News

Ever ask Siri the answer to zero divided by zero?

"Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn't make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends."

Newark’s city run extreme weather shelter won’t close at least until the end of August, but Mayor Baraka is looking into other ways to support the homeless.

“Every month is not a rough weather event so don’t have justification for keeping the shelter open 365 days a year.  There are providers who can do that and will do that.  We will support them, so they continue to do that.”

Baraka is creating a city-wide commission to help the homeless.

New Jersey's Senate unanimously passed a measure to correct an oversight in a gun law Governor Murphy signed last month.

That law limits the ammunition capacity in gun magazines to ten rounds.

But most guns used by police have 12-to-17 round magazines.

Senator Loretta Weinberg says the bill approved by the Senate clarifies that police officers can carry their service weapons with up to 17 rounds of ammo when they’re off duty.

Following several accidents involving school buses, a New Jersey Senate Committee has advanced a package of bus safety measure.

Senate Transportation Committee chairman Patrick Diegnan says one measure requires school bus drivers 70 and older to submit proof of physical and mental fitness annually. Those over 75 would have to do so every six months. He initially proposed banning drivers over 75.

WBGO news anchor Glenn Crespo passed away this morning in Elizabeth, NJ following complications from a heart attack he suffered last week.  Glenn was part of many WBGO News awards and received a national PRNDI Award for his evening newscasts on this public radio station.   He also anchored many morning newscasts with Gary Walker since 2012.

Glenn Crespo's dedication, loyalty, professionalism and humor made him one of the most beloved and respected news anchors in the New York City market.  

New Jersey's Senate is set to vote tomorrow on a proposed constitutional amendment that would change a key part of the state's budget-making process.

The governor's power to certify state revenues would be turned over to a three-member panel.

Senate President Steve Sweeney needs three-fifths of the legislature to support the measure to get it on the November ballot.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is launching two initiatives to spur the growth of high-tech companies in the state.

Murphy says the state Economic Development Authority will award $500,000 in grants to help innovative startups pay their rent at collaborative workspaces if the workspace commits to paying half the amount of the subsidy.

“An early-stage startup could enjoy the innovative ecosystem of a collaborative workspace including flexibility, networking, idea sharing, and mentorships for up to 18 months at only half the cost.”

Gage Daye is still one of the best basketball players in New Jersey and he's involved in three summer leagues.  Daye, a Newark native is doing all that while working as an assistant coach at Bloomfield College, where he's the school's all-time leading scorer.

Daye works for his mentor and current Bloomfield head coach Gerald Holmes.  The two men have great respect for each other on and off the court.

In 2011, Coach Holmes guided his team, that included his star guard Gage Daye, to an NCAA East Region championship and an appearance in the Elite Eight. 

The top Republican in New Jersey's Assembly wants to amend the state constitution to require that voting districts don’t favor a political party by more than 10 percent.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says the lack of competitive districts leaves too many voters without a meaningful choice.

New Jersey will be modifying its school funding formula for the first time in ten years.

Governor Phil Murphy has signed a law that adjusts state aid to public schools over seven years by reducing assistance to districts with declining student enrollment and providing more money to those with booming populations and large numbers of high-need students.

“We are making an historic reinvestment in our public schools and in our future. By fiscal year 2025 every district will receive the appropriate level of aid under the school funding formula.”

New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney says he’s hoping lawmakers will pass legislation by the end of the summer to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults.

Sweeney says he’s working with Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin on bills they can advance that would expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program and make recreational pot use legal.

He says the medical bill will be tied to the recreational use measure and won’t move forward without it.

A non-profit organization cautions New Jersey officials not to rely on revenue from sports betting and the possible legalization of recreational pot to solve the state’s long-term budget problems.

New Jersey officials expect sports betting to bring in $13 million this fiscal year. Legalizing recreational marijuana could mean $300 million a year.

Mary Murphy with the Pew Charitable Trusts says other states that have legalized pot have seen an increase in revenues, but they are volatile.  

The Wells Fargo Regional Foundation is giving a grant of $100,000 to a pair of Newark non-profit organizations that advocate for the Lincoln Park neighborhood in the city’s central ward.      

The community organizations will hold several meetings to hear how residents would like to use the grant. Anthony Smith of Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District expects an insightful response.

At the Newark Venture Partners Demo Day event, business is a sport, and the founders are the star players. Newark Venture Partners, the venture capital firm with a focus on tech startups, hosted its bi-annual event demonstrating their latest class of promising businesses. The event, Demo Day, took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, a venue normally associated with hockey rivalries and rock stars but attracted all kinds of business people on Demo Day.

Valveek for example, is still years away from completing college, but wants to get an early start on his career.

