by Bob Braun -

FINALLY, REAL GOOD NEWS FOR NEWARK’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A RHODES SCHOLAR

Jordan Thomas, Rhodes Scholar

Jordan Thomas made his way to his parents’ car parked outside Gate 4 of Yankee Stadium in The Bronx Saturday. In a stadium suite, the Rhodes Trust had just completed the final interviews of the students vying for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships. Jordan carried with him life-changing news–a good sort of life-changing news–that he could barely contain.

by Bob Braun -

BRIDGEGATE: At sentencing, Kelly promises not to be “scapegoat.” A little late, no?

Michael Critchley with Bridget Anne Kelly last fall (WSJ photo)

Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, former top aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the only two persons to face trial in the 2013 Bridgegate scandal, were sentenced today. Baroni got two years; Kelly, 18 months. They could have received more time in jail. Christie, of course, was never charged and, despite repeated testimony  at trial  that he knew in advance of the plot to close Fort Lee ramps to the George Washington Bridge, he faced no sanction whatsoever.

by Bob Braun -

Advocates: End the “bitter irony” of robbing poor students to pay for charters

Anti-charter school demonstration in New York

Lawyers for Newark’s public school children have asked New Jersey’s  appellate courts to block the Christie Administration’s effort to nearly double charter school enrollment in the state’s  largest school district, warning the increased privatization of the city’s schools would deepen the system’s fiscal crisis, increase racial isolation, and deprive the neediest public school students of essential services.

by Bob Braun -

Anger over election turns to action, chants and tears in Newark

Nenseh Koneh, a Temple University student from Newark, speaks to anti-Trump demonstrators at City Hall
Nenseh Koneh, a Temple University student from Newark, speaks to anti-Trump demonstrators at City Hall

About 100 demonstrators, mostly young women of color, marched and chanted their way through the streets of downtown Newark Saturday afternoon, part of a spreading movement against the presidency of Donald Trump. They staged two sit-down protests in four hours, closing McCarter Highway and occupying the concourse of Newark Penn Station.

by Bob Braun -

BRIDGEGATE–Why would a federal judge want to keep the truth from the public?

Baroni, Christie and Wildstein on 9/11/13--what were they laughing about? Someone's lying about that.
Baroni, Christie and Wildstein on 9/11/13–what were they laughing about? Someone’s lying about that.

In September of 2013, a small number of highly-paid government employees from New Jersey–men and women close to Chris Christie, the state’s governor running for re-election and aspiring to be a presidential candidate–tied up traffic at the entrance of the George Washington Bridge to New York, the busiest interstate crossing in the nation. Those employees didn’t want you to know the purpose of the tie-up or who caused it. Now, three years later, another small group of people–including a federal judge, the US Attorney and defense lawyers are still trying to keep the truth about what has come to be known as Bridgegate from the residents of New Jersey and the rest of the nation.