New Jersey
New Jersey Civic Information Consortium Announces Nearly One Million In Grants
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) — The New Jersey Civic Data Consortium has introduced $990,000 in grants to modern native information and knowledge packages across the state as a part of the group’s second spherical of funding. The recipients embrace 13 first-time grantees and 9 renewals to grantees funded in the course of the Consortium’s preliminary spherical final yr.
The grants embrace initiatives to create a statewide investigative reporting middle, a statewide information web site to cowl the state’s disabled group, and a web-based Creole language radio program for the Haitian group. Different initiatives embrace increasing protection of neighborhoods throughout Jersey Metropolis and communities of coloration in South Jersey, and funding a devoted statewide reporter to cowl psychological well being, notably in rural communities.
This spherical contains the Consortium’s first grants in Hudson, Monmouth and Union Counties, to organizations in Jersey Metropolis and New Brunswick, a public highschool, and an current public media group.
The grant renewals embrace an modern information collaborative in Newark; a Cumberland County program to show journalism abilities to foster kids and youngsters of the incarcerated; devoted hyperlocal websites in Atlantic Metropolis, Blairstown, Bloomfield and Trenton; and a web-based Spanish language radio program specializing in seasonal agricultural employees in South Jersey.
“On this new spherical of grants, the Consortium board labored arduous to proceed discovering methods to fund and develop modern packages throughout the state,” Consortium Board Chair Christopher J. Daggett mentioned. “The functions we obtained are testomony to the modern spirit of the New Jersey media group. Price range constraints had been the one boundaries we needed to funding extra initiatives.”
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Along with $1 million given to the Consortium final yr in the course of the annual state funds course of, New Jersey Well being Initiatives (NJHI), a statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis, awarded the Consortium a grant of $150,000 to fund 4 health-focused initiatives of $35,000 every, that are included within the grants introduced in the present day. The remaining $10,000 of the NJHI funds will likely be used to help coaching packages supplied to grantees by the Consortium.
“I’m notably excited concerning the many initiatives that develop the state’s journalism pipeline on this spherical of grants,” Consortium Board Vice Chair Therise Edwards mentioned. “By bringing extra individuals into journalism, notably college students, we are able to diversify the voices of these telling the tales of New Jersey and work to develop the trade for the longer term.”
The Consortium is a first-in-the-nation undertaking created in 2018 by the state to give attention to rising entry to native information and knowledge throughout New Jersey. The Consortium consists of six Public Analysis College members – Rutgers, New Jersey Institute of Know-how, The School of New Jersey, Montclair State College, Kean College and Rowan College.
Asbury Park Media Collective (Asbury Park/Monmouth County) – To create an incubator for rising group reporters and native media makers. The work the group reporters produce over the course of the coaching periods — together with information articles, information broadcasts for radio, information movies and documentary brief topics, podcasts, and social media posts — will likely be printed and disseminated by an internet site and a community of native media companions. That is the Consortium’s first grant awarded in Monmouth County.
Past Expectations, Inc. (Burlington County)* – For continued help of a pilot program instructing college students and younger adults, ages 14-24, storytelling and media manufacturing abilities with an emphasis on conducting interviews with professionals, enterprise leaders, educators, and many others., and utilizing on-line gaming methods for capturing and selling interview highlights.
Black in Jersey (Statewide) – This grant will help the launch of Black in Jersey as a dependable information and knowledge hub serving New Jersey’s Black communities, and also will present help for the group’s first statehouse and native authorities reporting cohort.
Blairstown Enhancement Committee (Blairstown/Warren County)* – For continued help of The Ridgeview Echo, a brand new hyperlocal information web site reporting on Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Knowlton, all Warren County communities with no different devoted native information sources.
Bloomfield Data Mission (Bloomfield/Essex County)* – For continued help of the Bloomfield Data Mission’s group reporter corps pilot program, which is able to practice residents in information gathering, writing, and manufacturing, and supply paid reporting assignments that prioritize the data wants of underserved populations of their group.
Middle for Cooperative Media at Montclair State College (Montclair/Essex County) – To launch the NJ Information Commons Spanish Translation Service, partnering with the biggest Spanish-language and mainstream media retailers within the state to translate statewide information — particularly elections-related content material and voter info — into Spanish. This undertaking builds on earlier pilot work round translating pandemic protection.
