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  • Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll prevent data center developers from ‘saddling’ Pennsylvanians with higher energy costs

    Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll prevent data center developers from ‘saddling’ Pennsylvanians with higher energy costs

    Gov. Josh Shapiro had a message for data center developers on Tuesday: Come to Pennsylvania, but bring your own energy — or pay up.

    During his budget address, Shapiro said his proposal — the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) standards — will ensure center operators are “not saddling homeowners with added costs because of their development.”

    Data centers, which house the technology to power cloud storage and other computing, have been proliferating across the country and the region due to the increasing demands of generative artificial intelligence, or AI. State and local officials are trying to keep up with the rapid pace of development, proposing new legislation — and updating existing measures — in an attempt to regulate the facilities.

    Shapiro’s plan would require data centers to supply their own energy or pay for any new generation they need. It also calls on them to hire and train Pennsylvania workers and comply with “the highest standards of environmental protection,” including in water conservation, Shapiro said.

    In exchange, the governor added, data center developers will get “speed and certainty” in the permitting process, as well as applicable tax credits.

    The comments from Shapiro, a Democrat who has consistently encouraged data center development, come amid a flurry of legislative and executive action, as elected officials promise to keep Pennsylvania and New Jersey consumers from bearing the costs of these power-hungry facilities.

    Data centers, the electric grid, and governors’ proposals

    Locally, proposals for large AI data centers have faced opposition from East Vincent Township, Chester County to Vineland, Cumberland County.

    A half-built data center in Vineland is expected to be completed later this year, with a capacity of 300 megawatts.

    Many experts have attempted to quantify the impact of these centers on Americans’ energy bills. In one analysis, Bloomberg News found that the monthly electric bills of customers who lived near significant data center activity had increased 267% in the past five years.

    At the same time, some governors, including Shapiro, have criticized and sued PJM, the Montgomery County-based electric grid operator, over its annual capacity auction, which influences how much customers pay.

    On Tuesday, Shapiro reiterated calls for PJM to speed up new power-generation projects and extend a price cap.

    What does Montco’s PJM have to do with data centers and why is Gov. Shapiro always so mad at it?

    Separate from GRID, Shapiro also said electric companies, including Peco, should increase transparency around pricing and “rein in costs” for consumers, including low-income and vulnerable Pennsylvanians.

    “These steps will save consumers money immediately,” Shapiro said. He announced an energy-affordability watchdog to monitor utility-rate requests and take legal action if necessary to prevent companies from “jacking up their rates and costing you more.”

    In New Jersey, new Gov. Mikie Sherrill made energy affordability a central tenet of her campaign. At her inauguration last month, she declared “a state of emergency on utility costs,” following through on a promise she had made in stump speeches and TV ads.

    Through several executive orders, she froze utility rates and expanded programs to spur new power generation in the state. She also ordered electric utilities to report energy requests from data centers.

    “This is just the beginning,” Sherrill said in her inaugural remarks. “We are going to take on the affordability crisis, and we are going to shake up the status quo.”

    In Pennsylvania, ‘Data Center Consumer Protection Bill’ advances

    An Amazon data center is shown last year while under construction in front of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa.

    Meanwhile in Harrisburg and Trenton, some lawmakers have other ideas about how to keep residents from subsidizing data centers.

    As of Tuesday, nearly 30 bills in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislatures mentioned data centers, according to online records. Many of those bills aren’t directly related to residents’ electric bills, and instead address the facilities’ energy sources, water usage, environmental impacts, and general regulation.

    Others attempt to tackle rising consumer costs.

    On Monday, the Pennsylvania House Energy Committee advanced a measure referred to as the “Data Center Consumer Protection Bill.” Lawmakers say it would keep residents’ bills down by creating a regulatory framework for data centers and requiring their operators to contribute to utility assistance funds for low-income Pennsylvanians.

    “Today’s vote brings us one step closer to protecting ratepayers,” Robert Matzie, the Beaver County Democrat who introduced the bill, said in a statement. “Data centers can bring jobs and expand the local tax base, but if unchecked, they can drive up utility costs. Electric bills are already too high.”

