The Bergen Record

RISING DANGER

At least 29 people in New Jersey died in this month’s first heat wave, which lasted five days, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, health officials said on Tuesday, July 14. The news comes as New Jersey grapples with another round of extreme...

Beer sales get World Cup boost

Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to a close, the dust – or rather, the foam – is settling on how much we collectively drank over the last four weeks. Turns out, quite a bit. New Jersey drank about 10% more beer than in this time frame last...

Getting her wings

Robert Newman, member, technical counselor and former president of Ocean County’s Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 898, has contributed to building over 12 airplanes throughout his lifetime. His most recent feat, however, differs from the...

The Gen X factor

New Jersey’s population kept growing after the 2020 census, but one age group shrank in nearly every county. ● By mid-2025, the state had 111,587 fewer residents ages 45 to 64, according to new estimates released in late June by the U.S. Census Bureau....

THE ARTIST WITHIN

For decades, John Paul Ferrara made a living painting romance novel covers, creating images of longing and drama for publishers and bestselling authors. When he lost his sight after brain tumor surgery in 2020, Ferrara thought that life was over. Now,...

Unifying force

After weeks of watch parties, celebrations and impromptu street parades, the World Cup run for Morocco – the last standing team from the Middle East and North Africa – came to an end quietly for viewers in South Paterson. Fans donning red jerseys and...

Removing old junk for the new tunnel

About 500 wooden piles left over from a 19th-century pier will be removed from the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan to make way for a new rail tunnel between North Jersey and Manhattan’s Penn Station. Weeks Marine, a company with a contract...

HOLIDAY OF HELL FOR COMMUTERS

The list of commuting problems for NJ Transit customers was relentless for the past week. NJ Transit commuters are accustomed to summers of hell because of aging, failing infrastructure, but the past week was particularly bad because of the...

No electricity, no choice

In New Jersey, customers can shop for electricity. They cannot, however, shop for the company that comes to turn it back on after a storm. Most homes and businesses are connected to the electric distribution utility assigned to their area. In one...

Games bring joy to communities in strife

Cheers erupt at packed restaurants and cafés. Flags whip from car windows. Horns blare as fans spill onto streets, hugging, dancing and chanting. Across New Jersey, the World Cup has turned neighborhoods into scenes of celebrations. For a few hours at...

‘SHOPPING MALL OF ITS DAY’

Can you imagine New Jersey and its economy without malls? Or huge warehouses? Or container ships? Or tractortrailers barreling down the New Jersey Turnpike? The Ports of Newark and Elizabeth brought in nearly 8.7 million units of cargo by ship in...

'We hold these truths'

As the “Crossroads of the American Revolution,” it’s only fitting that New Jersey was home to one of the very first public readings of the Declaration of Independence. ● On July 8, 1776 – just four days after the declaration was adopted by the Second...

TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is July 4. On this date in: 1776: The Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by the 56 delegates of the Second Continental Congress. The document declared the colonies’ intention to separate and be independent from Great...

YOUNG PEOPLE LOVE OLD GLORY

In a country so often torn by polarizing issues and thorny debates, the American flag rises above controversy as a symbol of freedom for all. Fifty students clad in red, white and blue reinforced that message at an elementary school in Mahwah one...

‘One big community’

EAST RUTHERFORD − How many jerseys does it take to win a World Cup in New Jersey? The French national team hopes to find out. Les Bleus had plenty of support in their 3-0, knockout-round victory against Sweden on June 30 at MetLife Stadium. But not...

The real patriots of New Jersey

While the history books may focus heavily on the roles men played during the American Revolution in New Jersey, women from the Garden State played an important part in ensuring the efforts continued as well. From fundraising and collecting material...

TURNING POINT

In December of 1776, just six months after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s Continental Army was in dire straits. Reeling from military losses in and around New York City and North Jersey, Washington’s army was...

Tales of Ore

While most New Jerseyans associate the state’s history of mining as the cause of sinkholes that appeared on Route 80 last year, these ore-rich underground tunnels were also critical to the Revolutionary War and the state’s early economic success. ●...

FACES of the REVOLUTION

Jellyfish deluge fills river in NJ

Asurge of clinging jellyfish are infiltrating the Metedeconk River, where a 6-year-old child has already suffered a severe string, said New Jersey’s leading expert on jellyfish. ● Paul Bologna, the director of Montclair State University’s Marine...

