In NJ, a bicyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a deer. According to the AP, George Ljutich, who was cycling with Cynthia Mooney, in Hopewell Township when a car hit a deer, which then went flying into the Ljutich's and Mooney's path. The AP reports, "Ljutich was thrown from the bike and struck his head on the pavement. Mooney sustained cuts and bruises"--and they were both wearing helmets. There have been some......

The almost-new Prudential Center in downtown Newark was shut down yesterday. Officials say there were issues "related to its smoke evacuation system," according to the Star-Ledger, which also notes the arena has had to pay for city firefighters to stand in stairwells during events because of these issues. New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek and Mayor Corey Booker were spotted heading into the center this morning, to find out what was going on.......

The man believed to have shot his estranged wife at a YMCA in Montclair, NJ--in front of his daughter--was apprehended in Brooklyn yesterday. Police had been looking for Kenneth Duckett for the past 12 days, and a tip was called in leading them to an apartment in Flatbush. Duckett is awaiting extradition to NJ; Essex County prosecutor Paula Dow said, "He's been formally charged with murder and various weapons offenses. Bail has been set at......

Carla Katz was suspended as the head of the largest local of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA's national executive board believes there's, per the AP, "financial malpractice and suppression of dissent among the local’s 16,000 members, 10,000 of whom are state workers" (see the claims here). Katz denies the charges and says they are "appalling." Her past relationship with NJ Governor Jon Corzine has been scrutinized (Corzine gave her a $6 million settlement......

The Jersey shore town of Belmar has repealed laws that banned unregistered beer kegs and giving someone the finger. Apparently Belmar had instituted these laws to clean up its image as "Fort Lauderdale North" but Belmar's mayor told the AP the rules were hard to enforce. Belmar still has other strict rules as well as code enforcement officers who regularly crack down on summer renters with, say, empty beer cups left on front porches, and......

Five NJ residents have been hospitalized and one has died after drinking oil used to light tiki torches. Apparently the victims from Burlington and Bergen Counties believed they were drinking apple juice, but it's actually a kerosene-like substance (one victim was an 8-year-old girl who now has permanent lung damage; another person "mistook the oil for bottled water and tried to make coffee, but didn't get sick"). NJ Poison Information and Education System executive director......

A group of as many as 20 bottle-nosed dolphins have remained in NJ's Shrewsbury River, forcing authorities to impose a 50-yard distance between the mammals and humans who have come to catch a glimpse of them. It's believed the dolphins followed a school of fish and made a wrong turn from the Atlantic, becoming trapped in the river. While the dolphins seem healthy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teri Frady said they are......

Yesterday evening, while her 4-year-old son was in a Montclair YMCA's Kinderswim program, 31-year-old Monica Paul was fatally shot multiple times in the observation room with her 11-year-old daughter watching. No children were harmed. Police believe the children's father, Kenneth Duckett, is the shooter while a friend waited in a car for the getaway.......

Ashley Alexandra Dupre, also known as "Kristen," the high-class prostitute former governor Eliot Spitzer visited on Valentine's Day eve, strutted her considerable stuff at a New Jersey beach yesterday and there was a photographer on the scene to provide enough photos for the Daily News to give us this gallery. According to the News, Dupre was at a beach in Sea Girt with her mother, who looks like she could be Dupre's sister, in "matching......

Former NJ governor James McGreevey was on the witness stand during his drawn-out divorce trial and said he relies on his boyfriend, a wealthy financier, to help him pay alimony to his first ex-wife as well as his currently estranged wife, Dina Matos McGreevey. Matos McGreevey's lawyer is trying to prove McGreevey can pay alimony, but he has been claiming his stunning fall from the NJ Governor's Mansion--by way of admitting a gay affair and......

Today, the new New Jersey Hall of Fame will induct fifteen men and women--living and deceased--in a ceremony today. They are, in alphabetical order, Buzz Aldrin, Clara Barton, Yogi Berra, Bill Bradley, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Malcolm Forbes, Robert Wood Johnson II, Vince Lombardi, Toni Morrison, Norman Schwarzkopf, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Meryl Streep and Harriet Tubman. The inductees, who were selected from a pool of 25 finalists, must have lived in the state......

Cops are on the lookout for a pants-less NJ man accused of breaking into an Edison, NJ woman's home, disrobing, and molesting its sleeping occupant. The police are now recommending that people not leave windows or doors unlocked because the nude intruder weirdo remains on the loose. Thursday morning, a 39-year-old woman awoke to find a nude man in bed with her and stroking her thigh around 3 a.m. He was an uninvited guest and......

A penny here, a penny there, pretty soon it adds up to driving right by a gas station because they've crossed a psychological barrier of asking more than four bucks for a gallon of gas. Area stations are trying hard to hold the line at $3.99 a gallon to keep from scaring the bejeezus out of drivers with the facts, which is that gasoline is the most expensive it's been since the invention of the......

After dozens of cars broke down after getting gas from a few Lukoil stations in NJ, the Russian-owned company explained, "Our company experienced water contamination issues at six northern New Jersey stations [caused by] excessive concentrations of water in storage tanks at an exchange partner's terminal." Lukoil offered to pay for damages to all vehicles affected by the bad gas and will reimburse motorists for rental cars (call 877-858-9962 for more info). Stalled cars were......

Evening commutes are already painful, but a few dozen motorists in NJ had a terrible night when their cars broke down because they filled up with some bad gas. Apparently some Lukoil stations got a "shipment of bad gas," forcing drivers to pull onto the shoulder of the Garden State Parkway and Palisades Interstate Parkway. The shipments were made to a rest area in Bloomfield and another gas station in Fort Lee. One woman, driving......