    The state House Energy Committee also heard testimony Monday on a bill that would allow the state to create a “model ordinance” for local municipalities to regulate data centers, and another that would require centers to report their annual energy and water usage.

    The bills were introduced by State Reps. Kyle Donahue and Kyle Mullins, both Democrats from the Scranton area, which has become a hot spot for data center development.

    Human reporters explain why AI data centers are so controversial in the Philly suburbs and beyond

    “There is a real concern and a sense of overwhelm among the people we represent,” Mullins said at the hearing. “The people of Pennsylvania have serious concerns about data center energy usage and water usage, especially as they see utility bills continue to rise rapidly.”

    Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, said he worried the bills would discourage operators from building in Pennsylvania. He said they are already incentivized to reduce energy costs, which are estimated to make up anywhere from 40% to 80% of a data center’s total operating costs.

    “Data center companies strive to maximize energy efficiency to keep their costs low,” Diorio said.

    Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, the Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the energy committee, closed Monday’s hearing by reminding members of one of its main objectives: to “keep down the energy bills that are skyrocketing for people back home.”

    A South Jersey lawmaker says his bill could help consumers

    A Philadelphia-area woman woman turns down her thermostat in attempt to save on electricity in this January 2023 file photo.

    The pain of skyrocketing utility bills has been felt acutely in New Jersey, which unlike Pennsylvania uses more energy than it produces.

    Between 2024 and 2025, New Jersey residents’ electric bills rose more than 13% on average, the fifth steepest increase in the U.S., according to federal data analyzed by the business magazine Kiplinger. Pennsylvanians saw a nearly 10% increase during the same period, according to the data.

    Their electric bills hit record highs this summer, from the Main Line to the Jersey Shore

    Prices are expected to keep rising in the coming years as more data centers are constructed.

    A bill sponsored by New Jersey State Assembly member David Bailey Jr., a Democrat from Salem County, attempts to prevent future price hikes.

    The legislation would require data center developers to have “skin in the game,” as Bailey described it in a recent interview, and sign a contract to purchase at least 85% of the electric service they request for 10 years. He said it would also provide incentives for data centers to supply their own energy generation.

    A massive and controversial AI data center is under construction in South Jersey

    “I don’t want to come off as an anti-data center person,” said Bailey, who represents parts of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties. “This is a very positive thing. We’re just saying we don’t want these big companies to come in and pass this [cost] on to our mom and pops, our neighbors, and our everyday ratepayers.”

    Bailey said he was disappointed that his bill was pocket-vetoed by former Gov. Phil Murphy last month. Now, it has to restart the legislative process. But Bailey said he expects it to eventually pass with bipartisan support.

    “No matter your party affiliation you understand the affordability issue,” Bailey said. “You understand your electric bill” — and how much it has risen recently.

  • Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to ban cell phones from Pa. schools

    Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to ban cell phones from Pa. schools

    Gov. Josh Shapiro is backing a proposal to ban cell phones from Pennsylvania classrooms, joining a growing chorus of parents, teachers, and officials seeking to curb school disruptions and detach kids from addictive devices.

    “It’s time for us to get distractions out of the classroom and create a healthier environment in our schools,” Shapiro said in a post on X on Thursday.

    He called on Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass a bill that would require schools to ban the use of cell phones during the school day, “from the time they start class until the time they leave for home.”

    The endorsement from the Democratic governor — who could promote the issue during his budget address Tuesday — comes as school cell phone bans have increasingly become the norm: 31 states have restrictions of some kind on phones, including 23 states with “bell-to-bell” bans barring the use of phones the entire school day, according to Education Week.

    In New Jersey, former Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law last month requiring a bell-to-bell ban to take effect next school year.

    Pennsylvania currently lets schools set their own cell phone policies — and districts have taken a patchwork of approaches. Pennsylvania in 2024 implemented a pilot program allowing schools to access funding for lockable pouches that students could place their phones in during the day, but few districts took the state up on the money.

    Some schools have banned cell phones during classes, including by asking students to place their phones in hanging shoe organizers on the backs of classroom doors.

    Advocates for entirely phone-free school days say such measures aren’t sufficient. Phones are still buzzing, and if class ends early, “kids are constantly looking at it,” said Kristen Beddard, a parent from the Pittsburgh suburb of Sewickley and leader in the PA Unplugged coalition seeking to curb children’s reliance on phones and screens, in and out of school.

