Some snow is possible in the Philly region during the holiday weekend, but about the only thing certain is that schools will be closed until Tuesday.
Snow — not a whole lot of it — is expected Saturday morning, and possibly again during the day Sunday.
“Definitely something,” said Ray Martin, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, “maybe not a lot of something.”
In short, he added, expect a “100% chance of forecast uncertainty.”
How much for Philly?
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Some snow is expected in the early morning hours of Saturday, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., and “sidewalks and streets could be slick for a time” in the Philly region.
However, temperatures in the afternoon are expected to approach 40 degrees and that should melt any snow. If the precipitation lingers, it likely would turn to rain.
That snow would be associated with a system from the west, and more significant amounts are expected well north and west of Philly.
On Sunday when it will be colder, the source would be a coastal storm that has been befuddling computer models the last three days. On Wednesday, the U.S. model was seeing a significant snowstorm for the I-95 corridor. On Thursday, it said never mind and fell in line with other guidance that kept the storm offshore.
On Friday, models were bringing the storm closer to the coast, but the model consensus was that it would be more of threat at the Shore and perhaps throw back a paltry amount to the immediate Philly region.
“On the other hand, a slight shift … in the track could bring 1-2 inches into the urban corridor,” the weather service said in its afternoon discussion.
Said Martin, “It’s always tricky with these offshore lows. It’s also possible that both systems pass us and we get basically nothing.”
Far more certain is a rather big chill
A Philadelphia firefighter spreads salt to control icing at a fire scene on Friday.
That the region was about to experience its coldest weather of the season to date was all but certain.
High temperatures on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, probably won’t get out of the 30s, and no higher than the mid 20s Tuesday and Wednesday, forecasters say.
Overnight lows are due to tumble into the teens, with wind chills approaching zero early Wednesday.
No more precipitation is forecast at least through Thursday, but with odds favoring continued below-normal temperatures through Jan. 29 and above-normal precipitation, it should be a robust period for virtual snow threats, if not actual snow.
ATLANTIC CITY — The Atlantic County prosecutor said Friday his office would not go forward with a child abuse trial against Atlantic City Superintendent La’Quetta Small, the wife of Mayor Marty Small, after determining that their daughter no longer wanted the case to proceed.
Their daughter, who turned 18 this month, testified for hours at the December trial of her father, who was later acquitted by a jury of charges that he beat his daughter with a broom and further abused her with terroristic threats.
The office will also request dismissal of charges against Constance Days-Chapman, the principal of Atlantic City High School, who was accused of failing to properly report to the state hotline the accusations made by the daughter.
In a statement Friday, the prosecutor said the decision was based on the daughter’s wishes and the prior verdict.
“We believe it is prudent and responsible to dismiss the remaining indictments against them,” prosecutor Williams Reynolds said in the statement.
The charges have been hanging over the Small family for two years. After being acquitted last month, Mayor Small shouted, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, jury.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. speaks to the media after being found not guilty on all counts of abusing his teenage daughter, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025.
His daughter attended the ceremony when the newly reelected Small was sworn in, and the mayor said the family had spent New Year’s Eve together like old times and begun the healing process.
Small, 51, faced charges stemming from a handful of incidents in late 2023 and early 2024 in which prosecutors said he and his wife abused and assaulted the teen. The couple said the incidents stemmed from their disapproval of their daughter’s relationship with a young man, leading to escalating tension and arguments in the family home.
The jury delivered its verdict at noon after having deliberated for two days. They found Small not guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, and witness tampering. A conviction would have required Small to relinquish his office.
La’Quetta Small was scheduled to stand trial in April on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Also facing a forthcoming trial was Days-Chapman, the principal of the Smalls’ daughter’s high school. Prosecutors say when the teen reported her parents’ abuse, Days-Chapman failed to notify child welfare authorities and instead told the couple of the report.
Days-Chapman, who is Marty Small’s former campaign manager, was later charged with official misconduct and related crimes.
Mayor Small could not be reached for comment.
La’Quetta Small’s lawyer, Michael Schreiber, said Friday he was “happy they decided to do the right thing.”
“It was a very difficult time for my client and her husband and their daughter,” he said. “We have to work on reunification, which is hard.”
He said the matter should have been handled by counselors or in family court, “where you have therapists to help everyone involved.”
“When the case is over, the prosecutor goes to the next case,” he said. “Where does that leave everybody? What is the benefit of the prosecution to the daughter? Whether it’s guilty or not guilty, how do you pick up the pieces and help this family?”
He said he would now be officially appealing a ruling by the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency that made an initial finding that substantiated the allegations.
