Bank of America ordered to refund NJ customers

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Wednesday:

⬛ Bank of America ordered to refund NJ customers - How to get yours

FILE (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

After action from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), individual Bank of America customers in New Jersey may be entitled to a refund of hundreds of dollars in refunds.

The CFPB took action against BoA for "Illegally Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Credit Card Rewards, and Opening Fake Accounts" without customer consent.

Penalties include a $150 million fine to the CFPB and more than $100 million in consumer refunds.

⬛ Argument leads to attempted murder at NJ ice cream shop, cops say

Halo Farm in Lawrence Township (Jill Myra, Townsquare Media)

LAWRENCE (Mercer) — An argument led to an attempted murder charge when one of the men involved tried to run over the other in a parking lot of the Halo Farm ice cream store.

Petar Armbruster III, 54, of Burlington, on Saturday got into an argument with another man who was with his girlfriend near a 7-Eleven before following the couple to Halo Farm on Spruce Street, according to Police Chief Chris Long.

⬛ Forcing you to convert your home to all electric? NJ closer, senator says

"Instead of asking the Legislature to review and consider this major proposal in an open and transparent manner, he’s rushing it through the opaque regulatory process at the BPU to limit public input," state Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, said.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has scheduled a vote on Wednesday for what they term the "Decarbonization of buildings."

⬛ Is your licensed driver actually ready to hit the road in NJ?

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But with school out, and looser curfews at night, there's an even sharper focus this time of year on keeping teenage drivers and their passengers alive.

According to an analysis by Bumper.com, which looked at crash statistics nationwide over a three-year period, nearly 42% of teen driver fatalities in New Jersey occur between the months of June and September. July comes in as the deadliest month for New Jersey teen drivers.

⬛ Port Newark cargo ship fire declared out, investigation begins

Cargo ship Grande Costa D'Avorio at Port Newark 7/11/23 (CBS New York via Facebook)

"We can officially declare the fire is out," U.S. Coast Guard Unified Command Capt. Zeita Merchant said during a media briefing Tuesday morning.

The operations at the Port of Newark will transition to an investigative phase including salvage operations which could take up to two months.

Port Authority Port Director Bethann Rooney clarified that the ship had made a stop in Baltimore before doing in Newark to take on new and used vehicles. It was supposed to make a similar stop in Providence, Rhode Island before heading to West Africa with 1,200 vehicles parked on 12 decks.

These towns actually cut their property taxes in 2022

New Jersey 101.5 examined Department of Treasury data to see which municipalities saw an average drop in property taxes last year. Here are the Top 20 average tax cuts followed by the rest.

Places in New Jersey where you can now carry a legal gun

New Jersey passed its own law in December, trying to ban legal guns from “sensitive places.”

A federal judge found many of those spots to be legally protected on grounds of armed self-defense, noting in her opinion, “Crowded locations are not sensitive places."

As of June, an appeals court allowed NJ to enforce most of the law while the case proceeds - but not carry bans on private property by default, in vehicles and on film sets.

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New Jersey's First News with Eric Scott is the longest running news program in New Jersey. Eric Scott began hosting the program in 1991.

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Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com

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