    Barring phones only during class time is “not enough to truly break the dopamine feedback loop these kids are exposed to, and inundated with constantly,” Beddard said.

    Since PA Unplugged began advocating for a bell-to-bell ban a year ago, “the landscape has changed so much,” including more states moving to restrict phones, Beddard said.

    In Pennsylvania, the state’s largest teachers’ union came out in favor of a ban, and legislation that would require school districts to adopt bell-to-bell cell phone policies was unanimously approved in December by the Senate Education Committee. The bill would grant exceptions for students with special needs.

    The Pennsylvania State Education Association “supports legislation like Senate Bill 1014 that would establish a consistent, statewide expectation that public schools will restrict the possession and prohibit use of mobile devices for all students during the school day,” said spokesperson Chris Lilienthal.

    He said that on a typical day, teenagers get 237 app notifications on their phones.

    “Think about how disruptive those notifications are during the course of the school day when students should be focused on learning,” Lilienthal said.

    In a divided Harrisburg, the proposal has bipartisan support. Beddard called banning cell phones in schools “maybe one of the few bipartisan issues left.”

    In the Philadelphia area, groups of parents have mobilized against cell phone use, circulating pledges such as a commitment to not give children phones before eighth grade. Delco Unplugged, an offshoot of PA Unplugged, has advocated for cell phone bans in school districts and encourages parents to not give children access to phones before high school.

    There has been opposition to strict bans, including from school leaders who think kids need to learn how to live with technology, rather than avoid it. Some administrators have also questioned the logistics, and some parents say they want their children to have phones in the case of emergencies, like a school shooting.

    Advocates like Beddard say kids are safer during emergencies if they pay attention to the adults in their school, rather than their phones. They also argue that the logistics aren’t so daunting and that there are many ways to enact a ban besides lockable pouches.

    Some schools require kids to put their phones in a locker or simply keep them in their backpacks, Beddard said, noting that the legislation advancing in Harrisburg would allow districts to decide how to enact a ban.

    Schools that have implemented bans “describe the experience as transformational,” going beyond academic improvements to better socializing among kids, Beddard said. “Awkward conversations in the lunchroom make you a better human being,” she said.

    At this point, “Pennsylvania isn’t a pioneer on the issue,” Beddard said. “We need to get with the program.”

  • ICE tactics in Minneapolis set off political firestorm from Philadelphia City Hall to Washington

    ICE tactics in Minneapolis set off political firestorm from Philadelphia City Hall to Washington

    In Philadelphia, lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would institute some of the nation’s toughest limits on federal immigration-enforcement operations.

    In Harrisburg, a top Democrat floated making Pennsylvania a so-called sanctuary state to protect undocumented immigrants.

    And in Washington, senators faced mounting pressure to hold up funding for the Department of Homeland Security, an effort that could result in a government shutdown by the end of the week.

    Across the nation, lawmakers are fielding calls to rein in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after President Donald Trump’s administration surged forces into Minneapolis as part of his aggressive nationwide deportation campaign. Frustration with the agency reached new heights Saturday after agents fatally shot protester Alex Pretti, the second killing of a U.S. citizen there this month.

    Democrats nationwide slammed ICE and called on Trump to pull the forces out of Minnesota. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has at times sided with Trump on immigration matters, said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem should be fired.

    Anti-ICE activists demonstrate outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office on Monday, calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement policies.

    But Fetterman has also said he will not vote to shut down the government. That angered protesters, who rallied on Tuesday outside his Philadelphia office. Some of the senator’s fellow Democrats, including members of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation, urged him to vote against a bill to fund DHS.

    John Fetterman said he won’t vote against DHS funding. Every House Democrat from Pa. is urging him to change his mind

    A growing number of Republicans have also signaled their discomfort with the Minneapolis operation, including Trump allies who called on members of the administration to testify before Congress. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican, has called for an independent investigation into Pretti’s killing.

    Trump, for his part, showed some willingness to change course, sending border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to meet with Democratic leaders there. The president on Tuesday called Pretti’s death a “very sad situation.”