He said the daughter has been living with her boyfriend and his mother.
In the statement, the prosecutor said the victim had last week “received a threat, racial in tone, on one of her social media accounts pertaining to her accusations she made against her father.”
“While we actively investigate this threat, we believe it is no longer in her best interest both emotionally and perhaps even physically for us to continue with our cases against La’Quetta Small and Constance Days-Chapman at this time,” the prosecutor said. “The further intent of this decision is to hopefully allow [the daughter], her family, and the community the time to heal and move forward.”
Women working at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey were required to wear tight uniforms that were too small and told to “smile more,” as they endured “sexist remarks about their bodies and menstruation,” according to two lawsuits by former employees.
Both complaints describe a similar pattern: A female employee at the Bedminster club, working in a culture hostile to women, reported safety issues and was penalized for doing so.
Maria Hadley, a former banquet server who worked at the private club, owned by President Donald Trump, from February until she resigned in August, says she suffered from a retaliation campaign after she reported a manager who spiked the drink of an underage employee with vodka. And Justine Sacks, who was hired as clubhouse manager in 2023, says that she was demoted and ultimately fired in May for reporting health and safety violations, including maggots and mold in the soft-serve machine.
The lawsuits describe a hyper-sexualized work environment, in which female staffers were expected to endure sexual harassment from workers and guests.
Both Hadley and Sacks are represented by the New Jersey-based McOmber McOmber & Luber law firm. Their attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bedminster club is operated by the Trump Organization, which is led by the president’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Neither the club nor general manager David Schutzenhofer responded to requests for comment.
In this July 15, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump turns to wave to the people gathered at the clubhouse as his walks to his presidential viewing stand during the U.S. Women’s Open Golf tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
Vodka-spiked Shirley Temple
Hadley, a banquet server, says women were treated as “a prop” and “were expected to look pleasing, work without complaint, and stay quiet,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden. Male managers and coworkers harassed their female peers, and called teenage guests “sexy.” When a guest inappropriately touched Hadley, a manager advised “they pay a lot of money to come here, just ignore it.”
Hadley reported in June that a bartender poured vodka into the Shirley Temple of an underage employee without the employee’s consent, saying it would give her energy.
The bartender was temporarily fired, but the club’s management launched a retaliation campaign against Hadley, the complaint says. She was denied a $1,000 bonus, isolated by her peers, and received worse hours and assignments.
Hadley resigned via email in August, the suit says, writing to the club’s human resources representative that her employment became “unbearable.” The club accepted her resignation, which the suit calls “effectively forcing her out,” and rehired the fired bartender.
That man went on to make sexual comments about 12-year-old guests with braces in September, according to a message Hadley sent to Eric Trump, the executive vice president of Trump National, which is included in the complaint.
Maggots and mold
Sacks joined Trump National in January 2023 and was told from the onset to expect “gender differences” in treatment, according to the suit, which was filed last month in Monmouth County Superior Court. She was instructed to hire women based on their looks, and received complaints from multiple direct reports about offensive, gender-based comments from male managers and peers.
The complaints were dismissed by Schutzenhofer, who told Sacks to “vote the mean girls off the island,” the suit says.
The club’s management slowly stripped Sacks’ authority and stopped inviting her to leadership meetings, in what the suit says was retaliation for elevating the complaints of female staffers.
People play golf next to the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster’s clubhouse in Bedminister on Friday, June 9 , 2023, in New Jersey.
Sacks was also retaliated against for reporting unsanitary conditions at the club’s kitchens, which included expired and unlabeled food, and the bistro operating without running water, the complaint says. There were flies all over the clubhouse in the fall of 2023, which even Donald Trump complained about, according to the lawsuit.
Management told Sacks that she was new to working at golf clubs and was “wrapped too tight” when she complained about the sanitation conditions, as well as employees drinking and vaping on the job. But even Eric Trump asked the club’s management team to make sanitation a “huge focus” because a few health inspectors are “eager and politically motivated to try and embarrass us,” according to a copy of an email sent by the executive vice president in January 2024.
The clubhouse’s bistro-area became more unsanitary, and by September 2024 the soft-serve machine was filled with maggots and mold, the suit says.
Sacks was placed on a 90-day performance improvement plan in December 2024 for, among other issues, being “off-putting,” the complaint says. In April, Sacks was reassigned from clubhouse manager to managing the bistro, which the lawsuit calls a clear demotion.
Schutzenhofer terminated Sacks in May, the lawsuit says, shortly after the club “failed miserably” a state health inspection.
