Results tagged “newjersey”

An obese man's attempt to re-write the "Twinkie Defense" failed yesterday when a NJ jury found him guilty of murdering his son-in-law — despite claims that he was too fat to commit the crime. Williams Ates, 65, was convicted of slaying Paul Duncsak in 2006, then driving 21 hours to his mother's house in Louisiana for an alibi. Prosecutors argued that before killing Duncsak, who was involved in a bitter custody dispute with Ates' daughter, Ates "bought books detailing how to build a gun silencer [and] did Internet searches on how to pick locks and how to commit the perfect murder." The defense said the 285-pound Florida native couldn't have sprinted upstairs and accurately shot the victim — or driven all the way to his mother's home without frequent breaks. He will be sentenced next month.

There are big elections tomorrow, but the most interesting race might take place in a tiny NJ town that'll be voting on its name for the fifth time since 1989. Woodland Park, population 11,000, received its outdoorsy name last year, but will decide whether or not to reinstate the community's old name, West Paterson. The pro-Woodland Park contingent says the new moniker helps distance the town from the stigma of poorer neighbor, Paterson, while the pro-West Paterson folks claim the name Woodland Park betrays the community's history and "sounds like a cemetery," according to the Times. Currently, the town is stuck between both names: The official website welcomes visitors to the "Borough of Woodland Park" with the URL www.westpaterson.com

Who knew former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani could feel threatened by an Independent candidate scoring single digits in the polls and running in… New Jersey? Giuliani, a supporter of Republican gubernatorial candidate and admitted fat guy Chris Christie, does seem a little threatened by Independent candidate Chris Daggett, though. He told the Post that Daggett should drop the race and stop stealing votes from the Republican side.

Did that New Jersey storefront on the Upper West Side get you across the Hudson to check out some foliage? The NY Times reports from the state's temporary Manhattan outpost (which is still up and running), saying that it's not about competition or stealing Manhattanites away (was that really ever a fear?).

"The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource -- people," proclaims a new study from the Empire Center For NY State Policy. It shows that many New Yorkers are leaving the state in record numbers, and the move is looking to be quite taxing on the state. Between 2000 and 2008, 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the U.S., leaving the state with a huge loss in taxable income. Nearly 80% of those who left were New York City residents.

What better to follow up a meeting with a handful of NBA owners than a $19,000 lunch? That’s right, nothing, which is why Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is looking to purchase the floundering New Jersey Nets and bring then into Brooklyn, stopped into Nello on the Upper East Side Wednesday with a few friends, the Post reported.

Earlier this week NYMag reported on Ilya the manatee, "who traveled to Cape Cod this summer via New York Harbor," and ended up in New Jersey this past Friday. Ilya hasn't been spotted since, with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center unable to track her down. Today someone reported they saw the manatee off the coast of Bayonne, but the MMSC says the report came in 8 hours after the spotting, and Ilya is still nowhere to be found.

Two preseason games at the Prudential Center in Newark have been so highly attended that the Nets are considering moving there from the Meadowlands while they wait for a new home in Brooklyn. An October 13th preseason game against the Celtics drew 12,790 fans to the Prudential Center, three times the the size of a typical preseason crowd at the Meadowlands' Izod Center. Then, a game against the Knicks drew 15,721. Those are nice numbers, but getting out of their lease could cost Nets owner and Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner millions.

While New Jersey may be home to the members of the Court of Lazarus, they meet at NYC nightspots at least once a month. You know what this means? Bridge & Tunnel Vampires! While they admit they cannot turn into bats, they do feed on human blood. It's all consensual, of course.

Toward the end of last month, a video appeared on YouTube showing schoolchildren at Bernice Young Elementary School in Jersey chanting two songs in praise of President Obama. It was immediately pounced upon by the embittered demagogues-in-exile at Fox News, and their coverage of this important issue finally bore indignant fruit yesterday, when dozens of protesters recited their own chant outside the school: "Educate, don't indoctrinate; Educate don't indoctrinate."

