New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said her administration will create an online database for people to upload videos they record of ICE.
“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” she urged New Jerseyans in an appearance on The Daily Show on Wednesday night with host Desi Lydic in New York City.
Sherrill, a Democrat and former member of Congress, said her administration will set up an online portal “so people can upload all their cell phone videos and alert people.”
Cell phone video from onlookers has been used to rebut the narrative of President Donald Trump’s administration after federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“They will pick people up, they will not tell us who they are … they’ll pick up American citizens. They picked up a 5-year-old child,” she said on the show. “We want documentation, and we are going to make sure we get it.”
The policy announcement was not featured in the television broadcast, but it was posted to YouTube shortly afterward by The Daily Show.
New Jersey residents routinely report ICE activity and arrests around the state, including recently in Bridgeton and Princeton. The Garden State is home to about the seventh-largest undocumented population in the country, an estimated 476,000 people, according to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.
Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said Sherrill needs to do more.
“We don’t need to see more evidence of what ICE is doing,” Torres said. “They’ve arrested a New Jersey mayor. They’ve gone after a sitting member of Congress. They’ve opened up a 1,000-bed facility in our state’s largest city and they’re ripping our families apart. New Jersey doesn’t need more evidence, we need leadership who is going to act.”
Sherrill, meanwhile, also said her administration plans to put out information to help New Jerseyans know their rights in the state. And she said she will not allow ICE raids “to be staged from state properties.”
Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, compared U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to secret police forces she observed in foreign nations during her service.
“I knew where this was headed when we started to see DHS people taking loyalty oaths to the president, not the Constitution,” she said. “We saw people in the street with masks and no insignia, so not accountable at all, hiding from the population.”
New Jersey has become a key state in the Trump administration’s plan to arrest and deport millions of immigrants, and has been slated for an expansion of ICE detention.
A facility in Elizabeth was for a time the only detention center in the state. But the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall in Newark was reopened for detention in May, and the administration recently announced plans to hold 1,000 to 3,000 detainees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which spans parts of Burlington and Ocean Counties.
In Wednesday night’s television appearance, Sherrill denounced the Minneapolis shootings, calling Good “a mother of three, who drops her 6-year-old off in her Honda Pilot and then gets shot and killed.”
And shenoted that Pretti worked at the Minneapolis VA as an ICU nurse.
“I saw his official photo, and I’ve seen a million of those … with the flag in the background, I know those guys,” Sherrill said.
Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent, while Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent. Both agencies fall under the Department of Homeland Security.
The new governor also said on The Daily Show that she called Trump to discuss his decision to freeze funding for the planned Gateway Tunnel in North Jersey, a project championed by Sherrill that would connect New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill does her best New Jersey “Oh!” and “C’mon!” impressions on The Daily Show with host Desi Lydic.
“I haven’t heard back from him yet to flag for him that this is about 100,000 jobs in the region, and by the way, his numbers aren’t looking so good in that area,” she said.
Sherrill said the president “should listen to me because I just won back all his voters,” citing her victory in November of more than 14 percentage points, outperforming her Democratic predecessors and reversing rightward shifts in 2024.
But she also said it is time to “rethink” the federal government’s relationship with states because of attacks from Trump.
“We need to start looking at expanding,” she said. “This is a time when I think we’re going to see a large expansion of state power, because the states are the rational actors in this space.”
Sherrill also played a game with Lydic where she picked which things were most New Jersey, choosing Tony Soprano over Snookie; hating New Yorkers over hating Pennsylvanians; diners over Wawa; and “C’mon!” over “Oh!”
Mikie Sherrill’s inaugural ball was unconventional, but it was very Jersey.
She held it at the American Dream mega-mall in East Rutherford, amid open-for-business stores, an indoor ski resort, roller coasters, a water park, restaurants, and children’s attractions.
Sherrill’s party was held where there’s usually an ice skating rink — “Across from Nickelodeon," one event worker provided as instructions.
Guests in tuxedos and ball gowns roamed past pretzel shops, toy stores, and life-size versions of children’s characters – and even through a candy shop – while searching for the entry.
Sherrill joined New Jersey hip-hop group Naughty by Nature on stage, a Bollywood group performed, and hits from Lizzo and Earth, Wind & Fire, blasted. On their way out, partygoers could pick up “Taylor hams” or “pork rolls” from workers wearing “flight crew” T-shirts.
“May you always be able to have a great future for your kids and your family and get maybe a week at the Shore every year,” Sherrill said in a toast in front of the crowd.
Over the course of the night, about 2,500 people poured out of the dance floor and mingled in front of storefronts and a cell phone case booth. The Inquirer was there to talk with the new governor’s supporters. Here’s some of what they said.
