ZFJ founder. Oxford comma enthusiast. Unfortunately specializes in the government beat. Computer science and economics undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 21 (ZFJ) — Sgt. Joseph Vincent Luistro, 55, Edison Township’s first Asian American and Filipino American police officer, died on Thursday, Jan. 18, after battling ALS.
“Sergeant Luistro touched the lives of many with his selfless spirit,” said the Edison Police Department, calling him a “trailblazer” for his role in “actively fostering inclusivity in law enforcement careers.”
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurological disorder in which motor neurons progressively die, causing loss of control of muscle movement.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 13 (ZFJ) — Winnie Raini, 53, of Edison, has been charged with leaving an adult female with a developmental disability in a van overnight while employed as a private transportation driver, announced Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Thomas Bryan of the Edison Police Department.
Authorities began investigating allegations of neglect on Jan. 3, according to the criminal complaint against Raini.
According to the aide for the developmentally delayed female, the woman is transported by van back to her residence twice a week.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 11 (ZFJ) — Senior Ghelsey Go has become the seventh girl and ninth player overall to score 1,000 points in basketball at Edison High School.
She scored 29 points in the varsity game against JFK on Saturday, Jan. 6, achieving the milestone after four years in high school basketball.
“I can’t even lie, when I scored the last points, my mind just went blank. I was like, what happens next, what’s going to happen next, and we still had a game to play, so I don’t think I really celebrated right away,” Go said.
Jan. 9 (ZFJ) — Scientists have confirmed 2023, which saw multiple record-breaking conditions, as the hottest year on record.
The year was characterized by many extreme weather events occurring globally, including heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), part of the European Union’s space program, reported the data in its Global Climate Highlights 2023 report, which is based mainly on its ERA5 reanalysis dataset, which goes back to 1940.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 6 (ZFJ) — The Edison Board of Education held its reorganization meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 2, while the Edison Township Council held it on Thursday, Jan. 4.
The candidates who won the general election on Nov. 7, 2023, were sworn in as elected officials at these meetings.
EDISON BOARD OF EDUCATION REORGANIZATION MEETING
Virginia White, first elected in 2020, and newcomers Christopher Lugo and Anjana R. Patel were sworn in as board of education members.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 1 (ZFJ) — Buses carrying migrants bound for New York City have been arriving at multiple NJ Transit stations, said local authorities across the state.
The Jersey City Office of Emergency Management said on X (formerly Twitter) that about 10 buses from Texas and one from Louisiana with approximately 397 migrants arrived at train stations in Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison, Trenton, and Jersey City since Saturday, Dec. 30.
NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (ZFJ) — The New York Times filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit on Dec. 27 against Microsoft and OpenAI for using its news articles unauthorized to train generative artificial intelligence models.
The Times says it initiated negotiations with Microsoft and OpenAI in April 2023, but no licensing agreement, like in the case of The Associated Press, was reached, leading to the lawsuit.
“Defendants insist that their conduct is protected as ‘fair use’ because their unlicensed use of copyrighted content to train GenAI models serves a new ‘transformative’ purpose,” wrote The Times in its civil complaint.
Dec. 30 (ZFJ) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two cell-based gene therapies, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, to treat sickle cell disease in patients 12 years and older, the agency announced on Dec. 8, 2023. Casgevy is the first FDA-approved treatment to use CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology.
Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited blood disorders. It affects about 100,000 Americans, is most common in African Americans, and also affects Hispanic Americans.
Dec. 28 (ZFJ) — Taylor Swift became Spotify’s top global artist of 2023 with over 26.1 billion streams worldwide, announced the music streaming platform in its 2023 Wrapped campaign on Nov. 29.
She dethroned Bad Bunny, who’d held the title for the past three years. Coming in second place, he had a “standout year” with his new album nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana. The Weeknd, Drake, and Peso Pluma also made the top five.
Dec. 24 (ZFJ) — NORAD, with 68 years of experience following Santa, is once again tracking the jolly good man.
Anyone interested can view Santa’s location on noradsanta.org or call in to the North American Aerospace Defense Command at 1-877-HI-NORAD. If they can’t reach a human on the line due to the volume of calls, they’ll receive an automated message reporting Santa’s position and a reminder to call back later to talk to someone.
