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  • Shamong voters reject $25 million bond referendum; Mantua question too close to call

    Shamong voters reject $25 million bond referendum; Mantua question too close to call

    Voters in Shamong handily rejected a $25 million school bond question that would have raised property taxes, while a referendum in Mantua was too close to call, officials said Wednesday.

    Shamong voters rejected the bond question 797-271, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s election in the Burlington County school system.

    If approved, the bond issue would have meant a $408 annual property tax increase on a home assessed at the township average of $309,500.

    The district had said funding was needed for projects at the Indian Mills and Indian Mills Memorial schools that need immediate action. They included roofing and HVAC work.

    Superintendent Mayreni Fermin-Cannon did not respond to a message seeking comment on next steps for the district.

    Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce, who tried unsuccessfully to block Tuesday’s election, hailed the results. Shamong residents make up 90% of the town’s tax base and could not afford an increase, he said.

    Di Croce, an attorney, filed a complaint last week on behalf of several residents that contended school officials provided incorrect or misleading information about state funding for the project.

    The complaint also alleged the district has refused to disclose why it could not earmark $4 million in capital reserves for renovations prior to seeking a bond referendum.

    At a hearing Monday, Superior Court Judge John E. Harrington refused to invalidate the referendum.

    “I’m very happy with the way things played out,” Di Croce said Wednesday. “Their whole sky is falling just was not credible and voters didn’t buy it.”

    Mantua results too close to call

    Meanwhile, the outcome of Tuesday’s vote in Mantua Township on a $39.1 million school bond referendum was too close to call Wednesday.

    In preliminary results, there were 1,097 votes opposed and 1,074 votes in favor, the Gloucester County district said. The totals are expected to change over the next few days as officials count mail ballots and verify provisional ballots.

    “Regardless of the result, our mission remains the same — to prepare our students for lifelong success through comprehensive academics, community partnerships, and character education,” Superintendent Christine Trampe said in a statement.

    The bond issue would fund improvements at all three schools in the kindergarten-through-sixth-grade district, including renovations, roof repairs, and new classrooms.

    Trampe called the renovations “true necessities.” Without the funding, the district may need to cut programs, she said.

    If approved, the bond issue would increase property taxes about $336 annually on a home assessed at the township average of $311,993.

    Elsewhere in the region, voters in Woodbine in Cape May County and Cumberland Regional district in Cumberland County approved bond questions, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.

    Tuesday was one of five times during the year that school boards may ask voters to approve a bond issue or special question. Bond referendums allow districts to pay for projects that cannot readily be funded through their annual operating budget.

  • Only N.J. residents can end their lives through the state’s aid-in-dying law, appeals court rules

    Only N.J. residents can end their lives through the state’s aid-in-dying law, appeals court rules

    New Jersey is among the 10 states that allow physicians to assist terminally ill patients in ending their own lives, under certain conditions. But those patients must be New Jersey residents, a federal appeals court ruled.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said last week that New Jersey’s limit of the aid-in-dying law to state residents is constitutional, keeping on the books a significant hurdle for people from neighboring states — including Pennsylvania and Delaware — where the practice is not permitted.

    “In our federal system, states are free to experiment with policies as grave as letting doctors assist suicide. Other states are free to keep it a crime,” U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote in the opinion. “This novel option does not appear to be a fundamental privilege, let alone a fundamental right, that states must accord visitors.”

    Philly woman with terminal cancer is suing N.J. to change its medical aid-in-dying law’s residency requirement

    Jess Pezley, a staff attorney at the legal arm of Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit advocacy organization that brought the lawsuit challenging the residency requirement, said aid in dying “remains a critically important option for all terminally ill people who wish to receive healthcare in the state of New Jersey.”

    The “ruling means that terminally ill patients who do not live in an authorized jurisdiction will continue to have to travel” to states like Oregon and Vermont that permit the practice for nonresidents, Pezley said in a statement.

    Aid in dying is a controversial concept. While some argue the law creates a pathway for empowerment over end of life, others worry that it can lead to coercion and expansion beyond the terminally ill in a country that has a dark history in how it treats people with disabilities.