Federal investigators pieced together a timeline for the deadly helicopter crash that killed two longtime friends in Hammonton, N.J., last month.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on Wednesday detailing the helicopter crash that led to the deaths ofpilots Kenneth Kirsch, 65, from Carneys Point, and Michael Greenberg, 71, of Sewell. Their aircrafts collided midair on Dec. 29. The two had been known to enjoy their flights together for years.
According to preliminary data, Kirsch and Greenberg started their flight session at the Vineland-Downstown Airport, departing at 9:48 a.m. The pilots, in separate aircrafts, flew in parallel paths to Hammonton Municipal Airport, arriving 10 minutes later.
Investigators are still trying to determine what happened next;there is no preliminary real-time GPS data on their subsequent flight out of Hammonton Municipal Airport.
The preliminary report confirmed Kirsch and Greenberg flew out of the Hammonton airport and collided at 11:24 a.m., almost an hour-and-a-half after they arrived at the airport.
During that time before their final flight, the two men stopped by Apron Cafe, a breakfast spot overlooking Hammonton Municipal Airport’s runway, the owner told The Inquirer. Minutes after they left, Apron Cafe patrons and staff could see one of the helicopters spiraling, engulfed in flames in the distance.
“I looked up, and I could see in the distance the one spiraling down, and then I see the other one coming down,” said the cafe’s owner, Sal Silipino. “It was hard to believe that they were crashing.”
While no data from the aircraft is available, surveillance video captured the fatal crash as it happened, according to the NTSB. The helicopters flew close together shortly before the accident.
Slightly staggered from one another, and heading in the same direction in what investigators liken to a “formation flight,” the helicopters “converged until they contacted each other.”
Investigators say one helicopter immediately began a tumbling descent to the ground, while the other pitched up sharply before leveling out. However, shortly after leveling off, the helicopter began spinning clockwise before descending rapidly to the terrain.
Kirsch was flying an Enstrom F-28A helicopter, and Greenberg, an Enstrom 280C. Both were operating the aircraft for personal flights.
The crash site was 1.5 miles southwest of Hammonton Municipal Airport and included a 1,211-foot debris path, with paint chips, main rotor blades, and the tail cone of one of the helicopters.
Kirsch’s aircraft was found split in half with the tail cone only held together by one tail rotor control cable, according to the report. There were no signs of fire in Kirsch’s helicopter. Major sections of Greenberg’s aircraft were destroyed by a post-impact fire, with the tail cone relatively intact.
The wreckage was recovered and retained for further examination by the NTSB. Investigators noted these were preliminary details, and the cause of the crash is yet to be determined.
A typical NTSB investigation can last one to two years.
It’s a longstanding question: Where does South Jersey start? Is the dividing line the same as where Eagles fans stop and Giants fans begin? Is it based on your area code? Is there someother sign that you’ve crossed from the North to the South?
The Inquirer is posing that very question to readers, along with one other hotly debated item: Is there such a thing as Central Jersey?
A high-end gym is taking over the former Buy Buy Baby space in the Ellisburg Shopping Center. Club Studio Fitness is expected to open a 30,240-square-foot gym in spring 2027. Club Studio Fitness, the boutique-style gym from parent company LA Fitness, is known for its premium amenities like cryotherapy and red-light therapy, a juice bar, stretch stations, and locker rooms, in addition to its fitness and wellness offerings. Memberships at Club Studio Fitness’ only other New Jersey location, in Edgewater, range from $189 to $249 per month.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the township is hosting two service events in the coming week. On Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., volunteers will help with trail maintenance throughout Croft Farm. And on Monday, kids 11 to 17 can participate in a youth leadership workshop with the police department. Advanced registration is required.
Two Cherry Hill residents are among the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Medal recipients, awarded by Camden County. Artist Giselle Brown and Col. Ted Gallagher, director of veterans affairs for Camden County, will be recognized alongside nine other recipients next Wednesday. Brown is a 17-year-old whose work has been recognized at the local, state, and national level, and Gallagher is a decorated 28-year military veteran who went on to work at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before joining the county.
Broadway show Suffs is currently in town and has two South Jersey connections, one far less obvious than the other. The touring musical, which is at the Academy of Music through Sunday, was created by playwright, composer, and actor Shaina Taub, whose mother is a Cherry Hill native. It follows the suffrage movement and centers on South Jersey Quaker activist Alice Paul, who was born in Mount Laurel. The Inquirer’s Rosa Cartagena dives into what inspired the Tony Award-winning production.
Washington, D.C.-based Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies has named a new principal to its Cherry Hill office. Braxton Plummer will help grow the government relations firm’s practice throughout New Jersey and the region.
