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MAPLEWOOD, New Jersey (WABC) -- Police in New Jersey are searching for a suspect and warning residents after a young woman was followed home and sexually assaulted. The home invasion and assault happened around 11:30 a.m. in Maplewood. Authorities say the preliminary investigation indicates that the man followed the victim home, forced his way into her house and sexually assaulted her. She was transported to an area hospital, where she was treated and released. The suspect remains at large.

The Morris County Republican Victory PACis offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of vandals who tore up campaign signs outside of the PAC’s campaign headquarters in Morristown. “I know Chip Robinson and other Morris Democrat leaders – while I disagree with them strongly on important issues, I know them to be honorable and decent people,” said Rob Zwigard, the PAC’s executive director. “I do not think Mikie Sherrill or her Campaign were at all directly involved in these despicable acts, however, the national and statewide Democrat rhetoric has created an environment where some find this abhorrent...

You're stressed out. I'm stressed out. We're all stressed out. It's official: New Jersey is the most stressed out state in the U.S. (at least according to a recent report by Zippia). Garden State? More like The Agita State. Is it our long work hours? Having to sit in traffic on Route 1 (probably)? Are there just too many people in this state and we're all driving each other insane?

New Jersey 101.5 has taken its mid-day hosts, Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco, off the air until further notice in light of comments about state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal made during Wednesday's show. "We are aware of the offensive comments made by Dennis and Judi during today’s broadcast," the station said Wednesday night. "We have taken immediate action and have taken them off the air until further notice. We are investigating the matter and will have further comment shortly."

Gov. Phil Murphy accused a pair of New Jersey radio hosts of spreading hate speech and issued sharp condemnation of their remarks Wednesday after the two repeatedly referred to New Jersey's Sikh attorney general as "turban man." The governor accused the hosts of 101.5 FM's "The Dennis & Judi Show" of "making "abhorrent and xenophobic" remarks toward Gurbir Grewal. Grewal, the nation's first Sikh attorney general, was referred to as "turban man" and "the guy with the turban" as the hosts discussed his recent move to tell municipal prosecutors not to pursue charges for marijuana arrests.

JACKSON, Miss. — No U.S. Senate race in the country could be more of a game changer in 2018 than the one Democrat Mike Espy is running for the seat vacated by former Sen. Thad Cochran, U.S. Sen Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in Jackson late Friday afternoon. #The high-profile senator, the former mayor of Newark, N.J., made the declaration during a press event with Espy at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

President Donald Trump's interaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a "disaster," "detrimental to the country" and the strongest evidence yet that "the president (should) step down." Those are the words of former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, a Republican, who penned a blistering op-ed in the Los Angeles Times this weekend calling on fellow GOPers to put country over party and dump Trump. "In this election year, opposing Trump is risky for GOP candidates," Whitman wrote. "Invoking the need to choose country over party is an overused trope. But it is essential now."

Chris Christie has kept a low public persona since leaving the Statehouse six months ago, but with Democrats making much noise in his home county of Morris, the former governor couldn’t stay silent. “You’ve got till Labor Day to fall in love with Jay Webber,” Christie said at a Republican “unity breakfast” Tuesday morning at the Zeris Inn in Mountain Lakes. Webber just survived a contentious primary to win the GOP nomination to run for Congress in District 11. His Democratic opponent, Mikie Sherrill, already has a campaign warchest of more than $4 million. Zeroing in on what many see...

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy is expected to sign a bill that would dedicate $5 million in government funding to local media projects. The so-called “Civic Info Bill” was passed by the state legislature in June and will create the Civic Information Consortium, a nonprofit organization that gives grants to promote media in “underserved communities, low-income communities and communities of color.” Applicants apply for grants by proposing a “collaboration” between one of five public universities and a community organization, a media outlet, or a member of the state’s technology sector. The proposal must also “offer a clear benefit to communities.”...

The bitter war of words between Democrats that could lead to another state government shutdown in New Jersey raged into the night during the year's longest day. The state's Democrat-controlled Legislature defied Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by passing their own state budget Thursday night, despite the new governor's vow to veto it. And the body's top lawmaker accused Murphy of being dishonest and dictatorial. That came hours after closed-door negotiations broke down, with Murphy standing by his tax hike proposals and alleging his fellow Democrats are foolishly following in the footsteps of the state's previous -- unpopular -- governor, Republican...