Cranford Excessive Faculty (Cranford/Union County) – To develop the content material, readership, and capability of a fledgling school-wide digital information supply by integrating curriculum from various elective programs and leveraging the experience of a neighborhood school or college. That is the Consortium’s first grant in Union County and to a public highschool.
Entrance Runner New Jersey (South Jersey) – To help Entrance Runner New Jersey, a brand new web site led by a veteran journalist who seeks to keep up and increase its protection of the Black and Latinx communities in South Jersey.
Hopeloft, Inc. (Bridgeton/Cumberland County)* – For continued help of Hopeloft, a Cumberland County primarily based group that has created a journalism coaching program for teenagers in foster care and the kids of incarcerated individuals to inform the tales of their friends. This grant is funded partly by help from New Jersey Well being Initiatives (NJHI), a statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.
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Lens 15 Media (Statewide) – To launch a information company that produces accessible, multimedia reviews for and about individuals with disabilities in New Jersey. This grant is funded partly by help from New Jersey Well being Initiatives (NJHI), a statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.
M.Y.M. Media LLC/Trenton Journal (Trenton/Mercer County)* – For continued help of Trenton Journal, a hyper-local information group bridging the data gaps and connecting communities in Trenton, New Jersey. The Trenton Journal publishes solutions-based journalism by way of a publication, video, and audio tales.
Movimiento Cosecha (South Jersey)* – For continued help of Radio Cosecha, a statewide on-line Spanish radio program at the moment centered on telling the tales of seasonal agricultural employees in South Jersey that has a objective of shifting statewide.
Newark Information and Story Collaborative (Newark/Essex County)* – For continued help of the Newark Information and Story Collaborative, which works with residents, native reporters, and mediamakers to answer Newark residents’ info wants and considerations. Its lab includes resident-reporters that produce distinctive protection of points impacting various communities in Newark that lack conventional media protection.
Newark Water Coalition (Newark/Essex County)* – For continued help of the Newark Water Coalition’s oral historical past undertaking to inform the tales of the advocates who labored to scrub up Newark’s ingesting water.
New Brunswick At this time (New Brunswick/Middlesex County) – To launch an investigative undertaking on the census, specializing in the immigrant and non-English talking communities in New Brunswick. New Brunswick At this time will study the extent to which these communities could have been undercounted in the newest census and any ensuing implications. The undertaking will analyze the previous three census counts to look at the consequences of gentrification within the metropolis. That is the Consortium’s first grant in New Brunswick.
New Jersey Middle for Investigative Reporting (Statewide) – To construct the New Jersey Middle for Investigative Reporting — the “ProPublica of New Jersey” — with the objective of participating and empowering the general public by investigative journalism on the native, county, and state degree.
New Jersey YMCA State Alliance (Statewide) – To help an ongoing statewide storytelling undertaking centered on documenting resident views about COVID-19 vaccination. Insights will likely be included right into a digital and print “characteristic” for native dissemination with resident experiences, suggestions, and greatest practices for speaking concerning the vaccine in a community-centered, culturally related means. This grant is funded by New Jersey Well being Initiatives (NJHI), a statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.
Radio Rouj & Ble (East Orange/Essex County) – To deploy a web-based Haitian group radio group with its personal web site, app, and weekly public service bulletins, offering info related to the greater than 23,000 members of the Haitian group in Essex County. Specializing in translating and disseminating dependable info on civics, well being, related information and schooling, it’ll additionally function a voice for the group by making a platform the place group members can deal with considerations and share experiences.
Saint Peter’s College (Jersey Metropolis/Hudson County) – To help Slice of Tradition, a bunch of younger BIPOC storytellers who wish to deliver civic engagement to Jersey Metropolis and Hudson County by a sequence of how-to initiatives and informational tales focused to immigrant households and communities of coloration. Its co-founders are Saint Peter’s College alumni. That is the Consortium’s first grant in Hudson County and Jersey Metropolis.
