Local Beat is the NJ News Commons’ weekly roundup of the best reporting by community news sources.
NEWARK’S EXECUTIVE PROTECTION UNIT RACKED UP MORE THAN $1M IN OVERTIME, RECORDS SHOW
There are 27 Newark police officers assigned to the city’s Executive Protection Unit, which provides 24-hour security for the mayor. Elana Knopp of TAPinto Newark obtained documents through an Open Public Records Act request that show those 27 officers racked up a combined total of approximately $1.12 million in overtime pay during the first eight months of 2017 alone.
POLICE REPORTS CONTRADICT PROSECUTOR STATEMENT ON HIGHLAND PARK DEATH
Documents released as part of a lawsuit filed against the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO) revealed inconsistencies in the official story of a man who died last year after an encounter with Highland Park police officers. Police found Daniel Nagahama, 28, alive when they arrived on the scene, but the man died just hours after he was taken to a hospital in New Brunswick by police. Charlie Kratovil of New Brunswick Today says the documents appear to confirm that instead of reviving the man, police instead punched the man and sprayed him with a “chemical/natural agent.”
MAURICE ‘MICKEY’ CARROLL, WHO COVERED JFK ASSASSINATION AND PUSHED FOR MORRIS SCHOOL DISTRICT, DIES AT 86
Longtime journalist and Morris Township resident, Maurice “Mickey” Carroll has died at the age of 86. Carroll covered everything from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to a range of local issues for seven different newspapers. Carroll also “taught generations of journalists at four universities and, for the last two decades, translated the Quinnipiac University Poll into plain English,” writes Kevin Coughlin for Morristown Green.
TAX BILL PROTESTERS GATHER IN WESTFIELD, FIND CONGRESSMAN LANCE IN AGREEMENT
A “flash protest” against the Senate GOP tax bill brought dozens of Westfield residents to the office of Republican Congressman Leonard Lance on Monday. Jackie Lieberman of TAPinto Westfield says the protesters descended upon Lance’s office, only to find themselves in relative agreement with the Republican congressman when it came to his opposition to the tax bill.
MONTCLAIR HS FOOTBALL WINS 2017 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
The Montclair High School football team won the 2017 NJSIAA State Championship last week in the North 1 Group 5 category. The Montclair Dispatch says Montclair took home the trophy after defeating Union City, with a final score of 35-14.
BADER FIELD IS NOW BEING USED FOR… STORAGE
Atlantic City’s Bader Field, once home to an airport, a minor league baseball team, and numerous Thanksgiving Day rivalry games has been vacant for years – until now. Elinor Comlay of Route 40 News says the city has finally found what they have determined to be the “highest and best use” for the property: a storage yard.
OTHER NOTABLE LOCAL STORIES THIS WEEK:
- White supremacist group posts anti-immigration flyers across New Brunswick | TAPinto New Brunswick
- East Brunswick: A Defunct Library, Suburban Redevelopment, and the Lindbergh Baby (Part 1 of 4) | TAPinto East Brunswick
- Paterson Schools Improving Education Through Innovative Leadership Training | TAPinto Paterson
- New Jersey provides $5M to help pregnant women recover from opioid addiction | WHYY