Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Tuesday:

🔗 Stories of survival emerge from deadly New York airport collision

NEW YORK (AP) — Moments after an Air Canada jet collided at high speed with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing the pilots and hurling a flight attendant from the aircraft, the passengers took their escape into their own hands.

With the smell of fuel in the air and debris dangling from the obliterated cockpit, passengers tore open emergency exit doors, jumped off the plane’s wings and then turned around to catch others coming up behind them, some bleeding or with head wounds.

“Strangely enough, I wasn’t scared or panicked. On the contrary, I think most of us were pretty aware of what happened,” said passenger Clément Lelièvre. “So we all went outside; we got other people out.”

About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montreal, and two people from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals. Some suffered serious injuries, but by Monday morning, most had been released, and others walked away without needing treatment.

🔗 Trump says Iran is eager for a deal to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. was talking with an Iranian leader and claimed the Islamic Republic was eager for a deal to end the war. He also extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, saying it has an additional five days.

Trump’s turnaround, which held out the possibility of resolving the war now in its fourth week, served to drive down oil prices and jolt stocks. It offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over the weekend that could have cut electricity to millions in Iran and around the Gulf, and knocked out desalination plants providing many desert nations with drinking water.

Trump told reporters Iran wants “to make a deal,” and he claimed U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had held talks Sunday with an Iranian leader. He did not say who that was, but said the U.S. has not talked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

🔗 Big bags of cash found in NJ parks $1.5M bribery scheme, feds say

🔴 An official and a business owner admit to a $1.5 million parks scandal.
🔴 Kickbacks involved bags of cash, huge checks, and favors, federal prosecutors say.
🔴 Investigators say the six-year scheme involved more than one bad apple.

Investigators say they've uncovered another New Jersey bribery scandal, but this time it's massive bags of cash instead of gold bars.

Three men have been implicated in the six-year scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced on Friday. They include two former Hudson County parks directors and a New Jersey businessman.

Thomas A. DeLeo, 76, of Little Silver, was the Division of Parks head until 2021. On March 5, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, both federal counts.

Leo's successor was Russell Fallacara, 58, of Bayonne. He stepped down as parks director in 2024. Federal prosecutors say Fallacara faces the same charges that DeLeo just pleaded guilty to. New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to Fallacara's defense attorney for comment.

William A. Murray, 56, of Jersey City, was the owner of Murray Paving and Concrete, LLC. The company did over $5 million in contracted work for Hudson County parks, including landscaping and paving. Last Tuesday, Murray pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

According to prosecutors, the scheme began in 2019 with DeLeo and Murray. Both men have admitted to illegally moving around bags of cash, each containing tens of thousands of dollars.

🔗 NJ chef says ICE raids causing restaurant labor shortages

🍽️ NJ chef says ICE raids are causing workers to “disappear overnight,” hurting restaurants
👨‍🍳 Labor shortages worsen as fewer young Americans enter kitchen jobs
⚖️ Debate grows as some support deportations, others warn of economic fallout

“Click — overnight.” That’s how fast a Jersey Shore chef says workers are vanishing from restaurant kitchens as immigration raids ramp up across New Jersey.

Lou Smith, owner of Blend on Main in Manasquan, says longtime staff members are suddenly gone — not because they quit or found better jobs, but because fear of immigration enforcement is emptying prep lines and late-night cleanup crews in the middle of a brutally tight labor market.

His blunt Facebook post — now drawing strong reactions online — is a ground-level look at how the Trump administration's aggressive push to expand deportations is colliding with industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor to stay open.

Across the country, restaurants, construction firms and hospitality operators say stepped-up raids are worsening workforce shortages that were already simmering after the pandemic. Supporters of the crackdown argue that tougher enforcement is long overdue. Critics warn the policy could drive up prices, shutter small businesses and ripple through local economies from the Jersey Shore to the Southwest.

“Restaurants don’t run on ideas. They run on people,” Smith wrote. “And right now that balance is off. Like, way off.”

🔗 NJ woman charged in $7K catalytic converter theft spree

🚔 Camden County woman charged in catalytic converter theft spree targeting Essex County businesses
💰 Six converters stolen in overnight crime wave, costing victims more than $7,000
🔍 Second suspect still unidentified as police credit surveillance and detective work

FAIRFIELD — A Camden County woman was arrested and charged in multiple catalytic converter thefts totaling more than $7,000 in Essex County.

The Fairfield Police Department has charged Britney Jimenez, 21, with a variety of criminal charges stemming from the thefts that happened on Jan. 18. On that date, officers were flooded with reports related to catalytic converter thefts at several businesses located on or near Passaic Avenue that occurred overnight.

Video surveillance from several locations close to the affected businesses helped to identify a silver Ford Fusion that was in the area at the time the thefts occurred, Fairfield police said.

A deeper investigation linked Jimenez to the vehicle and subsequently to the thefts.

Six converters stolen; second suspect still at large
She is charged with stealing six catalytic converters totaling approximately $7,290, police said. A second suspect in these thefts has yet to be identified.

“Catalytic converter thefts are very costly to the victims, and we remain confident that the second suspect will be identified and will also be brought to justice,” said Public Information Officer Stacy Chiarolanza.

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You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com

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