    The residency requirement is meant to protect physicians from liability in states where assisting in suicide is a criminal offense, proponents of the restriction argue, and to prevent medical tourism in states with the option.

    The law does not specify how long a person must live in New Jersey but sets other qualifying requirements: A patient must have a New Jersey driver’s license, be registered to vote in the state, have filed income taxes as a New Jersey resident in the last year, or have another official government record that confirms residency.

    New Jersey enacted a medical aid-in-dying law in 2019. Last year, 122 people ended their lives through the program in the Garden State, according to New Jersey’s chief medical examiner. Nearly 70% of the patients had cancer and their average age was 72.

    The law allows adults who are residents of New Jersey and are expected to die within six months to obtain a prescription for a lethal drug cocktail. They must be able to make their own decisions and administer the medication by themselves.

    The ruling is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in August 2023 by a Camden County physician, Paul Bryman, who assists terminally ill patients in ending their lives on their own terms. He challenged the residency requirement, saying the law prohibits him from treating all patients equally because of where they live.

    Bryman’s suit originally included another New Jersey physician, Deborah Pasik, and two cancer patients, Judith Govatos of Delaware and Andy Sealy of South Philadelphia. Pasik has since retired, and Govatos, 81, and Sealy, 44, died before the court made its ruling.

    Andy Sealy, metastatic breast cancer awareness advocate and medical aid-in-dying activist, has died at 44

    The lawsuit argued the prohibition “discriminates” against patients like Govatos and Sealy by not allowing them to receive “specific medical care after crossing State lines into New Jersey, even though they would otherwise qualify for this care.”

    New Jersey officials asked a federal district judge to dismiss the case, arguing that no court has recognized aid in dying as a constitutional right. The state further said that the residency requirement was among the “safeguards” in a policy that has “extraordinarily high stakes.”

    The judge tossed out the lawsuit in 2024.

    “And the residence requirement makes sense: While medical aid in dying is permitted in New Jersey, it is indistinguishable from the criminal act of assisted suicide in neighboring states,” District Judge Renee Marie Bumb wrote in her opinion. “By limiting the pool of eligible patients to State residents, the requirement is rationally related to the legitimate objective of protecting from out-of-state liability providers and advocates who assist terminally ill patients in seeking medical aid in dying.”

    Compassion and Choices appealed the ruling to the Third Circuit, where the plea met a similar fate.

    “The Constitution leaves moral questions like these to the states,” Bibas wrote. “New Jersey has answered them carefully.”

  • The story behind the library’s elephant statue | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    The story behind the library’s elephant statue | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋

    Ever wonder what the story is behind the abstract, 8-foot-tall elephant-like statue outside the library? We set out to discover its origins. Also this week, a Cherry Hill man has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a 7-Eleven, a former Fulton Bank could become a Dunkin’, plus, an Indian restaurant that serves naan tacos is moving to Cherry Hill.

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    What’s the meaning behind the library’s elephant-esque statue?

    David Ascalon’s sculpture, called “Totem,” is located near the entrance to the Cherry Hill Public Library.

    The Cherry Hill Public Library brims with more than just books. It also houses an impressive collection of art, both within and outside its walls. One such work, an 8-foot-tall bronze statue, has long caught the eye of township resident David Jastrow.

    His daughters even came up with a nickname for it: The “mixed-up elephant.”

    Wondering about its meaning, Jastrow reached out to Curious Cherry Hill, where Inquirer reporters set out to answer reader questions from around town.

    This week, The Inquirer’s Henry Savage found out how the abstract piece came to reside near the library’s entrance and how its creator wants it to be interpreted.

    Here’s what he uncovered.

    Have a question about town you want answered? Submit it to Curious Cherry Hill here.