Park Royal Orthodontics recently opened at 921 Haddonfield Rd. at Towne Place at Garden State Park. The practice offers orthodontic care for all ages.
A clarification: We notedin last week’s newsletter thatAppliances Outlet will be moving into the space occupied by Whole Hog Cafe and Wine Legend. Appliances Outlet will only take over part of the space, and neither of the current businesses are slated to close.
🏫 Schools Briefing
There are no classes Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
There will be a preschool information session next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at West’s new auditorium.
Chick’s Deli got a shout-out from BestofNJ.com as one of the best sandwich shops in New Jersey. The website noted specialty sandwiches like the chicken cheesesteak with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone “really shine.” It also suggested trying the mushroom cheesesteak.
🎳 Things to Do
♒ Napkin Wars: Battle of the Zodiac!: Represent your zodiac sign during this fun “napkin war” party, where three DJs will spin tunes. ⏰ Saturday, Jan. 17, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. 💵 $19.03 📍 Vera
👩⚕️ Game Plan for Wellness: Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital’s community health expo will include wellness stations and tables, healthcare screenings, cooking and exercise demos, and more. ⏰ Sunday, Jan. 18, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital
🧁 Valentine’s Day Cupcake Decorating: Registration opens tomorrow for this event geared toward kids in sixth through 12th grade. ⏰ Sunday, Feb. 8, 2-3:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Cherry Hill Public Library
The kitchen island has cabinetry which contrasts with the slate-gray cabinets throughout the rest of the space.
Located in the Olde Springs neighborhood, this four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom home blends classic and modern design elements. Its first floor features include a dining room, a multipurpose room with a tiled fireplace, a laundry and mudroom, and an open-concept kitchen and living room. The kitchen has a large island with white cabinetry that contrasts with the slate-gray cabinets throughout the rest of the space and matches the subway tile backsplash. It opens into a two-story living room. The bedrooms are upstairs, including a primary suite with a double vanity and soaking tub.
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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.
We’ve asked where South Philly starts, and about the Eagles-Steelers divide, but now it's time to answer an even more controversial question: Where does South Jersey end and North Jersey begin?
It’s a toughie, even entire movies have tried to answer this question. Is it just Eagles country vs. Giants country? Or maybe area code based? Turnpike exits? Or just simple geography of towns and counties? We want to hear from you.
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Use the sliders below to draw the dividing line. Submit your pick and see how other Inquirer readers voted.
The Rest of New Jersey
Central Jersey
South Jersey
You think South Jersey includes south_city_marker.
If we averaged out the votes from Inquirer readers, South Jersey would include south_city_average.
We’re not done yet, though. Now you’ve told us where South Jersey starts, we have another question for you: If it exists, where does Central Jersey start?
selection_answer
Of those that voted, central_votes believe there is a Central Jersey. The average Inquirer reader placed north_city_average in North Jersey and central_city_avg in Central Jersey.
Thank you for taking our quiz. If you want to weigh in more (like Pork Roll or Taylor Ham) let us know!
Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Reporting: Garland Fordice
Editing: Sam Morris
Copy Editing: Brian Leighton
Illustration: Julia Duarte
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A New Jersey town’s hopes of celebrating Groundhog Day their way may have been dashed once again.
For years, Milltown, a borough in central New Jersey with about 7,000 residents, did its own version of the classic Punxsutawney festivities with a live groundhog front and center.
But their access to the hero rodent is dwindling, leaving organizers groundhog-less in the town’s most crucial hour.
State laws ban importing wild animals that could potentially carry rabies.
A bill first introduced in 2024 and later passed by New Jersey legislators, intended to carve out an exception to the rule, allowing out-of-state woodchucks (yes, woodchuck and groundhog are interchangeable terms) to be brought in for the sake of the holiday tradition.
But on Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed that bill, citing public safety, sending the Groundhog Day enthusiasts of Milltown back to the drawing board.
It wasn’t always this way.
Milltown’s Groundhog Day and the beginning of Milltown Mel
Milltown’s Groundhog Day dates back to 2009 (much more recent than Punxsutawney‘s, which started in the 1880s).
Jerry and Cathy Guthlein, who owned a funeral home together in Milltown, were inspired by the official celebrations one state over after they made the five-hour drive to see the hubbub for themselves.
They were hooked.
“Jeez, if they can do it,” Jerry Guthlein recalled to NJ Advance Media, “I can do it.” He paid about $300 for a baby groundhog from a Sunbury, Pa., breeder and raised him.
