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

🔗 Sherrill: NJ will spend millions more fighting deportations

⚖️ New Jersey is increasing immigrant legal defense funding to more than $20 million.
➡️ The state is also launching a new legal network to challenge detentions and deportations.
⚠️ The move comes as Sherrill faces criticism from both the left and the right over immigration issues.

TRENTON — As Gov. Mikie Sherrill faces criticism from the left over her support for State Police tactics outside Delaney Hall, she is also moving to expand legal protections for immigrants facing detention and deportation.

On Thursday, Sherrill announced a major expansion of New Jersey's Detention Deportation Defense Initiative, increasing funding for the program to more than $20 million while launching a new statewide legal response network designed to challenge immigration detentions and deportations in federal court.

The announcement highlights the difficult political terrain Sherrill is navigating on immigration. Progressive activists and some Democratic officials have criticized her defense of law enforcement tactics during protests outside Delaney Hall, while Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump are likely to view the latest funding increase as another example of New Jersey spending taxpayer dollars to assist illegal immigration.

🔗 Cop accused of stealing $10K in camera gear outside Delaney Hall

⚠️ An Essex County Prosecutor's Office sergeant is charged with stealing an injured journalist's camera equipment.
➡️ Investigators say an Apple AirTag tracked the bag to the officer's Sparta home.
🔴 The photographer was hurt while covering protests outside Delaney Hall.

Amid ongoing turmoil outside Delaney Hall, a police officer with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is accused of stealing an injured journalist’s valuable camera equipment.

Sgt. Darryl Brown is charged with third-degree theft, state Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said on Thursday.

The 43-year-old Sparta resident was suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens called the allegations “serious and concerning.”

Brown is accused of stealing a camera bag containing $10,000 in equipment, which also had an Apple AirTag that was traced to the officer’s Sussex County home.

The bag was left on the ground Saturday night, May 30, by a photojournalist who suffered a knee injury while working to cover the front lines of protests outside Delaney Hall.

Brown was sent to work outside the privately owned ICE detention facility that evening and his body-worn camera footage shows him “interacting with” a dark colored bag, consistent with the description of the victim's belongings, investigators said.

Following May 30, the AirTag was initially tracked to Brown’s Sparta residence before the tag was recovered several miles away by colleagues of the victim.

🔗 NJ man gets prison for $270K warehouse heists of perfume, laptops

⚠️ A Jersey City man was sentenced for his role in warehouse thefts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
➡️ Prosecutors said the crew stole about $270,000 in laptops, perfume and liquor.
🔴 Three co-defendants have also pleaded guilty for their heist roles.

A Hudson County man gets four years in prison for targeting warehouses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with a crew and stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in merchandise.

In January, Derek Spivey pleaded guilty in Camden federal court to conspiring to transport stolen goods and violating conditions of his supervised release from a prior conviction for firearm possession as a felon.

The 38-year-old Spivey was also sentenced to an additional eight-months for violating his supervised release, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer said.

Spivey and his brother, Jamil Bethea, both of Jersey City, as well as Jamal Reid and Rasheed Sharpe worked together with others last year to burglarize trailers at logistics warehouses in both states.

Some of the New Jersey activity, including planning, took place in Burlington, Somerset, and Morris Counties, according to investigators.

As part of the operation, the crew stole $50,000 of U.S. Department of Defense laptops from a Pennsylvania warehouse in January 2025, federal prosecutors said.

Liquor and perfume stolen in PA and NJ
In March 2025, the crew stole $200,000 of high-end perfume from a Pennsylvania warehouse and $20,000 of liquor from a New Jersey warehouse in Pine Brook, investigators said.

🔗 Another corporate giant bolts — how many jobs can NJ afford to lose? (Opinion)

🚨 ExxonMobil is gone. How many more warning signs does New Jersey need?
📉 More than 7,600 layoffs have already been announced across New Jersey in 2026, including cuts at Verizon, Merck and Novartis.
🔹 Even some Democrats in Trenton are now warning that New Jersey cannot continue spending and taxing without consequences.

ExxonMobil is officially leaving New Jersey, ending a corporate presence that dates back more than 140 years.
For decades, New Jersey proudly pointed to ExxonMobil as one of the world's most recognizable corporate names headquartered in the Garden State. Now that chapter is officially ending.

Shareholders have approved ExxonMobil's plan to move its legal headquarters from New Jersey to Texas. While much of the company's operational leadership has already shifted south in recent years, the vote formalizes yet another corporate departure from a state that increasingly struggles to compete for private-sector investment.

The move comes at an especially difficult time for Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office promising to tackle New Jersey's affordability crisis. Instead, the state continues to lose major employers and face thousands of new layoffs while businesses cite many of the same concerns that have surfaced for years: high taxes, rising costs, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

🔗 New PA cell phone penalties start Friday

✅Pennsylvania begins issuing penalties Friday for cell phone use
✅Drivers can be ticketed for holding a phone behind the wheel
✅ The law also bans handheld phone use while stopped at red lights or stop signs.

After a year's grace period, penalties for Pennsylvania's new cell phone law go into effect for real on Friday.

Drivers can now be stopped and ticketed for sending, reading or writing a text while holding a phone behind the wheel. Drivers can still use their phones hands-free or to make an emergency call.

The new law carries a $50 fine with no points.

The new law, known as Paul Miller's Law, was signed in 2024. After a year-long grace period, drivers can now be stopped and ticketed for sending, reading or writing a text while holding a phone behind the wheel. Drivers can still use their phones hands-free or to make an emergency call.

The new law carries a $50 fine with no points. Court costs and other fees can also be assessed.

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.