A criminal justice professor is publicly demanding that Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill provide substantive answers to allegations of sexist and racist conduct in his political orbit, dismissing his promotion of endorsements from “over fifty trailblazing women” as a deflection. Gill created a toxic, hostile environment as manager for Phil Murphy’s 2017 campaign, based on a variety of well-known and credible allegations by staffers who accused him of misogyny.

The political calculus in New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District has long been simple arithmetic: add the name Chris Smith, and the sum is victory. First elected in 1980, the Republican congressman is serving his 23rd term, a monument to political endurance in a changing state. Kentucky Rep. Harold Smith was sworn into office the same day, so Smith is considered the second-longest currently serving member of the US House of Representatives and the longest serving member of Congress from New Jersey in history…

On the final day of the legislative session in 2023, New Jersey lawmakers quietly enacted a 67% salary increase that takes effect now for themselves and other top state officials. Over the last eight years, a series of recent laws has significantly reduced transparency into state government and made it more difficult for challengers to contest their seats, creating a political landscape critics decry as an assault on the public's right to hold power accountable.

by Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor Gov. Phil Murphy touted accomplishments and recalled late members of his administration in his final state of the state address Tuesday. Murphy, a Democrat who leaves office at noon on Jan. 20 after eight years as New Jersey’s chief executive, trumpeted measures that expanded the state’s paid family leave programs, nearly doubled its wage floor, and shored up state reserves after decades of bipartisan neglect.

By James J. Devine In a move that has blurred the lines between social media bravado and hubristic autocracy, President Donald Trump shared an image to his Truth Social platform this week depicting an altered Wikipedia entry that listed him as the “Acting President of Venezuela, incumbent January 2026”. This digital assertion of authority follows a military operation on January 3rd in which U.S.

by Amanda Becker, Orion Rummler and Mariel Padilla | The 19th In the months leading up to his election, President Donald Trump insisted that he had nothing to do with the far-right vision for his second administration known as Project 2025, a Christian-nationalist blueprint to remake the federal government. As the year draws to a close, a crowd-sourced effort, as well as trackers from…

A Bridgeton man was arrested and charged with the aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl following a joint investigation, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday. Alex Torres-Lopez, 35, is charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, and multiple counts of endangering the welfare of a child related to child sexual abuse material. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain him pending trial.

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the foundations of American democracy and the global financial system, federal prosecutors have launched an unprecedented criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. The trumped up investigation, revealed by Powell himself in a stark and historic video statement, is widely seen not as a legitimate inquiry but as the culmination of a naked political campaign by President Donald Trump to intimidate the central bank and seize control of the nation’s money supply.

By Emily Goodin To run for Congress, candidates must satisfy three constitutional qualifications: meet the minimum age requirement, be a U.S. citizen, and reside in the state they seek to represent. But, heading into the 2026 cycle, it is clear there is one additional, unofficial requirement: They must be able to raise several million dollars. The total cost of congressional races in 2024 was $9.5 billion, including spending by outside groups, according to…

In the crowded Democratic primary for New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, former Rep. Tom Malinowski's position on U.S. aid to Israel has ignited fierce criticism from progressive opponents, who accuse him of enabling genocide to appeal to influential voter blocs. In a November interview with Jewish Insider, Malinowski said he would continue providing U.S. support should Declining to label Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, Malinowski, a former State Department official seeking a comeback after losing his seat in 2022, has publicly declared himself “as pro-Israel as I have ever been.” …

The Caretaker: How Phil Murphy Mastered the Machine He Promised to Dismantle Governor Phil Murphy exits office falsely crowing about "getting the American Dream working for everyone." A forensic examination of his tenure reveals a more granular, Jersey-specific reality: the multi-millionaire former Goldman Sachs executive, who vowed to "turn the page" on the state's notorious political machine, instead became its most polished and effective caretaker, preserving its power until external forces finally tore it down.

by New Jersey Monitor Staff, New Jersey Monitor Richard Codey, the state’s longest-serving lawmaker who served as acting governor, died Sunday after an illness. He was 79. Codey’s family announced the news on Facebook, calling him “a beloved husband, father and grandfather.” “New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him,” they said.

