New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two firefighters were killed battling a blaze that began when cars caught fire deep inside a cargo ship carrying 5,000 cars at a New Jersey port, Newark’s fire chief said Thursday.

Responding firefighters found five to seven vehicles already on fire when they reached the 10th floor of the cargo ship at Port Newark around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night. The blaze quickly extended to the 11th and 12th floors, and as firefighters were pushed back by the intense heat, two of them were lost, Fire Chief Rufus Jackson said at a news conference.

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Jurors in federal court have awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who alleged that she and other white employees were unfairly punished after the high-profile arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia location in 2018.

Shannon Phillips won $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages on Monday after a jury in New Jersey found that race was a determinative factor in Phillips’ firing, in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination.

SAYREVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Nicole Teliano used to play games on her phone in the mayor’s office while her mother worked down the hall several evenings a month, tending to the tedious, often acrimonious task of serving in local government.

The 11-year-old girl didn’t mind sharing her mother, Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, with the nearly 50,000 residents of the central New Jersey town, the young people she nurtured as a pastor of a prosperity gospel church in Newark or the Nigerian church colleague she married in a festive ceremony in Abuja in November.

FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Fire destroyed a large New Jersey church, collapsing its roof as more than 150 firefighters fought to control the blaze.

Video showed the Fountain of Life Center in Florence Township engulfed in flames Monday night.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which started at about 6 p.m. Monday. The cause wasn’t immediately known.

“It’s a devastating loss,” Russell Hodgins, a senior pastor, told Philadelphia’s KYW-TV. He said his grandparents helped build it.

25 Jan 2023; MEMO: An Israeli group is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans for Jewish extremists convicted of terrorism, committing hate and racist crimes against Palestinians and Israeli citizens.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A man accused of posting a broad online threat last week that spurred heightened security at Jewish synagogues and schools in New Jersey is now facing charges, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville, is charged with transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce and was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Newark on Thursday afternoon, where he will be represented by a federal public defender. That office generally does not comment on cases.

22 April 2022; MEMO: Students at Princeton University voted on a pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)  referendum last week against Caterpillar for its complicity in Israeli occupation and the mass demolition of Palestinian homes.

PASSAIC, N.J. (AP) — A large chemical fire burned through the night and into Saturday morning in northern New Jersey, its smoke so heavy that it was detected on weather radar and seen and smelled in neighboring New York City.

The fire at Majestic Industries and the Qualco chemical plant in Passaic spread to multiple buildings and threatened their collapse, officials said.

Water from firefighter hoses froze in cold weather and made the environment slick and hazardous for responders.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Republicans will decide whether they want an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump to be their standard bearer in the fall election for governor, while Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy is on an easy path toward capturing his party’s nomination.

New Jersey’s June 8 primary is just a month away, with some clear contours already emerging.

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has agreed to supply up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the African Union (AU) from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker said on Monday, as the continent struggles to get shots into arms and tame infections.

J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceutica NV has entered into a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to deliver 220 million doses of its single-dose shot. AVAT could order an additional 180 million doses through 2022.(refini.tv/3cyeFiB)