Branch Brook Park In Bloom

Branch Brook Park in Newark is one of the oldest county parks in the nation, and it also happens to have one of the world's largest and most diverse collection of cherry trees in the world. It's even larger than the cherry tree collection in Washington DC with more than 4,000 cherry trees. Many of them were blossoming this past weekend and this week looks to be the peak blooming period. Here's a small sample, and it's amazing to see this gem in the heart of Newark.

In fact, there are parts of the park that make one feel like you've entered a wilderness. It's truly a jewel of New Jersey.

Port Authority Taking New Look At PATH To Newark Liberty Airport

A train (or subway) to the plane has been a catchy idea for decades in the New York City metro region. Only with the construction of the JFK AirTrain and a connector between the Northeast Corridor and the AirTrain at Newark Liberty airports is there any semblance of a mass transit option at those airports.

It isn't the easiest connection to make, and it would require someone in Manhattan to make multiple transfers to get to Newark Airport in particular.

That's why a direct PATH to Newark Liberty holds such allure.


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The Port Authority is proposing to extend PATH from Newark Penn Station to the AirTrain stop on the Northeast Corridor.

The bistate agency is launching a study to assess the possibility of extending the World Trade Center-Newark PATH rail line from Newark Penn Station to the existing Northeast Corridor Rail Link, allowing access to Newark Liberty's AirTrain for terminal access.

"Extending PATH to Newark Liberty International Airport has been discussed for a generation," said Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni. "We are now moving this process forward quickly to bring together our PATH system, Newark Liberty International Airport, and Lower Manhattan. It is a regional win for all."
The project would generate more than $600 million in design and construction work while adding permanent jobs for the link's operation, according to a press release.

This would be an internally conducted feasibility study and it will likely find a need and reason to go ahead with the environmental studies and approvals necessary for construction.

The result of that project would not only add capacity to the airport, but it would mean a one-seat ride from Lower Manhattan to the airport's doorstep. It would significantly cut travel times and improve the competitiveness of Lower Manhattan office space to international businesses. Giving a quick and easy connection to the airport would benefit those businesses and improve rental opportunities at the World Trade Center and other downtown rental opportunities.

This jibes with yesterday's study results that indicate that the Port Authority generates most of its revenues from passengers at its area airports. It would also support the reason behind a proposal for the Port Authority to take over the Atlantic City airport operations. Generating revenues would help support other core missions for the agency although the Atlantic City airport isn't exactly tied to the agency's core mission within the New York City metro area. It would likely be used to generate revenues for other projects within the Port Authority's jurisdiction.

Rainbow Over the Bears Game

While attending the Newark Bears game versus the Rockland Boulders at the Bears and Eagles Stadium in Newark, we had sun showers, which produced a quite spectacular rainbow that framed the entire skyline. With my cellphone, I wasn't quite able to get the whole thing, but this just spoke to me:

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And the final score of the game: 16-4, Bears. Tim Raines Jr, son of former major league great Tim Raines, hit two homers and drove in 6 runs in pacing of the onslaught.

Facebook Founder Favors Newark With $100 Million Gift For Education

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, has opted to donate $100 million to the Newark, New Jersey education system to improve education in the city.

It's a huge gift.

Local and state officials (to say nothing of some in the media) will be quick to say that the money will come in handy because the state lost out on Race to the Top funds because of a clerical error, even though Race to the Top wasn't about putting money in the classroom but rather to design new education programs that will be implemented at some point in the future.

Newark has long been a focus of state education funds because it was one of the Abbott Districts. That pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the school system for years on end, with little tangible results. In fact, the state has been running the city school system for more than a decade because of poor performance.

It is hoped that this money will be better spent. The announcement, which will be officially announced on Oprah Winfrey's show, will also feature Gov. Chris Christie and Mayor Cory Booker. Christie is also expected to hand control of the school district back to the city.

The Star Ledger is also reporting that the $100 million gift is a matching grant, which means that a possible $200 million might end up going to Newark schools.

I remain hopeful that the money ends up in the classrooms, rather than in the pockets of bureaucrats and a bureaucracy that has done the students of Newark no favors for years on end. I hope that the money goes to fund arts and science classes, which are both sorely in need of money.

So, why did Zuckerberg decide to donate the money now? Maybe it has something to do with burnishing his image upon the imminent release of a new movie that takes a less than flattering look at Zuckerberg and the rise of Facebook.

Behind the Headlines: Why Newark May Cut Spending on Essentials

New Jersey remains in a bad fiscal state, even with closing the deficit this year. Localities in New Jersey are also in a bad way - because their profligate spending of years past coupled with state funding to bail out their spending ways is at an end.