That little groundhog grew into the role of Milltown Mel, a beloved local icon who made Groundhog Day predictions for the small town for five years before dying in 2015. That’s when Mel 2.0 stepped up to the plate in 2016; a younger, larger, and “friskier” groundhog, according to Jerry Guthlein at the time. And then, you guessed it, he was succeeded by Mel 3.0 until he died in 2021 at the age of about 3.
The average life span of groundhogs varies. Wild groundhogs live an average of two to three years, but can get up to six years, according to PBS. In captivity, they can live as long as 14 years.
In the years since founding Milltown’s Groundhog Day celebrations, the Guthleins stepped back, and the event would go on to be organized by a group of volunteers known as the Milltown Wranglers, who would tend to the sitting groundhog. During their version of events, they’ll hoist an iteration of Mel into the air, while doughnuts and coffee are served to attendees and local bands play.
After Mel 3.0’s death in 2021, Russell Einbinder, one of the Milltown Wranglers, drove to Tennessee to pick up a newborn replacement groundhog. But state officials seized the chuckling (the real and adorable phrase baby woodchucks/groundhogs are called) months later, the New York Times reported. Officials cited concerns for public health and wildlife disease, including rabies.
Those concerns aren’t just groundhog-focused.
Importing groundhogs and other wild animals is part of a longstanding state ban dating back decades to help prevent rabies and other diseases. Notably, you can’t test an animal for rabies unless it’s dead, according to the CDC.
Still, the seizure rubbed Einbinder and other groundhog enthusiasts the wrong way.
“He never actually got to be the Mel,” Einbinder told the Times. The Inquirer reached out to Einbinder for comment but did not hear back as of publication time.
Wranglers attempted for years to find a legal groundhog, but the original Pennsylvania breeder who brought on Mel the first had died. Other reputable breeders were gone. Einbinder’s calls to zoos and wildlife rescues were fruitless.
And just like that, Milltown’s Groundhog Day went dormant.
Local lawmakers seek a carveout
In 2024, legislators worked on and passed a bill that would create a special exception to New Jersey’s general ban on importing wild animals. The carveout would allow towns and counties to import woodchucks for their Groundhog Day celebrations if their local groundhog died.
The bill included guardrails, including that the municipality would need to prioritize finding a New Jersey groundhog before looking elsewhere. There was also a provision that the Division of Fish and Wildlife would be involved and set up a procedure to help relocate and import woodchucks, and create rules for how they should be housed and cared for.
Sterley S. Stanley (D., Middlesex) was a primary sponsor of the bill. He’s better known for his work on healthcare reform, but got involved with the local bill after meeting Einbinder and becoming “fascinated by the backstory,” according to NJ Advance Media.
“While I am disappointed that we could not establish a new pathway for Milltown to procure a new groundhog, I look forward to continuing to work with state and community partners to find a creative solution to this issue that allows Milltown to resume this cherished tradition within the current regulatory framework set forth by relevant authorities,” Stanley told The Inquirer on Tuesday.
Initially, the bill earned a lot of giggles at meetings, but received near-unanimous lawmaker support and moved through both legislative houses between 2024 and 2025 with ultimate approval. The legislature ultimately passed the bill, but too late for a Milltown Groundhog Day to be organized for 2025.
“We have been working very hard to get that statute changed, but it has not happened yet,” the wranglers wrote on their Facebook page at the time last January. “Until that change occurs, we cannot continue our annual celebration. Hopefully the necessary legislation will be done in time for us to resume Groundhog Day next year.”
Now, with less than a month until Groundhog Day 2026, Murphy has vetoed the bill entirely, leaving Milltown’s Groundhog Day at risk of being canceled for the sixth year in a row.
“Defending these State interests can pose obstacles to obtaining a permit to import wildlife from outside New Jersey, which may understandably frustrate communities that engage in celebrations traditionally involving wildlife,” Gov. Murphy said in a statement included in his veto notice. “However, the State must uphold its obligation to protect the people and animals of New Jersey.”
The Governor’s Office declined to comment further.
It’s unclear what’s next for Milltown’s Groundhog Day.
In his statement, Gov. Murphy said he didn’t think vetoing the loophole meant Milltown should abandon its festivities. Instead, he encouraged organizers to work with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to find some sort of alternative opportunity, though he didn’t elaborate on what that might look like.
Years back, after one of the Mel’s deaths, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wrote to Milltown organizers, encouraging them to opt for an animatronic groundhog or a costume instead of a live animal. But organizers brushed off concerns and continued to buy the chucklings when they could source them.
Organizers haven’t posted an update on their Facebook page since last February and could not be reached for comment as of publication time.