What are you looking forward to in Sherrill’s administration?
John Currie
Passaic County Democratic Party chair
I'm looking for her to continue some of the things that Gov. Murphy has done.
John Walsh
Influencer
I'm looking forward to seeing how she differs herself from Phil Murphy in a positive way. I don't think Phil did a bad job, but I'd like to see a lot of things change.
story continues after advertisement
Catie McNulty
Special education teacher in Point Pleasant
I'm looking forward to Mikie moving our state in a direction that supports affordable housing for everybody. I work closely with groups with developmental disabilities, so focusing on improving Medicaid and ensuring that our members and our adults with developmental disabilities don't lose out on services due to cuts at the federal level.
Robert Speer
President, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 827
I'm hoping that she will work with unions to bring good paying jobs to the state of New Jersey and contracts to the people in those union jobs. …. She, I believe, will represent the middle class very well, and I'm hoping she will.
Maritza Walton
Business owner in Bloomfield
I'm looking forward to her improving expenses for business owners, especially our utilities, and the different fees that business owners have to pay, especially small-business owners.
What is an obstacle she might face?
Amber Reed
Co-Executive director of AAPI New Jersey
New Jersey did not become more transparent or accountable after Murphy and change comes really slowly here. Even though she says she's committed to making government more transparent and accountable to the people, I can see her running against some entrenched culture around that in New Jersey.
Tara Buss
Mayor of Colts Neck
She is dealing with a variety of counties with a variety of needs. So I think she'll struggle with different counties and their different needs. We may have different needs in Colts Neck, New Jersey, than she may have in towns that she's from. So I think that's going to be a challenge.
Rhina Cavarez
Worked on Ras Baraka and Mikie Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaigns
She must face our own citizens … 1.4 million people voted for Jack. That means 1.4 million believe that Trump is doing the right thing, which is going to be a problem for the rest of us.
Falguni Pandya
New Jersey-India commissioner and AAPI commissioner
We do have high real estate taxes, some affordability issues, so I think she has to get the financial house in order first.
Kris Ramanathan
Entrepreneur
I think the obstacle she's going to face is the budget issue. I think it's going to be challenging, because there are so many things that we need in New Jersey, and with the Republicans not doing anything with the federal government, basically abdicating on any of their responsibilities, I think it's going to be a huge obstacle for her to find the money to do all the things that I know she wants to do.
What is something you know about Sherrill?
Kathy Bryant
Clinical data manager
I do know she's a humble person. I met her coming from the Democratic convention. We were on the same plane, and we just spoke casually, and she's very easy to speak to. … You could have a conversation with her, and she was really listening to you. So it was nice to be able to say, ‘Oh, you might be our future governor.’
John Walsh
Influencer
Her name is not Mikie. It's Rebecca, and a lot of people don't know that. And I have to out her on that. I told a couple people that today, and they had no idea … when she swore her name and gave the oath, I was like, I'm surprised she didn't say Rebecca.
Catie McNulty
Special education teacher in Point Pleasant, New Jersey
We know her as a very caring mom in our community, as well as an elected leader. She was one of the first electeds who showed up for us as Asian Americans during the pandemic when we were experiencing anti Asian hate, and she brought a lot of real human empathy to that moment.
Thomas Duch
Bergen County administrator and counsel
I just know that she was a very diligent congresswoman. I know that her office was known for constituent service, for constituent response. The state of New Jersey is not really known for constituent response. … so if she brings that mentality, that kind of a service mentality, to state government, by way of example, I think that it will be contagious, and it will help, and we will improve our customer service.
What is something you want to know about Sherrill?
Rhina Cavarez
Worked on Ras Baraka and Mikie Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaigns
Are you running for president in 2028?
John Walsh
Influencer
When she did Colbert and she (said she) gave birth in a taxi, that was shocking to me. And I did a lot of TikToks, I met her, and I was like, why did that not come out during the campaign? So I'm sure there's more minute stories like that that are waiting and I'm looking forward to hearing about them.
Pulkit Desai
Parsippany mayor
What kind of music she likes. What does she do to decompress?
Kris Ramanathan
Entrepreneur
How many G's she can handle in a helicopter, what pressure she's gotten to.
Kathy Bryant
Clinical data manager
I just want to see how she's going to move forward with ICE. Are we going to maintain [New Jersey’s] sanctuary state [policy]? Are we going to prohibit them from coming into our churches, into our schools? Are we going to continue to be our brother's keepers, which I believe she will be.