    💡 Community News

    • Gerald S. Yashinsky, a 51-year-old Cherry Hill man, died after being hit by a car Monday night when crossing Haddonfield Road near Yale Avenue. The driver is cooperating with investigators.
    • A Cherry Hill man is one of two people charged with fatally shooting two men outside a Bordentown 7-Eleven last month. Giovanni Varanese, 21, of Cherry Hill, was charged last week alongside Justford Doe, 23, with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and other offenses.
    • The cost of collecting and disposing trash for Cherry Hill will jump $1.4 million in January. Mayor Dave Fleisher said the township has accounted for the increase — about $12.4 million over the next five years — in its proposed municipal budget for 2026. Residents can share their thoughts on the budget at council’s next scheduled meeting on Dec. 22. (South Jersey Media)
    • The former Fulton Bank at 1460 Route 70 East could become a Dunkin’. On Monday, the township’s Planning Board will consider variance requests from South Jersey Management, LLC to convert the former 2,300-square-foot bank into a 2,100-square-foot coffee shop. Changes call for removing the existing drive-through and making the western driveway along Frontage Road into an entrance only.
    • The AMC Cherry Hill 24 will be one of 500 movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada screening the finale of Stranger Things on New Year’s Eve as it makes its global debut. Fans can reserve seats now for screenings of the feature-length finale.
    • A Powerball ticket purchased at the Wegmans on Route 70 for last Saturday’s jackpot matched four of the five white balls called, meaning whoever purchased the ticket won $50,000. (Patch)
    • The Plaza at Cherry Hill has undergone several changes recently, including the opening of swimming lesson chain Big Blue Swim School and thrift store Savers, as well as the relocation of Pure Hockey. The shifts come as part of the shopping center undergoes a makeover. (42 Freeway)
    • Homelessness in Camden County has grown by 20% since 2020, and in response, the county is building 60 efficiency apartments for people experiencing homelessness.
    • New Jersey officials have declared a drought warning for many parts of the state, including Camden County, which has experienced about four inches below average precipitation over the past 90 days and is down six inches for the past year.

    🏫 Schools Briefing

    • Kindergarten and first grade registration is now open for the 2026-27 school year. Families must submit all documentation by March 27.
    • Cherry Hill East and West’s girls basketball teams both have a number of Big North Conference stat leaders returning to their rosters this year. Kirsten Gibson of West had the second-most points per game in the conference last year, according to NJ.com data. Her teammates Jizel Dowling and Lilly Legato will also return. East’s Dylan Kratchman, who averaged 11 points per game, will sport the Cougar colors again, along with Maya Morgan, Michelle Le, Jessie Atlas, and Lily Shubach.
    • Reminder for families: There are early dismissals for preschool, elementary, and middle schools today and tomorrow as parent/teacher conferences continue. There’s a districtwide early dismissal Friday. See the district’s full calendar here.

    🍽️ On our Plate

    • Indian restaurant Bombay Express is opening at its new location at 219 Haddonfield-Berlin Rd. tomorrow. The eatery, known for its traditional and vegan halal dishes, as well as its naan tacos, closed its Marlton storefront in late October. Its new spot will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
    • Italian restaurant Caffe Aldo Lamberti is hosting Christmas carolers during dinner service this Sunday and again next weekend. Students from East will perform this Sunday and next Friday, while students from West will sing tunes next Saturday and Sunday. Caroling will take place from about 6 to 9 p.m. each night.
    • Cherry Hill is home to three of the 99 greatest restaurants in New Jersey, according to NJ.com. The outlet ranked Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, which is known for its soup dumplings, the top restaurant in town, coming in at No. 42. It’s followed by Sichuan joint Han Dynasty at No. 81, and Korean barbecue eatery Dolsot House at No. 94.

    🎳 Things to Do

    ⛸️ Skate and Decorate: Hit the ice at the Winterfest Ice Skating Rink and decorate holiday cookies. ⏰ Sunday, Dec. 14, noon-4 p.m. 💵 Cookie decorating is free, skating admission is $6-$9 📍 Cooper River Park

    🥐 VinChelle’s Holiday Extravaganza!: Drag brunch gets a festive twist. ⏰ Sunday, Dec. 14, 2:30-5 p.m. 💵 $19.03 📍 Vera

    🕎 Menorah Motorcade: Now in its 16th year, cars adorned with menorahs will parade from Chabad in Cherry Hill to Barclay Farm Shopping Center, where the giant menorah will be lit. ⏰ Sunday, Dec. 14, parade starts at 4 p.m., giant menorah lighting is at 5 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Chabad of Camden and Burlington Counties

    🏡 On the Market

    A corner-lot duplex with passive income

    The kitchen on the first floor has been recently updated.