A Manhattan resident has filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey man who she says injured her while dancing at a wedding at the Hyatt Morristown in November 2008. Hedge fund worker Christine Mancision ended up at the Morristown Memorial Hospital after the reception went sideways; she tells the Post she was minding her own business on the dance floor when "all of a sudden, I turn and I'm grabbed by this really tall individual. I had no idea who he was. And he grabbed my arm and spun me around to dance with me and then just flung me off to the side of the dance floor, and I went flying to the floor. When I sat up, I was in a lot of pain. I looked at my arm, and it was bent the completely opposite way."

After being embroiled in the Moammar Gadfhafi-Bedouin tent affair last month, now the Trump Organization is wading into European waters with its latest spat: An employee is taking offense at a Scottish lawmaker's reference to "Noo Joysee"!! Seriously, Trump's development director claims the comments were racist.

The sneaky state of New Jersey has quietly made its way into a storefront on the Upper West Side; opening a pop-up tourism store on West 73rd and Columbus that is suspiciously devoid of Bon Jovi, the Boss, scrunchies and mall references.

Recently the Scouting NY scout came across The White Mana Diner in Jersey City, which long ago was touted as the "Diner of Tomorrow!" at the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing, Queens. The Scout says "it was designed so that a waiter never had to walk more than 10 feet to get to the grille, cash register, or counter." The establishment sold 10 cent burgers and had curb service—and at the time, it also bragged about being the "Introduction to Fast Food," so we know who to blame now.

Last night, Fred Armisen reappeared on Saturday Night Live's Thursday Weekend Update as a now-mustachioed Governor Paterson. If you don't remember, his schtick was complete with references to President Obama (allegedly) asking him to step aside in 2010—"It’s like the pope calling a local priest and telling him to go to Hell"—his blindness, and his hatred of New Jersey!

While investigating former police officer Robert Melia Jr.'s alleged sexual assault on three underage girls, detectives discovered a video in his home that shows him sexually molesting cows in 2006. So animal-cruelty charges were added to the list, but on Wednesday a judge dropped the charges because prosecutors didn't "present enough evidence to jurors that Melia's alleged actions tormented the animals."

Residents of Millville, New Jersey, a small town an hour from Atlantic City, are mystified as to how marijuana started growing in a parks department flower basket hanging from lamp posts on (heh) High Street. On Tuesday afternoon some square spotted the leafy pot stalks sticking out above a patch of flowers in one of the baskets and dutifully notified the authorities. Cops rushed to the scene, mounted a ladder, and removed the proscribed plants. One officer involved in the plant removal theorized that marijuana seeds may have been thrown out of an apartment window above the street. See, if the cops had just let those seeds grow, the people of Millville could have climbed that magical pot stalk to the clouds and be smoking a giant blunt by now. But if the seeds weren't tossed there accidentally, how on earth did they get there? Bystander Pam Elliot had no answers, though she did tell the Press of Atlantic City, "We watch the guys every day, faithfully come out and water and fertilize every basket. That fertilizer is so good." Yep, it's a mystery!

The man who once penned the song "Hurricane," now might inspire someone to write their own tune about his unjust imprisonment after a run-in with Jersey law enforcement. Folk/rock legend Bob Dylan was taken in by a NJ patrolwoman in Long Branch a few weeks ago when locals became suspicious when they spotted the 68-year-old wandering around in their neighborhood.

Sharks, monsters, and now whales are washing up on shore. This morning in New Jersey (Monmouth Beach, to be exact), a 20 to 30-foot long humpback whale was discovered. WCBS reports that "...the stomach was distended. The smell was not terrific, as you could well imagine." Allegedly the heat had destroyed the whale's insides, so scientists were unable to take samples from it. However, because of bruising they believe it may have suffered injuries after being hit by a boat. Later today it will be cut into pieces for burial somewhere on the beach, until then beachgoers are advised to stay at least 100 yards away. More depressing images here.

