NJ soldier makes final trip home

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Friday:

⬛ Capital Health data breach: What you need to know

Officials at Mercer County based Capital Health are admitting to a large data breach and advising patients that sensitive personal data and health information may have been compromised.

Capital Health operates two hospitals in Mercer County: Capital Health Medical Center Hopewell in Pennington and Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton.

⬛ Slain NJ councilwoman remembered one year after she was killed

Eunice Dwumfour, Eunice Dwumfour's headstone (Borough of Sayreville)

SAYREVILLE — It was a year ago on Thursday that the late Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot 14 times as she arrived home still behind the wheel of her SUV.

Rashid Ali Bynum, 29, was arrested on May 30 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and extradited to New Jersey. He is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.

⬛ Anti-Semitic terror rampage — NJ man pleads guilty to hate crimes

Dion Marsh (Lakewood police/Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)

LAKEWOOD — A Manchester man who went on a destructive rampage targeting Orthodox Jewish men has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in addition to terrorism, according to authorities.

Dion Marsh, 28, pleaded guilty on Thursday to five counts of federal hate crimes and one count of carjacking to the violent crime spree through Lakewood and Jackson on April 8, 2022, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.

⬛ NJ Catholic hospital merging with major healthcare company

Hospital merger deal NJ (Google Maps, Canva)

New Jersey’s health provider landscape is shifting with plans announced for the Saint Peter’s Healthcare System to partner with Atlantic Health System.

A letter of intent has been signed by both parties, which clears the way for an official agreement to be reached within the coming months, pending approvals by state and federal officials as well as the Catholic church.

⬛ NJ denies bulkhead for shore town with wrecked sand dunes

NORTH WILDWOOD — New Jersey is refusing to allow a shore town whose sand dunes have washed away in places to build a bulkhead to protect itself, ruling that no one is in imminent danger.

The state Department of Environmental Protection told North Wildwood on Wednesday it will not give permission to the city to build a steel bulkhead on a section of beach where the dunes have been completely obliterated by storms.