Nasty parasite is making New Jersey sick—NJ Top News
Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Thursday:
🔗 Mysterious parasite sickens people in NJ as outbreak grows
⚠️ The CDC says a Cyclospora outbreak has reached New Jersey and at least 16 other states.
🔴 At least 145 cases have been confirmed nationwide, with 20 people hospitalized.
➡️ Investigators have not identified the source and expect more cases during the summer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking a parasite that has hospitalized 20 people and reached New Jersey.
There are at least a few confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis in New Jersey, according to the CDC. While 145 cases have been confirmed amid the nationwide outbreak, health officials note that plenty of cases will go under the radar because many people won't get tested at the hospital.
Federal authorities said it's come to 17 states, including New Jersey. The neighboring state of New York has been hardest hit with at least 30 confirmed cases.
Click the link above for symptoms and how you can protect yourself.
🔗 Accused teen stalker-killer has stone-cold first court appearance
☑️Vincent Battiloro agreed to remain detained during a brief virtual court hearing
☑️The 18-year-old faces two murder counts in the deaths of two best friends
☑️Despite being charged as an adult, some case details remain private
ELIZABETH — The teenager accused of using his Jeep to deliberately running down two Cranford best friends appeared in adult criminal court for the first time Wednesday, saying only a handful of words before agreeing to remain behind bars.
Although Vincent Battiloro is now being prosecuted as an adult, much of the case still remains shielded from public view because he was 17 when Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were killed. Wednesday's appearance offered the first public glimpse of Battiloro since the case left Family Court.
On Wednesday, Battiloro went before a Superior Court judge via video for a virtual hearing that lasted less than 3 minutes.
Wearing jail garb, unkempt hair and scruff on his face, the now-18-year-old showed no emotional reaction as he responded to the judge's yea-and-no questions.
He confirmed that he was waiving his right to hold a detention hearing, keeping him locked up as the case proceeds through the grand jury process for a possible indictment.
Battiloro was not wearing the glasses he sported while he livestreamed himself calmly playing a video game a day after using his speeding Jeep Compass to mow down Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas on Sept. 29.
Battiloro is charged with the first-degree murder of the girls, who were riding an e-bike on Burnside Avenue. Maria's family said Battiloro, the son of a police officer in a law enforcement family, had spent months stalking her and making swatting calls to their home.
Because he was a juvenile at the time, he was charged in Family Court after his arrest two days after the crash. The case was moved up to Superior Court last week.
🔗 Armed spa robbery crew busted in NJ — 3 face ICE detainers
⚠️ 4 people have been charged in a series of armed robberies targeting Edgewater spas
🔴 3 suspects are Dominican Republic citizens with ICE detainers lodged against them
➡️ Detectives linked the suspects to the robberies using two vehicles identified during the investigation.
EDGEWATER — A group that includes three unauthorized immigrants has been charged with holding up spas at gunpoint, according to authorities.
On Tuesday, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrests of four people. Detectives, with help from the FBI, linked them to robberies at spas in Edgewater last year.
Three of them are male citizens of the Dominican Republic, including John Cesse Rosario, 24, and Brayan Perez Abreu, 23, both living in the Bronx, and Frayalan De La Rosa Perez, 26, living in Brooklyn. Jail records show that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued detainers for them.
The fourth suspect is a woman who also lives in the Bronx. Esther Rosado, 24, is accused of helping plan one of the robberies. Rosado was extradited to New Jersey after she was arrested in Maryland a month ago in connection with a separate incident.
🔗 Parents threaten to leave as New Jersey school weighs controversial new policy
👨👩👧 Kinnelon schools are weighing a parental bill of rights that would expand parents' access to information about their children's education.
⚖️ A provision requiring schools to notify parents of a student's gender identity change has sparked the biggest controversy.
🏫 Supporters call it common sense. Critics say it could harm some students and have threatened to leave the district.
The battle over parental rights in New Jersey schools has landed in Kinnelon, where a proposed "parental bill of rights" is drawing both praise and outrage before it has even reached a final vote.
The proposal would formalize parents' rights to know more about what their children are reading, learning and doing in school. But one provision has quickly overshadowed everything else: a requirement that parents be notified if a student changes their gender identity at school.
According to NJ.com, some parents have threatened to pull their children from the district if the policy is adopted.
District officials have described the proposal as an effort to consolidate parental rights and district practices into a single policy that is easier for families to understand. The measure addresses issues including curriculum transparency, access to student records, classroom materials, school communications and student privacy.
Supporters argue parents should be fully informed about significant decisions affecting their children while they are at school. They contend parents have a fundamental right to know what their children are being taught and how schools are responding to issues involving their well-being.
The proposed notification requirement has become the flashpoint of community debate in Kinnelon.
Opponents argue schools should have flexibility when dealing with sensitive situations involving students who may not feel safe disclosing their gender identity at home.
NJ.com reports that some families have said they would consider leaving the district if the policy moves forward.
🔗 Empire State Building climbers get engaged on spire, couple is from New Jersey
🚨Two people stood atop the Empire State Building's antenna and unfurled a banner
🚨The pair balanced on a narrow ledge 1,454 feet above midtown Manhattan
🚨Authorities and building managers had no immediate explanation
NEW YORK (AP) — Two people got to the top of the Empire State Building's antenna and unfurled a banner about “the power of love” at midday Wednesday, before descending, embracing, taking selfies and ultimately being arrested.
Dressed in black and wearing masks — but not tethers, it appeared — the two balanced on a narrow ledge and appeared to kiss atop the New York skyscraper's antenna, which rises 1,454 feet above midtown Manhattan, news helicopter video showed. The banner, reading “when the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” waved in the wind.
Just after 12:30 p.m., they began to climb down, efficiently picking their way along the latticework of metal to a wider ledge, where one seemed to set up a piece of electronic equipment and got down on one knee. After the two kissed again and hugged, the other person took selfies with an outstretched left hand, as if examining a ring.
Police took the two climbers into custody after 1 p.m.
The couple is from East Orange. Ivan Kuznetsov, 32, and Angelina Nikolau, 33, are charged with burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, violation of local law, possession of burglar’s tools, criminal tampering, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
In 2024, the couple detailed their "rooftopping" adventures in a Netflix documentary. They told of how their love of these daredevil exploits bloomed into romance.
PHOTOS: Trump's military parade rolls through Washington, D.C.
Gallery Credit: The Associated Press
Biggest layoffs in New Jersey this year
Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt
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