3 tornadoes investigated after Tuesday’s storms—NJ Top News
Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Wednesday:
🔗 As many as three tornadoes may have touched down in NJ Tuesday
The National Weather Service is looking into three possible tornadoes spawned by Tuesday's powerful storms.
Just after 2 p.m., a trained weather spotter identified a funnel cloud touch down near the border of Morris and Sussex counties.
A second was captured on video north of Troy Hills. The video shows a funnel cloud touching down on a golf course.
The third incident involved a waterspout over Delaware Bay that moved onshore in Cape May Point as a tornado.
No injuries are being reported in any of the instances.
🔗 Murphy hid proof of illegal voter registration, Sherrill says
⚠️ Gov. Mikie Sherrill said a software error wrongly registered 6,600 noncitizens to vote.
➡️ The governor said fewer than 400 of those registrants cast ballots before the issue was discovered.
🔴 State officials will remove ineligible voters, replace the software vendor and investigate why the problem was not disclosed sooner.
TRENTON — Gov. Mikie Sherrill has admitted thousands of people are illegally registered to vote in New Jersey.
In an animated Tuesday news conference, Sherrill said that a "serious software error" allowed 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote in just one year. She learned about the issue last Wednesday. The Democrat said the issue affected New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System between June 2023 and June 2024, years before she was governor.
Noncitizens, including people who could be in the country illegally, are allowed to apply for and obtain drivers' licenses and ID cards in New Jersey. Sherrill said that during the application process, each of these 6,600 noncitizens truthfully answered "no" on a keypad when asked whether they were a U.S. citizen. Nevertheless, the system registered them to vote.
Some unidentified state officials knew about the issue years ago, according to Sherrill, who said it was caught in 2024 but not disclosed to the public.
Without naming former Gov. Phil Murphy, Sherrill said it was unacceptable that the "previous administration" didn't bring the system error to light and demand accountability.
🔗 Arrest made after Walmart parking lot standoff
🚨Police surrounded an RV in the Lumberton Walmart parking lot
🚨A robbery turned into a barricade situation
🚨The standoff lasted 14 hours and ended peacefully
LUMBERTON — Police surrounded an RV in the parking lot of a Walmart late Monday night in a tense standoff that came to a peaceful end 14 hours later.
Lumberton police said a dispute between two individuals in the parking lot of the Walmart on Route 38 around 11 p.m. led to a robbery. The suspect in the case, Blake Reed, 38, of Florida got into a recreational vehicle and then refused to come out or communicate with police. Reed was believed to have a flamethrower and a knife inside the RV, according to police.
A trained crisis negotiator and mental health professional was brought to the scene and began a dialogue with Reed, according to police. Video showed at least seven police vehicles in the parking lot around a large RV with a small trailer.
Law enforcement sources told New Jersey 101.5 Reed is a carnival worker. Court records listed Reed as "homeless."
🔗 Jersey City woman, 23, accused of setting street fire next to man
⚠️ Police say a Jersey City woman set a fire next to a man sleeping beneath an underpass.
➡️ Investigators say the man escaped after the woman tried to stop him from fleeing.
🔴 The 23-year-old woman faces aggravated arson, assault and other criminal charges.
JERSEY CITY — A 23-year-old city woman is accused of setting a fire next to a man sleeping on the street and then trying to keep him from escaping.
Jersey City Police responded Sunday around 2:40 p.m. to a call about a fire beneath the Tonnelle Avenue underpass.
Officers arrived as the Jersey City Fire Department was working to extinguish the fire.
Investigators say a 57-year-old man was sleeping behind a guardrail, in a confined area, when he awoke to the fire.
As he tried to stamp out the flames with his feet, he said he saw a woman pour an “unknown liquid” onto the fire, causing it to spread.
The man told police that the same woman tried to stop him from escaping and calling for help.
He was not seriously hurt by the fire, but police say he “may have been assaulted” by the woman as he tried to flee. The victim refused any medical attention on scene.
🔗 NJ political leader scammed $914K from 80-year-old, cops say
💲James Donio was charged with stealing over $914K from an 80-year-old woman
💲Investigators say he gained control of her finances, home and family business
💲Donio faces theft, money laundering and records tampering charges
HAMMONTON — The head of an independent political organization who ran dozens of businesses is charged with scamming an elderly woman out of over $900,000.
James Donio, 50, developed a close friendship with an 80-year-old woman and her family, and took control of her personal and business accounts between 2019 and 2025, according to Hammonton police. The woman was not identified but described as a "businesswoman and lifelong resident of Hammonton."
When the woman's health began to deteriorate just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Donio volunteered to be the office manager at the store her family owned since 1959, investigators said in court documents.
He wrote checks to himself using a stamp with the woman's signature, investigators said. Donio also used several fraudulent leases and the fraudulent discharge of a mortgage via his business, Donio Realty, to take full control, investigators said.
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