About 100 protesters stood outside the home of Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano yesterday and called for his resignation, joining a public plea the day before from NJ Governor Jon Corzine. Despite being arrested as part of the massive corruption bust Thursday, the mayor has insisted he will stay in office continuing "business as usual." Corzine said if Cammarano and other officials refuse to step down, he will seek measures to force them out of office, adding, "If they want to get back into politics once they are proven innocent, I think that's fine." Cammarano was busted for taking $25,000 in bribes and his ambitious climb to become Hoboken's youngest mayor last month lead many to believe he will not go down lightly. A longtime NJ legislator said of him, "Some kids grow up and want to be the center fielder for the Mets. Some grow up and want to be mayor of their town. That was him. He was reveling in it." Meanwhile one spot getting a boost from the scandal—Hoboken's Malibu Diner, the scene of the crime. A manager told the News, “It’s not the kind of publicity we want, but business has picked up."

Last night was another dangerous one in Jersey City as five people were shot on a street corner just after 12:30 a.m. this morning. All five are in stable condition and details behind the shooting remain unclear as police are searching for suspects. A police spokesman said that when cops arrived onto the scene near the corner of Bergen and Claremont Avenues, they discovered a chaotic scene, describing it to reporters, “When we showed up, everybody was fighting and nobody was talking." The victims included two men in their 30s (shot in the chest), a man in his 20s and a woman in her 50s (both shot in the arm), and a 16-year-old girl (in the leg), none of whom were related. The shooting comes just days after Jersey City's police chief called the recent outburst of crime there (that included a fatal police shootout) "an aberration" and insisted it was a safe city.

Would-be Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is getting so desperate to alleviate the debt burdening his $4 billion plan to build an ugly Nets stadium and other useless eyesores in Brooklyn that he's frantically trying to sell off most of the team. Officials at his company, Forest City Ratner, publicly deny the sales effort, but the Star-Ledger reports that last week Ratner flew to Moscow to meet face-to-face with billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the chief financier for CSKA Moscow. Other potential suckers investors are rumored to include Terry Semel, former CEO of Yahoo and Warner Bros, and some other rich guys with money to burn. Meanwhile, according to Forbes, the Nets dropped 13% in value last season, and morale within the organization is reportedly abysmal due to layoffs, pay cuts, and the team's general habit of sucking. (Granted, not as much as the Knicks.) One former Nets employee tells the Star-Ledger, "They've really created an environment where you don't want to stay there anymore. It's gotten really bad, especially for those of us who have gone through five owners in 10 years. It's just so damn bleak." But bleakness being Russia's specialty, maybe Prokhorov's a perfect fit?

Three New Jersey residents are filing a class action lawsuit to force the makers of Nathan's, Oscar Mayer, Ball Park, Hebrew National and Sabrett franks to put warning labels on their hot dog packaging—not "WARNING: Hot dogs are revolting flesh tubes packed with lips and assholes," but "WARNING: Hot dogs increase the risk of cancer." A lawyer for the plaintiffs tells the Star-Ledger, "We view this just like the tobacco litigation. There is now a scientific consensus that processed meats are a significant cause of colorectal and other forms of cancer."

An ostensibly win-win program to reincarnate old subway cars as artificial subterranean reefs off the eastern seaboard has proven largely unsuccessful because the damn things are just falling apart. The city has been paying millions to ship the cars to other states, who received them for free, and last April the program was said to be so successful off the coast of Delaware that marine officials were struggling to cope with the influx of fisherman drawn to the suddenly populous underwater metropolis.

The Press of Atlantic City reports that even though medical waste washed up along miles of beach (between Barnegat Light to Surf City) on Sunday afternoon, Long Beach health officials didn't close beaches—or confirm it until yesterday. Long Beach Island Health Department director Tim Hilferty said issuing a press release "didn't even cross my mind. I felt comfortable that there was no risk at all to the public," given that it was cleaned up by Monday morning and no more waste was found. According to Hilferty, "the debris included syringes, wood, plastic, bottle caps, cell phone cases, ribbons and balloons." However one beachgoer—a nurse—tells the Press that "she saw syringes, catheters, butterfly catheters, medical tubing, blood test tubes, urine specimen bottles, condoms, fecal bags and hazardous waste bags," emphasizing, "There was so much medical waste everywhere you couldn't walk without stepping in it." Barnegat Light Mayor Kirk Larson feels comfortable with the response, adding, "We've only had three sunny days. What do you want me to do, close the beaches? I didn't get anything from the health department to close the beaches."