So, it isn't really a surprise that blare that Newark is going to cut purchases of essential office supplies, and even toilet paper, to close a $70 million budget deficit. Newark Mayor Cory Booker is calling for a shortened work week, reductions in spending, and cutting nonessential services as a means to help close the budget deficit.

Why are those cuts necessary? Well, because the Newark City Council twice refused to act on a move to create a municipal utilities authority that would have enabled the city to close the deficit without enacting new taxes.

The extreme measures Booker said he will implement starting next month come on the heels of the city council’s decision earlier this week to defer action on the creation of a Booker-backed municipal utilities authority. The authority, which would take over Newark’s vast watershed holdings is a linchpin in his budget.

Without the MUA, the budget is left with a $70 million hole the mayor said he must attempt to fill without resorting to draconian tax increases that could push homeowners over the edge and cripple the city’s fragile economic revival.

"In the meantime, I’m going to shut down as much of city government as I can," Booker said during a City Hall press conference. "We’re going to stop buying everything from toilet paper to printer paper. Call me Mr. Scrooge, if you want, but they’ll be no Christmas decorations around the city."

Barring any city council action, Booker said, the belt-tightening will begin Aug. 2 with the closing of Newark’s city pools and the popular Camp Watershed in West Milford. On Sept. 27, allowing for the required civil service notifications, the city’s non-uniformed employees — all except police, fire, water and sewer — are to begin a 4-day work week, the equivalent of a 20 percent pay cut. And, he said, he’s "taking away" the council’s gasoline debit cards and asking members to voluntarily join their City Hall colleagues on the furloughs.

Rebuffed over his $600 million spending plan, which already includes the prospect of as many as 350 police and firefighter layoffs and the closing of the city’s two branch libraries, Booker threw the budgetary ball back at the nine-member council.

The problem is that Booker, a Democrat, still needs to cut spending. The city needs to reduce its budget deficits structurally as well as fiscally on a year-to-year basis. The municipal authority would have been a one-shot to close the budget this year, but wont solve the city's problems long term, which includes overstaffing.

So, while the City Council has balked at the proposal, they've done nothing to fix the structural deficit. Booker has little choice but to push for the furloughs to prod the council into acting.

UPDATE:
It didn't take long for the Newark City Council to cast Mayor Booker's cuts as nothing short of savage. What choice did the City Council give Booker exactly?

They weren't going to cut spending on their own.

They weren't going to go along with the utility authority plan.

They were only looking to preserve the status quo in fiscal operations - namely when revenues fall short, look to raise taxes.

Those are the only options that the City Council has looked at and when tax and spend is all you operate with, that's not a choice.

Newark Executioner Facing Life Sentence In School Yard Triple Murder: UPDATE: Life Without Parole

Rodolfo Godinez, one of six people on trial for the execution style murder of three Newark college students, is being sentenced today in the 2007 triple murder of Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18. Godinez was found guilty of all charges in May.

Rodolfo Godinez, the first defendant to be convicted in the Newark schoolyard triple killings, faces life in prison when he is sentenced this morning in Superior Court in Newark.

In May, a jury convicted Godinez on all 17 counts against him including murder, felony murder, attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and weapons charges for the Aug. 4, 2007, attack behind Mount Vernon School.

Prosecutors said Godinez, 26, and five others confronted the four friends that night armed with a gun and a machete. The jury deliberated for about three hours before reaching a verdict.

The victims, Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, were set upon, lined up against a wall and fatally shot, execution-style. Terrance's sister, Natasha, was also shot, but survived and testified for the prosecution.

Aeriel, now 22, is expected to give a victim impact statement before Godinez is sentenced, as is Shalga Hightower, Iofemi’s mother; James Harvey, Dashon’s father; and Troy Bradshaw, who is Terrance and Natasha’s father. Other relatives may also speak, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Godinez and his cohorts were likely engaging in an MS-13 gang initiation. Godinez shouldn't even have been in the US since he was an illegal alien. Among the others charged were illegal alien Jose Lachira Carranza who had been facing criminal charges, including the rape of a 5-year old and was out on $150,000 bail at the time of the triple murder.

The five other defendants, Carranza, Melvin Jovel, Alexander Alfaro, Shahid Baskerville, and Gerardo Gomez are to be tried separately, with the first of these trials to begin in September.

UPDATE:
He was sentenced to life without parole.