New Jersey officials have filed suit against the large scrap metal recycler EMR over a string of hazardous and “especially dangerous” fires at its facilities, especially in Camden.
One four-alarm fire at an EMR scrapyardon Camden’s Front Street nearly a year ago resulted in black, billowing smoke that could be seen for 15 miles and led to the voluntary evacuation of 100 families.
As a result of that Feb. 21, 2025, fire, the U.K.-based metal recycler agreed in August to pay $6.7 million toward improvements to Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood. The fire occurred when a lithium ion battery embedded in an item ignited while being recycled.
That fire was one of a dozen at the Camden facilities in the last five years, says the suit filed by the state Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). EMR has several facilities in Camden.
“It is outrageous that EMR has failed to correct the dangerous conditions at its facilities in Camden — conditions that have resulted in over a dozen hazardous fires in recent years that threaten the lives and health of Camden residents,“ Platkin said in a statement. ”We’re taking action today to hold EMR accountable for its reprehensible conduct and to protect Camden residents.”
He accused EMR of turning “a quick buck at the expense of their communities.”
Joseph Balzano, CEO of EMR USA, on Monday pointed to the $6.7 million agreement from August. “It appears the current Attorney General is not aware of … EMR’s fire suppression investments,” he said. “We look forward to working with the State of New Jersey to addressing the scourge of lithium ion battery fires plaguing recycling facilities throughout the country.”
‘Severe harm’
The civil suit, filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden, alleges that fires at EMR facilities have created an “ongoing public nuisance.”
It alleges that the company’s facilities are unsafe, and that the company has failed to take steps to remedy those conditions.
As a result, EMR has caused “severe harm” to the “health and well-being” of nearby communities.
EMR’s global headquarters is in England. But the company has various subsidiaries in the U.S. EMR USA Holdings Inc. is a Delaware company with its headquarters on North Front Street in Camden. Both EMR Eastern, LLC and Camden Iron & Metal Inc are subsidiaries with Camden addresses.
The lawsuit alleges that fires related to EMR’s scrap metal operations have occurred in multiple locations. The company also has facilities in Bayonne and Newark. The suit notes a fire that broke out in May 2022 on a barge in the Delaware Bay carrying scrap metal between the company’s Newark and Camden locations.
But the suit singles out the Camden location as the worst with some fires occurring within days of each other.
“Over the last five years, at least 12 major fires have occurred in scrap metal piles at Defendants’ facilities in the Camden Waterfront South neighborhood,” the lawsuit states.
The suit states that the fires filled streets with smoke and air pollution, “causing chemical and burning smells to permeate through homes and causing residents to suffer from asthma and other acute respiratory illnesses.”
It alleges the fires have “caused severe harm to the health and well-being of individuals and communities in the vicinity.”
The Feb. 21, 2025, fire occurred at EMR’s waterfront shredder facility. It started in a large pile of scrap metal material waiting to be shredded. It burned for eight hours before Camden firefighters brought it under control, but took 12 hours to fully extinguish.
The burning pile measured 300 feet by 250 feet, according to the suit, and was roughly two stories high. It was destined for a conveyor belt leading to a four-story building.
The pile, conveyor belt, and building all became fully engulfed in the city’s Waterfront South area, which is home to 2,300 people. The suit states that the community already “experiences disproportionate environmental harm and risks due to exposures or cumulative impacts from environmental hazards.”
The scene at EMR Metal Recycling in Camden on Feb. 22, 2025, the morning after a four-alarm fire.
The fires
Among the fires in Camden since 2020, according to allegations in the suit:
Feb. 18, 2020: “Automobile fluff” caught fire at the shredder facilityon Front Street.
Nov. 29, 2020: EMR failed to notify the DEP of this fire at the Kaighns Avenue facility.
Jan. 29, 2021: EMR failed to notify the DEP in a timely manner when a pile of material three stories high and 300 feet by 150 feet ignited at the shredder facility, causing the nearby Sacred Heart School and 30 families to evacuate. Five firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation and one was hospitalized. Two residents were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Feb. 27, 2021: Residue caught fire at the shredder facility and could be seen burning from Philadelphia and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
Feb. 28, 2022: A pile of shredded material caught fire at the South Sixth Street facility.
July 21, 2022: A fire occurred at the shredder facility.
July 22, 2022: A fire broke out at the South Sixth Street facility, possibly from a lithium ion battery.
Oct. 18, 2022: During a fire at the shredder facility, residents were offered hotel accommodations by EMR if they needed to evacuate.