    Rue Landau shown here during a press conference at City Hall to announce a package of bills aimed at pushing back against ICE enforcement in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

    However, a chorus of Democrats and activists said Tuesday that the agency needs to change its tactics and be held accountable for missteps. And local leaders said they are laying out plans in case a surge of immigration enforcement comes to Philadelphia, home to an estimated 76,000 undocumented immigrants.

    “We have spent hours and hours and hours doing tabletop exercises to prepare for it,” Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said during a Monday night interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    Gov. Shapiro tells Stephen Colbert he’s planning for the possibility of federal troops entering PA

    Shapiro, who is running for reelection and is a rumored presidential contender, added: “I want the good people of Pennsylvania to know — I want the American people to know — that we will do everything in our power to protect them from the federal overreach.”

    Codifying sanctuary policies

    Philadelphia officials said the best way they can prepare is by limiting the city’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

    City Councilmember Kendra Brooks, of the progressive Working Families Party, and Councilmember Rue Landau, a Democrat, were joined by dozens of activists and other elected officials during a news conference Tuesday to unveil a package of legislation aimed at codifying into law the city’s existing “sanctuary city” practices.

    Those policies, which are currently executive orders, bar city officials from holding undocumented immigrants in custody at ICE’s request without a judicial warrant.

    Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

    Landau and Brooks’ legislative package, expected to be introduced in Council on Thursday, goes further, preventing ICE agents from wearing masks, using city-owned property for staging raids, or accessing city databases.

    Erika Guadalupe Núñez, executive director of immigrant advocacy organization Juntos, said the legislation “goes beyond just ‘We don’t collaborate.’”

    Juntos gets regular calls about ICE staging operations at public locations in and around Philadelphia, and people have been worried, despite official assurances, whether personal information held by the city will be secure from government prying.

    “We deserve a city that has elected leadership that’s willing to step forward with clear and stronger protections,” Núñez said.

    A protester speaks to a Minnesota State Patrol officer near the site of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

    If the legislation is approved, Philadelphia would have some of the most stringent protections for immigrants in the country.

    Oregon has especially strong restrictions against cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including barring local law enforcement from detaining people or collecting information on a person’s immigration status without a judicial warrant.

    In Illinois, local officers “may not participate, support, or assist in any capacity with an immigration agent’s enforcement operations.” They are also barred from granting immigration agents access to electronic databases or to anyone in custody.

    California, New York, Colorado, Vermont — and individual jurisdictions in those states — also provide strong protections for immigrants.

    In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who was sworn in last week, has kept the state’s sanctuary directive in place as lawmakers seek to expand and codify the policy into law. Legislators came close in the final days of former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, but he killed a related bill that had won approval in Trenton, saying he worried that enacting a law that included changes to the state’s current policy would invite new lawsuits.

    Meanwhile, some conservatives say bolstering sanctuary policies risks community safety.

    “If an illegal immigrant breaks the law, they should be dealt with and handed over to federal law enforcement, not be released back into our neighborhoods to terrorize more victims and commit more crime,” said James Markley, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

    He added: “Sanctuary policies don’t protect communities, they endanger all of us by shielding criminals from accountability for their crimes.”

    Democrats are taking varying approaches

    The widespread outrage over ICE’s tactics in Minneapolis has exposed sharp divisions in elected Democrats’ responses.

    On one end of the party’s ideological spectrum is Fetterman, who has said often that he will not bow to activist demands and strongly opposes shutting down the federal government, even if it means funding DHS.

    On the other end is District Attorney Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s most prominent progressive, who has on several occasions threatened to file criminal charges against ICE agents who commit crimes in the city.

    “There will be accountability now. There will be accountability in the future. There will be accountability after [Trump] is out of office,” Krasner said Tuesday. “If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities.”

    District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday to announce a package of bills aimed at pushing back against ICE enforcement in Philadelphia.

    Somewhere in the middle is State Sen. Sharif Street, a Philadelphia Democrat and former head of the state party who is running for Congress.

    Street does not have Krasner’s bombast, but this week he announced plans to introduce legislation to prevent state dollars from funding federal immigration enforcement. The bill has less of a chance of becoming law in Pennsylvania’s divided state legislature than similar measures would in Philadelphia, where City Council is controlled by a supermajority of Democrats.

