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

New Jersey employers are on a dizzying pace of new layoffs in 2026 and there is no sign of a letup anytime soon.

Some of the Garden State's biggest companies have announced thousands of layoffs in recent weeks at a time when the state's economy continues to sputter.

Other's have just packed up and left the state entirely.

This is exactly what business groups warned would happen if Gov. Mikie Sherrill continued the anti-business policies of the former Phil Murphy administration.

When Sherrill unveiled a record $60.7 billion spending plan, it included a series of tax policy changes aimed at generating new revenue.  Many of these changes are a defacto tax hike on businesses and the increased costs of doing business in New Jersey will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.

Several proposals affecting businesses—particularly a new employer Medicaid assessment and limits on certain tax deductions—are also raising alarms among business leaders who say Sherrill's plans could discourage hiring and investment in the Garden State.

Scroll down to read details on the latest round of layoffs hitting New Jersey

🔗 What killed a humpback whale that washed up on Sandy Hook beach?

🐋 A 30-foot humpback whale washed ashore in Sandy Hook, sparking concern among officials and beachgoers.
⚠️ The cause of death remains unknown as experts prepare for a necropsy to determine what happened.
🌊 This marks the second whale death reported in New Jersey this year.

A dead whale washed up on the beach in Sandy Hook on Wednesday morning.

Officials at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine received a report just before 8 am on April 1 of a dead whale floating just offshore of Sandy Hook.

About a half hour later, a second report came in that the whale had landed on the beach.

The whale was identified as a 30-foot humpback, according to an MMSC stranding coordinator who went to the beach to assess the situation.

Preliminary results of a necropsy done by the MMSC suggests the whale died as the result of a boat strike.

This is the second whale death the stranding center has reported so far this year. On February 20, a young male fin whale washed ashore in Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island.

🔗 4,500 layoffs in NJ so far this year by major firms

📉 Over 4,500 layoffs announced in NJ in first quarter of 2026
🏦 Major companies like JPMorgan, UBS and Fiserv are cutting jobs
⚠️ Layoffs trending higher than 2025 and far above 2024 levels

New Jersey closed the first quarter of the year with a few thousand layoffs announced by some of the state's largest employers.

By the end of March, JP Morgan Chase had announced two different rounds of layoffs, for a total of 254 employees on notice to find new work.

It was far from the only financial services company to reveal new cuts.

Switzerland-based global financial institution USB, with its sprawling waterfront building in Weehawken, helped close out the month by announcing 103 layoffs in New Jersey.

They joined Fiserv, a global provider of payments and financial services technology with a large campus in Berkeley Heights, which announced 118 New Jersey based layoffs.

By the end of March, based on New Jersey WARN Notices, about three dozen employers across New Jersey have announced 4,508 layoffs this year so far.

Read More: Major job cuts hit Novo Nordisk in Plainsboro
That's tracking above 2025, when New Jersey employers announced just over 3,600 layoffs from January through March.

And, it continues a discouraging upward trend — as this year's first quarter of announced layoffs across the state is more than two-and-a-half times the first quarter of 2024 (1,753 layoffs).

🔗 NJ lawmaker targets Big Tech, could lock kids out of apps

📱 NJ congressman proposes bill to require age checks on devices
👶 Would limit kids’ access to apps, social media and AI platforms
⚖️ Law aims to give parents more control over children’s online safety

RIDGEWOOD — A New Jersey congressman is pushing legislation to require major tech companies to verify the ages of users before they download apps.

The Empowering Parents to Protect Their Children’s Devices Act, or Parents Decide Act, for short, would require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users younger than 18 while setting up a new device, such as a phone or a tablet.

That age verification would then carry over to age-appropriate apps or AI platforms that are even available for a child to request for download.

“Let’s be honest, the rules we have right now don’t work,” U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. 5th District, said during a Thursday news conference outside the YMCA in Ridgewood, calling the internet ever more "treacherous."

Gottheimer, who is co-chairman of the Congressional Democratic AI Commission, shared some sobering statistics on how tech and social media use are rooted in being a pre-teen and teenager in 2026.

Nearly 95% of teenagers use social media — two-thirds are on it every day.

Younger kids are on it too, despite voluntary rules from many tech companies, Gottheimer said.

On average, kids younger than 13 have more than three different social media accounts, he said — 68% have TikTok accounts and about 10% have “hidden” accounts their parents don’t know about.

🔗 NJ officials vow to fight Trump's 'national voter list'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew challenges from state Democratic officials ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, is the latest in a torrent of efforts from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his false allegations of fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, asserting again Tuesday that he won “three times” and citing accusations of voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked.

The order signed Tuesday calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to make the list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list.

New Jersey officials said this was the latest illegal attempt by Trump to restrict voting and vowed to fight it.

Attorney General Jennifer Davenport says her office is exploring all option to fight what she termed was a "extreme overreach" by the Trump administration.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill defended New Jersey's vote-by-mail system and said, "This order does nothing to strenghten election integrity and is designed to make it harder for eligible citizens to vote."

🔗 New fighting in Mideast as Iran war shows no signs of slowing

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on targets across the Middle East, sparking multiple blazes at a Kuwaiti oil refinery, while American and Israeli airstrikes hit the Islamic Republic on Friday as the war neared the end of its fifth week unabated and the U.N. Security Council prepared to meet over Tehran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite claims from the U.S. and Israel that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed, Tehran has continued to keep the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors, hitting Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery early Friday in a drone attack.

The refinery has been hit multiple times during the war and state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes. Sirens also sounded in Bahrain warning of Iranian attacks, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, defenses were activated in the United Arab Emirates and Israel reported incoming missiles.

Start your day with up-to-the-minute news, traffic and weather for the Garden State.

The New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show airs from 6 - 10 a.m. on New Jersey 101.5.

Join the conversation by calling 1-800-283-1015 or download the NJ101.5 app.

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

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.