Free Republic

The New Jersey attorney general has announced an investigation into the 2022 general election in Monmouth County after some votes were double-counted, possibly flipping the outcome of a local school board race. Democrat Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Civil Rights Director Sundeep Iyer said last week that the state retained former Attorney General Peter Harvey and his law firm on a pro bono basis to investigate Monmouth County's administration of the November election and provide recommendations to improve future elections. "Based on public reports regarding the 2022 General Election in Monmouth County, a full investigation is warranted to encourage and...

SEASIDE PARK, NJ – Republican Congressional candidate Mike Crispi and former opponent, Dan Francisco announced Monday morning they have joined forces to take out the Monmouth County Republican establishment. Francisco, a long-time grassroots activist is now ending his Congressional bid and endorsing Crispi as the best candidate to take on Chris Smith and will run against Tom Arnone and Nick DiRocco for a seat on the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners. Francisco, a councilman in Englishtown, has been New Jersey’s foremost leader for Second Amendment rights and is currently the lead Plaintiff in the case Francisco v. Cooke challenging New...

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — Building relationships with the LGBTQ community and enrolling local businesses to act as shelters where bias crime victims can seek immediate help are parts of a new program rolled out Wednesday by a New Jersey prosecutor’s office. Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey introduced the program to assign liaisons to members of the gay, lesbian and other communities to chip away at decades of distrust between them and law enforcement. She enlisted the help of three Jersey Shore cities to conduct the pilot program called “Safe Place,” modeled after a similar initiative in Seattle. The program...

The family court judges were in different New Jersey counties, but the question prosecutors asked them was the same: Can we charge these male juveniles as adults on allegations of rape? Judge James Troiano in Monmouth County said a 16-year-old girl who accused a 16-year-old boy of sexually assaulting her — and filming it — at a pajama-themed party should have been told by prosecutors to consider the long-term damage to the boy before she decided to pursue criminal charges against him. G.M.C., as court documents identified the suspect, allegedly sent a text to his friends that read, “When your...

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork) –There is new information in the investigation into a deadly mansion fire in New Jersey. On Wednesday morning, police arrested Paul Caneiro, 51, the brother of the owner of the Colts Neck mansion, charging him with arson for a fire at his own home in Ocean Township, CBS2’s Meg Baker reported. Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni confirmed that the brother of the homeowner is now in custody, charged with setting his own house on fire earlier the same day. The criminal complaint says Caneiro “set fire to his residence by using gasoline and igniting the gasoline...

The case of the mystery pooper has reportedly been solved after New Jersey police arrested a school district's superintendent.

State Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) tonight acknowledged that her husband got help from a non-profit group that assists low-income homeowners in demolishing a shore home severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy that records show had been purchased for nearly a half-million dollars. The owner of the Manasquan home — identified in public records as Richard Stender, the assemblywoman's husband — applied to Monmouth County-based Coastal Habitat for Humanity for help, said Maureen Mulligan, the group's executive director.

A New Jersey high school senior has won her case to keep "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, defeating atheist attacks that sought to strike the language from the pledge. Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School, declared victory Friday in protecting what she has described as the right of her fellow students to continue reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety. After hearing the teen and her family's case, a state judge dismiss the latest efforts by the American Humanist Association to remove "under God" from the Pledge. The legal battle first began...

Federal auditors are questioning more than $500,000 in Hurricane Sandy debris removal costs in Belmar, saying the town awarded two contracts that did not comply with federal rules and lacked paperwork to support other expenses. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General today released its findings about the hard-hit Monmouth County borough, marking the third time a federal audit of a Jersey Shore town’s debris removal work following the storm has been made public. The way two contractors charged for cleanup work accounted for more than half of the expenses flagged in Belmar’s audit. Federal auditors said Belmar...

When a major government corruption scandal hit Monmouth County three years ago, voters systematically began whittling away the number of Republicans on the GOP-controlled freeholder board with each election. Today, Democrats reaped the benefits of that voter discontent when they took control of the freeholder board in this largely suburban county for the first time in 23 years. Claiming they heard the voters' message loud and clear, the new majority pledged to implement policies that will keep a watchful eye on government practices while cutting spending. "Monmouth County citizens must be assured that the corruption brought to light by Operation...