    “Who knows the amount of money that the state could incur because of Trump’s reckless immigration policies?” Street said in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t think state taxpayers should be paying for Donald Trump’s racist, reckless policies.”

    The city’s most prominent Democrat — Mayor Cherelle L. Parker — has perhaps said the least.

    The centrist Democrat has largely avoided outwardly criticizing Trump or his administration, saying often that she is focused on carrying out her own agenda.

    Mayor Parker’s restraint with Trump is both calculation and gamble as the president escalates against blue cities

    The mayor’s critics have said her approach is not responsive to the city’s overwhelmingly Democratic residents.

    “To the people of Philadelphia, I want to say: I hear you. You want ICE out of our city, and you want your local government to take action,” Brooks, the Council member, said Tuesday. “Some people believe that silence is the best policy when dealing with a bully, but that’s never been an option for me.”

    Kendra Brooks shown here during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday to announce a package of bills aimed at pushing back against ICE enforcement in Philadelphia.

    Others say Parker’s conflict-averse strategy is appropriate.

    “All of us have different roles to play,” Street said. “The mayor has to manage the city. She’s got to command law enforcement forces. … As a state legislator, we make policy.”

    Rafael Mangual, a fellow who studies urban crime and justice at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute in New York City, said legislative efforts to erect barriers between federal and local law enforcement could backfire.

    “If you don’t engage at all, and you do something that seems to actively frustrate the federal government,” Mangual said, “that would seem to be an invitation for the federal government to prioritize a city like Philadelphia.”

    Staff writers Alfred Lubrano, Aliya Schneider, and Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.

  • They own their homes but not the land. In N.J., a new law could help change that.

    They own their homes but not the land. In N.J., a new law could help change that.

    Manufactured homes — single-family dwellings often built off-site and placed on a lot — are one of the most affordable forms of homeownership. But families who live in these homes are often left vulnerable, because companies that own the land can hike rents for their lots or sell communities for redevelopment.

    This type of unsubsidized affordable housing tends to be more accessible for low-income households than typically built homes.

    A bill that former N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy signed last week makes it easier for manufactured home and mobile home residents to buy their communities when a landowner decides to sell or change the use of the land.

    Manufactured-home communities aren’t just in rural Pa. Owners on rented land are often unprotected.

    Landowners who want to sell or redevelop these communities must give notice to residents and local and state leaders. If 51% of residents agree to purchase the community, and they meet the price and conditions of the sale, they have 120 days to buy it. Previously, this action required two-thirds of residents, who had 45 days to sign a contract.

    Lawmakers found that the prior parameters were too high of a bar for residents to meet.

    New Jersey’s new law is based on model legislation from the National Consumer Law Center. There are more than 1,000 resident-owned mobile and manufactured home communities across the country. None are in New Jersey.

    Almost 100,000 New Jersey residents live in 250 manufactured or mobile home communities, many of which are in South Jersey, said State Assembly member David Bailey Jr., a Democrat who sponsored the legislation and represents residents in Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties.

    Imagine you’ve owned your home for 20 years and “somebody comes and says, ‘We’re selling this land and you either follow these new rules or you gotta move,’” Bailey said. “That would never happen in suburbia. But that’s what could happen to these people. Because they have no choice. They’re stuck.”

    He said that when he took office in 2024, he immediately started getting calls from constituents in Salem County who lived in manufactured home communities. They told him about rising costs to rent the land their homes were on and deteriorating property conditions and infrastructure in their communities.

    Most mobile homes are overtaxed. Chester County owners are getting relief. (From 2020

    Many of the properties had been owned by local families who later sold the land to companies that hiked rents, Bailey said. In 2022, the CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy said that in the prior eight years, roughly 800,000 home sites in manufactured housing communities were bought by private equity companies and other institutional investors. Rent hikes tended to follow.

    Another recent New Jersey law addresses this reality.

    In July, the state enacted a law that caps annual rent increases at 3.5%. Landlords who want higher increases must ask the state’s Department of Community Affairs for permission.