July 29, 2024: A pile of material caught fire at the South Sixth Street facility.
“Neighbors of EMR should not have to live in fear of the industrial business next door to them, wondering whether the air is safe to breathe and the company values its role in the community as much as its profits,” DEP commissioner Shawn LaTourette said in a statement.
The suit seeks to make EMR take measures that include adding continual surveillance and monitoring, reducing the height of scrap piles, hiring an engineer to evaluate its facilities and issue a report to the DEP, installing a system that can generate real time reports, and immediately notifying the DEP of any issues.
It seeks a maximum allowable penalty of $1,000 under a nuisances law, and any other money a court might award.
Legions of suburbanites decried federal ICE actions on Sunday in a series of vigils and protests across the Philadelphia area, signaling the breadth of opposition to a central part of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Expressions of anger, sadness, and resistance poured out into the streets of major cities nationwide this weekend in response to the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota. But that dysphoria also spilled into small towns — including in places like Gloucester County, New Jersey, where voters favored Trump in 2024.
“I’ve been quiet and timid my whole life, and now I’m just trying to speak up,” said Cristen Beukers, one of more than 100 people who attended a demonstration in Gloucester’s county seat, Woodbury, a city of about 10,000. Gathered along North Broad Street, near the Gloucester County Courthouse, participants’ signs, whistles, and bullhorn-led protest chants were met with beeping car horns and the supportive shouts of drivers.
Beukers, 40, of nearby Paulsboro, called for a proper investigation into the shooting death of Good, a mother and poet, on Wednesday.
Mi Casa Woodbury and Cooper River Indivisible hold a “roadside rally” in downtown Woodbury, N.J., in support of immigrants and to protest ICE on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, as protests against Trump administration actions spread in the suburbs.
Thousands of ICE agents and federal troops have swarmed blue American cities as part of Trump’s unprecedented campaign to arrest and deport millions of immigrants. Good was shot three times in the driver’s seat of her SUV after a brief confrontation with ICE agents on a residential Minneapolis street. Trump administration officials insist ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired out of self-defense; video footage appears to show he was not in the vehicle’s path when he fired.
“It’s an S.O.S.,” said Alex Baji, 31, of Woodbury, who said he’s a former IRS auditor laid off last year by the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by billionaire Elon Musk. “Masked goons murdering U.S. citizens — and the vice president says it’s perfectly justified.”
The turnout in Woodbury suggested a new level of urgency for the tight-knit suburban community, said Kaitlin Rattigan. Rattigan is a community organizer with Mi Casa Woodbury, a group that formed in response to ICE activity in their neighborhoods. Mi Casa has held a demonstration every Sunday since mid-November, even if just a few people attended.
“I think it’s a turning point for many people — and frankly for white people,” Rattigan, who is white, said.
According to a recent poll conducted by Pew Research Center, 50% of American adults surveyed in October disapproved of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, while 39% approve. (Some participants responded “neither.”) While 53% of respondents said the country is doing “too much” when it comes to immigration enforcement, a large majority continue to say at least some people living in the United States should be deported.
Trump has derided and propagandized protesters as “paid insurrectionists,” “domestic terrorists,” or radical leftists — people who are not representative of mainstream Americans, Steve McGovern, a political science professor at Haverford College, said in an interview. Anti-ICE rhetoric in the suburbs threatens Trump’s narrative, according to McGovern. Trump’s 2024 win was fueled by key gains in Philadelphia’s suburbs, an Inquirer analysis found.
“The popular image of suburbia continues to be a place where lots of middle-class, mainstream people live and work,” he said. “If suburbanites take to the streets and in large numbers, that would send — I think — a powerful message that a strong majority of the country is increasingly fed up with the outrageous, lawless, and even murderous behavior of ICE agents.”
At least one Republican observer was skeptical. Guy Ciarrocchi, a GOP analyst, said in a statement these protests no longer influence independent voters, nor intimidate Republicans.
“Unfortunately, these ‘rallies’ are political theatre — plug [and] play crowds with professional signs for any ‘cause.’ Tools to rally extremist Democrat voters,” he said. “Ms. Good’s death was a tragedy. And, ICE’s work is important and necessary. No ‘rent a rally’ will change either of those truths.”
Outside the Delaware County Courthouse in Media, hundreds shouted into the bitter wind: “United we stand, divided we fall.” The voices came from attendees of all ages — older people in wheelchairs, young parents pushing babies in strollers, and children holding crayon-drawn signs etched with messages like “ICE Cream, not ICE” and “NO ICE because it’s cruel.”