Newark Mayor Booker Announces Pay Cuts and Furloughs

Newark's Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, is doing the job that other politicians aren't doing. Instead of solving his city's fiscal mess with more taxes and increased spending, Booker is actually calling for furloughs and pay cuts. We'll see if he can follow through.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Tuesday he will impose 18 days of unpaid furloughs through the end of next year on all full-time employees except for police officers and firefighters, a move expected to save 5 percent of their annual salaries. The salaries of 61 top city staffers, including Booker's own $137,022 annual pay, will be reduced an additional 2 percent.

Booker said the cost-cutting moves are needed to avoid layoffs, sustain the city's comeback and stabilize its budget amid a deep recession that has pushed the city unemployment rate to a 5-year high of 12.5 percent.

``This is a difficult time of sacrifice for our city,'' Booker said. ``We are following our governor's lead by doing what's necessary in this fiscal crisis.''

New Jersey's Civil Service Commission adopted a rule March 25 giving Gov. Jon S. Corzine and local governments emergency power to impose temporary layoffs because of the economic crisis. Corzine wants to save $35 million by forcing state workers to take two days off this spring. He also sought the authority to furlough them for 12 days, one day a month, beginning in July.

Corzine's plans still don't address the fact that the budget is higher than last year and his plans are just so much window dressing.

Across the river, New York Governor David Paterson (D) had called for job cuts and a smaller budget, the media framed it as an austerity budget, and yet the agreed upon budget is 10% higher than last year and there are no job cuts to be seen, but plenty of taxes and fees have been raised.

If Booker can avoid the tax hikes and hold spending in line while maintaining the basic services - including improved police service, then Booker will have succeeded where the other local politicians have failed. I hope he succeeds, because it would show the folly of fiscal irresponsibility that runs rampant around the region and the nation at large.

Nets Contemplating Move To Newark?

New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has been looking to build a new stadium in Brooklyn, New York, since he bought the team in 2003 but the real estate market meltdown and credit crisis has brought that project to a standstill even though they're claiming that ground will be broken this summer on the Brooklyn project (Atlantic Yards). The team still plays in the Meadowlands, but New Jersey built a shiny new arena in downtown Newark that hosts the New Jersey Devils and could be home to the Nets in the future.

While I think the Nets would benefit more from a move to Brooklyn, the move to the new arena in downtown Newark might be just the thing the team needs at this juncture. For now, the team is planning on holding two preseason games at the Prudential Center in October (the 2009-2010 season).

There are some obstacles to the Nets playing games at the Rock; namely that the Devils have a tight grasp on all the revenues from concessions at the arena.

But even if the Nets are unable to move to Brooklyn, given the difficulty in financing construction of the arena, there are obstacles to a Newark move as well.

Under the terms of the Devils’ lease, the National Hockey League team keeps nearly all of the revenue from all events held at the Prudential Center.

That raises questions about how much revenue a move to Newark would generate for the Nets. However, the value of luxury suites and corporate sponsorships would increase with a second major pro sports franchise.

The Nets have played in the Meadowlands since the arena opened in 1981. The club is losing an estimated $40 million a year playing in one of the NBA’s oldest facilities, which does not have the thousands of lucrative premium seats that newer buildings do.

Kudos To Cory Booker

Cory Booker became the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey on the strength of his promise that he would bring the crime rate down. He's making good on that promise. This year looks like it will end with a 50% decline in the murder rate.

How did he and his police force accomplish this? They aggressively went after narcotics crimes, and utilized many of the techniques that helped the New York Police Department get runaway crime under control and brought down the murder rate to levels not seen in more than 40 years.

Booker, a Democrat, won the election after Sharpe James, another Democrat chose not to run against Booker a second time. He won a decisive election in 2006 against Ronald Rice. Booker's first attempt to win the election against James in 2002 was the subject of a well regarded documentary and dirty politics played a major role in Booker's loss.

Turnabout was fair play, as Booker's review of the city's books revealed that James was living the high life on the taxpayer dime.

I think that Mayor Booker has given his city quite the Christmas present.

Verdict Reached In Sharpe James Trial: UPDATE- Convicted

The disgraced former Mayor of Newark New Jersey will be facing the music later today as the jury has reached a verdict after 5 days and more than 30 hours of deliberations. The Democrat is accused of defrauding taxpayers by pushing deals to his mistress, who is also on trial:

Jurors have reached a verdict in the federal corruption trial of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James. It will be announced within the hour.

The panel has been deliberating in federal court in Newark since April 9 on fraud and conspiracy charges against James and his onetime girlfriend, Tamika Riley. A few minutes ago, they informed the staff of U.S. District Judge William Martini that they had reached a decision.