    After an earlier version of the legislation passed the state Senate this spring, Sen. Paul Moriarty said in a statement that the usual renting setup of mobile and manufactured home communities “often leads to unfair price hikes by landlords, as they know that there is no other option besides moving the home to another site.”

    Moriarty, a Democrat who represents residents in Gloucester, Camden, and Atlantic Counties, noted that moving these homes to different sites can be “incredibly difficult” because of “potential difficulties in financing a move, exclusionary zoning practices, and restrictions on the age and condition of incoming homes.”

    A previous version of this story misstated the number of mobile homes purchased by private equity companies. It is roughly 800,000 manufactured home sites.

  • In one of Phil Murphy’s final acts as governor, he signed a bill that could help Camden tower get $400 million in tax credits

    In one of Phil Murphy’s final acts as governor, he signed a bill that could help Camden tower get $400 million in tax credits

    Hours before leaving office, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed legislation that could make it easier for commercial real estate projects in Camden to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax incentives.

    One planned development that could benefit is the Beacon Building, a proposed 25-story office tower downtown on the northwest corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard, The Inquirer previously reported.

    Murphy approved the bill and dozens of others on the final day of his second term, shortly before fellow Democrat Mikie Sherrill was sworn in as governor. Another newly signed law authorizes up to $300 million in tax breaks to renovate the Prudential Center in Newark, home of the New Jersey Devils. The hockey team is owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Philadelphia 76ers.

    The Camden-focused law makes changes to the state’s gap-financing program, known as Aspire, which authorizes up to $400 million in corporate tax credits over 10 years for “transformative” redevelopment projects that have a total cost of $150 million and meet other requirements.

    To qualify for the incentives, most commercial projects must generate a net positive benefit to the state, based on the Economic Development Authority’s economic modeling. The new law exempts certain projects from that “net benefit test.”

    The law applies to redevelopment projects located in a “government-restricted municipality” — as described in the Aspire program’s statute — “which municipality is also designated as the county seat of a county of the second class.” In addition, the project must be located in “close proximity” to a “multimodal transportation hub,” an institution of higher education, and a licensed healthcare facility that “serves underrepresented populations.”

    A rendering of the 25-story Beacon Building proposed for the northwest corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard in Camden. It would be the tallest building ever constructed in the city.

    The site of the proposed Beacon Building is across the street from the Walter Rand Transportation Center and Cooper University Hospital. Rutgers’ Camden campus is also nearby. Lawmakers said projects in New Brunswick and Trenton could also qualify for exemptions under the law.

    Development firm Gilbane is leading the project with the Camden County Improvement Authority. Gilbane has yet to announce any commitments from tenants.

    Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D., Camden), who sponsored the legislation, has said it wasn’t written with a specific project in mind but rather to remove a barrier to investment in South Jersey.

    Critics said that the law removes a key safeguard meant to protect taxpayers and that it represented an about-face for Murphy, who earlier in his tenure sought to reform corporate incentive programs.

    “Just in terms of the governor signing the bill, this is a massive disappointment,” said Antoinette Miles, state director of the New Jersey Working Families Party.

    “Broadly, if there’s a so-called transformative project that can’t pass the net benefit test, maybe it isn’t so transformative,” she said.

    Murphy’s office announced the bill signing without commenting on it, though he has previously cheered state investment in Camden. Any Aspire tax incentives must be approved by the state’s Economic Development Authority.

  • New Jersey will now require cursive writing for some elementary school students

    New Jersey will now require cursive writing for some elementary school students

    Beginning in September, New Jersey public schools must begin teaching cursive writing to students in grades three to five.

    A bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday makes cursive instruction mandatory for some elementary students. The requirements take effect immediately and apply to the 2026-27 school year.

    New Jersey joins Delaware and at least two dozen other states that require cursive writing. Similar legislation proposed in Pennsylvania did not advance.

    In pushing the mandate, New Jersey State Sens. Angela McKnight (D., Hudson) and Shirley Turner (D., Mercer), the bill’s sponsors, have said students should be able to write in cursive to sign legal documents and read personal keepsake letters and historic documents.

    Murphy, who signed the bill on his last full day in office, also cited America’s 250th anniversary this year. Students should also be able to sign a check, he said.