    Located on a corner lot, the first-floor unit of this duplex was recently renovated, including new flooring, lighting, and paint. It features two bedrooms, a kitchen with black and white cabinetry, a living room, an updated full bathroom, and a bonus room. It also has exclusive access to the basement and the front porch. The second floor is currently occupied by long-term tenants, providing passive income for a new owner.

    See more photos of the duplex here.

    Price: $360,000 | Size: 1,310 SF | Acreage: 0.17

    Is your home a Haven? The Inquirer is seeking homeowners and renters for a weekly feature on how people make their houses, apartments, and condos into homes they love. Email details and a few photos to properties@inquirer.com.

    🗞️ What other Cherry Hill residents are reading this week:

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • The meaning of a sculpture outside the Cherry Hill library is up to you

    The meaning of a sculpture outside the Cherry Hill library is up to you

    Taking his daughters to the Cherry Hill Public Library was a weekend ritual for David Jastrow, and one intricate sculpture out front always gave his family pause.

    “For whatever reason, that sculpture always caught the attention of my daughters. When they were younger, they used to call it the ‘mixed-up elephant,’ which I always thought was funny,” said Jastrow, 51, a township resident who still frequents the library to pick up biographies and mystery novels.

    The Cherry Hill Public Library has upward of 50 works of art inside its halls, in addition to numerous sculptures outside, including the “mixed-up elephant” on the front lawn. That spurred Jastrow to write in to Curious Cherry Hill, The Inquirer’s forum for answering your questions.

    “It’s a very abstract piece of artwork. You can kind of see the trunk coming out at one part,” Jastrow said. “I thought maybe it was designed with the elephant in mind in some way, but I doubt it.”

    » ASK US: Have something you’re wondering about in Cherry Hill? Submit your Curious Cherry Hill question here.

    And Jastrow would be right. “Totem” is an 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture that twists into an elaborate structure reaching toward the sky. Sitting to the left of the library’s main entrance since 2009, visitors can’t help but try to decipher its meaning.

    Eric Ascalon, the son of award-winning sculptor and stained-glass artist David Ascalon, who crafted “Totem,” said that the different interpretations are exactly what his father intended.

    “The sculpture just came from a natural place within his psyche,” Eric Ascalon said. “He feels abstract art is put out there by the artist, but it’s designed to be interpreted in any whatever it means to the viewer.”

    Sculpture often takes long periods of time to conceptualize and design. In David Ascalon’s abstract work, he would swiftly sketch a design on a loose piece of paper and lock that design in. Despite a quick conceptualization, the statue took months to build.

    David Ascalon, center, the creator of the 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture, “Totem,” installing the statue outside of the Cherry Hill Public Library in 2009. The sculpture stands today at the library, enticing visitors to interpret its abstract form.

    “I would say ‘Totem’ is kind of a reflection of his subconscious and just his creative spirit,” Eric Ascalon said.

    For David Ascalon, dipping his toes into abstract art was a way to clear his mind from the painstakingly detailed work of his stained-glass windows, said his son, who worked alongside his father and the rest of the family at their now-closed West Berlin firm, Ascalon Studios.

    After forming Ascalon Studios in 1977, with his father, Maurice, David Ascalon would go on to craft some of the finest stained-glass windows in synagogues and public spaces across the region. His work can be seen in the stained-glass windows in nearby Temple Beth Shalom, and all the way in Harrisburg, where his 15-foot Holocaust Memorial overlooks the Susquehanna River.

    It’s not only Ascalon’s work that draws people into Cherry Hill’s library, either.

    Walking up to the three-acre property, guests are greeted by what looks like a real couple reading the newspaper on the library lawn — perhaps unusual in 2025 — but step a little closer, and see that they’re not human, but a hyperrealistic sculpture of a man and woman lounging in the grass.

    Another abstract sculpture, created in memory of Valerie Porter, a Cherry Hill resident who loved to read but died unexpectedly in 1966 after a neurological condition, sits outside the library. David Ascalon helped restore it in 2016.

    Fred Adelson, sculpture committee, Laverne Mann, director of Library, artist David Ascalon of Cherry Hill and Sally Callaghan also of sculpture committee, left to right, outside the Cherry Hill Library.