Falguni Pandya
New Jersey-India commissioner and AAPI commissioner
How she does it all, like what makes her so effective and so productive and so successful. If we were to look at her as a role model, what would she teach young people coming into politics, young people wanting to be in it, or not even young necessarily, but people who are actually wanting to follow her footsteps.
Staff Contributors
Reporting, Photography, and Digital Editing: Aliya Schneider
The governor’s pardon was issued Tuesday even before a jury convicted Harris Jacobs, 28, for a hit-and-run in Atlantic City that killed a pedestrian.
The pardon was one of 97 issued by former Gov. Phil Murphy in his final hours in office. Jacobs’ attorney, Lou Barbone, told the news site BreakingAC that his client was notified even before the jury came back with its verdict on Tuesday.
Harris Jacobs was involved in a fatal hit and run at 3:30 a.m.on Sept. 4, 2022 outside the Dunkin’ Donuts at Atlantic and Indiana in Atlantic City, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor.
The pedestrian, Orlando Fraga, 76, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both Fraga and Jacobs were from Atlantic City.
Seven hours after the accident, Jacobs was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He was initially jailed is in the Atlantic County Justice Facility, but later released pending his trial.
Surveillance video showed Harris stopping at the Dunkin’ Donuts and rushing to the injured man. He told his roommate what happened, according to BreakingAC’s account of the trial, and repeatedly called his father, but did not call police.
A first trial in May ended without a verdict. But the retrial ended in conviction on Tuesday, which was immediately nullified by the governor’s pardon.
Barbone did not immediately return a request for comment. The governor’s office also did not respond to a request.
The second-degree conviction would have carried a sentence of five to 10 years under New Jersey law.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill was so excited to fulfill her promise of declaring a state of emergency on utility bills on her first day in office, she did it before finishing her inauguration speech.
“I’ve heard you, New Jersey — we are facing an affordability crisis, and you want costs to come down,” she said during her speech that followed her swearing-in. “And you want that to begin today.”
The first freezes utility rates in New Jersey, which she is able to do by directing the state Board of Public Utilities to provide credits to bill payers for increases. The board made a similar move over the summer under former Gov. Phil Murphy after significant bill increases. Those credits were funded with money from clean energy programs.
The public utilities board, known as the BPU, is a regulatory authority that oversees private utility companies in New Jersey and works on clean energy programs in the state. It is funded in part through a charge on utility bills.
BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said in a statement that the board “looks forward to supporting the governor’s agenda to lower utility costs for New Jersey ratepayers while encouraging the development of new energy resources here in the Garden State.”
Sherrill also directed the public utilities board to consider pausing or modifying the schedule for proceedings in which utility companies seek rate increases — as much as the law allows — and called for a study into modernizing the current electricity distribution business model. She also called for the board to revise the Clean Energy Program for the upcoming FY 2026 budget.
Sherrill also signed an executive order on stage to increase power generation in the state as part of her effort to lower costs.
“This is just the beginning,” she said on stage.
“Not of my speech, of my work,” she joked.
Her second order rolls out efforts to make it easier and faster for companies to generate power in the state, particularly via solar and battery sources. She directs state agencies to pursue permitting reforms that can help speed up processes to get new energy sources up and running as part of this order.
She also calls on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to expedite permitting processes for existing gas plants to expand capacity, run more efficiently, and reduce emissions.
In another request of the public utilities board, she asks officials to require electric utility companies to report on how much energy data centers request to assess “ghost loads,” which are forecasts for how much energy large projects may require. These predictions impact how much energy the regional grid operator PJM anticipates needing to handle, which can increase prices.
Sherrill has blamed PJM for high utility costs, and the regional grid operator has argued that it has simply responded to supply and demand issues as energy usage has drastically increased in recent years in part to the increasing demand for artificial intelligence.
The order also creates a Nuclear Power Task Force to support nuclear power generation.
“I heard the people of New Jersey loud and clear – these rate hikes are unacceptable – and as your governor, I will not stop fighting to lower costs and make New Jersey a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family,” Sherrill said in a statement.
NEWARK, N.J. — Mikie Sherrill was sworn in as New Jersey governor Tuesday, becoming the second woman to govern the state and the first from the Democratic Party.
Sherrill, who is also the first female veteran from either party to be elected to the office, broke tradition by opting to be inaugurated in her home county of Essex, in northern New Jersey, instead of the state’s capital city, Trenton.
She took the oath at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark in the morning. Joined onstage by her family and high-profile Democrats, Sherrill spoke about her love for New Jersey and denounced President Donald Trump in a speech on Tuesday.