Sharpe James, five-time former mayor of Newark, NJ, was convicted by federal jury this morning on charges he conspired to, per the Star-Ledger, "rig the sale of nine city lots to his mistress, who quickly resold them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit." The jury, which had deliberated for five days before returning a verdict today, found James guilty of 13 counts of corruption. James' ex-girlfriend, Tamika Riley, who bought South Ward properties......

Images of the shrapnel-damaged bedroom from WNBC A NJ family is very angry at the Army for "misfiring" a projectile and having part of a shell crash through their roof and onto their daughter's bed. Their 10-year-old daughter had just left for a sleepover, but the family cat who was sleeping there was so seriously injured she had to be euthanized. The 6-inch by 4-inch, 2-pound piece of shrapnel lay smoldering on the bed......

Over a thousand people visited an Ettingville funeral home to pay their respects to 19-year-old Jessica Tush. Her ex-boyfriend Thomas Paolino was officially charged with her murder, as well as desecrating her body, and his bail was set at $1 million. Tush was last seen at her job at a Staten Island Mall store on Wednesday, and her body was found in a shallow grave in NJ's Pine Barrens on Friday. Tush was planning on......

So, Moby just happened to Google Alert himself run across this music blog that wrote a (video) post asking him to play their anniversary party since their headliner had canceled (headlining was The Teeth, who broke up...and broke stuff at our CMJ show last year). The video message, which offered $1,000 to play the show, also went out to Win Butler, Kate Nash and Ben Gibbard. Moby responded "yes" (aww). And Hoboken ladies: he's ready......

Jessica Tush was last seen alive Wednesday at the Staten Island Mall where she works. New Jersey police officials are now confirming that the body of a young woman found in a shallow grave by hikers in the Garden State's Pine Barrens was that of the missing teenager. An initial medical examination indicates that Tush was likely strangled to death. It was originally suspected that Jessica was abducted by force from the mall, but sources......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine spoke out against NYC's congestion pricing plan, citing the Port Authority's proposed $1 billion worth of involvement to sweeten the deal. The City Council approved the plan on Monday night, and now the State Legislature will decide. If passed without the Port Authority's involvement (and $1 billion), NJ drivers would face an additional $3-4 toll when crossing over into Manhattan below 60th Street. Corzine issued a statement: "I am dismayed at......

A NYPD academy dropout who lied about his involvement in September 11 rescue activities remains in jail as NJ police continue to investigate him. Fred Parisi, a 40-year-old Jefferson Township, NJ resident, was arrested for stealing from a business partner, but some suspect he used his so-called 9/11 story to raise sympathy--and money to send his son for a baseball program in Holland. A 2006 NJ Herald article, mainly about Parisi struggle to send his......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine, who was critically injured after not wearing a seat belt when his state vehicle crashed, endorsed a proposal requiring all passengers wear seat belts in vehicles on NJ roads. He also supported recommendations for stricter restrictions for drivers under age 20, even admitting his three children had been in accidents as teen drivers. Corzine had been riding in his SUV's front passenger seat last year when he was ejected, breaking a......

The search for a missing NJ woman led the police to a pond in the Charleston section of Staten Island, where a suitcase of bones were found. The bones are undergoing DNA testing to see if it's a match for Amy Giordano, who vanished last June. Brooklyn resident Rosario DiGirolamo was charged with the Giordano's murder. DiGirolamo, who is married, was involved with 27-year-old Giordano and they had a young son, who was found abandoned......

UPDATE: It appears I may have been punk'd. Bwog is reporting that there was no vote to ban JuicyCampus by Columbia's student council. The university magazine talked to a student council VP of Policy who "claims that a mischievous tipster must have sent in a fake tip to Gothamist and the [New York] Post." No tip was received at Gothamist, but the Post was the source of this afternoon's item, along with background from The......

Bowery Presents has efficiently taken over the New York music scene with some of the most successful venues in town. It seems that for every non-Bowery venue door that closes, a new Bowery one opens. So where is a burgeoning company to go once they've planted Mercury Lounges and Music Halls around NYC? New Jersey, of course.The historic 2,000-capacity Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J., will re-open its doors this fall under a recently formed partnership......

After toppling 499 headstones in January, four teenagers were sentenced today in Middlesex County, NJ. The Star-Ledger reports the judge gave the teens, ages 15-17, 18 months probation, plus paying some of the damages, writing letters of apology, serving 100 hours of "community service keeping community cemeteries clean" and attending "a 12-week course studying the Holocaust." Three of the teens struck on New Year's day, toppling 17 headstones, and then came back a few days......

The NY Post has an "explosive interview" with disgraced former NJ Governor James McGreevey's old driver and aide, who claims he had many "three-way sex romps" with McGreevey and his wife Dina Matos. Teddy Pederson is speaking out because Matos has been talking about Governor Spitzer's scandal, "It's frustrating to hear her call Gov. Spitzer a hypocrite while she's out there being as dishonest as anyone could be about her own life... She's framed herself......

Photo by Raymond Haddad, at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Broadway and 231st St. in the Bronx, an aircraft alert at JFK at Queens, and a person fatally struck by a train at 57th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan. Entries for the NYC Half-Marathon will start being accepted at 11:59pm on May 29th. Details. And the Design Trust for Public Space is accepting submissions for its Grand Army......

Stilted But Not Wilted, by PayPaul(Leader of the WW Tribe) at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 109th Ave. and Merick Blvd. in Queens, a person under a train at Sutphin Blvd. in Queens, and a cyclist pinned beneath the wheels of a bus on 14th St. and 1st Ave. (looks like victim will survive) in Manhattan. The tech-savvy youth who got himself arrested for stealing a Sidekick mobile device and then......