    Inside, several walls are adorned with public art, many created by Cherry Hill residents. Downstairs is a year-round art gallery that promotes a new local artist every month, said library director Tierney Miller.

    Such works amount to small glints in human creativity, something that the library continually fosters through its programming, said Miller.

    The monthly showcase is so popular among local artists that the gallery space is booked years in advance, “2026 is already full, and we’re booking for 2027 now,” Miller said.

    While only Cherry Hill residents can get a free library card — there are paid options for others — anyone can attend its free events.

    The sculpture “Totem” by David Ascalon. It was installed in 2009 on the grounds of the newly opened Cherry Hill Public Library.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • ‘I didn’t want to get hit’: A.C. mayor’s teen daughter testifies against him in child abuse trial

    ‘I didn’t want to get hit’: A.C. mayor’s teen daughter testifies against him in child abuse trial

    MAYS LANDING, N.J. — The daughter of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. took the stand in an Atlantic County courtroom Tuesday morning to testify against him at trial as he stands accused of physically abusing her.

    As a Superior Court judge looked on, the teen told jurors her father had beaten and punched her and struck her with a broom.

    “He put his hands on me,” she said.

    Small, a Democrat, faces charges of child endangerment, aggravated assault, and witness tampering in connection with a series of incidents in which prosecutors say he punched, beat, and threatened his then-15-year-old daughter, largely over his disapproval of her relationship with her boyfriend. He has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have challenged his daughter’s credibility.

    The girl, now 17, recounted the abuse in a soft voice, calmly answering prosecutors’ questions — and rejecting suggestions by an attorney for her father that she had lied about key details.

    “My dad came home and he was like, upset,” the girl said as prosecutors asked her about crimes they allege took place in the Small family home in January 2024.

    She said her mother had recently gone through her phone and learned that she had sneaked her boyfriend into the house. Her father, she testified, was “mad and disappointed.” As she sat in a chair that she recalled as having a Philadelphia Flyers theme, she told the jury, he hit her with a belt and punched her in the legs.

    Louis Barbone, an attorney for Small, maintained that there were inconsistencies in statements the girl gave to investigators, and he disputed her account of the incident with the broom.

    Earlier in the day, prosecutors played video footage they say the teen recorded at home.

    Though the camera did not show images of Small or others, it captured the sound of the girl and her parents screaming amid what prosecutors described as the chaos that descended on the home after the teen started a relationship they did not approve of.

    Prosecutors also showed Instagram messages the girl exchanged with her boyfriend about the alleged abuse, including one in which she told him, ”I’m scared to get in the shower because my bruise is gonna burn.”

    Small’s daughter told jurors that as her father was rousing his family one January morning to attend the Atlantic City Peace Walk, she did not have her hair done and didn’t want to go. She said she and her father argued and he pushed her, so she splashed him with laundry detergent.

    Small, she said, then got a broom and struck her multiple times in the forehead. She testified that she passed out, and the next thing she remembered was her father telling her brother to get her some water.

    On cross examination, Barbone returned to a theme he struck in his opening statement to the jury on Monday — that Small was a caring father who, watching his daughter’s life veer off course because of a relationship he believed to be manipulative and inappropriate, had legally disciplined a disobedient child.

    He told jurors prosecutors did not have a recording of the incident involving a broom, and he said the girl had been wielding a butter knife and the injuries she sustained that day happened when she fell as the two wrestled for the broom.

    Barbone said the teen had exaggerated her injuries, and he noted that when initially questioned by investigators, she told them she felt safe at home.

    “I didn’t want to get taken away,” the girl said, “so I said, ‘yes.’”

    The trial is expected to continue through the end of the week.

  • Twin brothers in Absecon charged with posting online threats against ICE

    Twin brothers in Absecon charged with posting online threats against ICE

    Twin brothers from Absecon, N.J., were arrested and charged Tuesday with allegedly writing threats on social media against ICE agents and Tricia McLaughlin, the spokesperson for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, DHS announced.

    Emilio Roman-Flores and Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores are accused of writing on social media that McLaughlin should be hanged and declaring, “Shoot ICE on sight.”