1,000 HURT, MORE THAN 160 KILLED

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodrı́guez said an initial fund of $200 million would be created using resources from the International Monetary Fund dedicated to rebuilding infrastructure, after back-to-back major earthquakes struck the country’s...

PATRIOTISM AND PROMISE

There’s something about a soldier. ● Something about the crisp uniform, the erect posture, the disciplined movements, the upturned eyes. ● Something that says: I am a man, not a slave. ● “The manly, soldierly type is looked at with a lot of respect in...

No apologies from LGBTQ+ leader

ASBURY PARK – An unapologetic 35-year-old Black woman with facial hair is showing up to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights across New Jersey. Brielle Winslow-Majette, the acting executive director of Garden State Equality, a statewide advocacy organization...

Survival in Garden State

We all know it’s getting harder to make ends meet in New Jersey. But the latest numbers put in stark relief how many working families live paycheck to paycheck in the Garden State. A typical family of four — with two working parents and two young...

Stalling out

Via was the success story Jersey City couldn’t get enough of. In less than a decade, the $2 on-demand car service program served more than half the city’s population. Sixty percent of those trips connected people to work, school and health care —...

CONCEALED AND CARRYING

New Jerseyans are fully locked and loaded – and they have the all-clear to walk around in public with fully loaded handguns. ● In the three years since a U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantled the state’s previously strict standards for concealed carry...

ICE MAY DROP PLAN FOR ROXBURY SITE

Federal officials are considering abandoning plans for a controversial immigration detention facility in Roxbury, according to a June 18 report by The New York Times, prompting local leaders and state officials to declare a victory after months of...

BROADWAY CURTAIN CALL

It was a celebration 53 years in the making, and millions of New York Knicks fans turned out for the tickertape parade to honor the team in lower Manhattan on Thursday, June 18. The skies opened up and orange, blue and white confetti rained down on...

‘That’s my team’

EAST RUTHERFORD – “Africa in the house!” shouted Chioma Anyanwu, as she headed toward MetLife Stadium before Senegal faced France in the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 16. Though Anyanwu is from Nigeria, she was firmly on the side of Senegal, because,...

WORLD STAGE

MetLife Stadium, aka New York New Jersey Stadium, in East Rutherford hosted France vs. Senegal in a FIFA World Cup group stage match on June 16. For complete coverage of World Cup games, traffic reports and photo galleries, visit NorthJersey.com.

NBA championship defines our big city and its suburbs

We are all New York. That might make New Jersey partisans wince for a moment, but the New York Knickerbockers’ NBA championship unified long-suffering fans across the region who are defined by their never-say-die ferocity. No other sports franchise...

Gottheimer and Mullin have rare friendship

Markwayne Mullin, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the Bergen County Democrat, have established something rarely seen Washington amid the partisan tribal warfare of the Trump era. They share a strong, across-theaisle...

MAXED OUT

For a New Jersey family making $150,000 a year, the tax bill does not arrive once. It comes out of each paycheck. It shows up in the property tax bill. It gets added at the pump, folded into utility and phone charges and collected at the register on...

Your complete transportation guide for NJ matches

Figuring out how to get to MetLife Stadium for the eight World Cup matches that start on Saturday, June 13, can seem confusing, especially for those not familiar with the region. But even for locals, information has been changing constantly, new...

KNICKS ON THE BRINK

Fans at Madison Square Garden go wild after the Knicks, trailing by 29 points, completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history by beating the San Antonio Spurs, 107-106, in Game 4 on June 10. The team moved one win away from its first NBA title...

North Jersey brewery is a soccer hot spot

On a pitch in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30, Kai Harvetz scored six minutes into the UEFA Champions League Final to give English club side Arsenal an early one-goal advantage over returning champs Paris Saint-Germain. Some 4,000 miles away in...

STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE

PATERSON – In a black asphalt parking lot barely 20 feet wide, 15 fourth graders from the city stood patiently in line waiting to swing at a wiffle ball off a batting tee. Some launched screaming line drives. Others missed the ball entirely, and tried...

Kars4Kids affiliate donated no money

A review of Junk for Joy’s records since forming six years ago reveals that while it has taken in more than $4.4 million in contributions most of it from donated vehicles – no money was given to any charity, a practice nonprofit experts said...