    “We owe it to our students to give them a well-rounded education that ensures they have the tools to fully understand our rich history and become competent leaders,” Murphy said in a statement.

    Experts say cursive writing improves fine motor skill development and eye-hand coordination. It is also believed to boost spelling and writing skills and overall learning and to encourage discipline and patience.

    However, in 2010, cursive writing was eliminated from the state’s common core standards and many districts stopped teaching it. Many Catholic schools in the region have kept the tradition to promote good penmanship.

    Critics believe cursive writing is antiquated and learning should focus more on technology such as AI. They believe incorporating cursive lessons would take valuable time from other subjects.

    Can cursive writing make a comeback? A teacher and grammarian debate. | Pro/Con

    Some South Jersey districts like Shamong, Cherry Hill and Winslow never stopped teaching cursive writing. .

    “Handwriting is something that has always been important,” said Nicole Moore, principal of the Indian Mills School in Shamong. “We never got rid of it.”

    Moore said students in her school in Burlington County learn cursive in third and fourth grades. She believes it will be easy to extend the instruction to fifth graders in the middle school.

    The biggest challenge facing schools implementing the new mandate will be funding and finding time in the school day to add another subject, Moore said.

    “You need resources to teach handwriting,” Moore said Tuesday. “That’s just one more thing as schools we have to figure out how to pay for it.”

    Moore said teachers must find creative ways to make learning cursive writing engaging and not simply have students write the same passage several times.

    At Indian Mills School, the school year begins with cursive writing instruction twice a week and then shifts to independent learning later in the year. A program called “Handwriting Without Tears” is used to teach students basic strokes and how to connect letters.

    McKnight has said cursive could be incorporated during writing or spelling lessons. She first introduced the bill several years ago, but it didn’t get traction.

    A generation of Americans never learned cursive. So Philly historians are teaching AI to transcribe it.
  • A New Jersey town wants to import out-of-state woodchucks for Groundhog Day celebrations. Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed it.

    A New Jersey town wants to import out-of-state woodchucks for Groundhog Day celebrations. Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed it.

    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.

    An unofficial Groundhog Day musical is taking off on TikTok

    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.

  • Camden’s planned 25-story Beacon Building could get a boost from new N.J. tax credit bill

    Camden’s planned 25-story Beacon Building could get a boost from new N.J. tax credit bill

    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.

    That could be a boon to the Beacon Building — a planned 25-story office tower downtown whose backers have said they intend to seek state incentives — among other projects, according to the bill’s supporters.

    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.

    The credits can be sold to the state Treasury Department for 85 cents on the dollar.

    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.

  • N.J. adopts ‘bell-to-bell’ cell phone ban policy for public schools

    N.J. adopts ‘bell-to-bell’ cell phone ban policy for public schools

    Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Thursday banning cell phones in New Jersey public schools from “bell to bell” in an effort to help students focus on learning.

    New Jersey joins a growing number of states that have enacted tighter cell phone restrictions in schools to remove distractions. Pennsylvania is considering a similar measure, and 17 states have banned the devices in schools, according to ABC News.

    Murphy proposed the restrictions last year during his annual State of the State address. Legislation then won bipartisan support in both houses.

    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 prop for 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 to watch 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 to access 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 December, the state awarded nearly $1 million in grants to 86 districts under a new Phone-Free Schools Grant Program to help districts implement the policy. Schools had to agree to restrict cell phone use during the entire day.

    In South Jersey, 12 districts in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties received grants. The grant amounts varied depending on the size of each district.

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    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.

    In Pennsylvania, similar legislation has bipartisan support and advanced out of a Senate committee last month.

    What about parental concerns?

    Not everyone agrees with the bans.

    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.

    Suburban Philly parents mobilize to limit cell phone use

    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.

  • Long under fire, Pemberton mayor resigns after being called uninsurable

    Long under fire, Pemberton mayor resigns after being called uninsurable

    Former Pemberton Township Mayor Jack Tompkins revealed in a rare interview this week that lawsuits stemming from allegations of misconduct against him made him uninsurable, compelling him to resign to avoid financial ruin.

