TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy will name his former chief of staff George Helmy to serve as interim senator when Bob Menendez resigns later this month after his conviction on federal bribery charges, according to a person familiar with the decision.

Helmy served as Murphy’s top aide from 2019 to 2023 and is now an executive at RWJ Barnabas Health, a large health care provider in the state. He was formerly an aide to Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision was not yet public ahead of an expected announcement on Friday in Newark.

His appointment means Murphy passed over Rep. Andy Kim, who is the Democratic nominee for the seat on the November ballot, facing off against Republican hotelier Curtis Bashaw. Kim was briefly locked in a tough primary with first lady Tammy Murphy before she dropped her bid. Murphy’s choice denies Kim a boost in seniority if he were to win the seat in November.

Menendez wrote in a letter to Murphy last month that he’s resigning on Aug. 20, just over a month after the jury’s verdict. He said he planned to appeal.

Menendez, 70, was convicted of charges that he sold the power of his office to three New Jersey businessmen who sought a variety of favors. Prosecutors said Menendez used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect his associates. They said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.

He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. embassy in Cairo, ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 hidden in Menendez’s house.

After his conviction, Menendez denied all of those allegations, saying “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”

Numerous fellow Democrats had urged him to resign, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Murphy had urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he didn’t quit. Only 15 senators have ever been expelled. Sen. William Blount, of Tennessee, was ousted in 1797 for treason. The other 14 were expelled in 1861 and 1862 for supporting Confederates during the Civil War.

Menendez’s sentencing is scheduled for late October, shortly before the election.

HACKETTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY (WABC) — Timelapse video from an eyewitness in Hackettstown, New Jersey on Monday shows the northern lights illuminating the night sky.

Solar flares triggered by explosions of the sun produced the spectacular displays.

This was the largest geo-magnetic storm in two decades.

The northern lights are occasionally visible from as far south as the Garden State.

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The New Jersey Working Families Party has asked a state watchdog to investigate and terminate any public contracts involving South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and the five business associates recently indicted with him for racketeering.

In a letter sent Tuesday to acting state Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh, the group’s director, Antoinette Miles, said the corruption indictment should trigger “a strong enforcement response” to protect taxpayer money. She reminded Walsh that state officials, by law, can suspend and disqualify public contractors who have been indicted of any “offense indicating a lack of business integrity or honesty.”

“This indictment represents one of the most significant state public corruption prosecutions in New Jersey history,” Miles wrote. “These defendants hold leadership roles in institutions that continue to receive millions of dollars annually in federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. This situation is intolerable and, if left unaddressed, will continue to erode public trust and risk taxpayer resources at the hands of an allegedly criminal enterprise.”

Laura Madden, a spokeswoman for Walsh’s office, declined to comment, saying: “Our policy is we can neither confirm nor deny matters like this.”

Attorneys for Norcross and his co-defendants didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Jersey Working Families Party has long lobbied state and local officials to investigate Norcross and his allies.

“We have known for years about the Norcross enterprise — how Norcross conducts his business dealings and how he wields influence within city government and with other business partners, as the attorney general so eloquently put it, to extort and extract from the city of Camden,” Miles told the New Jersey Monitor. “There are millions of dollars in public sector contracts at stake, and we need not only the attorney general’s investigation, but we also need to dig deeper into the various entities connected to Norcross, because the level of corruption goes a lot deeper.”

In June, state Attorney General Matt Platkin announced a 13-count indictment against Norcross that accuses him of overseeing a criminal enterprise by using direct threats and intimidation to win development rights along the Camden waterfront and then benefiting from more than $1 billion in state-issued tax credits.

Indicted with him were his brother Philip Norcross, who is CEO of the law firm Parker McCay; George Norcross’ attorney, William M. Tambussi of the law firm Brown & Connery; former Camden mayor Dana Redd; Sidney Brown, the CEO of privately owned trucking company and logistics provider NFI Industries; and John J. O’Donnell, CEO at the Michaels Organization, a residential housing developer.

The charges against them include racketeering, misconduct by a corporate official, official misconduct, financial facilitation of criminal activity, and conspiracy to commit theft by extortion and criminal coercion. Norcross and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty during their arraignments earlier this summer.

George and Phil Norcross, Tambussi, and Redd all hold roles in organizations that receive state and local funds that Miles said deserve the comptroller’s scrutiny:

• George Norcross chairs the Cooper health system’s board of trustees, while his brother is board chair of its charitable arm, the Cooper Foundation. The hospital receives tens of millions of dollars a year through Medicaid, and the comptroller’s office serves as the state’s watchdog against Medicaid fraud. Cooper Health acquired Cape Regional Health System this summer, an expansion of Cooper’s footprint that makes watchdog scrutiny more urgent, Miles added.
• Philip Norcross’ and Tambussi’s law firms have contracts with hundreds of public entities statewide. Tambussi’s firm also represents the South Jersey Transportation Authority, and Platkin’s office charged two commissioners at that authority with misconduct the week before the Norcross indictment.
• Redd heads the Camden Community Partnership, the taxpayer-funded nonprofit at the center of the indictment. Just this week, Camden City Council passed an ordinance to lift a cap on how much taxpayer money can be used to cover the legal expenses of current and past city officials, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
• Conner Strong & Buckelew, the insurance brokerage George Norcross helmed until he took a leave of absence a few weeks after the indictment, provides insurance and risk management services to hundreds of state, county, and local government entities.

Beyond contracts, Miles’ group urged Walsh to investigate all permit applications, approvals, and waivers or determinations that involved Norcross, his co-defendants, and the organizations where they work or hold leadership roles.

“The public deserves to have a full accounting of the amount of taxpayer money going to entities controlled by these individuals,” Miles said.