James is accused of defrauding the city's taxpayers by rigging the sale of nine city lots to Riley between 2001 and 2005. Riley, a 39-year-old publicist from Jersey City with no development experience, bought the parcels for $46,000 and resold them, sometimes just weeks later, for $665,000. Prosecutors said James used his influence to help Riley steer through the city development process, and never disclosed his relationship when he signed the contracts to sell her the land.

"This is a case about betrayal," Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Germano told jurors during her closing argument.

James, 72, who served five terms as mayor and two as state senator, has denied any wrongdoing. His attorneys have argued that Riley got the same treatment as other developers and that the city council - not the mayor - has the ultimate authority in city land deals.

UPDATE:
Call James a convicted felon. That's the jury's verdict:

A federal jury today convicted former Newark Mayor Sharpe James of fraud for conspiring to rig the sale of nine city lots to his mistress, who quickly resold them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit.

Ending a five-week trial, the jury returned its verdict in a courtroom just a block from the City Hall office that James occupied for two decades. On its sixth day of deliberations, the jury found James guilty of all counts in the 13-count indictment.

James' co-defendant and former girlfriend, Tamika Riley, was also found guilty on all counts.

Under federal guidelines, James and Riley could each face several years in prison. U.S. District Judge William Martini allowed both to remain free on bail until sentencing, which was set for July 29 at 10 a.m.

The article finally gets around to mentioning that James was a Democrat towards the end of the report. Not awful, but not great either. Had James been a Republican, I suspect that his party affiliation would have received stronger billing.

Newark's New Calm

Mayor Cory Booker, a young Democrat who overcame the entrenched and corrupt regime of Newark icon Sharpe James, came into office promising to do things differently. He promised that he would crack down on crime and help make the city safe. Last year, his first in office, saw 99 murders.

So far this year, Newark has gone 33 straight days without a single homicide. That's a pretty significant step. The New York Times can't help but be a little skeptical of the efforts. They found a few people who questioned whether the numbers were true based on anecdotal information, despite the fact that crime rates have indeed improved:

The police say the streets here are quieter, with less shooting, fewer assaults and no killings since Jan. 13. But J. D. Crowder, whose son was murdered by robbers two years ago, still has trouble believing that anything has changed.

Young men like the ones he suspects robbed and killed his son Aaron, who played football at Rutgers University, still need to make a living, he said. “They’re not going to starve. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

His assessment, colored by personal tragedy, was especially bleak, but he was hardly alone. In a dozen interviews, residents reacted with surprise, and in some cases disbelief, to the news that the murder rate had started to fall. People here, betrayed by the city’s past violence and taught to mind their own business, said they had simply not noticed that part of January and February had, in fact, been murder-free.

As the weekend approached, with its promise of gunplay, law enforcement officials said Friday that they had passed a new threshold: 33 days without a murder, the longest stretch since 1963, when there were no homicides for 40 days.

As of last night, there had been two homicides this year; by this time last year, there had been 12. The number of shootings has also decreased, the Police Department said. In 2007, there were 99 homicides in this city of 281,000.

In a speech earlier this month, the city’s mayor, Cory A. Booker, said the city would “set the national standard for urban violent crime reduction.”

Since homicide detectives have fewer new investigations to handle, the police said they were using the lull to try to resolve old cases. The Essex County prosecutor, Paula T. Dow, said her investigators were also looking at old cases, with the help of a new federal grant that would allow them to take a closer look at DNA evidence.

“When you keep adding on increased resources, manpower and strategizing, you’re going to reap results in the long run,” Ms. Dow said. By the end of June, law enforcement officials will know better whether a real change is under way, she said. “I’m hoping for the best.”

Because there are fewer new homicides, the police can start to play catch up with older crimes that are unresolved. That means that they can track down the perpetrators who are still on the streets and reduce criminality still further.

You've got to hand it to Booker, he made a promise and then got the resources to where they were needed in the police department to make good on them. He's gotten results. That's the kind of change I can back.

Taxing the Rock

The new arena in Newark, the Prudential Center (aka The Rock), has provoked the interest of the New Jersey legislature. Tax and spenders as they are, they see an opportunity to tax and spend just a bit more.

The measure, designed to raise funds from sports fans and concertgoers to offset traffic control and security costs, won approval today from the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The endorsement comes less than two weeks after the bill authorizing the surcharge, (S-2971), was introduced on Nov. 29.

Separately, committee members deferred consideration of a companion measure (S-2891) that would let Newark, Elizabeth and Jersey City impose a 7 percent surcharge on parking fees for arena events to pay for municipal services associated with the arena.