    The township’s insurance carrier “decided to cancel my insurance,“ said Tompkins, 64, who resigned on Dec. 31. ”They notified me and the township in October. I weighed my options and the smartest thing to do was to resign. Withdrawal of insurance coverage would have financially devastated me.”

    Tompkins, a Republican, was long under fire for alleged sexual harassment and other behavior over the last two years.

    On Wednesday, the five-member township council of the Pine Barrens community in Burlington County — all Republicans — will choose one of three GOP candidates to replace Tompkins. The three candidates were selected by the Republican municipal county committee last week to serve the balance of the year. The committee didn’t release the candidates’ names.

    Tompkins was the subject of a highly critical independent investigation in April 2024 that was commissioned by township officials and conducted by a Hackensack law firm, Pashman Stein Walder Hayden.

    Some of the report’s more serious allegations included inappropriate interactions with female lifeguards under age 18; sexual harassment of the township’s recreation director, who sued Tompkins and the township, winning a $500,000 judgment.

    He was also accused of a pattern of misconduct — such as poking a woman in the head, or discussing rape in township offices — that was sometimes accompanied by obscene language and “retaliatory” outbursts, fostering what the investigators who wrote the report termed a “severe chilling effect” that silenced anyone who felt wronged and allowed Tompkins to continue his aberrant behavior.

    Tompkins said that while he was mayor, he worked in a “toxic environment created by [township] council, and I was walking on eggshells.

    “Things got really ugly and nasty.”

    He added that his time in office left “such a dirty taste in my mouth about politics, I want nothing to do with it anymore.”

    In office since January 2023, Tompkins, 64, a retired Air Force veteran, refused to quit during his tumultuous tenure despite calls from members of both political parties for him to do so, including Gov. Phil Murphy.

    Over time, the township council officially censured Tompkins, whose pay was cut from $13,000 annually to $4,000, to $1.

    Tompkins told The Inquirer on Monday he relented after the Burlington County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, which covers the township, informed him of their decision to no longer insure him. The fund cited “numerous claims resulting from your interaction with Pemberton Township employees over the past several years.”

    Township officials said last summer that more lawsuits connected to Tompkins were expected.

    In the interview, he said that inappropriate behavior with lifeguards “never happened.” He also said that any alleged misconduct “toward [other] females never happened.” He declined to comment on additional allegations.

    Tompkins said there have been “zero criminal charges” leveled against him. He added, “Everything has been civil allegations, and nothing’s been proven.”

    Asked why these allegations were made in the first place, Tompkins said, “You’re looking for an answer to something I don’t know. I don’t know what they were trying to do.”

    Accused on several occasions of cursing and being harsh to staff, Tompkins explained, “Sometimes when you’re the boss and tell somebody they need to get something done, I guess they wanted me to ask ‘pretty please.’ With my military background, that wouldn’t always happen.”

    Tompkins said he’s survived the experience with the support of friends and family “who knew this was nonsense.”

    Sherry Scull, a former Democratic township council member, has publicly supported Tompkins, and continues to do so. “I’ve never seen signs of him doing what he was accused of,” she said. “I think his resigning is sad.”

    Others contacted this week didn’t agree.

    “This has been a total embarrassment for the town,” said Republican council member Dan Dewey.

    Abby Bargar, Republican municipal chair for Pemberton Township, said, “I always liked Jack, but I think he made some bad decisions. It was the best thing for the party that he stepped down.”

    Throughout town, the reaction to the end of Tompkins’s administration is “overwhelmingly positive,” said Marti Graf Wenger, president of the Browns Mills Improvement Association. Browns Mills is an unincorporated section of Pemberton Township; the association works to improve and promote the area, once a “Gatsby-esque” locale with chic hotels that drew well-off Philadelphians vacationing in the woods, Wenger said.

    She added, “Tompkins treated this town like his dictatorship. There’s just a sense of relief now, a feeling that we can start fresh and hope our leadership will be better.”

    Asked whether lingering resentments will make it difficult to remain in town, Tompkins said he’s not going anywhere.

    “I just want to go into retirement and put this chapter behind me,” he said. “I’ve traveled the world, and I’ve settled here. I once said I’m going to die in this house. So this is where I’ll be.”