WBGO Commentator, author and Seton Hall professor Mildred Antenor is frustrated with mainstream media giving you only headlines when it comes to the unrest and corruption in her native county of Haiti.  Mildred says as she's matured, the country's issues have affected her more personally.

Click above to hear Mildred's commentary.

There have been plenty of movies about High School. There’s only one about 8th Grade. I dropped in on comedian turned writer-director Bo Burnham’s 8th Grade, which brings it all up to date.

I don’t know about you, but I was a little surprised by how on the surface my own 8th grade still is by watching Bo Burnham’s first film which updates the experience from transistor radios of my era to the ubiquitous cell phone and social media of 13-year-old Kayla at the Miles Grove Middle school somewhere in suburban NY.

On this month's Newark Today, hosted by NJTV's Michael Hill, we are joined by Mayor Ras Baraka, State Senator Ron Rice, and Founder of Salvation and Social Justice Rev. Charles Boyer to discuss New Jersey's push to legalize recreational marijuana and how it could affect the state's largest city. 

Duane Morgan, a professional international basketball player from West Orange, NJ visited Write on Sports and spoke to kids about his coming up story. Morgan, a graduate of Adelphi University, has played professionally in Argentina, England, and Spain. Looking back at his younger days, he did not believe he would reach the success he has reached today.

"When I was a freshman, I was a bit undersized. I always loved the game and I was always so competitive, but I didn't feel like I had what it took as a freshman."

Theater critic Michael Bourne says he enjoyed the return of a show off-Broadway, he just doesn’t know what it is. 

Click above to hear Michael's review of Mummenschanz.

Two rookie police officers in Newark are being hailed as heroes for jumping into action and saving a toddler's life, earlier this week. 

The call came in Sunday after a 2-year-old girl was unresponsive after nearly drowning  in a pool in the city's North Ward. 

No human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in New Jersey so far this year, but it’s been detected in mosquitoes in more than half of the counties in the state.

Scott Crans is the administrator of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s office of mosquito control coordination. He says the hot, dry weather is holding down the number of mosquitoes in many parts of the state, but a continued lack of rainfall could lead to the spread of West Nile virus.

Restructuring New Jersey’s school funding formula has been a longtime plan for Senate President Steve Sweeney.  His plan increases the total amount of state aid to schools, but also changes the amount of aid districts receive.  

“Trying to find a solution to end the unfairness going on in this state.  Actually, the injustice where you have two classes of kids; the haves and the have nots,” Sweeney said.

The Newark International Film Festival returns in September. Founder Kenneth Gifford made the announcement at city hall. 

The Tate Brothers, Lance Gross, and Kim Hawthorne are among some of the celebrities set to attend. The festival, now in its third year, has garnered global appeal, drawing thirteen-hundred submissions from two-hundred and seventy-eight countries around the world. Gifford says that he wants to make sure the film festival is supporting the arts community, right here in Newark.  

An environmental group says public health in New Jersey is at risk from air pollution.

Environment New Jersey director Doug O’Malley says air quality in New Jersey’s metropolitan areas ranks in the top ten in the nation for most elevated levels of ozone and particulate matter.

He says they had an average of 91 days of degraded air quality in 2016, and summer heat waves make ozone problems worse.

New Jersey’s recently enacted state budget includes $2.1 million to pay for legal assistance for immigrants facing deportation.

The State Treasury hasn’t decided yet how the money will be dispersed.

Chia-Chia Wang with the American Friends Service Committee hopes the funds will help immigrants in detention centers who are separated from their family and can’t afford to pay an attorney.

After the recent contentious fight over New Jersey’s new state budget, Governor Phil Murphy is now hoping to work with New Jersey legislative leaders to get approval of some of his top priorities by the end of the year.

Murphy says gradually boosting New Jersey’s $8.60 an hour minimum wage to $15 is one of things he wants lawmakers to pass.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has not decided yet whether he’ll sign a bill that would impose a 5-cent fee on plastic and paper shopping bags.

Murphy says he’s still considering the measure that would raise an estimated $23 million

for lead abatement programs.

“There was a sense because we didn’t include it in the budget that we had come out negatively on it. We didn’t include it in the budget because we felt like we had not had the time to assess it and really analyze it.”

Governor Phil Murphy says New Jersey is taking steps to phase out controversial  PARCC standardized testing.

Murphy says beginning in the upcoming school year the New Jersey Education Department will reduce the length of the tests in all grades by 25 percent.

“The Department will also ask the New Jersey State Board of Education to simplify and reduce the assessments necessary for high school graduation from six assessments to two, retaining only Algebra 1 and English Language Arts 10 as the two assessments.”

While he didn't eat the meat pies available for theater guests, theater critic Michael Bourne loved the experience of  Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Theatre in NYC.

Click above to hear Michael's review of Sweeney Todd.