She also gave two shout-outs to South Jersey, noting that she learned on the campaign trail that South Jerseyans say “pork roll” instead of “Taylor Ham.”
“I have heard you in South Jersey, where you want jobs, transportation investments, innovative businesses, and not to be forgotten or left behind,” she also said.
New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill waves as she arrives for her inauguration, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
She even referenced Philadelphia while talking about the founding of the United States — in a very Jersey way.
“In fact, not too far away, in the greater Camden metropolitan region, in a place called Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson wrote a declaration of our independence, marking the birth of this great nation,” she said.
“This entirely unique and revolutionary declaration claims human beings had universal rights to life, to liberty, to the pursuit of happiness, not because of who their parents were, but because every human being is endowed with these rights by their creator, not by a king,” she added, and was met by applause.
She drew parallels between England’s king at the founding of the United States and Trump, whom Democrats have criticized through “no kings” protests. Sherrill said Trump is “illegally usurping power, unconstitutionally enacting a tariff regime to make billions for himself and his family while everyone else sees their costs go higher.”
Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, former federal prosecutor, and mother of four, was elected to Congress in 2018 and stepped down in November after winning the election, defeating Jack Ciattarelli, who had won the endorsement of Trump.
Sherrill, whose closely watched candidacy drew significant national support, promised during her campaign that she would make New Jersey more affordable and would stand up to Trump.
White flowers lined the front of the stage, and large American and New Jersey flags served as a backdrop.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Sherrill’s friend and former congressional colleague, was in attendance. Spanberger became Virginia’s first female governor on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Sherrill and other high-profile Democrats.
New Jersey and Virginia were the only states to hold gubernatorial races last year, and the Democratic victories were viewed as a positive sign for the party heading into the midterms with Trump in the White House.
Sherrill, who turned 54 on Monday, succeeds Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who served two terms. It’s the first time the same party has held the governor’s mansion for three consecutive terms since 1970.
After the ceremony, Sherrill was slated to head to Trenton to sign more executive orders before going back north for an inaugural ball Tuesday evening at the American Dream in East Rutherford.
Sherrill’s lieutenant governor, Dale Caldwell, 65, was also sworn in Tuesday. Caldwell, a Middlesex County-based Methodist pastor, most recently worked as the first Black president of Centenary University. He has worked for state government, started nonprofits, and led charter schools.
In his speech Tuesday, Caldwell said his father marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom he and Sherrill both mentioned in their speeches.
“My father taught me that faith must be active, not passive. He taught me that justice is not an idea, it is a responsibility,” Caldwell said. “And he taught me that service is not optional, especially for those who have been blessed with opportunity.”
Her decision to be inaugurated up north was celebrated by Newark officials, but Trenton City Council member Jennifer Williams, a Republican, argued in an op-ed that it was an insult to Trenton.
Christine Todd Whitman, the first woman to serve as New Jersey governor, used the same venue as Sherrill when she was sworn in for her second term in 1998 while the war memorial in Trenton, the traditional site, was undergoing renovations.
Whitman served as a Republican from 1994 to 2001 before joining the Bush administration and has since left the Republican Party for the Forward Party. She endorsed Sherrill’s candidacy.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill speaks after taking the oath of office during an inauguration ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A day before taking the oath as New Jersey governor, Mikie Sherrill said in a visit to Camden on Monday that she willsteer resources to the city to commemorate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sherrill visited Camden on Monday morning to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day by joining a community effort to shovel snow. In a short speech, she emphasized King’s historical connection to Camden and an incident he’s said to have cited as sparking his interest in becoming a civil rights leader.
“I’m going to work with the city of Camden to make sure we can better bring this history to light, that we bring resources to commemorate the real birth of this movement here in Camden, New Jersey,” she said.
Sherrill’s team told local officials last week that she would be announcing plans to commission a statue of King for Camden, but they backtracked minutes before her announcement to instead make a broader promise.
New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill shovels snow for a resident, as volunteers shovel snow at Fairview Village on Martin Luther King Jr. Day during a day of service Monday in Camden.
Her transition team later told The Inquirer that Sherrill “is excited about the chance to elevate the history of Martin Luther King Jr. in Camden, and will work with the community on different possibilities to do this, including with a statue.”
Sherrill’s decision to come to Camden on MLK Day — the eve of her swearing-in and also her 54th birthday — was significant to local officials. It showed that the diverse South Jersey city is at the top of her mind after it resoundingly voted for her in November and improved turnout compared to the last gubernatorial election.
Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen said in an interview on Saturday — anticipating a statue announcement — that he would want King to be honored in a spot in Farnham Park that has sat empty since a statue of Christopher Columbus was removed in June 2020 amid a nationwide reckoning onracism after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.