    The Absecon Police Department SWAT team and DHS executed a search and arrest warrant Tuesday morning for the brothers. DHS said both were U.S. citizens.

    DHS posted a photo on the agency’s website showing a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition that was allegedly taken as evidence during the raid.

    Emilio Roman-Flores was charged with unlawful possession of an assault weapon, possession of prohibited weapons, conspiracy-terroristic threats, criminal coercion, threats, and cyber harassment, the department said.

    Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores was charged with conspiracy-terroristic threats, DHS said.

    According to public records, the brothers are 26 years old.

    “If you threaten our law enforcement or DHS officials, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement.

    According to a Fox News story that DHS promoted on social media, one of the brothers allegedly wrote in reply to something McLaughlin posted: “[The Second] Amendment is in place for moments like this. Shoot ICE on sight.”

    One of the brothers also allegedly wrote in response to McLaughlin, according to Fox News: “We Americans should find you, tar you, feather you, and hang you as we did to anyone serving tyrants before the Revolutionary War.”

    Neither the Fox News report nor the DHS announcement specified which brother made the statements.

  • Your next chance to get FIFA World Cup tickets starts Thursday

    Your next chance to get FIFA World Cup tickets starts Thursday

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup is officially six months away, and Philadelphians’ next chance to buy general admission tickets starts Thursday.

    From Dec. 11 to Jan. 13, fans can enter a lottery for the chance to buy World Cup match tickets, like the two previous lottery phases. The “random selection draw” is the third of several ticket sale phases leading up to the World Cup’s first match on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City.

    During the first two ticket phases, the United States, Canada, and Mexico (in that order) drove the bulk of ticket sales, according to FIFA. Fans in 212 countries have bought tickets.

    However, since the final draw on Friday, the World Cup matchups and schedule have been finalized. This will be the first ticket sale phase in which fans can apply for single-game tickets for exact matchups and teams.

    Next year’s World Cup will take place in 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including in Philadelphia, where six matches will be played. Powerhouses Brazil and France, home to some of the world’s best players, are confirmed to be playing in the City of Brotherly Love.

    Brazil’s Raphinha (center) celebrates with teammate Vinícius Júnior after scoring his side’s opening goal against Venezuela during a World Cup qualifying match.

    How to enter the random selection draw for FIFA World Cup tickets

    To enter the ticket lottery, applicants must first create a FIFA ID at FIFA.com/tickets.

    The lottery application form will become available on FIFA’s website starting at 11 a.m. Thursday and will close at 11 a.m. on Jan. 13.

    Log in during the application window and complete the random selection draw application form.

    Winners will be selected in a random draw, with notifications starting soon after Jan. 13. Those selected will receive an assigned date and time to purchase tickets, subject to availability.

    Single-match tickets to all 104 games, plus venue-specific and team-specific options, will be made available to choose from. That means fans in the Philadelphia area could buy tickets for matches at Lincoln Financial Field — if selected.

    Fans who have applied to previous ticket sale lotteries must submit a new application form.

  • A Camden family is accused of killing a man, then dismembering him with a chainsaw

    A Camden family is accused of killing a man, then dismembering him with a chainsaw

    Harold “Hal” Miller Jr. disappeared in June, leaving behind only two clues for police to follow: his vehicle abandoned in Pennsauken and, inside, a cell phone that last dialed a contact named “E. Poker.”

    From those scant clues, investigators said, they uncovered something grim: Miller had been shot to death and dismembered with a chainsaw, they alleged, by the man whose number was saved in his phone as “E. Poker,” Everton Thomas, and two of Thomas’ relatives, in Camden.

    In September, police charged Thomas, 41, with murder, desecration of human remains, and tampering with physical evidence. His wife, Sherrie Thomas, 41, and son, Deshawn Thomas, 23, were also charged with desecrating and disposing of Miller’s remains.

    But more than five months later — after 178 days of searches, interviews, and forensic work — investigators have yet to find Miller’s body.

    “It’s a horrible waiting game,” said Miller’s ex-wife and mother of his four children, Tamika Miller.

