Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Africa, issued the following statement on Friday: “I am watching closely the return of opposition leader Moise Katumbi to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, planned for Monday, May 20, as it is a barometer indicating the extent of the DRC’s democratic transition. “President Felix Tshisekedi deserves high praise for his commitment to opening the political space in the DRC and allowing Mr. Katumbi to return. Mr. Katumbi must b... Read more

By Roxana Hegeman | AP WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas community college agreed under mounting pressure to an independent investigation into the heatstroke death last year of a football player who collapsed after the first day of conditioning practice. Trustees for Garden City Community College voted Tuesday evening to authorize the outside probe into the death of 19-year-old Braeden Bradforth of Neptune, New Jersey. He was found unconscious outside his dorm room on Aug. 1 after practice and died that... Read more

Steve Edelson, USA TODAY NETWORK, NJ After months of rejecting pleas from a grieving mother, lawyers and politicians for transparency, the Kansas college where a former Neptune High School football standout died of heatstroke last summer has finally yielded to the intense pressure, agreeing to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. On Tuesday night, the board of trustees of Garden City Community College authorized an external probe into the tragic events that unfolded on Aug. 1... Read more

By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com The Kansas junior college where former Neptune High School football standout Braeden Bradforth died on his first day of practice last summer will hire an outside law firm to investigate the 19-year-old’s death, the Garden City Community College Board of Trustees voted Tuesday night. “After a time of advisement from counsel, the GCCC Board of trusteeshas authorized President (Ryan) Ruda and college attorney Randy Grisell to begin the process of ret... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) issued the following statement on the news that the Garden City Community College (GCCC) Board of Trustees voted to authorize an external investigation into the death of Braeden Bradforth: “We—especially Braeden’s mother Joanne—hope that today’s announcement will prove to be a very important step towards true transparency and we are cautiously optimistic the GCCC Board of Trustees’ decision to intervene and join our call for an independent, external investigation will fin... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today announced that progress has been made on restoring the beaches in Point Pleasant Beach Borough, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) signaling it is planning to return to address recent erosion caused by severe weather over the past week. “Good beaches are essential to a successful local economy, tourism, and our shore town residents,” said Smith. “As promised by USACE, high dunes must be accompanied by wide beaches and appropriate slopes, and we’re counti... Read more

“Braeden Bradforth would have been 20 years old today, and his death from heat stroke was entirely preventable,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has been fighting with Braeden’s family to obtain basic information on his death from Garden City Community College in Kansas, where he passed away last August. “He was a healthy kid one day and dead the next—what happened on that fateful evening during football practice? Who found him unresponsive afterwards? Why was EMS not immediately called?” “Cru... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) sharply criticized the State Department’s removal of Japan from its list of countries “demonstrating a pattern of noncompliance” on preventing the international abduction of young children from left-behind parents. “Over the last 5 years Japan has made almost zero progress on resolving the more than 40 cases of American children kidnapped to Japan prior to its signing of the Hague Convention,” Smith said. “Japan has certainly not warranted a removal from the blacklist—and... Read more

By JONATHAN SALANT of NJ.com Seymour Josephson warned Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers when they met that the tears could flow at any minute. “You’re getting this raw,” the Robbinsville resident told the Republican congresswoman from Washington state during a meeting Wednesday in Rep. Chris Smith’s office. By the time they finished, McMorris Rodgers had reached for a tissue and Josephson was wiping his eyes yet again. Just five weeks earlier, Josephson’s 21-year-old daughter Samantha, a senior at the... Read more

Erik Larsen Asbury Park Press USA TODAY NETWORK - NEW JERSEY WASHINGTON - Legislation that would require enhanced safety measures for ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft is being advanced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. The proposal for a new law comes several weeks after Samantha Josephson, 21, a University of South Carolina student from Robbinsville in Mercer County, was murdered after authorities said she accidentally got into a car she mistook ... Read more