikie is for New Jersey, and Ciattarelli is for Trump,” he said. “She’s ruthlessly focused on getting results, and I think that stands in stark contrast to Jack Ciattarelli, who is really the ghost of elections past and hasn’t really delivered a thing for New Jersey.”

At Sherrill’s headquarters, inside the ballroom of the Westin Governor Morris Hotel in Morristown, supporter Roman Hirniak, of Wharton, said he was happy that his candidate won.

“I am a proud member of the Ukrainian-American community in New Jersey,” he said. “Congresswoman Sherrill has been one of our loudest voices on Capitol Hill, she has earned my support because she is a decent human being that understands what leadership should be like on the gubernatorial level.”

Another supporter, David Genova, of Montclair, said he’s backed Sherrill since she first ran for Congress.

“She’s been very supportive of Montclair, especially during the pandemic,” he said. “I think she’s on the right and practical side of most issues and I think she’s going to be a great governor., Mikie knows how to get things done.”

During the primary campaign the gubernatorial candidates spent more than $122 million, making it the most expensive primary race in state history.

Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said recent polling projected Rep. Sherrill as the frontrunner, but a winner was hard to predict.

“We just did away with the county ballot line [in New Jersey] which gave preferential treatment to candidates who had the [major political] endorsements,” he said. “This time candidates were on their own, they had to make their own case, and that meant we couldn’t really model how this election was going to turn out.”

He said voter turnout for primary elections in New Jersey is usually low, and in this race voters were choosing between six different candidates, making it harder to predict voting trends.

“That means that the number of votes it takes to win the race is pretty low, and that at least raised the possibility that any of them could have gotten across that finish line,” he said.

Four years ago in the primary election for governor, about 12% of registered Democrats voted. Less than 400,000 ballots were cast in that race.

The general election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

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New Jersey

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

Published

8 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

20 hours 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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New Jersey

Newark-bound United flight returns to LA airport for evacuation after reported fire

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Newark-bound United flight returns to LA airport for evacuation after reported fire

NEWARK, New Jersey — A United Airlines flight headed to Newark, New Jersey returned to the Los Angeles airport Monday about 40 minutes after taking off for an emergency evacuation after a reported fire, authorities said.

All flights at the LAX International Airport were ordered to remain on the ground for about half an hour during the flight’s return and evacuation, according to advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. No injuries were reported.

The flight, which was en route to Newark Liberty International Airport returned to LAX to address an issue with one of the engines, the airline said in a statement. There was no mention of a fire, but the LA Fire Department said it responded and there was a fire that was contained as of an hour after the plane’s landing.

The flight took off at 10:43 a.m., began to turn around at about 11 a.m. and landed again at 11:19 a.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.

The LA Fire Department said they assisted with the evacuation of more than 250 passengers and crew. Passengers exited the plane on the taxiway using slides and stairs and were taken to the terminal, the airline said.

The airplane was a Boeing 787-9, a variant of the popular line of 787 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft.

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