New Jersey

Ranked-choice voting for N.J.? Not so fast | Letters

Published

1 year ago

August 11, 2024

Ranked-choice voting for N.J.? Not so fast | Letters

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is often touted as a solution to many of our electoral woes, as supported in a recent Star-Ledger editorial and subsequent letters to the editor.

However, it introduces a host of new problems that can undermine the democratic process. Its complexity can confuse voters, leading to higher rates of ballot errors and spoiled ballots, effectively disenfranchising those who may already feel marginalized.

Source link

Click to comment

New Jersey

Essential New Jersey Devils prospect finally showed his promise this season

Published

3 hours ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

Essential New Jersey Devils prospect finally showed his promise this season

The New Jersey Devils still have their focus on the goaltending in the NHL. Jacob Markstrom hasn’t played well this season, and fans are even calling for a new face of the franchise. Jake Allen has been great, but he’s still firmly their backup. Nico Daws had one start, and it was stellar.

However, we don’t want to lose sight of the future. There has already been bad news with a very important prospect. Jakub Malek was terrible in the AHL this season, putting up an .861 save percentage in five starts. Don’t get us wrong, the Utica Comets are terrible this season, but Malek hasn’t helped.

The Devils decided to send Malek down to the Adirondack Thunder to help his development and stop hurting the Comets in the standings. He’s been much better there, allowing just four goals on 53 shots.

Malek is important for the Devils in net, but the most important prospect for the Devils is Mikhail Yegorov. The Boston University product was incredible last season, driving the Terriers to a Beanpot win and to the National Championship Game.

This season, things didn’t go great to start. The Terriers lost a ton of players this offseason, including fellow Devils’ prospect Shane Lachance. The defense hasn’t been great, but Yegorov hasn’t done his part, either.

Going into the weekend, Yegorov had a save percentage below .890. He wasn’t stepping up for the Terriers like he was last season. It has become a problem.

Devils prospect Mikhail Yegorov finally gets a signature win for Boston University

This weekend, the Terriers took on the University of Cornell. They are 6-2 and are ranked 16th in the country, at least prior to their matchup with BU.

Cornell sent everything Boston’s way, taking 29 shots on Yegorov. He stopped all but one, securing a 2-1 victory for the Terriers.

It’s just one game, but it was the first time we’ve seen Yegorov really show why we think he will be a great NHL goalie.

Even better, the win came at Madison Square Garden. We like that Yegorov is getting used to winning at the home of the Devils’ biggest rival. We like it even more that he’s winning big games again. This performance has his save percentage back over .890. Hopefully soon, it’ll be over .900, and then .910. We need Yegorov to keep going up if we plan on getting him into professional hockey as early as next season.

Source link

New Jersey

South Amboy police officers deliver baby. This week in Central Jersey history, Dec. 1-7

Published

20 hours ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

South Amboy police officers deliver baby. This week in Central Jersey history, Dec. 1-7

It was a first for South Amboy police Sgt. David Kales and patrolmen Mark Lewis and Paul Noble on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000 when they helped deliver a baby.

Less than two minutes after arriving at a Washington Avenue home on the report of a woman in labor, Jeriel was born to Jennifer Llibre, with an assist by the three city cops.

Here’s a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.

Five years ago

Dec. 3, 2020: It was reported Ray Cipperly Field at Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools’ East Brunswick campus had been named the 2020 Schools and Parks Baseball Field of the Year by the Sports Turf Managers Association, a nonprofit professional organization for men and women who manage sports fields worldwide.

Dec. 4: In a statement, it was announced Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and bill sponsors Sen. Nick Scutari and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano had reached a deal on bills that would establish a framework for a legal weed industry, setting up a key vote in the coming weeks.

Dec. 4: Six NJ hospitals ― Hackensack University Medical Center, Morristown Medical Center, University Hospital in Newark, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City and Cooper University Hospital in Camden ― were selected to receive the first COVID-19 vaccines, it was reported.

Dec. 4: It was reported Juan Hector Padilla, 29, of Bound Brook, was indicted in connection with a seven-alarm fire that damaged two apartment buildings under construction on West Main Street in Bound Brook in January 2020.

Dec. 7: Hillsborough had become a “Stigma-Free Community,” a campaign, an initiative of the Somerset County Department of Human Services, to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and create an environment where people feel free to seek support without fear of being stigmatized, it was reported.

Dec. 7: State officials said an unidentified resident at the Menlo Park veterans home died over the weekend from COVID-19 ― the first death at one of the state-run veterans homes in 180 days.

Dec. 7: It was reported celebrity chef David Burke would open Orchard Park, his fourth restaurant to open during the pandemic, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, at the Chateau Grande Hotel in East Brunswick.

10 years ago

Dec. 2, 2015: Appearing on ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” Gov. Chris Christie defended his hard-line opposition to relocating Syrian refugees to NJ and said former Gov. Thomas Kean ― his latest critic on the issue ― was all wrong.

Dec. 3: A day after 14 people were killed in a mass shooting in California, lawmakers failed to override Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of a gun-control bill by just three votes.