    The case that has emerged since Miller’s disappearance is as sprawling as it is brutal: a trail of surveillance footage, internet searches, hardware-store runs, and border crossings that authorities say chart a carefully concealed killing. Court records detail a sequence of events that is at once methodical and frenzied — and has left investigators hunting for Miller’s remains even as three members of the Thomas family stand charged in his death.

    Everton Thomas denies any involvement in the crime and is expected to plead not guilty to the charges on Dec. 15, according to his defense attorney, Timothy Farrow. Attorneys for Sherrie Thomas and Deshawn Thomas did not respond to requests for comment.

    ‘An awesome father’

    Harold Miller and Tamika Miller had four children, three girls and a boy. “He was an awesome father,” Tamika Miller said.

    He swelled with pride when their son announced he would join the Navy, continuing a military tradition in his family that “flat-footed” Miller could not follow himself, she recalled. His happiest moment, she said, came when their daughter, a special-education teacher, received her bachelor’s degree.

    Miller worked in Camden’s social-services world, leading outreach for Volunteers of America and programs for Joseph House, a men’s homeless shelter. In 2017, he pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to sell crack cocaine and served five years in prison.

    The couple divorced in 2023. But the family still gathered for holidays, including Thanksgiving, when Miller would rent a hall large enough for 100 people and make sure four turkeys — including his favorite, fried turkey — were on the table, Tamika Miller said.

    Miller, who lived in Deptford Township, was 48 when he died. “The holidays will never be the same,” Tamika Miller said.

    The grisly crime

    Miller’s final call — placed at 11:26 a.m. on June 12 — went to the contact in his phone listed as “E. Poker.” Investigators later learned the number belonged to Everton Thomas, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    Street cameras caught what happened next, the document said: Miller climbing the back stairs to Thomas’ Baird Boulevard home around the time the call was placed. Minutes later, the cameras recorded the crack of a gunshot. Miller was never seen emerging from the home.

    From there, investigators say, camera footage captured an ominous procession across Camden. It shows a man they say is Thomas leaving the house in Miller’s minivan and abandoning it in Pennsauken. It shows his wife and son making a series of trips to stores, buying bleach, heavy-duty contractor bags, ice, latex gloves, duct tape, plastic sheeting — and a chainsaw, according to court filings. Later, cameras captured three people dumping large black trash bags into dumpsters behind a nearby housing complex, Tamarack Station Apartments.

    When investigators examined Deshawn Thomas’ phone, they say, they found a browser search typed in amid the chaos: whether a chainsaw could cut through meat.

    Authorities searched Everton Thomas’ house on June 20. They found a loaded Glock, and bloodstains on a doorframe leading to the basement, the affidavit said. Testing later confirmed the blood matched Miller’s DNA.

    How the two men may have been connected is unclear. Tamika Miller said they were acquaintances, not friends. “Everybody knows everybody in Camden,” she said.

    In an interview with police, Thomas told detectives that he and Miller had played poker the night before Miller vanished, and that they had spoken again around 11 a.m. on June 12. He denied knowing anything about what happened, according to the affidavit.

    By the next afternoon, investigators said, they learned Thomas had slipped across the border. Agents at Fort Erie-Buffalo reported he had entered Canada. Nearly three months later, on Sept. 8, U.S. border officers arrested him as he tried to cross back into the country. He remains in custody, awaiting a court hearing next week.

    Tamika Miller said family members held a private memorial service, where they gained some closure. “We don’t know if they will ever find him,” she said. “But we have hope.”

    Investigators, meanwhile, continue to search for clues and Miller’s body.

    “As we near the end of the year, our detectives are still seeking leads — no matter how small — that would assist with the recovery of Mr. Miller’s remains,” Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay said Tuesday. “For anyone who has information, but has not yet come forward, we implore you to consider what his grieving family has been through. They deserve answers and the opportunity to properly mourn their loved one. We remain hopeful that our community does what’s right and helps bring Mr. Miller home.”

    Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jake Siegfried of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit at 856-225-5086 and Detective Andrew Mogck of the Camden County Police Department at 609-519-8588. Tips can also be submitted to https://camdencountypros.org/tips.

  • N.J. declares drought warning

    N.J. declares drought warning

    New Jersey is parched top to bottom.

