Newark, NJ - Labor unions and trade organizations have long fought for workers’ rights, including fair wages and safe, humane working conditions in industries like the building and manufacturing trades — occupations often dominated by men. But women have long existed within these non-traditional careers (defined as occupations with less than 25 percent of a gender making up the workforce) and been a driving force in the Labor Movement, yet even now, they are still pressing for their rights to equitable treatment from employers and colleagues alike.

Newark, NJ - New Jersey Senate bill S1292, which attempts to establish a state definition of anti-semitism and to appropriate $100,000 for a “public awareness campaign to promote bias crime reporting,” was introduced on January 9, 2024. The New Jersey General Assembly Bill A3558 was later introduced on February 4, in a bid to garner support from the full state legislature.

A number of federal representatives from NJ, including a few currently running for governor, have expressed support of the bill - with some having accepted funding and support from AIPAC. Therefore, support for Israel is not uncommon amongst state lawmakers. Further, the bills have already gained the support of a number of state legislators running for re-election, many of whom gathered in Trenton earlier this year to make their support public.

Trenton, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy’s proposed 2026 budget spells bad news for local news, with funding to New Jersey Public Broadcasting (NJ PBS) being quartered from $1 million to $250,000, and the complete elimination of funding for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium. The Consortium, which was established through state legislation signed by Murphy in 2018, received $3 million in funding in the 2025 budget. With that funding now slashed to zero, the Consortium and its dozens of grantee news organizations are unrelentingly advocating for the governor and the legislature to rethink the budget supporting independent and public media.

Newark, NJ - In recent years, wildfires have become one of the biggest threats to public safety in New Jersey. Since 2019, an average of 1,500 wildfires have scorched 7,000 acres of forests in the Garden State each year, endangering citizens and their homes, forcing several evacuations, and polluting the air, making it an even greater health hazard.

Newark, NJ - The arrest of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka grounded the current discussion on “citizenship and rights” after federal officers arrested him outside Delaney Hall on Friday, May 9th, only to be freed within hours that same day. Baraka was arrested and detained by ICE for allegedly trespassing at Delaney Hall in Newark.

Frelinghuysen, NJ – Located within Frelinghuysen Township in rural Warren County, the tiny unincorporated community of Marksboro may have fewer than 200 residents, but it also has something that very few other New Jersey towns have — a local, independent flour mill. At River Valley Community Grains, based at Marksboro Mills, miller Larry Mahmarian and his partners are fulfilling their mission to encourage regenerative, restorative agricultural practices while bringing together farmers, bakers, and the community in a working space that benefits both their participating farmers and the public.

Newark, NJ - It was well known, prior to 2020, that police protection did not extend to certain segments of the population, specifically Black men, women and children. However, the response to the uprisings of 2020 by the governmental structures of civil society, were exposed as not only violent, but in direct opposition to the demands of the community.  

Too Black and Rasul A. Mowatt’s book, Laundering Black Rage, The Washing of Black Death, People, Property, and Profits explain the response of the state, through a process they have coined as “laundering.”

Newark, NJ – In especially challenging times where reactionary forces have been empowered to roll back much of Rev. Dr. Martin King Jr’s work in civil rights and economic justice, 15-year-old Montclair NAACP Youth Council President Ife Joseph moved through the inaugural MLK People’s Convention for Social Justice & Resistance at Essex County College on April 26, undaunted and steadfastly optimistic.

Newark, NJ - May 1st will see citizens across the United States participating in over a thousand protests and rallies led by May Day Strong, a coalition of nearly 200 grassroots and civic organizations nationwide, many of which were behind the National Hands Off campaign on April 5th. The goal of these protests is to unite the public in addressing and preventing what organizers have described as a “billionaire takeover” of the American government.