Both measures were introduced after the November elections, and will die unless they are approved by both the Senate and Assembly before the current session ends Jan. 8.

The first measure would effectively increase ticket prices by 5% and would affect all events at the new arena.

How exactly is the tax going to make the arena competitive versus other arenas in the region? No tax is imposed on the ticket prices at the IZod Center, the former home of the Devils in the Meadowlands.

The Legislature simply cannot help itself when it comes to taxing and spending. No one in Trenton can hold the line on spending, so tax hikes are the only logical and convenient outcome for that mindset.

Bon Jovi at the Rock

Last night Mrs. Legalbgl and I, along with my sister-in-law and her friend, saw Bon Jovi at Newark New Jersey's new Prudential Center, a/k/a The Rock. For those of you who didn't know, last week the new arena opened in downtown Newark, with hopes of revitalizing the area. And, much like New Jersey's other son, Bruce Springsteen, did with the Brendan Byrne Arena years ago, Bon Jovi is playing 10 dates to open the new venue. Last night was show three.

Bon Jovi's first show, Thursday night, received mixed reviews. Eddie Trunk hated Thursday's show. Friday night I heard his review on Q104.3's Friday Night Rocks and was afraid that I wasted several hundred bucks on the tickets. I have listened to Eddie Trunk for years, and usually agree with his tastes. Generally, he is spot on in his assessments.

However, I think he is giving Bon Jovi a raw deal here. I thought Bon Jovi rocked on most of his hits. Excellent versions of "You Give Love A Bad Name", "Runaway" and "Blood on Blood". Even a great version of mediocre songs "Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars" and "Have a Nice Day". I though they did a poor version of "Lay your Hands On Me", way too slow and I thought they did to many songs from "Lost Highway" which is a horrible album. However, I don't think they just phoned it in like Eddie seems to think. Yes, they were better on the last tour. Yes, they could lose the fiddle player and the other two nobodies that no one cared to see on stage, and yes, the new album is way to country, but they did put on an excellent show.

As for the Prudential Center, the venue still has an unfinished quality to it. The walls are still stark white, with very little by way of decorations. The seats were comfortable. One thing, the ushers lined up by the main entrance at the end of the night and where cheering and doing a little dance number for you as you left. A cute touch. A few negatives: poor signage directing you to the parking lots. I never saw a sign directing you to turn off of Broad Street on to E. Kinney Street and no sign to turn from E. Kinney on to Mulberry Street and poor signage indicating which lot was which. Also, I felt as if Mulberry was poorly lit as you were walking from the parking lot to the arena. I must say though, the Newark PD did an excellent job of traffic control getting you out of the area and onto the highways.

Overall, I would rate the concert a 6.5-7, and the Rock a 8-8.5.

Flip Side

While I've spent quite a bit of time writing about the violent triple murder of three college students at the hands of illegal aliens and those of indeterminate immigration status, illegal aliens and/or individuals of indeterminate immigration status are also victims.

In Jersey City, New Jersey we learn of a truck driver who was found stabbed to death. Investigators found ID, which suggested he was a Costa Rican immigrant. They then went to his apartment, where they found another, different, identification. So, they don't know who the dead man is.

Originally identified as Arnaldo Lopez of Costa Rica, investigators now aren't sure; they searched his room and turned up at least one other driver's license from another jurisdiction.

"We found some other identification and now have to positively ascertain who he is," DeFazio said. He wouldn't reveal what name was on the other license, and said his immigration status couldn't be determined.

The truck was parked on Senate Place at Van Winkle Avenue, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. Lopez had a room nearby in a boarding house on Tonnelle Avenue, the prosecutor said.

The driver had several stab wounds, but died from one to the chest that hit the heart, investigators said. He also had secondary defense and attack wounds elsewhere on his body, according to an autopsy performed Saturday at the Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark.

The dead driver was known among fellow drivers for carrying large amounts of cash, leading investigators to believe the victim may have known his attacker, DeFazio said.

Detectives said they found "thousands" of dollars in his room, but none in the cab or on his body, the prosecutor said.

Robbery appears to be the motive.

Without Fail

Just days after New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a directive that all law enforcement officers check suspects immigration status with the feds after arrests for violent crimes, local police officials are looking to find a way to avoid carrying out that order.