WORLD STAGE

The name may have (temporarily) changed, but the stadium in East Rutherford will soon host its first World Cup game. New York New Jersey Stadium, normally known as MetLife Stadium, will kick off its participation in the 2026 World Cup on June 13 when...

Closure

The dispatch from Washington, DC, could not be any clearer. ● It was delivered on Dec. 17, 1944, with utmost regards from a senior military official, and it was typed in capital letters on a Western Union telegram. ● Army Pvt. Orie Krieger, a...

A FAMILY AFFAIR

A Delaney Hall detainee who was picked up while on a diaper run sits in solitary confinement, nursing bruises he said he suffered while being transported there. Another detainee who was reported to authorities while he was checking in for his visa...

Delaney Hall crisis worries both sides

Gov. Mikie Sherrill didn’t want the hunger-strike crisis at the immigrant detainee dungeon to spiral into the murder and mayhem of Minneapolis. But it’s also clear that the oncecombative Donald Trump administration wasn’t eager for another prime-time...

NEWARK MAYOR DETAILS ACTION

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has announced that going forward, the city police department will exercise “a greater span of control” of the area around Delaney Hall, which remains a target in an ongoing lawsuit by the city. “The city of Newark sees protests...

CLASHES SPUR NEWARK CURFEW

Newark enacted a mandatory curfew for the half-mile surrounding the federal immigration detention center Delaney Hall starting Sunday, May 31, at midnight, after a night of unrest when three people were arrested. The curfew will remain in effect from...

WORKING HARD FOR THE MONEY

The highest-paying jobs in New Jersey are packed into a narrow corner of the labor market. The top of the wage scale is dominated by medicine, with nine of the top 10 spots taken by professionals commonly found in hospitals, surgical centers and...

Legacy of love

In 1970, Ed and Sue Goldstein’s 3-year-old daughter, Valerie, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Six painful years followed as the family discovered how few services New Jersey offered for children with cancer. ● “There was only...

Advocates say ICE beat hunger strikers

Delaney Hall, the immigrant detention center in Newark, cemented its imprint as a symbol of the division of two sides of the immigration debate May 28, as advocates protested, Democratic politicians soapboxed and ICE supporters planned...

Is Mejia too liberal? Voters will decide

In three months, Rep. Analilia Mejia has gone from insurgent to incumbent – and now, chief target – in North Jersey politics. Mejia was the unexpected winner in an 11-way special Democratic primary in February, then easily beat a Republican challenger...

SANCTUARY STANDOFF?

Markwayne Mullin, then a sitting Oklahoma senator in the Republican Party, courted his colleagues cautiously after President Donald Trump nominated him to serve as U.S. secretary for Homeland Security earlier this year. Mullin pitched himself to his...

Sherrill turns up the heat on ICE

The welfare of inmates being held by federal authorities at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark remains a top concern as a hunger strike at the facility continues, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said on Tuesday, May 26. Speaking a day after U.S. Sen....

DOLLARS AND SENSE

Several North Jersey counties have seen an uptick in the number of properties with price reductions – when a seller lowers the asking amount after it’s been sitting on the market – at the start of 2026. Most recently, Morris County had 124 properties...

Remember and honor

There is no print edition of the paper today, but you can find puzzles, comics, national news and sports here in the eNewspaper.

SPICE OF LIFE

Job calls for all you can eat

SEA GIRT – A herd of goats is munching invasive species and nuisance plants near Wreck Pond, where the animals are tasked with eliminating poison ivy, Japanese knotweed and other plants so New Jersey native greens can thrive. This “targeted” goat...

Miracle on 34th?

The Trump administration and Amtrak announced a master developer team to lead the redesign and construction to expand New York Penn Station, the busiest transportation hub in North America. “We are one step closer to delivering a world-class travel...

Revenue

Trenton lawmakers heard updated revenue projections from the New Jersey state treasurer and the Office of Legislative Services on Tuesday morning as more than a month of hearings on the state’s next budget draw to a close. Officials from the state...

Can Dems capitalize on Kean’s absence?

U.S. Rep. Thomas H. Kean Jr. has been absent from Congress for the past two months for an undisclosed medical issue, but the two-term Republican was very much in the room at the Democratic debate for the 7th Congressional District primary on May 12 in...

High gas prices hit summer travel

On a quick trip to Florida recently for a family matter, Donna Skettini of Butler and her husband opted to go the cheaper route. They drove the entire distance and took a lower-price hotel. “As long as they’re clean, I’m good,” she said of the hotel....