New Jersey's Shuan Campbell is the Pete Rose of drunk driving—the hits just keep coming! In April he chalked up his 15th drunken crash, when he smashed his SUV head-on into a pickup carrying a man and his 4-year-old daughter. Fortunately, the father and daughter were not seriously injured in the accident, after which Campbell tried to flee the police by running (staggering?) into a park. Yesterday the 40-year-old East Rutherford resident admitted his blood-alcohol level was .288 percent, or more than triple the state's .08 percent level. Prosecutors are seeking a maximum prison term of more than two years for Campbell, whose license has been suspended 78 times . According to WCBS, he'll also lose his driver's license for at least another 10 years, but we have a feeling neither prison nor a lack of license nor tougher drunk driving laws will hold Campbell back from swerving straight to the top of the charts. (He still faces drunken-driving charges in Pequannock and Wayne, New Jersey, too!)

After several days of headlines in which an infamous South American tryst lasted longer than expected, David Goldman must have felt like salt was being rubbed in his wounds this week. Now a Brazilian court has once again ruled against Godman in his battle to get custody of his 8-year-old son Sean, who was brought there 5 years ago from Goldman's now late ex-wife and currently in the custody of the Brazilian man she remarried. A federal judge overturned an earlier ruling that will put Sean into the hands of his stepdad six days a week until the ultimate custody ruling comes down—whenever that may be. While reports have surfaced that his son wishes to remain in Brazil, Goldman claims that the stepfather and his son's maternal grandparents are "brainwashing to boy" and "wreaking untold psychological damage on him." Goldman continues to be assisted by his local Congressman in Tinton Falls, Chris Smith, in fighting for the over 70 American children that Goldman claims are being illegally kept in Brazil alone.

In what appears to be another strike in the ongoing silent war between New York and New Jersey, someone in Hoboken played Pied Piper with some of NYC's bravest: the unemployed. While voters were going to the polls in a mayoral runoff election yesterday, Hoboken police had to be called in because job seekers from the Big Apple showed up in response to an ad for campaign workers placed around the LES that turned out to be a fake. The flyers offered $200 to anyone wiling to take the PATH out and work for mayoral candidate Peter Cammarano. But when respondents arrived, they were sent down the block to the headquarters of Dawn Zimmer, Cammarano's opponent. (Neither had any actual jobs.) Both sides pointed the finger, but neither admitted responsibility for the hoax. As the confused New Yorkers wandered down Washington Street, one man sadly told a reporter, "We were just looking for work," finding himself aimless once again in the town known for having "a bar on every corner."

A New Jersey man who has been attempting to get his son returned from Brazil for the past five years was hours away from regaining custody—only to have a judge intervene and put the kibosh on it once again. David Goldman's son Sean has been living in Rio de Janeiro since his mother Bruna took him down there for a vacation in 2004, divorced Goldman, remarried and never returned. Last year, she died while giving birth to a child with her new husband, whom Sean, 9, now lives with. The case for Sean's return to his Tinton Falls home has become an international political battle led by NJ Congressman Chris Smith and echoed by Secretary of State Clinton. A Brazilian federal judge had issued an order Monday granting Goldman custody, but yesterday a Supreme Court justice intervened, suspending the order. David Goldman called the move "heartbreaking and disgraceful” and his lawyer said, “Brazil needs to define itself as either a nation of laws or a nation that harbors and protects child abductors.” The Brazilian Supreme Court must take up the case now.

If providing the citizens of New Jersey with a new brand of vodka that comes packaged in a plastic skull wasn't enough to get them seeing stars, Dan Aykroyd has given local extraterrestrial believers some additional fuel to their speculative fire. While making a promotional appearance in Morris Plains in support of his new Crystal Head vodka, Aykroyd was asked about the recent UFO hoax in the Garden State. He said that he was glad to see the story because, as he put it, "It draws attention to the real cases. I've seen two of them."