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

⬛ Roxbury council rejects rumored ICE detention plan

✅ Roxbury officials respond to a report of a possible ICE detention center
✅ The Township council votes to oppose any potential facility
✅ Local, state, and county officials have had no communication with ICE

ROXBURY — Despite having little information, the Morris County township council approved a resolution opposing an ICE detention facility inside a warehouse.

Speculation began in reports by the Washington Post and Newsweek on Dec. 24 that the Trump Administration is soliciting for contractors to convert at least seven warehouses around the country into "large-scale holding centers," including one in Roxbury that could hold 1,500 people. The goal is to house detainees close to where they are detained rather than be transferred to facilities in the South.

Residents in Roxbury are up in arms at the news and are pressuring local officials for answers. At the township council meeting on Dec. 30, Mayor Shawn Patillo said no township official had been contacted. Discussions with county, state, and federal officials had the same response.

The council, at its meeting on Tuesday, took things a step further by passing an ordinance stating its opposition to any detention center, as it would stress water, sewer, and public safety resources.

⬛ NJ police pensions paid despite misconduct, state report finds

🔴 21 NJ police and firefighters retired with full pensions despite documented misconduct.
🔴 Taxpayers are footing the bill as failures in reporting and review allowed officers to collect benefits.
🔴 The pension system is already $4.4 billion in the red.

A new report finds that at least 21 police officers and firefighters retired with full pensions despite documented misconduct, including one conviction for child pornography.

Taxpayers are bearing the weight of the broken system and unreported misconduct, according to Wednesday's lengthy State Comptroller's Office report.

The investigation found that 21 members of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System with histories of misconduct never had their records reviewed before collecting their pensions. It's state law that members must serve honorably to get their benefits, and the pension board is required to conduct a review of each individual at retirement.

This report could be just the tip of the iceberg, according to Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. Those members were identified using publicly available information, like news articles.

"These 21 former officers are the ones we found. We don’t know how many are out there who committed misconduct and are getting full pensions simply because no one told the pension board what they did wrong," Walsh said.

According to the report, there was significant misconduct among those 21 retired officers who received full pensions. The most "egregious" example was a police officer who retired while facing child pornography charges and was later convicted.

Other cases included law enforcement officers who were ordered by a court to leave their jobs, had criminal charges filed against them, or had been involved in repeated instances of misconduct.

⬛ Ocean County records most traffic deaths despite NJ’s safer roads

🔴 New Jersey traffic deaths dropped 16% in 2025, with major declines among drivers, pedestrians, and motorcyclists
🔴 6 counties saw fatalities rise despite the statewide improvement, led by Ocean County
🔴 Police officials credit the “Goal Zero” initiative, with another targeted patrol period planned for Friday

New Jersey officials are touting a statewide drop in deadly crashes last year, but a few unfortunate communities are seeing a rise in traffic deaths.

On Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office announced that there were 547 fatal crashes in 2025, down 16% from the year before. Officials said 582 people died in those crashes, including drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Michael J. Rizol Jr., director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, said there's more work to do.

Of the state's 21 counties, 15 of them saw a decrease in deaths on the road. However, six counties defied the overall trend and actually saw more traffic deaths in 2025 than in 2024.

Ocean County is one that saw an increase. At 63 traffic deaths in 2025, it had more fatalities on the roads than any other county. Other counties that had increases include Camden, Cape May, Morris, Hudson, and Salem.

Hunterdon County had six traffic deaths in 2025, the fewest of any New Jersey county

⬛ Hillsborough mom accused of killing her two young sons

⚖️ Hillsborough mother is charged with 2 counts of murder and a weapons offense.
🚨 Two young brothers, ages 5 and 7, were found dead inside their family home on Tuesday.
🏫 The victims' father called 911 and said he came home to find his sons unconscious.

HILLSBOROUGH — A 35-year-old Somerset County mother has been accused of killing her two young sons in their family home.

Priyatharsini Natarajan has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

On Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., Hillsborough Township Police responded to a 911 call made by the children’s father from the Brookhaven Loft apartment complex, according to Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald.

He told a dispatcher that he had gotten home from work and found his two children “unconscious” and that his wife “did something to them,” according to McDonald.

Police arrived at the family’s residence on Shell Court and found the two brothers, ages 5 and 7, dead inside a bedroom, McDonald said.

⬛ Arson evidence takes spotlight in Paul Caneiro murder trial

🔥 Jurors heard testimony about a pre-dawn fire at Paul Caneiro’s Ocean Township home the same day his brother’s family was killed.
🚓 Police officers described burn marks and a gas can as reasons the fire raised red flags
⚖️ Prosecutors say Caneiro set the fire to divert attention from the brutal Colts Neck killings.

FREEHOLD BOROUGH — Day three of the quadruple murder trial of Paul Caneiro focused on a fire at the defendant’s Ocean Township home, the same day that his brother’s family was found killed in their burning Colts Neck house.

Two neighbors from Tilton Drive in the Wayside section of town shared their recollections of the pre-dawn blaze on Nov. 20, 2018.

They were followed on the witness stand in Monmouth County Superior Court by Ocean Township police officers who were called to the 5 a.m. fire.

On Wednesday, Paul Caneiro sat in an argyle sweater vest and blue collared shirt, in front of projected images of his former four-bedroom house.

Body-worn camera footage clips were played in the courtroom, as Ocean Township Police Officer David Marino testified that there were several reasons that arson was suspected rather quickly.

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