Dec. 3: The Westfield High School football team beat Bridgewater-Raritan, 10-7, in a sectional final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

Dec. 5: George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic with TL Shider, Garden State Line, Midnight Mosaic and Underground Logic, performed at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville.

2000

Dec. 2, 2000: About 70 supporters of Texas Gov. George W. Bush rallied outside the Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville on behalf of his claim to the presidency.

Dec. 3: Two divorcing parents ― Jim Price of Raritan Borough and Jennifer Price of Clinton ― who were battling over the circumcision of their 3-year-old son, would appear on Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, in Superior Court in Somerville for a hearing ordered by the Supreme Court to determine whether the surgery should go forward, it was reported.

Dec. 6: In women’s college basketball, Rutgers University beat Virginia Tech, 61-53.

Dec. 7: It was reported Dave Keyes and his band, winners of the W.C. Handy National Blues Talent Search, would perform at Old Bay Restaurant in New Brunswick.

1975

Dec. 2, 1975: U.S. District Court Judge Frederick B. Lacey, sitting in Newark, issued the go-ahead for the planned public deer hunt scheduled for the next week in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Passaic Township.

Dec. 3: Many milk drivers continued on a “business as usual” basis in Middlesex and Somerset counties, in spite of a strike of 880 union drivers.

Dec. 4: Several homes in South Amboy were showered with kerosene after a United Airlines jet with 120 passengers on board jettisoned 40,000 gallons of fuel when an engine caught fire. The plane returned to Newark International Airport safely, with no injuries.

Dec. 5: In Elizabeth, Edward Nolan and Robert Madurski, defendants in a case involving the theft of $4 million worth of home heating oil from the Exxon Bayway Refinery in Linden, received suspended prison sentences and were fined $1,000 each.

Dec. 5-7: “Bye Bye Birdie” was presented at Middlesex County College Performing Arts Theater in Edison.

Dec. 6: In college basketball, Phil Sellers scored 36 points and Mike Dabney added 21 as Rutgers beat Seton Hall’s Pirates, 119-93, at Rutgers Gym in New Brunswick, setting a Rutgers Gym record for most points by one team.

1925

Dec. 2, 1925: In basketball, St. Peter’s Lyceum beat the Maroon and Gray quintet of South River, 36-27.

Dec. 2-3: The movie, “Thunder Mountain,” a dramatic story of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was shown at Reade’s Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Dec. 4-5: The movie, “The Half Way Girl,” starring Doris Kenyon and Lloyd Hughes, was shown at Reade’s Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Dec. 6: Fire of an unknown origin started in the south wing of Winants Hall on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, for the second time within a month. Students helped firemen fight the fire.

Dec. 6: The New Brunswick Soccer Club won the first half championship in the Capital City Soccer League at Buccleuch Park in New Brunswick by beating the Highlanders of Trenton, 3-1.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

Source link

New Jersey

Mom of NJ teen killed outside NYC ax-throwing bar claims booze, lax security led to her son’s death

Published

2 days ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Mom of NJ teen killed outside NYC ax-throwing bar claims booze, lax security led to her son’s death

Abundant booze and lax security set the stage for the fatal 2023 stabbing of a New Jersey high school football player outside an NYC ax-throwing bar, his mother contended in new court papers.

Rocco Rodden, 17, was knifed in the heart on Nov. 23, 2023 outside Live Axe in TriBeCa by Long Islander Gianluca Bordone, who admitted to the killing in court but was acquitted of manslaughter and assault charges in the case.

Rodden’s mother Angelina claimed Live Axe, security company Burns Consulting and others, including bartenders, promoters and a limousine company, set up a perfect storm the night her son was slain.

The companies “failed to provide wristbands to people old enough to drink” and “were required to check the identification documents of all individuals entering the venue, but failed to do so,” she said in her Nov. 21 Manhattan Supreme Court papers, which also name Bordone as a defendant.

The poor security also allowed Bordone, who was 19 at the time of the attack, to bring a pocket knife to the Lafayette Street bar, she alleged.

Bordone, of Oyster Bay, claimed he feared for his life as a group that included the victim chased him down the street and began beating him.

“I was afraid that they would get me to the floor, stomp me, kill me, hit me with the bottle that I had seen before,” he said on the witness stand, according to Newsday.

Bordone also allegedly stabbed Rodden’s older brother, Anthony, outside the bar — where all three were attending a private party, authorities had said.

“It is quite possible that Bordone could have killed Anthony Rodden due to his tortious conduct,” the mother said in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

The promotors, security and others hired to work the event also failed to call authorities after the stabbing, she claimed.

Neither Bordone, nor Live Axe owner Zac Segal and promoter Ian Magid, who are each named in the lawsuit, could be reached for comment. A lawyer for security company Burns Consulting denied any wrongdoing.

“Many horrible tragedies do not result in legal liability and this is one of them,” said Burns Consulting attorney Kenneth Belkin. “My heart goes out to the family of Mr. Rodden for their loss, but this is a frivolous lawsuit against my client.

Source link