Camden released a statement at the time saying the statue’s removal was “long overdue.”
Carstarphen said the city has been wanting to replace that statue with one that’s more fitting for the community at some point. He said “it only makes just great sense” for King’s honor to be put there.
A headless statue of Christopher Columbus that was dismantled and then knocked off a trailer in Farnham Park in Camden on June 11, 2020.
State Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, a Democrat who represents Camden, said in an interview on Friday that residents were surprised that Sherrill choseto come back to Camden so soon after being elected.
“It’s a good message for the South Jersey region that she is going to be available for South Jersey, that she’s someone who’s going to pay attention,” Cruz-Perez said.
City Council member Nohemi Soria-Pérez, who works as the chief of staff for Cruz-Pérez and two local assembly members, said Sherrill’s attention to Camden, and the possibility of a King statue, is “just such a positive step forward into what we see in the future.”
The (debated) significance of MLK to Camden
Sherrill said in her speech that she loves learning “so many neat things about our state that otherwise you just wouldn’t realize, even places you pass by every single day.”
“And I have to tell you, one of the coolest was hearing about Martin Luther King’s history in Camden, the fact that many scholars say he had his very first act of civil disobedience here in Camden,” she added.
She was referencing an incident in 1950 in which King and his friends reported that they were refused service at Mary’s Cafe, a tavern in Maple Shade Township in nearby Burlington County — not Camden — while attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County.
New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (center left) hugs pastor Pastor Daniel Brown from Freedom Worship Assembly Church, as volunteers gather to shovel snow at Fairview Village on Martin Luther KingJr. Day during a day of service on Monday in Camden.
King often recounted the incident as an example that sparked his interest in the civil rights movement, according to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and reported in a 1976 Inquirer obituary of the tavern owner.
Widespread accounts of the incident indicate that the tavern owner shot his gun in the air, but Sherrill said in her speech that King had a gun “pointed at him.”
“I didn’t realize that he lived in Camden during his years as a student at Crozer Theological Seminary from 1948 to 1951,” she also said.
The belief that King lived in the home stems in part from the building’s then-owner and his daughter saying thecivil rights leaderlived there “on and off for two years.”
Regardless of the disputed details, King is widely understood to have a connection to Camden.
Civil rights icon and U. S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia (center) is surrounded by admirers during his visit to the Walnut Street property in 2016.
David Garrow, a historian and the author of the King biography Bearing the Cross, has previously said he believes King spent time in Camden and likely occasionally stayed at the Walnut Street house where he visited his friend.
The state-commissioned study noted that King “almost certainly” stayed there the night of the Mary’s Place incident described by Sherrill.
John Lewis, a civil rights leader and member of Congress who died in 2020, visited the building in 2016 and called it a “piece of historic real estate that must be saved for generations yet unborn.”
Local advocates have sought to rehabilitate the Walnut Street home — which sustained a fire in 2023. A 2017 grant of $229,000 was earmarked to renovate the building — which sat vacant and in disrepair even before the fire — but the money was diverted to the city’s fire department in 2018 without explanation.
Sherrill and running mate Dale Caldwell visited the city repeatedly in the weeks leading up to Election Day, and Caldwell was in Camden on Saturday. The city’s population is nearly 38% Black and more than 54% Latino, and Sherrill’s campaign had outreach teams specifically catered toward both groups.
Carstarphen said a statue of King would be “a daily reminder” to Camden’s residents that “our city matters.”
“It sends a powerful message to us that we’re not an afterthought,” he said ahead of Sherrill’s visit.
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.”
New Jersey lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would make it easier for development projects in Camden to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits.
Under current law, most commercial real estate developers must show their projects would generate more dollars in economic activity than they would receive in subsidies in order to qualify for tax credits under New Jersey’s gap-financing program, known as Aspire.
The new legislation — which was introduced late last month and approved by the Democratic-led Legislature days before Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is to leave office — would exempt certain projects from the program’s so-called net benefit test.
Lawmakers on Monday also passed a bill increasing the cap on the size of the Aspire tax-credit program from $11.5 billion to $14 billion and authorized $300 million in tax breaks to renovate the Prudential Center in Newark, home of the New Jersey Devils hockey franchise. The team is owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Philadelphia 76ers.
‘Competitive market’
Supporters of the Camden bill, A6298/S5025, said it would make South Jersey more competitive in the Philadelphia market, while critics contended it would weaken a provision of a 2020 economic development law signed by Murphy that was intended to ensure fiscal prudence.