The digital silence over Iran is now more deafening than any official statement. For three days and counting, the nation has been severed from the global conversation, a dark void where a people’s voice should be. Yet, from this engineered silence, images and reports emerge like ghosts from a machine, telling a story the authorities would rather you not see. …

A 20-year-old Libertarian from Bayville has declared himself a candidate for the United States Senate, filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and colliding headlong with a document written in 1787 that leaves little room for interpretation. Michael A. Misseri, registered to vote in Ocean County, submitted a statement of candidacy for federal office despite being a full decade shy of the Constitution’s minimum age requirement for the Senate.

The political stage in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District has acquired a new performer, one auditioning for the role of seasoned savior in a time of crisis. Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, a figure last seen by voters exiting stage left after a congressional ethics probe and a stinging electoral defeat, has returned to the campaign trail packing a massive amount of money and a carefully crafted cover story.

Video Frame-by-Frame Evidence Contradicts White House Narrative on Minneapolis Shooting In the age of the smartphone, truth is no longer a singular story told by the powerful. It is a sequence of frames, a digital witness that can be replayed, analyzed, and held up against official pronouncements. Nowhere is this modern test of facts more stark than in a residential street in Minneapolis, where a cellphone video and statements from the White House present two irreconcilable versions of a fatal encounter.

The Supreme Court docket reads like a manifesto for reinventing America through blunt judicial force. The justices are poised to decide not merely points of law, but the very architecture of power and identity in the United States. At stake in the coming months is the definition of citizenship, the integrity of elections, the limits of presidential authority and the rights of individuals against the state.

by Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer The Trump administration made its opinion known almost immediately after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday: The officer acted heroically in defending himself from Renee Nicole Good, who was intent on running him over with her Honda Pilot in an act of “domestic terrorism.” “The officer, fearing for his life and other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.

The tip line is ringing, and the joke is so bitter it curdles the coffee. In a late December plea that sounded less like a law enforcement bulletin and more like the frustrated sigh of a man who has heard one too many bad punchlines, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked the public to stop. Please, stop calling to report an undocumented girl named Anne Frank hiding in the attics of Republican lawmakers.

by Dana DiFilippo, New Jersey Monitor Two New Jersey legislative panels pushed through over $128 million in proposed new spending Thursday night without explanation or public comment, prompting outcry from good government advocates who warned that such secrecy erodes the public’s trust. Details of the new spending were posted online Friday midday, long after the Senate’s budget and appropriations committee approved it in the last two minutes of a six-hour hearing at Trenton’s Statehouse.

Everything you need to know about Abrego García, his Nashville prosecution and his myriad court cases by Mikeie Honda Reiland, Nashville Banner Kilmar Abrego García — the Maryland man illegally deported to his homeland of El Salvador, brought back to the United States, then charged with human trafficking related to an old Tennessee traffic stop — has become an inkblot test for how you view the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

Congressional Republicans Mobilized to Strip Critical Oversight of Mega-Mergers, Ignoring Warnings of Financial Chaos In a brazen push to empower Wall Street titans, Congressional Republicans lined up votes to dismantle landmark regulations designed to curb reckless bank mergers, sparking outrage among consumer advocates and experts who warn the move could turbocharge consolidation, crush competition, and heighten risks of another financial meltdown.

In the well-appointed chambers of Wayne Township, where the rituals of local governance typically unfold with predictable decorum, the annual “State of the Township” address this year detonated a silent grenade of discontent. Mayor Chris Vergano, a Republican embarking on a historic fifth term, painted a portrait of a “strong, resilient, and inclusive” community of 55,000—a place where neighbors look out for one another and smart planning guides the future.

In President Donald Trump’s first term, his Justice Department actively pursued those accused of fraud and corruption. P.G. Sittenfeld, a rising Democratic star on Cincinnati’s City Council, was charged with taking a bribe in exchange for his support of development deals. Devon Archer, a financier and corporate board member, was convicted in a scheme to defraud $60 million from a Native American tribal entity.

As Iranian civilians set fire to mosques in that nation's capital, calling for the end of the regime's authoritarian, Islamic theocracy, a tiny fraction of America's population is driving the United States toward a dictatorial, puritanical theocracy, which deviates from the true Christian faith despite its nationalist branding. Vice President JD Vance blamed the mother of three who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis for her own death, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L.