After a prolonged period of dormancy, the Chambers Family Carousel at Newark’s Military Park reopened on Oct. 23rd at $450,000, bringing back an attraction that has been absent from the downtown park for years.

The small carousel claims a 26-foot diameter on the 6-acre park in the heart of the business district. With very few children-centered playgrounds in the city, the carousel presents an opportunity for families and children to make the heart of Newark a family-friendly space.

Chants of “Stop police brutality” and “No justice, no peace” rang through downtown Newark as gatherers rallied before the march, where Lawrence Hamm, chairman of POP, reflected on the organization’s decades-long campaign against police violence. Though current data shows that police killings are down, the mappingpoliceviolence.org project caveats this data, as law enforcement agencies across the country have been resistant to providing information about police killings.

The homes were built as Newark continues to face affordability challenges. Research conducted by Rutgers Law School’s Center on Law, Inequality, and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME) found that rents in Newark have risen faster than incomes, increasing concerns about housing stability and homelessness. The report highlights differences among Newark’s five central wards, with the East and Central Wards experiencing new construction, which is driving rapidly rising rents.

This October, the movement’s focus on early voting comes amid the midterm elections. Currently, the Republican Party holds both the House and Senate majorities by a slim margin, with the smallest number of seats in the House needed to control it—218 out of 435 voting members. In the Senate, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents have 53, 45, and 2 seats, respectively. Organizers state that the focus on voting will allow Americans to reclaim power and politically express themselves without intimidation, and No Kings pledged to invest in local communities to do so.

The protests aim to signal government leaders that climate policy is an urgent matter. For Dr. Sheats, New Jersey’s Bill S232— which requires the NJDEP to consult environmental justice communities when evaluating pollution-related permits, among other protections— has been a significant policy endeavor. S232 was passed on September 18th, 2020 and supported by over 165 organizations including the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, which Dr. Sheats co-founded.

I wasn’t thinking about terrorism, life and death, or whether I would see my family again. I was thinking about breakfast.

I put a bagel in the toaster.

Twenty-five years later, that small detail stays with me because it represents the life I had before everything changed. I believed this was simply another Tuesday, not knowing that within minutes, I would be running for my life.

Then the building shook violently beneath me. The explosion thundered through the tower, rattling the walls, shattering the ordinary rhythm of the morning, and sending a jolt of terror through my body.

Within weeks of arriving at Seton Hall University, my brother was surrounded by credit card offers. Companies set up tables on campus, filled his inbox and pitched their cards as free money, free rewards and freedom itself.

He signed up.

It didn’t feel like a decision with consequences. It felt like something everyone around him was doing. Only later, when the bill and interest came due, did he understand what he had agreed to.

My brother’s experience shows why Newark students should be required to take a personal finance course before graduating from high school.

Some may argue that Newark does not have enough room for protected bike lanes or that changes would reduce parking and hurt businesses. But streets are public spaces and should serve everyone, not only drivers. Better-organized roads can reduce dangerous encounters among motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

New Jersey now expects e-bike riders to be licensed, registered and responsible on the road. Newark must provide streets where we can meet those responsibilities safely.

During May 2026 in West Orange, town employees were instructed to powerwash the rainbow flag off the Town Hall steps. The belated, nonsensical explanation referenced America 250, stating the steps needed to be fixed for the Memorial Day celebration as part of the 250th Anniversary events. Sure, repairing masonry might require a thorough cleaning first; however, it was clear the town had no plan to put it back after the repairs. The unwritten part of the explanation was that someone (the Mayor, the Memorial Day planners, bigots?) didn’t want to see a rainbow flag in their America 250 Memorial Day photos.