Congratulations and good luck?

Gap years and career pivots are replacing plans to move out and take a traditional job for newly minted college graduates, as Rutgers, Montclair State and other New Jersey universities celebrate commencement in May. The impact of inflation, economic...

March follows Sousa’s lead

“So the very first thing you do is break the rule of a march,” said Rick Summers. It’s also, apparently, the second thing I do. And the third thing I do. Not a very good start. But it turns out that Summers, who is orchestrating my “USA TODAY March,”...

Trump leaves Beijing for U.S.

BEIJING – President Donald Trump left China on May 15 with no major breakthroughs on trade or tangible help from Beijing to end the Iran war, despite two days spent heaping praise on his host, Xi Jinping. Trump’s visit to America’s main strategic and...

RISING UP?

The proposed ban on bromated flour in New York may be the best thing to happen to New Jersey’s pizza since sliced bread. Oh, yeah, we’ll also get to the bread. While many of the Garden State’s pizzaiolos say they already use flour that isn’t treated...

FUELING DEBATE

President Donald Trump says he wants to suspend the federal gasoline tax for a period of time, but Gov. Mikie Sherrill is skeptical about making a similar move for New Jersey’s gas tax – and some experts say it would not likely provide economic relief...

SURGING FUEL COSTS LIFT PRICES IN APRIL

Americans already struggling with affordability saw prices rise again in April as surging oil costs stemming from the Iran war kept driving up prices at the gas pump and affected supply chains for other goods. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer...

DEADLY GUNFIRE ROCKS PATERSON

Two men were killed and four others injured in a shooting the night of May 10 at one of Paterson’s most violent street corners, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. The shooting around 8:30 p.m. left a 43-year-old and 29-year-old, both...

NO RELIEF

As budget pressures hit North Jersey’s public schools, teachers and other staff are losing their jobs — a clear sign of the painful choices districts must make as inflation, spiking health insurance costs and other expenses test their financial...

RIPPLE EFFECT

For 21 years, Maribel Urbina drove a 54-passenger school bus. ● She navigated New York City streets and suburban roads. She ferried students to and from Dwight-Englewood School. She shuttled them on school trips, to theaters and zoos. ● She loved her...

New home turf

With the World Cup just weeks away, work began on Thursday, May 7, to lay the grass playing surface at MetLife Stadium in exactly the way the international soccer organization FIFA requires. ● The MetLife field is typically turf, as Giants fans know,...

Iran assessing U.S. framework for peace

Iranian officials were reviewing a U.S. framework for peace talks after President Donald Trump threatened to resume airstrikes on the Middle Eastern country unless it agrees to a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “If they don’t agree, the...

FAN FESTS WILL ‘SHOWCASE’ STATE

New Jersey will spend millions to fund dozens of public fan experiences and community events for the FIFA World Cup in June and July. At an event in Pennsauken on May 6, Gov. Mikie Sherrill named 34 organizations that will organize and execute fan...

PAIN beyond the PUMP

The Iran war has been joined by a number of other factors – including the switch to a pricier summer gasoline formula – to send gas prices to their highest point since 2022, and some analysts say increases could continue well into the summer travel...

Forever Sterling

Naturally, you could never bring yourself to delete a voicemail because of… that voice. And that big, familiar baritone – the casual sound of summer, the narrator of so many signature Yankees moments from their last great baseball era – would now and...

‘EVERYONE LOST THEIR HOME’

Hala Ghanem’s family home was a stunner: a three-story coastal residence built from pale limestone and topped with terracotta tiles, with verandas that overlooked the Mediterranean and fertile green hills thick with citrus and pine trees. ● She spent...

The picks are in

EAST RUTHERFORD – John Harbaugh wants the New York Giants’ roster to reflect the player profile he believes can win in the NFL, especially in the NFC East. Bigger. More powerful. Edgier. And that goes for every position. The Giants already had that at...

ICE asks judge to reject blocking of Roxbury center

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to reject efforts by New Jersey and Roxbury Township to block a proposed immigration detention center in Morris County, saying their warnings about the project were premature. In a legal brief filed...

100 and counting

Anew New Jersey governor’s first 100 days in office are always marked by symbolic beginnings. ● Gov. Mikie Sherrill hit that threshold on Thursday, April 30, and while her administration is proceeding through the normal rhythms of Trenton’s budget...