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Oak Tree Road, a vibrant stretch of restaurants, sari shops, and jewelry stores in Edison and Iselin, is usually buzzing with shoppers. However, the crowds are thinning as business owners say higher prices, fueled by 50% tariffs on imports from India, are keeping customers away.

"It’s very tough,” said the manager of a popular vegetarian restaurant in Little India in Edison, NJ. “Vendors are charging 50% more, and we have no option but to increase our menu prices. Customers feel it and yes, we risk losing business.” Reporting by Raven Santana @njspotlightnews.org

"We're not going away . . ." @njspotlightnews.org

A note from us…

More cell phone bans could be coming to NJ schools after the state released guidance recommending a “bell-to-bell” ban on phones and social media. The state is recommending phones be turned off and put away throughout the day, but it’s up to individual school districts to set their own policies.

As immigration enforcement ramps up under the Trump administration, fear and anxiety are rising among school children. It's not just undocumented students who are impacted, but entire school communities.

On Sunday, Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli are scheduled to discuss issues head-to-head at Rider University in a 90-minute debate that begins at 7 p.m. This will be the first time they share the same stage, allowing potential voters to directly compare the two candidates.

Voting in NJ's high-stakes gubernatorial election is about to begin. Saturday is the deadline for county clerks to send out the first mail-in ballots for the Nov. 4 election to choose the next governor and determine control of the Assembly.

Efforts to rein in political violence are already underway in NJ. Sen. Doug Steinhardt says he is drafting bipartisan legislation to establish enhanced penalties and mandatory minimum sentences for politically motivated criminal acts like assault, arson, terroristic threats, manslaughter and murder.

NJ Voter Guides from @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/special-repo...

Camden residents urged the State Board of Education to end the state takeover of the Camden City School District at a meeting on Wednesday. Parents said they are upset by a lack of improvement in the schools and a lack of transparency about what is going on in the district.

The distribution of state-funded benefits via the $2B Anchor program begins this week as homeowners and renters throughout NJ face the latest wave of rising housing costs. These payments can total as much as $1,750 per household. The application deadline this year is Oct. 31. @njspotlightnews.org

Until now, services for NJ veterans came under the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which also manages military operations and the state’s National Guard. The new law splits the agency in two with separate leadership at each. www.njspotlightnews.org/video/nj-to-...

So things have become more challenging in public media. But @njspotlightnews.org was defunded -- not defeated. In fact, our team is doing a lot of cool stuff in some other places, such as: www.instagram.com/njspotlightn... & www.youtube.com/@NJSpotlight... Like, follow and subscribe there, too.

Opponents of the attempted revival of the Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline call it the “zombie pipeline,” because after they killed it twice with legal challenges and permit denials that spanned almost a decade, the project has come back to life.

In a statement to the judge, Nadine Menendez pointed to her husband’s role in the bribery and corruption scandal that landed her 4.5 years in federal prison. Among other things, she said, “I put my life in his hands and he strung me like a puppet ... He’s not the man I thought he was.”

From the archives: In this 2014 interview, former NJ Gov. Tom Kean discussed the 9/11 Commission's final report the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Kean served as co-chair of the commission. #NeverForget Watch the full interview: youtu.be/XeznWZncWZE

NJ’s Gini index, which measures income inequality, dropped by almost 2% between 2023 and 2024 to 0.471, according to the latest Census data. The national average was 0.481. That means income inequality was worse nationwide than it was in NJ, reports @colleenodea.bsky.social @njspotlightnews.org

After Congress voted to end a solar tax credit years early, homeowners are racing to qualify for the credit before it runs out at the end of the year.

Where was mental health support in fatal NJ police shooting, advocates ask New Brunswick tragedy prompts calls for community-based programs to respond to emergencies @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/09/why-...

BREAKING: NJ Dept of Health takes action intended to make COVID-19 vaccinations more available to residents. More tomorrow, on @njspotlightnews.org

Other companies like Kraft, General Mills and Nestle made similar pledges under pressure from the White House and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. In April, Kennedy announced plans to eliminate eight synthetic dyes from the U.S. food supply by the end of 2026.

No NJ resident saw their dream of winning the nearly $1.8B Powerball jackpot come true. But NJ's ticket retailers and the state itself collected millions as that Powerball jackpot grew to a near-record total. @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/09/nj-b...

“As a homeowner I realize that we have a huge problem,” Forked River resident Kelly Smentkowski said in favor of the DEP’s proposal. “The water is rising. I look at it every day. So, if people don’t realize it because they don’t live on the water, shame on them.”