In Englewood, where the police estimate that up to a fifth of the population of 26,000 are illegal immigrants, the authorities have long asked about immigration status, so “this doesn’t change things at all,” according to Arthur O’Keefe, the deputy police chief. But in Freehold, where a lawsuit recently ended attempts by borough officials to fine day laborers, a new police chief, on the job for only seven weeks, said he was still trying to divine what Ms. Milgram’s instructions actually meant.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to go about enacting it on the local level,” said the chief, Mitchell E. Roth, adding that his 34 full-time officers do not routinely ask about immigration status. “We have special-interest groups. We have to be very diplomatic.”

Ms. Milgram’s order was motivated by the arrest of an illegal immigrant who was out on bail, his status unknown to the authorities, in a brutal triple homicide here this month. It brings immigration authorities more forcefully into local law enforcement matters.

For a list of offenses, ranging from theft to murder and including drunken driving, local police are supposed to ask about the immigration status of people they arrest. If they suspect that the person is in the country illegally, they are supposed to contact representatives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But concerns are already being raised about the potential fallout on immigrants’ cooperation with the authorities, despite Ms. Milgram’s order that victims and witnesses should not be questioned about their status. Many expressed particular concern about the consequences for victims of domestic violence, who are often already reluctant to report their partners to the police.

Immigration advocates said Thursday that many calls had started coming in from people worried about whether the new directive would be implemented fairly.

Shai Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, said that members of his coalition were calling it “the law of unintended consequences.”

I have to ask, but what are the unintended consequences of sanctuary cities and the failures to enforce immigration law as it is currently written? We know what some those unintended (or perhaps were they intended all along by proponents?) are: large numbers of illegal aliens whose very status is illegal and subject to deportation. It's created a cheap source of labor, and a group of people who can be exploited on a daily basis with little chance of speaking out on it because those people are concerned that their immigration status would result in deportation back to their country of origin.

Still, these are issues that need to be addressed at the state and local level to ensure public safety. At the same time, action needs to be taken on the federal level to ensure the enforcement of the existing immigration law.

Newark Executions Have MS-13 Written All Over Them

Michelle Malkin does a tremendous roundup of news reports from the New York metro region over the past 24 hours, which details not only the horrors inflicted by the six suspects in the brutal triple slaying, but that the violent signature of MS-13 is written all over these crimes. Expect sexual assault charges to be included in the criminal complaints against the six as noted here:

Sources tell 1010WINS three of the college kids were being held at gunpoint as their attackers went after the fourth. With every breath, the young woman bravely fought off a sexual assault, so much so the assailant gave up and shot her [survivor Natasha Ariel] in the head.

Sources say they moved in on the other woman, pulling a machete, slashing and marking up her face and forehead, sexually assaulting her [Iofemi Hightower].

Defensive wounds on her arms and hands show how valiantly she resisted. In the end, she and her two friends were forced to kneel before a wall, face first, all three executed with bullets to the back of their heads.

Law enforcement sources familiar with gangs say this vicious attack has MS-13 written all over it, similar in its brutality to massacres they’ve committed throughout Latin America. Once convinced this was a robbery gone bad, officials have since conceded several of the suspects have MS-13 affiliations and are now, say sources, giving gang motivations strong consideration.

One of the women attacked and murdered, Iofemi Hightower, nearly had her head cut off by these thugs and used machetes to hack at their victims, and it took morticians three days to prepare the body.

Will Newark finally end its nonsensical sanctuary city policy and enforce the law, including obtaining immigration status of individuals arrested for violent crimes? Will other states and cities do the same?

The New Jersey Attorney General, Anne Milgram will require law enforcement in New Jersey to contact ICE to determine immigration status for those arrested for violent crimes. She notes that law enforcement will not ask victims and witnesses to divulge their immigration status, and that's a fair balance of dealing with the community. You want to be able to obtain tips and witnesses for criminal acts, and the threat of deportation and exposure of possible immigration law violations may keep those witnesses from coming forward and allowing violent criminals to walk free. Even with this move, there are those who are cautious and wonder whether this is going to lead to localities enforcing federal immigration law:

The order drew praise from county and local police departments, although groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey cautioned that it could lead to abuse by local officers.

"There needs to be more training with regard to this and other related issues to ensure it doesn't go down a path of enforcing federal immigration policy or racial profiling," said Charles "Shai" Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network.

Milgram said the state will monitor departments periodically to insure compliance and issue an annual report on how often notifications are made. She stressed that officers are prohibited from racial profiling -- treating suspects differently based on their ethnicity.

Sadly, it should not have taken this violent crime to have law enforcement conduct this common sense check of immigration status for those it arrests.

