Karen Wall,Patch Staff Posted Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 10:53 am ET|Updated Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 11:43 am ET — U.S. Rep. Chris Smith is urging the federal Defense Department to take action to identify and address the "potential threat" posed by drone activity over New Jersey after being told a U.S. Coast Guard vessel was followed by drones and that dozens of drones were seen flying onshore from the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend. Smith made the demands in a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Au... Read more

Jean Mikle Asbury Park Press Staff Writer - "It's finally here!" Patricia O'Kane exclaimed, to a round of raucous applause. O'Kane, executive medical center director of the VA New Jersey Healthcare System, was hailing the grand opening ceremony of the long-awaited Veterans Affairs Clinic on Hooper Avenue, a 68,000-square-foot facility that began seeing patients late last month. But on Monday, O'Kane, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, the VA's under secretary for health, and a raft of dignitaries, including U... Read more

BY KANIS LEUNG Updated 9:39 AM EST, November 19, 2024 - Forty-five prominent activists in Hong Kong were sentenced to jail for up to 10 years on Tuesday, sparking criticism from foreign governments and rights groups, but Beijing defended the decisions. The democracy advocates were among 47 people charged under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election to pick opposition candidates. In the city’s biggest national security case to date... Read more

Karen Wall,Patch Staff Posted Mon, Nov 18, 2024 at 6:00 pm ET - For the last month, U.S. veterans needing health care have been streaming through the doors of the gleaming new Veterans Affairs clinic in Toms River, a long-anticipated facility to serve those who served the United States. On Monday, dignitaries and those who fought to get a new clinic in Ocean County gathered under a tent in front of the building along with veterans it will serve to celebrate the achievement of that long-sought g... Read more

Karen Wall,Patch Staff Posted Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 12:27 pm ET|Updated Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 2:45 pm ET When ground was broken in May 2022 for the new Veterans Affairs clinic in Toms River, there was a pledge made to try to name the clinic after the town's World War II hero. As the clinic prepares to open Tuesday to start serving veterans in the area, that pledge has not been forgotten. On Friday, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives to name the clinic for Lt. Leonard G. "... Read more

Carly Baldwin,Patch Staff Posted Mon, Oct 7, 2024 at 10:56 am ET|Updated Tue, Oct 8, 2024 at 8:57 am ET — Nearly 500 people rallied in Sea Girt Sunday morning to protest the planned installation of wind turbines off the Jersey Shore. Gov. Phil Murphy drove by the crowd as he entered the National Guard Training Center, located in Sea Girt, where he had to attend an annual military review. Organizers say they planned the protest specifically because they knew Murphy would be in the area. Murphy d... Read more

By Jim Lonergan SEA GIRT, NJ – On Sunday morning, around 500 residents from Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall Township, and Howell gathered to protest the offshore wind projects and high-risk power cables slated to run through their towns. Organized by the nonprofit group Stop The High-Risk Power Cables, the rally aimed to raise awareness about the impact these transmission lines could have on local communities and draw the attention of Governor Phil Murphy. Protesters assembled outside the New Jersey ... Read more

By Jim Murdoch, News 12 New Jersey. As Verizon makes 5G upgrades along the Jersey Shore, the message is clear in Spring Lake - stay off Ocean Avenue. “Verizon is a big company. They have a lot of money, a lot of power. I feel like they are bullying their way into our town,” says Laura Demeo, a longtime resident of Spring Lake. Demeo is one of more than 150 residents who are fighting Verizon’s plans for a half-dozen 5G poles next to the 2-mile boardwalk after the company submitted an application... Read more

Juan Carlos Castillo Asbury Park Press USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY New Jersey’s Sandy Hook Bay witnessed the commissioning of the most complex warfare machine ever built in the country — the USS New Jersey, now dubbed as the fastest submarine in the U.S. fleet and the first to be designed with gender inclusion in mind. The commissioning ceremony took place Saturday at the Naval Weapon Station Earle in Middletown, where close to 4,000 attendees including veterans, sailor’s family members, and ... Read more

Dan Radel Asbury Park Press POINT PLEASANT BEACH - The dangerous shoal is all but gone. In the end, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dug enough sand out of Manasquan Inlet to fill 13½ Olympic-size swimming pools. There is still some mop-up work to be done later this month, but the Corps finished the great majority of the job on Aug. 25, roughly 2½ weeks after it started dredging the inlet to rid the shoal which formed on the Point Pleasant Beach side of the inlet. The final tally was approximate... Read more