A federal judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Chatham mother who says the school district forced her son to watch Islamic conversion videos and ignored the study of Christianity and Judaism. Libby Hilsenrath filed the lawsuit, on behalf of her child (identified as C.H. in the suit), against the Chatham School District and Board of Education, as well as the superintendent, assistant superintendent, middle school principal, Social Studies supervisor, and two Social Studies teachers. Judge Kevin McNulty said in the decision, on a motion filed by the school district's attorney to dismiss the lawsuit, that...

A top Republican state lawmaker says there's a reason Gov. Phil Murphy is battling with his fellow Democrats over the state budget: He's planning to run for president. State Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick said Murphy has to be talking to a "national audience" as he continues to push of this tax hikes despite opposition from top state lawmakers who hail from his own party. "He must be talking to somebody," Bramnick, R-Union, said during a news conference with top New Jersey Republicans in Trenton on Thursday morning to highlight the budget fight.

In the battle against litter in the Garden State, plastic bags have been public enemy number one. Several municipalities, mostly along the Shore, have acted on their own to limit plastic bag use either through fees or bans. But for years, efforts for statewide regulation of the bags has failed to gain traction. Now, state lawmakers have decided that it is time to move forward. A new fee on plastic and paper shopping bags is being pushed through the state legislature: The bill cleared budget committees in both the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday and could be passed as early...

While Republican candidates across the country are proclaiming their fealty to President Donald Trump, New Jersey's Bob Hugin is going against the grain. Hugin, who is taking on Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, is proclaiming himself "a different kind of Republican," in a new television ad, where he identifies himself as supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage and equal pay for equal work. He also backs federal funding for the Gateway Tunnel project and calls for changes to the Republican tax law that singled out New Jersey by capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes, taking positions at odds...

The gun control bills that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed this week won’t save lives. If anything, it will lead to more crime and death. The laws aim to keep firearms out of the wrong hands, expand background checks, and reduce magazine size. But at best, the new laws will harass otherwise law-abiding New Jerseyans and make it difficult for the poor to defend themselves. Take the so-called Red Flag law. This law will allow the government to take away people’s guns without even a hearing before a judge -- something that most states currently require. When people “really”...

Six new gun-control laws were enacted Wednesday, including smaller ammunition magazine limits and new "red flag" laws designed to take guns from people deemed dangerous. Though New Jersey has among the nation’s most restrictive gun-control systems, most Democrats have been pushing for years to enact more, particularly in response to school shootings. Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, D-Camden, recalled a Statehouse meeting he had in April 2013 with Connecticut parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The cut in the maximum ammunition magazine, from 15 to 10 rounds, is one proposal that those parents emphasized. “We made...

The gun control conundrum will continue ad infinitum.  But what is happening in New Jersey should frighten anyone -- gun owner or not.  NJS102 will most likely be affirmed by the Democrat senate majority in the NJ legislature.  The NJ Assembly has already passed the following:  A1217, which would create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person's guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year.  A2757, which would require all private gun sales in the state to go through a licensed dealer who can perform...

Donald Trump has announced the plans for the Philadelphia Eagles to visit the White House to celebrate the Super Bowl victory is officially OFF ... and POTUS is making it seem like it was his decision. Instead, Trump says he will still have the United States Marine Band and the United Army Chorus playing the national anthem at 1600 Pennsylvania ... while he stands proudly and watches. The team was scheduled to visit on Tuesday ... without several key members from the team who opted out as a way to protest Trump's stance on the national anthem. But Trump says...

Gov. Phil Murphy's administration put New Jersey's state agencies on notice Friday that they should prepare for another state government shutdown if a state budget isn't signed by the June 30 deadline. The letter to Murphy's cabinet members, obtained by NJ Advance Media, asked them to update contingency plans for their departments. It was sent shortly after top staffers in the state Senate and Assembly met with Murphy's senior staff Friday morning amid ongoing negotiations about Murphy's first state budget proposal -- which so far have been fraught.

A lawsuit filed last week calls for the desegregation of New Jersey schools, a potentially game-changing legal challenge for minority students across the state. But how segregated are the state's schools? Just 0.3 percent of the more than 6,700 students in Irvington Public Schools are white, making it the most non-white school district in the state, according to data from the nonprofit Center on Diversity and Equality in Education And that's far from the only example of students of color being isolated. About 66 percent of New Jersey's African American students and 62 percent of its Latino students attend schools...