Heat wave cancelling July 4th events—NJ Top News
Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Wednesday:
🔗 Heat wave threatens Fourth of July weekend events
The heat wave expected to bring the hottest temperatures in four years in New Jersey is impacting events scheduled for the Independence Day holiday weekend.
An extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service goes into effect on Wednesday as temperatures soar into the 90s. Combined with high humidity, the heat index will reach 100-110 each day.
New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said morning and nightly rounds of thunderstorms are possible each day.
"We are really in dangerous heat territory on Thursday, as temperatures flirt with 100. Friday looks like the hottest day of the week. One model goes as high as 107 in New Jersey. The state's all-time record high is 110 set in 1936. That's close," he said.
Click the link above for a list of postponed and cancelled events.
🔗 Man begs for bullet before Bernards police shooting, cops say
⚠️ Prosecutors say a Bernards police officer shot an armed man after a lengthy standoff Monday.
➡️ Authorities said officers spent more than 30 minutes trying to convince the man to drop a knife.
🔴 The 31-year-old was hospitalized in stable condition and later charged.
BERNARDS — A New Jersey man told police officers to shoot him in the head during a tense standoff, according to authorities.
On Monday, Bernards police officers found Jake Smolinsky, 31, of Asbury Park near Mountainview Boulevard, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. Around 3:30 p.m., the police department received a 911 text requesting a well-being check. The message said a man was bleeding and possibly intoxicated.
Smolinsky was holding a knife and sitting in the driver's seat of a Subaru sedan, prosecutors said. Authorities said he was visibly injured but didn't elaborate on the extent of his wounds.
According to prosecutors, police officers spent more than half an hour trying to convince Smolinsky to exit the vehicle and drop the knife so that they could treat his injuries.
Instead, police said, Smolinsky pointed his fingers at his head and told them to "put one right here." Then, he got out of the car and, holding the knife, walked toward a Bernards police officer, according to prosecutors.
The officer fired their service weapon once and shot Smolinsky in the abdomen, prosecutors said. He was hospitalized and was in stable condition as of Tuesday afternoon.
🔗 Wait... is the NJ ICE detention center canceled or not?
ROXBURY — The plan to build an ICE detention facility in Morris County is officially dead. Or is it?
Seven months after the first reports about the facility sparked outrage, the Department of Homeland Security officially ended plans to build an ICE detention at a warehouse off Route 46 in the Ledgewood section, according to a joint status report issued by the U.S. District Court in New Jersey.
But Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Monday suggested that the plan for a detention facility in Roxbury was still possible after Gov. Mikie Sherrill said that the state's lawsuit caused Homeland Security to back down from the plan.
"DHS will never back down. We will be keeping this site for a detention center," Mullin said
Michael Symons, spokesman for the state Office of the Attorney General, said that the federal government plans to sell the property.
"DHS, through its counsel, represented in writing to a federal court that it no longer intends to move forward with the detention center and intends to sell the Roxbury warehouse instead," Symons told New Jersey 101.5.
🔗 Tom Kean Jr. reveals depression diagnosis after 4 month absence
✅U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. said he was diagnosed with depression during hospital testing
✅The 7th District Republican has not voted in Congress since March
✅Kean said he received treatment and is ready to return to work
The veil of mystery on U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr.'s health issues was partially lifted during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Speaking to a nearly empty chamber on Tuesday morning, Kean revealed that during a hospital visit for testing, he was diagnosed with depression. Doctors recommended that a hospital stay would be the best course of recovery to "address his illness."
He did not explain, however, why he chose to remain silent about the diagnoses for nearly four months. Other federal lawmakers in recent years have been forthright about their struggles with mental health, including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who revealed in 2023 when he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for depression.
Kean has not voted in Congress since March and missed 140 House votes as well as his primary election earlier this month. His office issued several statements, which essentially said he was recovering from a health issue but did not disclose details about where he was or how long he would be unable to personally tend to his congressional duties.
"When people hear the word depression, many people think it simply means feeling sad, but depression is so much more than that. It is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be," Kean said.
🔗 Missed opportunity: Gov. Mikie Sherrill's first budget on affordability—Analysis
💰 Gov. Mikie Sherrill's first budget emphasizes record property tax relief and expanded affordability programs, but makes no major changes to the state's school funding formula.
🏫 The budget missed an early opportunity to address one of the biggest drivers of rising property taxes: local school costs.
📊 Sherrill fails to enact structural reforms aimed at slowing future property tax increases.
A governor's first budget is often viewed as more than just a spending plan. It is an opportunity to establish priorities, tackle long-standing challenges and, if necessary, make politically difficult decisions before the next election cycle comes into focus.
That context makes Gov. Mikie Sherrill's first budget particularly significant. Throughout her campaign, affordability was a central message. The administration argues the FY2027 budget delivers on that promise by providing more than $4.1 billion in property tax relief through ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and Stay NJ, expanding the Child Tax Credit, increasing down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and maintaining a full pension payment.
While these programs can help offset some of those costs for some, they do not directly address the local spending crisis that produces annual property tax increases. Public school spending remains the largest component of local property tax bills, yet the FY2027 budget leaves the state's school funding formula largely intact.
In announcing the budget, the governor said the package focuses on "making New Jersey more affordable" through direct assistance to residents.
The largest question is whether those initiatives address the state's most persistent affordability challenge. While it can help some, it is not relief for all and many taxpayers will not see the kind of relief that makes a real impact on daily affordability.
Questions to ask to see if someone’s REALLY from New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Jeff Deminski
EJ takes a walk in Asbury Park
Gallery Credit: Eric "EJ" Johnson
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