By Writer Laura D.C. Kolnoski - A veterans community, including housing for homeless vets, was a primary goal for the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth after its closure by the U.S. Army. More than five years later, a 10-acre property off the fort in Tinton Falls has been announced as the location. The new facility to be built near Seabrook Village, a large retirement community on Essex Road, will be the latest created by Soldier On, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that works with the U.S. ... Read more

BY STAFF WRITER MIKE DAVIS - A federal grant will be used to provide firefighters with air to breathe while responding to emergencies. Fire District No. 3 was awarded a $54,273 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, which will be used to replace an aging oxygen cascade system, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., announced Friday. The system is used to fill air cylinders on the self-contained breathing apparatuses. "This grant will help upgrade Jackson Fire District No. 3's critical abil... Read more

BY ASBURY PARK PRESS STAFF WRITER PAYTON GUILD - By one count, New Jersey is home to some 2,000 homeless veterans. On Tuesday, the public gained a longer look at plans to correct course and put roofs over the heads of ex-service members from Monmouth County and beyond. Political leaders and others gathered at Eagle Oaks Golf and Country Club in Farmingdale for the unveiling of a project that aims to elevate scores of homeless veterans in Tinton Falls. The nonprofit organization Soldier On presen... Read more

By FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE STAFF WRITER SIOBHAN O'GRADY - On July 11, South Sudanese government soldiers raided an expatriate compound popular among Western aid workers in Juba and specifically targeted Americans, beating and gang raping them, and carrying out mock executions. Despite phone calls to the U.S. Embassy in Juba and the United Nations, which has some 12,000 peacekeepers deployed to the country, it took hours before a separate contingent of South Sudanese government soldiers arrived a... Read more

BY SHANNON MULLLEN, APP STAFF WRITER - Jan Buttler couldn’t help thinking how much her brother Ron would have enjoyed being at a ballgame like the one played here Thursday. Balmy and breezy, it was the perfect night for baseball. The setting sun sent shafts of golden light and long, creeping shadows across the field, and from behind the scoreboard in centerfield, a low, slow full moon began to rise. Buttler, 69, of Lake Como, had come to FirstEnergy Park to honor her brother, an Air Force naviga... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) meets with the Spratt family of Jackson, N.J. in August, nearly one year after their safe return from a dramatic ordeal overseas. Hayden, now one, was born 13 weeks prematurely on a trip to Portugal. Smith worked to get her medical transportation back to the United States. Also pictured are Hayden's mom and dad, Kim and Fred Spratt, at the Congressman's office in Freehold, N.J. BELOW: Photos taken in Freehold, NJ, and a USA Today article and other new articles abo... Read more

By Chris Smith (R-NJ) - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 ANALYSIS/OPINION: On June 22nd, I was part of a group of lawmakers led by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy who met with Health and Human Services (HHS )Secretary Sylvia Burwell and HHS Director of the Office for Civil Rights Jocelyn Samuels to respectfully ask why the Administration has refused to enforce the Weldon federal conscience law in the case of California’s two-year-old draconian, coercive abortion order. The state of California forces all in... Read more

By the TIMES OF TRENTON EDITORIAL BOARD - The state's lawmakers say they are committed to push the Air Force to select the New Jersey base to house the new wide-body aircraft that will replace the aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers, which have been the Air Force's refueling workhorse for more than 50 years. The Air Force is expected to make a final decision before the end of the year. As U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) pointed out, the base is "strongly positioned from a geographic and strat... Read more

By MATT PENNINGTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS — The United States removed Thailand from its human trafficking blacklist on Thursday, though forced labor remains widespread in the nation's lucrative seafood industry. The State Department made the assessment in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which examines 188 governments' efforts in combating modern-day slavery. Key U.S. trading partner Malaysia was taken off the blacklist controversially in 2015, soon after the discovery of mass graves of susp... Read more

BY CRISTINA ROJAS, TRENTON TIMES STAFF WRITER - One of Hamilton's nine fire districts has been awarded a $140,908 federal grant that will allow it invest in new respirators and other gear. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) made the announcement Thursday. Fire District 4 will use the money to buy 22 self-contained breathing apparatus and a thermal imaging camera that can be used to help find downed firefighters and bring them to safety. "This grant will help protect those who are willing to put... Read more