Garden State Times

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that consumers who were tricked by TurboTax’s owner Intuit into paying for free tax services will begin receiving checks from a $141 million multistate settlement announced in May 2022.

Booker, Grassley Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Conservation Reserve Program

On May 10, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, introduced the bipartisan Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Reform Act, legislation that would prioritize enrolling marginal farmland in the CRP, rather than prime farmland, to generate more durable wildlife and environmental benefits while reducing competition for productive farmland between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and farmers, especially new and beginning farmers.

Sen. Menendez, Reps. McBath & Kelly Lead Bicameral Letter of 90 Congressional Colleagues Urging ATF to Fully Implement Federal Rules to Help Close the Gun Seller Background Check Loophole

Letter comes as one year anniversary of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act being signed into law and as the nation reels from another weekend of horrific gun violence

Governor Murphy Signs Bipartisan Legislation Criminalizing Sexual Extortion

Establishes Using Explicit Sexual Images to Extort Victims as a Third Degree Crime

Upper threshold of death expectancy exceeds death count in New Jersey during week April 29

New Jersey's death count did not exceed the upper threshold of death expectancy during the week ending April 29, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

May 11: Congressional Record publishes “ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION” in the Senate section

The Congressional Record published “ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION” in the Senate section on May 11.

CDC predicts 220 people in 45-64 age group in New Jersey died during week ending April 29

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 220 people in the 45-64 age group died during the week ending April 29.

CDC reports 148 deaths among New Jersey Hispanics in week ending April 22

There were 148 Hispanic people who died in New Jersey in the week ending April 22, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Sen. Menendez Joins with Newark Officials, Community Violence Intervention Leaders & Gun Safety Advocates to Call on ATF to Implement Rules to Help Close the Background Check Loophole

By Garden State Times Report | May 14, 2023

Senator also highlighted the $250 million in grant funding for violence intervention programming unlocked by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

AG Platkin Announces Isa Abbassi has Assumed Command of the Paterson Police Department

By Garden State Times Report | May 14, 2023

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced today that former New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) Chief of Strategic Initiatives Isa M. Abbassi has officially started as Officer in Charge of the Paterson Police Department. Abbassi was appointed to the role by Attorney General Platkin when his office superseded the Paterson Police Department in March, taking over all police functions in the city.

Week of April 29: 39 people in 25-44 age group are estimated to have died in New Jersey

By Garden State Times | May 13, 2023

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 39 people in the 25-44 age group died during the week ending April 29.

Investigations Targeting Criminal Activity in Paterson Lead to 3 Arrests, Seizure of Illegal Guns, Kilos of Heroin, Cocaine, and Crystal Meth

By Garden State Times Report | May 13, 2023

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Colonel Patrick J. Callahan Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police (NJSP), Director Pearl Minato of the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ), and Major Frederick P. Fife, Interim Officer in Charge of the Paterson Police Department (PPD) today announced collaborative law enforcement efforts that led to the arrest of three individuals in connection with two separate investigations targeting crime in Paterson

Analysis: New Jersey among 25 states affiliated with 'hyper-partisan' voter data group, study finds

New Jersey is among 25 states that are members of a national voter data group accused of partisanship in its work to expand voter rolls and lacking in transparency, an analysis by the Garden State Times found.

Menendez, Booker Announce $12M from HUD to Expand Affordable Housing in New Jersey

Funds from the nation’s Housing Trust Fund complement existing efforts to increase and preserve affordable housing for low-income families

AG Platkin Joins Brookings Institution for Fireside Chat After Study Finds ARRIVE Together Pilot ‘Highly Effective’ at Reducing Uses of Force, Arrests, Disparate Treatment of Residents

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today joined the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution to discuss a recent Brookings study on New Jersey’s ARRIVE Together program, which concluded that the program led to fewer uses of force, arrests and racial disparities in policing outcomes, and more people getting mental health treatment.

As Gun Deaths in America Top 14,000 So Far This Year, Booker, Warren, Kelly Announce Introduction of Firearm Safety Act in the Senate for the First Time

With the Gun Violence Archive reporting that guns have killed more than 14,000 Americans so far in 2023 -- including at least 185 mass shootings – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL) announced today that the Firearm Safety Act -- common sense legislation to allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission to create safety standards for firearms -- is being introduced in the Senate for the first time.

Governor Murphy Signs Health Care Heroes Violence Prevention Act