25 lifeguards, boy still drowns at day camp

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Wednesday:

⬛ A worse tick season for NJ in 2024? Hundreds of ER visits so far

In 2024 so far, New Jersey has recorded about 700 emergency-department visits due to tick bites.

And right now, the Garden State is in the middle of what's typically the most active season of the year for the disease-causing arachnids.

Experts obviously can't get a solid count of the pests, but it's believed that a mild winter has resulted in more ticks than usual in New Jersey. Harsh winters typically kill off ticks; when winter is uneventful, more ticks can survive into the next year.

⬛ 2.1 million NJ residents plan Fourth of July trips, AAA says

Woman in convertible with arms raised (Jupiterimages) — Jupiterimages

It’s time to prepare for the Independence Day holiday week, and it will be a busy one, according to AAA.

Almost 71 million people plan to travel 50 miles or more over the Fourth of July holiday period, including 2.1 million New Jerseyans, said Tracy Noble, public and government affairs manager for AAA Club Alliance.

That’s a 5% increase compared to last year nationally, and 8% higher than the pre-pandemic high of 2019, according to AAA.

⬛ 'Crazy Rescue Ladies' plead guilty in horrific Brick, NJ hoarding

Animal rescue workers in hazmat suits at a house in Brick with 180 animals inside 12/3/22, Aimee Lonczak, Michele Nycz — (OCSN/Ocean County Jail)

BRICK — Two women caught hoarding over 170 animals in gut-wrenching living conditions have reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Michele Nycz, 60, and Aimee Lonczak, 51, each pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said Tuesday.

Lonczak, who lived with Nycz at a house on Arrowhead Park Drive in Brick, also pleaded guilty to child neglect for forcing her 16-year-old daughter to live in the home where animals were packed on top of each other and stewed in their waste.

⬛ 6-year-old boy drowns on first day of NJ summer camp

Pool at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Mansfield, sign at camp entrance — Pool at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Mansfield (Liberty Lake Day Camp) , sign at camp entrance (Google Street View)

MANSFIELD TOWNSHIP — A child found unresponsive in a swimming pool at a summer camp Monday afternoon was later pronounced dead.

It was the first day of summer camp at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Mansfield when the six-year-old boy was pulled out of a swimming pool by a lifeguard around 2 p.m., according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw. Lifeguards tried to revive the boy, who was taken to Virtua Mount Holly Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the prosecutor.

According to NBC Philadelphia, the owner of the camp said there are 25 lifeguards employed.