The test has impeded big projects in South Jersey, said Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D., Camden), a sponsor of the bill. Since the law was signed, the region hasn’t attracted a single “transformative project” — a designation in the Aspire program for developments that have a total cost of $150 million and are eligible for up to $400 million in incentives over 10 years, Greenwald said.
“We started to ask people, what’s the barrier?” he said. “And when you look at the competitive market of what [developers] can get in Philadelphia or Pennsylvania compared to other areas in the state that don’t have to compete with that, that net operating loss test, that net benefits test, is a barrier.”
The legislation was not drafted with a specific project in mind, Greenwald said, but he acknowledged that one that might benefit is Beacon, which would feature 500,000 square feet of office space.
Developer Gilbane is leading the project with the Camden County Improvement Authority at a vacant site on the northwest corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard across the street from the Walter Rand Transportation Center and Cooper University Hospital.
Map of the planned Beacon Building in Camden.
“The goal is to attract projects, maybe like Beacon Tower, to capitalize off of the growth that we’ve seen in Camden city,” Greenwald said.
Any project seeking Aspire subsidies must apply to the Economic Development Authority.
Camden County officials have said they expect tenants to include Cooper University Health Care, which has said it needs additional office space to accommodate its $3 billion expansion. They also hope to entice civil courts to relocate there.
County Commissioner Jeff Nash said last year that tenants had yet to commit, in part because the development team was still working on an application for Aspire tax credits.
The incentives will help determine rent, he told the Cherry Hill Sun. The land is owned by the Camden Parking Authority, and Nash has said officials are still trying to determine who will own the site and the building going forward, according to Real Estate NJ.
County spokesperson Dan Keashen said that those talks remain ongoing and that the improvement authority may issue a request for proposals for a new developer. Gilbane, the current master developer, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Wendy Marano, a spokesperson for Cooper University Health Care, said she didn’t have an immediate answer to a question about whether the hospital network planned to obtain an equity stake in the development.
In 2014 the state awarded $40 million in tax credits to incentivize Cooper Health’s relocation of suburban office jobs to Camden, and Cooper later bought a stake in the development.
The possible new state investment in Camden comes after Murphy’s administration separately allocated $250 million to renovate the state-owned Rand center — which serves two dozen NJ Transit bus lines and the River Line, and includes PATCO’s Broadway station.
Construction on the transit center is expected to begin soon, according to county officials. While that renovation is underway, the Beacon site will serve as a temporary bus shelter, Keashen said, adding that possible construction on an office tower is still years away.
Fast track
Critics of the bill said that it was rushed through the Legislature with minimal public input and outside the normal budget process, and that it appeared to be designed to benefit specific projects. The bill passed the Assembly, 48-25, and the Senate, 24-14. It now heads to Murphy’s desk. The governor’s second term ends on Jan. 20, when he is to be succeeded by fellow Democrat Mikie Sherrill.
The legislation applies to redevelopment projects located in a “government-restricted municipality” — language included in the Aspire program’s statute — “which municipality is also designated as the county seat of a county of the second class.” The project must also be located in “close proximity” to a “multimodal transportation hub,” an institution of higher education, and a licensed healthcare facility that “serves underrepresented populations.”
“I say to you that there’s going to be one project that fits all those criteria,” Assemblyman Jay Webber (R., Morris) said on the floor of the chamber during debate Monday.
“The net benefits test was put in as an accountability measure to make sure these projects were at least by some measure benefiting the taxpayer,” Webber added in an interview.
“And now apparently one or more projects can’t meet that test,” he said. “And so rather than stick to the rules that they agreed to and pull the credits, they’re going to change the rules, lower the bar so that somebody can step over it. It’s wrong.”
Greenwald said the legislation has “nothing to do with [Beacon] in particular,” adding that he hopes it is one of many projects that could benefit. Possible developments in Trenton and New Brunswick could also qualify for incentives under the bill, he said.
Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald in 2019.
The net benefit test
The test relies on economic modeling based on data such as projected jobs and wages. Under current law, most commercial projects seeking Aspire credits must demonstrate a minimum net benefit to New Jersey of 185% of the tax credit award — meaning, for instance, an applicant that receives $100 million in credits must generate $185 million in economic activity.
Projects located in “government-restricted municipalities” — a half-dozen cities, including Camden, selected by the Legislature — already face a lower threshold of 150%, according to the state Economic Development Authority.
Some projects, including residential and certain healthcare centers, are exempt from the net benefit test.
The test was strengthened in the Economic Recovery Act of 2020, signed by Murphy, because “we saw in previous iterations of the tax credit program that if the guardrails weren’t strong enough … then companies could simply not meet the test, or, you know, not follow through on their promises, and nonetheless collect the funds,” said Peter Chen, senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning think tank.