Tales of Atlantic Metropolis (Atlantic Metropolis/Atlantic County)* – For continued help to coach and pay group members to function reporters at native conferences (Govt Council, Metropolis Council, On line casino Reinvestment Growth Authority, and the Board of Schooling). The objective is to offer clear group entry to those important native conferences and occasions as a result of conventional journalism strategies should not assembly the bigger Atlantic Metropolis group’s info wants.
Unidad Latina en Acción NJ (Statewide) – To help the Radio Jornalera NJ Communication Mission, which brings collectively the event, manufacturing and dissemination of public service bulletins from the Jornalero and Home Laborer Communicators all through the state. The Public Service Bulletins will likely be on matters that have an effect on each day life, equivalent to housing rights, employees’ rights, wage theft, well being and security at work, wholesome life-style, and/or local weather change.
WNET/NJ Highlight Information (Statewide) – To help a brand new Report for America corps member to increase well being protection by specializing in psychological well being in underserved communities, on the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic, well being inequity, and rural New Jersey. This grant is funded partly by help from New Jersey Well being Initiatives (NJHI), a statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.
* All initiatives marked with an asterisk are first spherical grant recipients receiving continued funding.
The New Jersey Civic Data Consortium is an unbiased, 501(c)(3) nonprofit group that funds initiatives to profit the State’s civic life and meet the evolving info wants of New Jersey’s communities. A primary-in-the-nation undertaking, the Consortium builds off the muse laid by public media in the US, and reimagines how public funding can be utilized to handle the rising downside of reports deserts, misinformation, and help extra knowledgeable communities
New Jersey
New Jersey State Police Gave a ‘Free Pass’ to Motorists with Courtesy Cards or Ties to Police, Investigation Finds – Insider NJ
The Office of the State Comptroller found even motorists suspected of dangerous driving offenses were let go by New Jersey State Police.
TRENTON—An investigation finds that New Jersey State Police troopers routinely gave preferential treatment to certain motorists who presented a courtesy card or asserted a personal connection to law enforcement—even when motorists were suspected of dangerous offenses, like drunk driving, according to a new report by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller.
OSC’s Police Accountability Project reviewed body worn camera footage of 501 no-enforcement stops by New Jersey State Police–meaning stops where New Jersey State troopers did not issue tickets or make arrests. In 139 or 27 percent of these no-enforcement stops, motorists presented a courtesy card, claimed to have a friend or relative in law enforcement, or flashed a law enforcement badge and then were let go, OSC’s report said. In some cases, the trooper released the motorist immediately, offering some version of “you’re good.” The report found that courtesy cards are in wide usage and function as “accepted currency” by state troopers. (In all but one case, the troopers gave the courtesy card back to the motorist, enabling the card to be used again.)
Reviewing more than 50 hours of body worn camera footage of the stops, which took place over ten days in December 2022, OSC found that troopers regularly decided not to enforce motor vehicle laws after receiving a courtesy card or being told the driver has ties to law enforcement. For instance, one motorist, who was stopped for driving over 90 miles per hour, admitted to drinking alcohol but was let go without a sobriety test after he presented two courtesy cards. Another motorist was stopped for driving over 103 miles per hour and was released after she volunteered that her father was a lieutenant in a local police department. The most significant consequence the troopers imposed in these stops was advising the motorists that they had left a voicemail message for the law enforcement officer named on the courtesy card or invoked as a friend or relative. OSC has released video excerpts of the footage.
“Our investigation shows that some people are being given a free pass to violate serious traffic safety laws,” said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. “Law enforcement decisions should never depend on who you know, your family connections, or donations to police unions. Nepotism and favoritism undermine our laws and make our roads more dangerous.”
Overall, close to half of the 501 non-enforcement stops reviewed by OSC involved speeding, many for more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. In three stops, drivers stopped for reckless driving, careless driving, and/or speeding, also admitted to drinking alcohol, yet were released without being asked to step out of the car for a field sobriety test. Both drunk driving and speeding are major causes of traffic fatalities. According to data compiled by the New Jersey State Police Fatal Accident Investigation Unit, in 2022, New Jersey recorded 646 fatal collisions that resulted in 689 deaths or 1.89 fatalities per day. This was among the highest number of traffic-related deaths in New Jersey in the past 15 years.
