EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., ZFJ (July 19) — The Dream Food Fest has again returned to New Jersey this summer. Hosted in partnership with the American Dream Mall, the food festival was held from July 12-15 in Lot 26 of the mall in East Rutherford, N.J., gathering 120 street food vendors—including Tojo’s Kitchen, Cozy Tea Loft, and Dumpling N’ Dips—selling a variety of cuisines from around the glove: Korean corn dogs, Neapolitan pizza, Jamaican jerk chicken, and much more.
July 9 (ZFJ) — Raymond Maldonado, 34, of Perth Amboy has been charged in connection with a June 30 homicide in Perth Amboy, announced authorities on July 1.
According to a criminal complaint, on June 30, at about 1:12 p.m., the Perth Amboy Police Department received a 911 call from a relative who said that she went to the victim’s home to check on her and found her unresponsive on the living room floor with bruising and blood around her face.
WOODBRIDGE, N.J., July 3 (ZFJ) — Two officers were shot and one suspect was killed at the Raritan Hotel on King Georges Post Road in the Fords section of Woodbridge on June 13, according to the N.J. Attorney General’s Office.
On June 12, Edison police officers using an automated license plate reader found that a vehicle sought by New York City authorities in connection with a shooting that left its victim with life-threatening injuries was in the area.
EDISON, N.J., July 2 (ZFJ) — Edison unveiled a new sign commemorating the Battle of Short Hills at Oak Tree Pond Historic Park on Wednesday, June 26.
The sign, installed 250 years after the American Revolutionary War battle, was a gift from the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners.
The Short Hills Battlefield Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
EDISON, N.J., July 1 (ZFJ) — Edison’s first splash park is now open to the public at Papaianni Park, announced Mayor Sam Joshi.
The opening was kicked off with a first ever youth league pep rally on June 29, and the park was made available to the general public the following day.
In keeping with inventor Thomas Edison’s history with the township, the splash pad is shaped like a lightbulb. The park also features a 20 foot replica of the Edison light tower, globes, and water guns shaped like classic film cameras.
EDISON, N.J., June 30 (ZFJ) — Edison police opened a substation in Menlo Park Mall on May 24. It is located in the former Jos A. Bank store between Barnes & Noble and a parking garage.
Police officials celebrated the opening, which Deputy Chief Robert Dudash said had been “a brainchild of the police department and the mall for a lot of years now.”
“This substation will actually enhance our services to the public and to the mall,” said Chief Thomas Bryan at the ribbon cutting.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 22 (ZFJ) — Jacob Beacher, 24, of North Plainfield, has been charged with a federal hate crime for breaking into the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU) on 122 College Avenue in New Brunswick, announced federal authorities on Monday, April 22.
Beacher, not affiliated with Rutgers, was arrested this morning and federally charged with one count of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and one count of making false statements to federal authorities.
WOODBRIDGE, N.J., April 4 (ZFJ) — Woodbridge Center has been sold to new management, announced Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac in his State of the Township address on Feb. 23.
“Woodbridge Center, like major malls across America, has struggled because of the internet and the ease of buying directly online,” he said. “It has done an admirable job of diversifying outside of basic retail by attracting new tenants, but it has just not been enough.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 14 (ZFJ) — The Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU) was broken into and vandalized on Eid.
The Center reported on Instagram that art pieces with Quranic verses, windows, TVs, printers, artwork, and the Palestinian flag were damaged.
“This reprehensible act, occurring on our sacred day, is undoubtedly fueled by Islamophobia is clearly a hate crime targeting our Muslim population at Rutgers,” the Center wrote.
EDISON, N.J., April 4 (ZFJ) — Marcus Wright, 27, of Beaufort, South Carolina, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of an Edison Speedway gas station employee that occurred on Dec. 20, 2018, announced Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.
Wright was convicted on Sept. 12, 2023, of the murder of John Bertram, 38, of the Fords section of Woodbridge; armed robbery; conspiracy to commit armed robbery; and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
