Essex County

Breaking news & local stories from Newark, East Orange, Irvington & more

Classes in one building at Montclair State University were canceled tonight after officials discovered fires in "multiple" trash cans, officials said.

Classes will resume Thursday morning as scheduled, they added.

The seven-story building, University Hall, was evacuated shortly after campus police received a call about 6:30 p.m., university spokeswoman Minne Ho said.

Continue reading "Night's classes canceled after fires discovered in Montclair State trash cans" »

A Cranbury man with a history of fleeing authorities pleaded guilty today to three criminal charges stemming from a car chase last year that led to the death of a Newark police sergeant.

William Rodriguez, 22, faces a sentence of 30 years in prison with no opportunity for parole after pleading guilty to felony murder, eluding and escape before Superior Court Judge Michael Nelson in Newark. He was named in a 14-count indictment returned late last year in connection with an incident that took the life of Sgt. Tommaso Popolizio on March 3, 2007.

Popolizio, a 33-year-old father of four, died after his police cruiser flipped over during a chase on Doremus Avenue in Newark. He and several other officers had responded to a report of drag racing when he pulled over Rodriguez and arrested him.

Continue reading "Cranbury man pleads guilty to charges that led to cop's death" »

From loss comes renewed life.

A 21-year-old man with cystic fibrosis walked out Newark Beth Israel Medical Center yesterday with a pair of new lungs donated by the family of a man shot and killed when he tried to intervene in a domestic dispute at a Clifton church.

The recipient, John Muscarella, said he felt sad the man lost his life, but he lauded his last actions.

"He was a great guy for trying to help and do what he did," Muscarella said, adding he was "proud" to have the donor's lungs.

Continue reading "Clifton church tragedy gives cystic fibrosis patient a second chance" »

A Union County sheriff's deputy was hospitalized in critical condition late Tuesday night when a Jeep fleeing police hit the officer's vehicle in Elizabeth, Newark police said.

The chase began at Court Street and Irvine Turner Boulevard in Newark with police pursuing a black Jeep Cherokee whose occupant was wanted in an armed robbery, department spokesman Detective Todd McClendon said. Officers momentarily lost sight of the Jeep at the Elizabeth border, but police in that city and Hillside picked up the chase as the vehicle tried to make its getaway. The Essex County Sheriff's Office also joined the pursuit.

Continue reading "Union County sheriff's deputy is 'critical' after fleeing Jeep hits vehicle" »

The northern stretch of Newark's downtown is dotted with crumbling industrial buildings, auto shops, fenced-in parking lots and a soon-to-be-demolished public housing complex.

But that is not what the city's leaders see when they look at the streets around the Broad Street train station. They envision gleaming condominium towers and tidy townhouses rising above chic cafes and well-tended parks.

Newark officials know the transformation might not happen for years, given the crisis gripping the real estate and credit markets. Even so, they hope to change the rules governing construction on 50 football fields' worth of property at the downtown's northern edge.

Continue reading "Credit crisis or not, Newark plans for revival of Broad Street area" »

Lawyers in a Newark courtroom yesterday sparred over whether an Irvington woman was legally insane two years ago when she killed her 5-year-old nephew by stabbing him 57 times with a kitchen knife.

Public Defender Sterling Kinsale insisted Jasmin Collins, 42, was insane, saying she's had a "schizoaffective disorder" for years, one that's been documented in a number of hospitalizations and can trigger violent behavior when it's not controlled.

Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo acknowledged Collins has a problem but maintained she knew what she was doing when she knifed Meshach Collins to death in her home on Nov. 19, 2006, and was aware she was doing something wrong.

"The number and location of the knife wounds prove this was a knowing and purposeful murder," he told Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez in his closing statement in the bench trial.

Continue reading "Judge to determine woman's sanity in stabbing death of boy, 5" »

A former New Jersey Turnpike Authority employee pleaded guilty today to money laundering in connection with a long-running federal loan-sharking sting.

Leroy Robinson, 51, of Maplewood, was charged in January with using his consulting business to launder $120,000 in what he allegedly thought were loan-sharking proceeds from an undercover witness.

Continue reading "Ex-NJ Turnpike employee admits role in money laundering scheme" »

An Irvington man wanted in the stabbing death of another man in September was arrested in western Pennsylvania after an acquaintance tipped off detectives, authorities said today.

Terrance Battle, 32, was taken into custody just before 5 a.m. Friday when he answered the door of a home in Altoona, Pa., about 95 miles east of Pittsburgh, police said. He was taken to the Blair County Prison, in nearby Hollidaysburg, where he is awaiting extradition to New Jersey on charges of murder and illegal weapons possession.

Continue reading "Irvington stabbing death suspect seized in western Pa." »