The 2020 law changed that, he said. “It’s one of the most important guardrails of the entire corporate tax credit program,” Chen said in an interview last week. “So exempting any project from the net benefit test requires a pretty large, pretty strong reason for doing so, and in this case, no reason was given.”
Criminal case
The renewed push for tax credits in South Jersey comes as a criminal case involving an earlier round of corporate subsidies continues to play out in court.
Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III — founder of a Camden-based insurance brokerage and chairman of Cooper Health — and five codefendants were indicted in 2024 on racketeering charges related to development projects on the city’s waterfront.
A judge dismissed the charges last year, and the state Attorney General’s Office is appealing the decision. Norcross has denied wrongdoing. He and his allies say state incentives have helped revitalize the city.
During his floor speech on Monday, Webber alluded to “incredible allegations of corruption” in the earlier economic development program and noted that Murphy had previously championed reform of the system.
The governor’s spokesperson, Tyler Jones, declined to comment on pending legislation.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Thursday banning cell phones in New Jersey public schools from “bell to bell”in an effortto help students focus on learning.
During a bill-signing event at Ramsey High School in Bergen County, Murphy said the law would promote improved academic performance and student mental health.
“By getting rid of needless distractions, we are fundamentally changing our schools’ learning environments and encouraging our children to be more attentive and engaged during the school day,” Murphy said. “This is a sensible policy that will make a world of difference for our children.”
Murphy, who said he refrains from bringing his phone into meetings, borrowed a phone to use as a propfor the news conference because his was locked in his car.
“That will be locked up until I’m no longer governor,” said Murphy, who leaves office Jan. 20.
The bill was heavily endorsed by principals and teachers, who said valuable instruction time is lost when they have to direct students to put away the devices during class.
Experts say cell phones have become a growing distraction and hinder learning. Students have been using their phones to text friends and even towatch movies during class. The devices have also been used for cyberbullying.
Bans will not go into place in schools around the state, however, until next school year.The law requires the state Department of Education to develop guidelines for districts to draft polices restricting the use of cell phones and devices by students in classrooms and during the school day.
Local school boards that operate more than 600 districts across the state must then adopt a new policy. The law takes effect for the 2026-2027 school year.
Many districts in South Jersey, including Cherry Hill, Deptford, Moorestown, Washington Township, and Woodbury, already restrict cell phone use in classrooms, but the policies have not been consistently enforced and punishments vary. Some require students to store their phones in lockers all day, while others allow phones during lunch and breaks.
Some districts only require students to keep their phones turned off, while others provide locations for the devices to be stored during the school day.
Under the bell-to-bell approach of the new state law, students will not be permitted toaccess their phones for the entire school day.
Lianah Carruolo, a seventh-grade student at Woodbury Junior-Senior High School, unlocks her cell phone pouch in September 2024.
Woodbury Superintendent Andrew Bell said a cell-phone-free campus policy at Woodbury Senior High School has drastically changed the culture. There are fewer disciplinary issues and students interact more with classmates and teachers, he said.
“Students are noticeably happier, engaged and present in their classrooms, and connected to one another,”said Dwayne Dobbins Jr., acting co-principal of Woodbury Junior-Senior High School.
What happens next?
Districts must adopt policies restricting cell phones during the entire school day. That may require students to lock up the devices when they arrive or secure them in locked pouches.
In South Jersey, 12 districts in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties received grants. The grant amounts varied depending on the size of each district.
window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
Gloucester City Superintendent Sean Gorman said his district used a $10,823 grant to install cabinets in classrooms where students in grades 7-12 must lock up their devices when they arrive for homeroom. Younger students are instructed to leave the devices at home, he said.
“We know it’s right for kids,” Gorman said. “If you let them bury their head in their phone for a good portion of the day they will.”
Other districts, like Woodbury, have opted to use locked pouch systems to store students’ phones. They retrieve their phones at the end of the day.
Some parents have expressed concern that they will not be able to reach their children, especially in the event of an emergency. School officials say parents will still be able to contact their children through the main office.
There have also been arguments by opponents that states are overreacting with the cell phone bans and that the legislation is unlikely to have the intended impact.
But groups have parents have also mobilized to speak out against cell phone use, circulating pledges to wait until eighth grade or high school to purchase phones for their children.
Are there exceptions to the ban?
Districts will have some flexibility to allow exceptions. For example, some students use their phones for medical conditions such as glucose testing.
Exceptions may also be made for students with individual education plans or IEPs and use devices such as tablets and ear buds as part of their curriculum.