Furthermore, there are problems with ICE and its ability to determine promptly whether someone is here legally or not. As Michelle notes, there remain questions relating to the immigration status of the individuals arrested - in particular Godinez, Jovel, and Carranza. Were they subject to TPS - temporary protected status, which enables lawful residency in the US even if they've been accused of criminal acts? Under TPS, it would take a felony conviction to strip someone of TPS, but no one at ICE appears to know what status any of the three have.

This is one of the most infuriating aspects of this case. We have law enforcement who doesn't check with ICE to determine whether someone is here legally or not, so bail can't be properly determined or detainers placed against illegal aliens pursuant to immigration law, ICE can't quite figure out whether the three men are here lawfully - especially if the men may have been granted amnesty as a result of one of a number of amnesty laws passed since the 1980s, and the media doesn't seem to think that this aspect of the story is worth pursuing despite the problems with immigration law.

Others noting the story include Hot Air.

Meanwhile, those within the Newark community have rallied around the families of the victims.

Sensibility By New Jersey Attorney General

Attorney General Anne Milgram today required all local police officers in New Jersey to inquire about the immigration status of suspects charged with serious crimes, and to notify federal immigration authorities if there is reason to believe the suspect is in the country illegally.

The requirements, which go into effect immediately, apply to suspects arrested for indictable offenses and for driving while intoxicated, Milgram said. If the suspect is unable to prove he or she is legally in the United States, the police officer is required to notify Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, she said. The policy also specifies that prosecutors and courts be notified.

Local officers cannot inquire about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses to crimes or persons requesting police assistance, she said.

Now, it remains to be seen whether municipalities, including Newark, will adhere to the AG's requirements or whether they will continue their misguided policies of looking the other way on arrests and other law enforcement interactions with individuals who are later determined to be illegal aliens.

Determining the identity of someone needs to include obtaining whether someone is a legal citizen, legal resident, or an illegal alien, as that can and should have an effect on whether bail is granted based on the flight risk, and whether detainer and deportation should be considered.

I suspect that Newark will try to skirt the rules based on Mayor Booker's (D) statements last week.

Rich

Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James (D) who has been indicted on various corruption charges, claims that he can't pay his lawyer bills.

Raymond M. Brown, of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, represented James in court in July after the former mayor was indicted on corruption charges alleging he bilked the city for thousands of dollars in personal travel and vacations, including one to test drive a Rolls Royce, and steered lucrative city land deals to associates.

But Brown filed a motion to U.S. District Judge William Martini today asking for his firm to be removed from the case.

"Sharpe James has advised me...that his personal funds will not be able to meet the projected budget for the hiring of this law firm," Brown wrote in an affidavit to the court. "Continued discussions of this matter have the capacity to erode the lawyer-client relationship and to interfere with providing effective assistance of counsel."

That's a curious thing, considering that he's quite well to do with various pensions and bank accounts at his disposal. Indeed, he's got an annual pension of about $125,000 and had a million dollar nest egg, from which he withdrew about half. Not all of that money can be used in this matter, but it would appear that he has the assets, but not the willpower to actually use his own money for his legal defense. Further, if he wins the case, he would be reimbursed by the City for his defense since it stems from his time in office. This may be the first sign that things are not going well for James and his lawyers are seeing the mess pile up around them. Knowing that your co-counsel is also facing trouble over this case isn't making Brown's job any easier.

Indeed, that's the more interesting development - federal prosecutors are trying to knock James' other lawyer from the case:

Brown's motion comes as federal prosecutors seek to knock James' other lawyer, prominent criminal trial attorney Thomas Ashley, out of the case. Prosecutors argue that Ashley has a conflict because he represented two other people who could become witnesses in the trial when they appeared before the grand jury. They also said Ashley himself could become a witness in the case because James visited Ashley in Martha's Vineyard in August 2003 during one of the many personal vacations James allegedly billed to the city.

Ashley had another attorney, Alan Zegas, respond with a motion on his behalf, accusing the government of sinking to "unthinkable depths" by tarnishing Ashley's ethics to block James from having the counsel of his choice.

Martini will hear arguments on the motions Wednesday morning in federal district court in Newark.

The legal woes for James are mounting, and having a legal team in flux doesn't make it any easier.

Oh, and no where in this article does it mention James' political affiliation. I'll give you a clue - he's a Democrat.

Gangs and Sanctuary

GOP Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo slammed the whole notion of sanctuary cities and pointed to the Newark triple execution as proof-in-fact.

Federal officials said on Monday that a second man among the suspects in the schoolyard slayings of three young friends was in the United States illegally, and a conservative presidential candidate flew into town to denounce the city’s leaders as complicit in the murders because they had declared Newark a “sanctuary” for immigrants.

