Newark, NJ - In Part 1 of our interview with Newark native and Howard University filmmaker Opoku “OpotheBoat” Boateng, we sat down with Set Designer Lillian “Phoenyx” Ojo, and Gaffer and Sound Mixer, Isaiah “Konté” Conte. Together, the trio discussed their goals and approach in developing their first 20-minute short film, "Apple Cider - A Parable of Black Love", a character-driven drama that explores ideas of Black love as three youths face their shared family trauma.

For Part 2 of our interview, Opoku stuck around with Phoenyx to reveal more about himself as an artist and upcoming work with their production company,Opo’s Canon. They also shared the challenges they faced making “Apple Cider,” the lessons they learned about themselves and each other during the production, and what film and storytelling mean to them as young artists living in New Jersey.

Newark, NJ - When six Asian international students at Rutgers University found their student statuses abruptly terminated in April 2024, they were left in legal limbo. Represented by the ACLU of New Jersey, the Rutgers Immigrant Community Assistance Project, and attorneys from the Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest and Constitutional Law, the students challenged the terminations in federal court—and won a preliminary injunction on May 8, 2025, in the United States District Court of New Jersey.

Newark, NJ - Opoku “OpotheBoat” Boateng is a Ghanaian-American filmmaker who recently released his first 20-minute short film, "Apple Cider - A Parable of Black Love". Released on YouTube on March 10th, 2025, “Apple Cider” was written and directed by Opoku, who also stars as one of its three main characters. The film centers around a young trio who struggle to reconnect as a family as their shared family traumas continue to take root in the present.

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.