Wildfire still burning

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Tuesday:

⬛ Wildfire near closed NJ Atco Dragway spreads

Atco Dragway wildfire (NJ DEP)

WATERFORD – A wildfire that started Sunday afternoon near the former Atco Dragway has burned 1,200 acres as of Monday afternoon.

Firefighters are using a backfire operation to burn brush and material ahead of the main body of the fire along Jackson Road in the Atco section of Waterford, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The fire was 40% contained as of 4 p.m.

⬛ Free Peaches at the Jersey shore

Yellow peaches (Chris Puschel)

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is giving away free Jersey Peaches at three locations down the shore today to celebrate "National Eat a Peach Day"

Here is where to get them.

⬛ Sleeping mom, teen daughter shot from outside Millville, NJ home

Millville police report to a shooting where 40 rounds were fired (NBC Philadelphia)_

MILLVILLE – A teen and her mother were hospitalized after 40 shots were fired outside their home just before dawn Sunday morning with some of the bullets hitting their house, according to officials.

Millville Police Chief Ross Hoffman said shots were fired around 4:45 a.m. at a house on the 500 block of North 6th Street in Millville.

⬛ Nicotine exposure on the rise in NJ among young children

Canva

It's not even September, and New Jersey has already reached last year's total of cases involving nicotine exposure in young children.

Experts link the growing issue to a proliferation of vaping products in the market — adults bring these products home and perhaps are not as careful with them as they should be.

⬛ NJ nurse gets prison, loses license for drunk, deadly crash

(Yokauri Batista via Facebook, Google Maps)

A 33-year-old New Brunswick woman was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a drunken, wrong-way crash that killed two 9-year-old children — while also injuring two officers and a civilian in a police cruiser.

Yokauri Batista-Alcantara drove her Honda Accord the wrong way down an on-ramp in North Brunswick late Thanksgiving night in 2021, hitting an Old Bridge police cruiser, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

The Top 30 Roller Coasters in New Jersey

Happy National Roller Coaster Day! The state of New Jersey is home to the 6th most roller coasters in the United States, spread across 14 thrilling theme parks.

The biggest private info breaches in NJ health care

As of August 2023, these are the top data breaches reported by hospitals and health care institutions in New Jersey in the past 24 months. These cases are under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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

New Jersey's First News with Eric Scott is the longest running news program in New Jersey. Eric Scott began hosting the program in 1991.

It airs live on New Jersey 101.5 each weekday morning from 5:30 - 6 a.m.

New Jersey's First News with Eric Scott is the winner of the prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast.

Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com

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

Filed Under: New Jersey's First News with Eric Scott