Before the law signed Thursday, some districts allowed students to retrieve their phones during breaks, in the hallways between classes or during lunch. The law no longer permits that.
Will students be penalized?
It will be left to districts to decide how policy violations should be handled. Some districts with policies already have opted for a progressive discipline approach.
Gorman said Gloucester City has had 60 violations at its high school since the new policy took effect in September, down from 130 the previous year. The school has 731 students.
First-time offenders are given a two-day, in-school suspension and their phone is confiscated, Gorman said. A second offense gets a four-day, in-school suspension; three-time offenders are given a three-day, out-of-school suspension and remanded to an alternative program, he said.
Gorman said students have largely accepted the policy. The school has had fewer disciplinary problems and conflicts typically escalated through text messages have decreased, he said.
“We barely had any repeat offenders,” Gorman said.
A veteran Vineland educator has been named the state-appointed superintendent to oversee the Camden school system, state Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer announced Wednesday.
Alfonso Q. Llano Jr. was selected after a national search that began in June. He will begin heading the troubled South Jersey school system starting March 1.
He will be the first Hispanic superintendent to lead the district. Demographics in Camden have shifted in recent years, and 56% of its traditional public school students are now Hispanic, 42% are Black, and 1.2% are white.
Dehmer made the long-awaited announcement at the monthly state Board of Education meeting in Trenton. The board unanimously approved the appointment.
“I’m honored for the opportunity to serve the Camden City School District,” Llano said. “Together, we’re going to work through transparency and tough times. We’re going to achieve great things.”
Llano will receive an annual salary of $260,000 under a three-year contract.
In Vineland, he was the highest-paid superintendent in Cumberland County with an annual base salary of $206,000.
Carstarphen and other officials praised Llano’s appointment in a statement released Wednesday. The mayor lauded the state “for identifying someone who will bring meaningful change for Camden’s students.”
“I am confident he will be an excellent leader who prepares our students for the future and always puts our students’ academic interest first,” Carstarphen said.
N’Namdee Nelson, president of the Camden City Advisory School Board, said: “We want to ensure that every child in the school district has access to a great school.”
Others, like former longtime school board member Jose E. Delgado, wished Llano well but were less optimistic. He said the selection of a Hispanic superintendent was “long overdue.”
“He’s stepping into a very dysfunctional environment that will require a wide array of fiscal, administrative, and educational skills,” Delgado said.
The changing educational landscape in Camden poses the biggest challenge. Thousands of students have left the city’s traditional public schools for Renaissance and charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run and now lead the district’s enrollment.
Camden is the only district in New Jersey with three school types. Charters enroll 3,236 students, and Renaissance schools have 6,664 students.
Last spring, McCombs cited the declining enrollment in part for a $91 million budget deficit. She cut more than 100 positions and laid off teachers and support staff in a massive restructuring.
Camden Education Association president Pamela Clark, who represents more than 1,000 teachers and support staff, said she hopes to meet with Llano soon to discuss concerns about possible layoffs and school closures.
“I will continue to advocate fiercely to protect my members’ jobs and school closures, and I hope the new superintendent brings fairness, transparency, and unity to our city,” she said.
During a meeting in June, the Vineland board was bitterly divided over whether to renew his contract. The board must give six months’ notice if it plans to terminate a superintendent. The motion to not renew it failed, and it was unclear what direction the board would pursue.
In Vineland,Llano oversaw a diverse district of more than 10,200 students enrolled in 16 schools. About 63% of the students are Hispanic, 14% are Black, and 18% are white. About 17.4% of its students are multilingual learners.
Vineland has some of the same issues as Camden schools — low test scores and chronic absenteeism. The majority of the students in the sprawling 68-square-mile community are economically disadvantaged.
Llano also spent 10 years in the Trenton school system, most recently as the interim schools chief for nearly a year prior to moving to Vineland. He previously was the district’s chief academic officer for six months. He also was an assistant superintendent and principal in Trenton.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Llano also had stints in the Readington Township and Howell Township school districts in a career spanning 27 years.
He is pursuing a doctoral degree in education at Seton Hall University. He holds master’s degrees from New Jersey City University and Kean University, and a bachelor’s degree from Rowan University.
Interim State-appointed Camden school Superintendent Davida Coe-Brockington.
Coe-Brockington said Llano’s reputation precedes him and that she was looking forward to working with him to “focus on the progress we’ve made in the district and focus on creating better outcomes for the students and families of Camden City.”
It was unclear Wednesday whether Coe-Brockington would remain in the central office when Llano takes over or return to Creative Arts High School, where she has been principal since it opened in 1999.