OSC initiated this investigation in response to reports that law enforcement officers’ decisions not to enforce motor vehicle violations were influenced by improper factors, including courtesy cards. Courtesy cards, often referred to as PBA cards, FOP cards, or gold cards, are given out by police labor associations to law enforcement officers. They also can be purchased through “associate memberships” with police associations and are sold by private companies.
OSC’s investigation found that courtesy cards are widely used. In 87, or 17 percent, of the no-enforcement stops OSC reviewed, motorists presented courtesy cards that came from municipal police departments, county and state agencies, as well as inter-state and out-of-state law enforcement agencies. They all appeared to be equally effective at getting motorists released without enforcement.
Asserting a relationship with law enforcement appeared to carry equal weight, OSC found. In 52 or 10 percent of the no-enforcement stops reviewed, the driver or passengers did not present a courtesy card but claimed a connection to law enforcement, and the trooper decided to let them go. In 29 of those stops, the motorist or passenger identified themselves as current, retired, or in-training law enforcement officers. Other stops resulted in no enforcement when the drivers or passengers claimed a relative, friend, or neighbor worked in a law enforcement agency.
In one stop, a trooper said he stopped a motorist for driving 97 miles per hour. After an extended conversation about the “friends” they had in common, the trooper told the driver to “stay safe” and let him go. In another stop, a trooper performed a computerized look-up of the driver’s credentials and discovered the driver had an active warrant for his arrest. But when the driver’s friend introduced himself, letting the trooper know that he was also an off-duty trooper, the stopping trooper walked back to the motorist, apologized for stopping him, and let him go without even mentioning the warrant. OSC was unable to determine from the footage what the warrant was for.
Other findings include:
- Providing preferential treatment to motorists who present courtesy cards or assert close personal relationships with law enforcement appears to have a discriminatory impact. Of the 87 courtesy cards observed in the sample, for instance, 69 were presented by White drivers.
- Even when courtesy cards were not present, racial disparities were observed in the sample. New Jersey State Police policy requires troopers to request all three driving credentials (license, registration, proof of insurance) when making motor vehicle stops, but OSC found overall, White and Asian drivers were less likely to have all three of their credentials requested and verified when compared to Black and Hispanic/LatinX drivers. Additionally, troopers conducted computerized lookups of Hispanic/LatinX drivers 65 percent of the time, while looking up White drivers only 34 percent of the time.
- In many stops, OSC was unable to ascertain why the troopers made the decision not to enforce motor vehicle violations because of the quality of the video footage or other factors. Still, OSC observed several of those stops involved dangerous offenses, underscoring the importance of reviewing no-enforcement motor vehicle stops, which are not routinely reviewed.
OSC made 11 recommendations, including that New Jersey State Police regularly review no-enforcement stops to better understand racial/ethnic trends in motor vehicle data and determine if additional training is needed. OSC also recommended that the Attorney General consider issuing a directive that would explicitly prohibit law enforcement officers from giving preferential treatment to motorists because of their ties to law enforcement or possession of courtesy cards.
Read the report.
Watch excerpts of the body camera footage.
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The drones spotted over the Garden State were probably not looking for a missing shipment of radioactive material.
Should underage gambling no longer be a crime?
New Jersey lawmakers are considering changing the law to make gambling by people under the age of 21 no longer punishable under criminal law, making it subject to a fine.
It also would impose fines on anyone helping an underage person gamble in New Jersey.
The bill changes the penalties for underage gambling from that of a disorderly persons offense to a civil offense. Fines would be $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second offense, and $2,000 for any subsequent offenses.
The money would be used for prevention, education, and treatment programs for compulsive gambling, such as those provided by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey.
“The concern I had initially was about reducing the severity of the punishment,” said Assemblyman Don Guardian, a Republican former mayor of Atlantic City. “But the fact that all the money will go to problem gambling treatment programs changed my mind.”
Figures on underage gambling cases were not immediately available Thursday. But numerous people involved in gambling treatment and recovery say a growing number of young people are becoming involved in gambling, particularly sports betting as the activity spreads around the country.
The bill was approved by an Assembly committee and now goes to the full Assembly for a vote. It must pass both houses of the Legislature before going to the desk of the state’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy.
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