Happening Now: Rallies continue here in New Brunswick outside the municipal court building for Deborah Terrell, a 68-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed in the city while she was experiencing a mental health crisis in early August. @njspotlightnews.org

This week, the House passed a symbolic measure to support a probe into the case against Jeffrey Epstein. Purely symbolic, the resolution reinforces the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s prerogative to investigate how the case was handled — something the committee is already doing.

Laura Ciesla, who served as a Newark police officer between 2018 and 2024, filed a federal lawsuit in late August accusing Mayor Ras Baraka of making unwanted advances like flirtatious messages, requests for explicit photos and invitations for spa dates that she rejected.

The fatal police shooting of Deborah Terrell has renewed calls from New Brunswick residents, Terrell’s family members and social justice advocates about how to hold officers accountable when mental health emergencies become deadly encounters.

“The (state) legislative body actually has to do something about this." — Professor Jason Williams, Montclair State University Body-cam recordings show fatal New Brunswick police shooting @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/09/nj-p...

“The evidence underscores that microbetting can accelerate the path to problem gambling, especially among vulnerable populations such as youth and those with existing vulnerabilities." -Luis Del Orbe, CCGNJ w/ @johnreitmeyer.bsky.social @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/09/new-...

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's endorsement comes as new data revealed an increase in nationwide voter registrations. Though both major parties saw growth, Republican registrations have jumped by about 35% compared to a 20% increase for Democrats. More: www.njspotlightnews.org/video/democr...

CVS will completely stop offering the shots in three states — Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico. According to reports, Walgreens will be offering COVID-19 vaccinations in “states where we are able to do so.”

The gubernatorial elections in NJ and Virginia, the only other state with major off-year elections, are the first after Republicans won the White House and both houses of Congress and are seen as a bellwether on the electorate. And both parties see a path to victory in NJ.

Students at one of the largest high school districts in New Jersey are beginning the school year without long-standing mental health services amid deep concern and outrage from school staff, parents and former students. @njspotlightnews.org www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/09/nj-h...

Friday marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast. The catastrophic storm remains one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, killing nearly 1,400 people and causing widespread destruction.

Developed by Rutgers scientists Peter Nitzsche and Tom Orton, Scarlet Sunrise combines the firmness of a traditional grape tomato with the striking color and sweetness of a bicolor heirloom.

The Board of Public Utilities cautioned residents to watch for fraudsters posing as utility representatives over the phone, asking customers for their personal and banking information to help them apply for the $100 credit approved earlier this summer.

“People talk about the thin blue line, as … that brotherhood among police officers, and because of that loyalty among police officers, they may be less likely to intervene appropriately when someone makes a complaint against one of their fellows,” said one University of Maryland law professor.

The final numbers are in: School taxes are increasing substantially in about 80 NJ school districts this year under a new school-funding provision created by Gov. Murphy and lawmakers when a new state budget was adopted at the end of June. Reporting by @hannah-gross.bsky.social @njspotlightnews.org

Back-to-school shoppers have faced persistent inflation and the initial effects of President Trump’s aggressive tariff policy. And that late-summer, 10-day sales-tax break for school supplies previously offered to New Jersey consumers remains mothballed this year. @njspotlightnews.org

The new tests include an update to the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, which test students’ knowledge of math and English language arts beginning in third grade, and the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, the state’s high school exit exam.

Every student entering kindergarten in the Newark Public Schools this year will get $25 toward a 529 college savings account — for many families, the first seed money to start saving for college.

Tracking the number of fatal shootings by law enforcement officers in New Jersey remains difficult more than six years after the state attorney general’s office was given the responsibility for investigating all deaths involving police. @colleenodea.bsky.social @njspotlightnews.org

A rally for Deborah Terrell, a 68-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed during a mental health crisis in New Brunswick earlier this month, is currently taking place outside the municipal court building in the city before a city council meeting. @njspotlightnews.org

Since 2020, New Jersey has provided greater transparency involving police who use force and the major discipline actions taken against police. But tracking the number of fatal shootings by law enforcement officers remains difficult.

I observed several days of immigration court hearings in Newark for @njspotlightnews.org. Some children came to court without their parents, who feared being detained at court. Many did not have attorneys, which means they are less likely to be granted relief to stay in the U.S.

Children, some of whom arrived in the country alone, often face the uncertainty and fear of appearing in immigration court without an attorney, since they do not have the same right to a court-appointed lawyer that U.S. citizens do. www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/08/chil...

An oil and gas company wants permission from the U.S. government to build a pipeline off the New Jersey coast, a move that could hurt or kill marine animals including whales, dolphins and seals. www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/08/deve...