The governor never tires of telling us that he grew up on a farm. Gee, who'da thunk it? Well, me for one. Over the course of these "town meetings" on his multibillion-dollar toll-and- spend scheme, our governor has undergone a personality change. The first few sessions featured docile crowds that were willing to sit back and absorb the wisdom of a Wall Street whiz who spoke with great authority on matters of high finance. But once the crowds wised up, Gov. Jon Corzine started to look like the bumbler he was when he first entered politics eight years ago. The...

A former FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two vice presidents could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison Wednesday for passing secret U.S. documents in a plot to topple the Philippine government. Leandro Aragoncillo, 48, who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney before joining the FBI as a civilian employee at Fort Monmouth, pleaded in 2006 to four charges. The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty, but under his plea agreement, Aragoncillo instead faces 15 to 20 years in prison. A co-conspirator,...

The Catholic priest who lived the high life on money he stole from his well-to-do Rumson parish has spent his first night behind bars. The Rev. Joseph W. Hughes was locked up in the Monmouth County Jail yesterday afternoon after a Superior Court judge turned aside his pleas for leniency and sentenced him to five years in prison. Hughes soon will be moved to state custody, and the judge likely will recommend incarceration in a minimum security prison. Superior Court Judge Bette E. Uhrmacher disagreed. She told Hughes that his theft of church money had eroded the trust parishioners have...

Two former Fort Monmouth workers, and the daughter of one of them, are accused of scheming to have government contractors provide no-show jobs for the daughter. Accused in an indictment made public today are 55-year-old Michael Rzeplinski, a former programs director for the General Services Administration and former Army supervisory engineer; 61-year-old Connie Davidson, a former G-S-A employee who lives with Rzeplinski in Red Bank, and her 33-year-old Kirsten Davidson of Red Bank. All three are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rzeplinski also faces two counts of mail fraud and three counts of tax evasion. Rzeplinski and...

Monmouth Boy Scouts to Charge Annual Fee(MARLBORO, N.J.) The Monmouth Council of Boy Scouts will start charging a $52 annual membership fee, beginning March 15. Previously, parents paid a one-time registration fee. The group says it needs the money to help erase more than $1 million in debt that was caused by expenses and professional fees. The group also is asking parents to match the fee with a voluntary donation. Families with more than one Boy Scout will get a 25 percent discount on each additional child. Membership in the Scouts has been on the decline in recent years. Monmouth...

A Monmouth County NJ political "activist" was apparently trapped in a web of his own devising,after a near-slanderous website was put up. Tawdry details of "Democrat Disinformation" here.

A rite of passage for parents and teenagers turned deadly in Monmouth County. Authorities say a 16-year-old learning to parallel park accidentally hit the accelerator and struck and killed her mother yesterday. It happened on a quiet street in Marlboro. Authorities say the girl had a learner's permit. The mother had set up cones and was outside the vehicle trying to guide her daughter. The 44-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

Keeping sick kids in school worries parents Officials promise to review policy By jane meggitt Staff Writer UPPER FREEHOLD — Parents expressed alarm at what they see as a threat to the health of the student body in the Upper Freehold Regional School District. At last week’s Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education meeting, several mothers brought up concerns about cleanliness in the school building in response to an outbreak of strep throat among the students. Karen Doherty said she wanted to know if the specifications for the cleaning contract were part of the public record. Business Administrator Viola...

Monmouth Battlefield State Park Mail address: 347 Freehold Road, Manalapan, New Jersey 07726 Phone: (732)-462-9616 Fax: (732)- 577-8816 Site of the longest battle of the American Revolution Where will you be on June 28th & 29th of 2003. We at Monmouth will be holding a little celebration commemorating the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth. We are hoping that about 10,000 of our closest friends will come out on that weekend to witness a spectacle of truly awesome proportions! Monmouth Battlefield State Park will host over 2,300 reenactors as they, the real stars of the day, will present a...