“The entire nation is watching Pennsylvania,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Delaware County Democrat. “We can reject Trumpism at the state and federal levels this year. … We will not be bullied out of the future that we and all our children deserve.”
Area residents hold what organizers called a “vigil for peace on our communities” on Jan. 11, 2026, in Media, Pa.
In the increasingly blue suburban county — that not long ago was solidly red — the vocal opposition to Trump has grown louder in recent years, said Cathy Spahr, coleader of Delco Indivisible, which organized Sunday’s vigil for Good.
“We didn’t have this during the first [Trump] administration,” she said of the event’s turnout. Spahr said she was especially heartened by the attendance given that the vigil was announced only days before — and ended an hour before the Eagles’ first playoff game of the year.
But Spahr and several attendees said there’s something special about coming together closer to home. And logistically, it’s easier.
Corinne Fiore, 75, of Media, and her 4-year-old Doberman, Laser, cherish the opportunity to be involved in the anti-Trump movement in Delaware County.
Corinne Fiore, 75, of Media, poses with her 4-year-old Doberman, Laser, who wears a “Defend Democracy” vest to local rallies and events, on Jan. 11, 2026, outside of the Delaware County Courthouse in Media, Pa.
“I just can’t get in a car and go for 10 hours somewhere,” she said. She’s thankful she doesn’t have to. “Delaware County has a lot of responsible people in it. They’re good and kind people. Patriotic people.”
For families with young children, the Media vigil also presented a convenient opportunity to teach their children the importance of standing up for their neighbors.
“I want to show them it’s important to stand up to a bully,” said Candice Carbone Bainbridge, 42, of Wallingford. Nearby, her 8-year-old daughter, Cora, held a sign with pink and purple lettering that read: “Be a good human. It’s not that hard!”
Sixteen miles southeast, in Bellmawr, N.J., dozens gathered along Black Horse Pike, hoisting signs, cheering on supportive honks from passing commercial trucks, and dancing to the Rascals’ 1968 anthem, “People Got to Be Free.”One poster read, “American foundations are being destroyed, no one is safe, stand up now.”
Karen Kelly, 72, who drove 40 minutes and DJed the demonstration, said she’s frustrated by apathy and disengagement.
“All the people staying home — doing nothing — have to get the heck up,” Kelly said.
Residents in the outskirts of Philadelphia expressed similar sentiments to their suburban counterparts.
“This is not law enforcement, this is brutality,” said Susan MacBride, 84, at a protest in Roxborough, which was largely attended by residents of Cathedral Village, a retirement community in Northwest Philadelphia. Tired of what she described as the Trump administration’s cruelty and disrespect, MacBride felt compelled to put a pause on her retirement and join the 160-person rally at Ridge Avenue and Cathedral Road.
“Kids need to know this isn’t normal; it’s a period of disruption, but we can’t let them get used to this,” she said.
Nearby neighbor Lorraine Webb, 73, agreed with MacBride.
“This isn’t what we are about, we need to do better,” Webb said. “We need to show up because this isn’t just a Center City issue; it’s a Philadelphia issue.”
Richard Codey, a former New Jersey acting governor and longtime state senator, has died at 79, his family announced Sunday.
The Democrat represented an Essex County-based district in the Assembly from 1974 to 1982 and the Senate from 1982 to 2024, the longest combined service in state history. His family said he died peacefully at home Sunday after a brief illness.
He was the New Jersey Senate president from 2002 to 2010.
After Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004, Mr. Codey served as acting governor for the remaining 14 months of McGreevey’s term, until Jon Corzine was elected and succeeded him. Under a state constitutional provision in effect at the time, Mr. Codey concurrently served as governor and Senate president.
In a statement on Facebook, Mr. Codey’s family said he served with humility and compassion. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners,” the family’s statement said.
Legislators who served alongside Mr. Codey reacted to his death on social media.
“New Jersey has lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives in meaningful ways of everyone who knew him,” Scutari said in a statement on Facebook.
State Sen. John McKeon served the same district as Mr. Codey in the Assembly for 22 years before succeeding him in the Senate.
“Observing firsthand his empathy, humility, and advocacy for those who could not speak for themselves have had a profound and enduring influence on my professional life,” McKeon said on Facebook.
Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Mr. Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.
As acting governor, Mr. Codey passed and signed a state law that limited public contracts for vendors who make campaign contributions.
Mr. Codey operated his family’s funeral home before entering politics.
Mr. Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.
Mr. Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.
After leaving the governor’s office, Mr. Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.
His wife told the Associated Press that Mr. Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.
“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”
The Codey family said it would share information about his funeral in the coming days.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
