By APP Staff Writer Bob Jordan There’s been a wave of prominent members of Congress deciding not to run for reelection, but U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said there was no chance he’d get swept up. Smith on Friday said that he’s looking forward to competing in the midterm elections and serving another term in New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District, which includes parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties, and he doubled down on his refusal to host in-person town halls. “I love this job. There was a... Read more

By APP Staff Writer Jerry Carino - There is a photograph in Bill Kelly’s room in the Claremont Center nursing home. It’s of him, wearing a Manasquan High School football uniform, on Thanksgiving 1942. “I left high school the next day,” he said. “I went New York that Friday and enlisted in the Navy.” South Belmar native Bill Kelly, a World War II hero who survived a kamikaze attack, recently was presented with a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol.(Photo: Peter Ackerman) There is another photo, ... Read more

Joshua Wong, the university student who became the face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, has been nominated along with other local activists for the Nobel Peace Prize by a group of U.S. lawmakers, a move that drew a rebuke from China. Joshua Wong, the university student who became the face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, has been nominated along with other local activists for the Nobel Peace Prize by a group of U.S. lawmakers, a move that drew a rebuke from China. The 12 politicians, led by... Read more

By Associated Press - February 2 at 8:41 AM China on Friday criticized U.S. Congress members who nominated Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy protest movement and three of its most prominent student leaders for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 12 lawmakers, in a letter this week to the nominating committee in Oslo, said they were naming Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow and the “Umbrella Movement” for the prize in recognition of their “peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination ... Read more

By Chris Smith - - Thursday, January 18, 2018 Doctors today routinely diagnose and treat a myriad of conditions, illnesses and diseases suffered by society’s littlest patients — unborn babies and newborns — significantly enhancing both their health and longevity. Abortionists, on the other hand, take a different approach. They dismember and chemically kill unborn children for profit. For several decades, babies have survived late term abortions. A Philadelphia Inquirer article 37 years ago (Augu... Read more

BY APP STAFF WRITER JERRY CARINO - For decades Pat Smith has sounded the alarm on the problems faced by chronic Lyme disease sufferers, from unreliable testing to a dearth of treatment options. Now she is making that case to her most important audience yet: Congress. The Wall resident has garnered a spot on the 14-person congressional working group that could recommend wholesale changes to federal Lyme disease policy. The group began meeting last month in Washington, D.C. Pat Smith, with U.S. Re... Read more

BY DAVID FOSTER Trentonian Staff Writer - Democrats and Republicans are hardly getting along lately. But when it comes to the Jersey Shore, New Jersey’s elected officials from both parties are letting President Donald Trump know to keep oil drilling away from the beach. “What President Trump announced yesterday is nothing less than dropping a ticking-time bomb off our coast,” Gov.-elect Phil Murphy said Friday at a press conference in Long Branch, referencing the havoc wreaked by the BP oil spil... Read more

Legislation to grant houses of worship access to federal disaster relief funding passed last week in the U.S. House. The measure would provide significant assistance to synagogues in areas affected by natural disasters. The Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act was originally introduced in 2013 by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) after Superstorm Sandy struck New York and New Jersey—including some of the country’s largest Jewish communities—in 2012. “After Superstorm Sandy, I and others sa... Read more

Six members of Congress stressed the need for the U.S. government to take a more vigorously active role in protecting endangered Christians in the Holy Lands and the Middle East. Four representatives and two senators spoke Tuesday at the Third International Conference on Religious Freedom in the nation’s capital, sponsored by the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The speakers were Representatives Chris Smith, R-New Jersey; Jeff Fortenberry, R-Nebraska; Ca... Read more

By Allison Bell at ThinkAdvisor - Coping with the effects of dementia on aging populations is a problem for in every country in the world. The House [Foreign Affairs Committee] global health subcommittee recognized the broad impact of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia Wednesday, by holding a hearing on the global fight against dementia. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., the subcommittee chairman, said dementia now affects about 47 million people throughout the world, and that the num... Read more