    In some regions, rainfall has plunged as much as eight inches below average for the past year, straining reservoirs, streams, and aquifers enough that the state Department of Environmental Protection has issued a drought warning — a notch shy of an emergency.

    As a result, officials are asking residents to voluntarily curtail water use. Should conditions deteriorate, officials may impose mandatory restrictions on certain uses of water, though such measures are rarely invoked.

    Map shows precipitation well below normal over the 365 days ending Dec. 7, 2025.

    DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said in a statement on Friday’s announcement that there is an “urgency of the need to conserve water.”

    “The precipitation and water supply uncertainty we’ve experienced over the past year is a symptom of the impacts of climate change here in New Jersey,” LaTourette said.

    It’s the second year the state is looking at a drought.

    The last drought warning was issued in November 2024. That declaration came as firefighters had fought multiple simultaneous wildfires, one deadly, that broke out across the state amid dry, windy conditions.

    Multiple wildfires across N.J. leave one dead.

    That warning was lifted in June following record rainfall for some parts of the state in May.

    Up to 8 inches below normal

    However, the state overall has experienced below-average precipitation for more than a year, officials said.

    New Jersey officials cited data from the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center operated by the National Weather Service.

    That data shows that Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties are all running nearly four inches below average over the past 90 days.

    Burlington County is running more than seven inches below normal for the past 365 days, and Camden County is running more than six inches below normal for the same period.

    Northwestern New Jersey is running more than eight inches below normal over the past year.

    Likewise, the U.S Drought Monitor, a partnership of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s National Drought Mitigation Center and multiple federal agencies, shows the South Jersey counties along the Delaware River in either a moderate or severe drought.

    About 3.5 million residents of New Jersey live in a drought-impacted area.

    Officials said recent rains have not made much difference, considering the size of the gap. Ocean County is one of the few areas of the state with near-normal precipitation levels.

    Map by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that multiple counties in South Jersey are in a moderate to severe drought.

    An update on rainfall and drought data is expected Wednesday.

    State officials use multiple sources to determine the impact of rainfall on water supplies. Those include reservoir levels, stream flows, and groundwater (aquifers).

    South Jersey counties, such as Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem, rely primarily on groundwater but also use water from the Delaware River and other rivers and streams.

    Drought indicators for groundwater levels in South Jersey are designated as extremely dry while precipitation and stream flows are severely dry.

    Officials say the persistent dryness has resulted in “observable stress across all specific indicators.” Nearly all regions of the state are classified as being severely or extremely dry.

    Pennsylvania is also dry. Last week, the Commonwealth Drought Task Force said 37 counties are under a drought watch, although none in Southeastern Pennsylvania. A drought watch means an area has received 25% less rain over three months than normal. It is the lowest of three levels of drought declarations in Pennsylvania.

    How to conserve

    In New Jersey, officials have issued some tips on conserving water, such as:

    • Run dish and clothes washers only when full.
    • Turn off and winterize outdoor pipes and irrigation systems.
    • Check pipes for leaks.
    • Use a commercial car wash that recycles water.
    • Compost vegetable food waste instead of running the garbage disposal.
    • Installing a low-flow toilet can save up to 1,000 gallons per year.
    • Installing a low-flow shower head can save 7,700 gallons per year.
    • Installing newer faucets and aerators can save 16,000 gallons per year.
  • A driver fatally struck a man crossing a roadway in Cherry Hill

    A driver fatally struck a man crossing a roadway in Cherry Hill

    A driver struck and killed a man who was crossing a street in Cherry Hill on Monday night.

    Cherry Hill resident Gerald S. Yashinsky, 51, was crossing Haddonfield Road near Yale Avenue around 6:41 p.m. Monday when the driver of a northbound vehicle struck him, according to the Cherry Hill Police Department. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel responded and provided medical aid.

    Yashinsky was later pronounced dead.

    The driver remained at the scene and was cooperating with investigators.

    No additional injuries were reported.

    The crash remains under investigation by the Cherry Hill Police Department, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, and the medical examiner’s office.

    Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is encouraged to contact Cherry Hill Police Officer Geoffrey Byrne at 856-432-8859 or traffic@cherryhillpolice.com.