“If the suspects are found guilty, Newark and its political leadership share a degree of responsibility,” Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, said on the steps of the gold-domed City Hall, surrounded by a dozen supporters and slightly more protesters who rallied against him. “I encourage the family of the victims to pursue a lawsuit against the city.”

Mr. Tancredo, whose bid for the Republican nomination is based largely on an aggressive stance against illegal immigration, is among the many conservatives nationwide who seized on the killings after it was reported that one of the suspects, Jose Lachira Carranza, 28, was an illegal immigrant from Peru.

Before the killings, Mr. Carranza had been arrested three times on felony charges but had been released on bail, in part because the authorities never checked his immigration status. Doing so would likely have triggered a federal “detainer” that would have kept Mr. Carranza in custody to await deportation proceedings.

On Monday, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency placed a similar detainer on Melvin Jovel, 18, who on Sunday was the sixth person to be arrested in the case. Immigration officials said Mr. Jovel, who was from Honduras, also was in the country illegally.

A third man, Rodolfo Godinez, 24, a legal resident who immigrated from Nicaragua, and three teenagers also face murder and robbery charges for the shooting deaths of Iofemi Hightower, 20; Dashon Harvey, 20; and Terrance Aeriel, 18, on Aug. 4 behind the Mount Vernon School. Mr. Aeriel’s sister Natasha, 19, was also shot, but survived.

Well, it would appear that Godinez somehow attained legal residency, even though earlier reports indicated that he had been subject to deportation and no one was able to track down his whereabouts despite having been involved in various criminal activities over the years.

The sad fact is that the people who pursued the sanctuary city policy on grounds that they were doing so out of compassion for illegal aliens have only managed to provide fertile ground for illegal aliens to pursue criminal activities, including violent crimes such as the triple execution slaying. Gangs, including MS-13 have exploited sanctuary city policies and have set up shop in many urban areas, including Newark.

It was only yesterday that Mayor Cory Booker (D) acknowledged that there are indeed gang overtones to the triple execution, although they continue to downplay the gang aspect. Today, we learn more about the arrests of Godinez and his half brother, Alexander Alfaro, 16, who was arrested Saturday in Virginia after a FBI informant noted that he was meeting up with MS-13 gang members. Two other members had web pages that touted MS-13 and Newark residents have said that they believed that some of the suspects were indeed gang members.

Meanwhile, other New Jersey localities are struggling to deal with the problem and some are urging their elected officials not to assist the federal government in enforcing immigration laws. One such locality is the town of Bogota:

"Our local police should not have the added duty of helping the federal government enforce the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act," said mayoral candidate Andrew T. Fede, a lawyer. "And we are concerned that some believe that the program could be abused as a profiling tool against Hispanic-Americans."

Lonegan, who is not seeking reelection, is one of the state's most vocal proponents of strict immigration enforcement. He said last month that he was considering applying for the program. He said illegal immigration was not a significant problem in Bogota but that he felt 287G would serve as a deterrent to undocumented people who might otherwise settle in Bogota.

Councilwoman Anne Marie Mitchell, who is running for reelection on the same slate as Fede, was on the list of candidates who released the statement opposing 287G. She could not be reached for comment.

At least one New Jersey mayor, Morristown's Donald Cresitello, has applied to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for admission into 287G. He says he is still awaiting a decision.

The federal program has gained attention nationwide as local officials are making moves to address illegal immigration, citing the failure of national political leaders to reform the flawed immigration system.

UPDATE:
Jovel was in court to plead not guilty to the charges stemming from the triple homicide. However, the interesting part comes from what is now being considered an undetermined immigration status. No one seems to know whether Jovel was a legal resident or not.

Jovel, who is from Honduras, told the judge he does not have a Social Security number or a green card, but his immigration status remains unclear, prosecutors said. A U.S. passport was found among his belongings when he was arrested Sunday night, but officials are still trying to determine whether the passport is valid, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas A. McTigue said. Federal authorities have placed a detainer on Jovel because his status is uncertain, McTigue said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials participated in Jovel's arrest, and a spokesman for the agency said it becomes involved "when they suspect a person is in the county illegally."

So, it is quite possible that he had forged documents, which add to his legal troubles but no one is quite sure whether he is here legally? This once again highlights the problems with enforcing immigration laws and the failure to control borders. We simply don't know who has entered the country and whether individuals have overstayed their visas, especially when localities do not inform ICE of arrests. In this case, because it is a high profile situation, ICE was involved and a detainer was placed on Jovel. This is what needed to have been done with Carranza and Godinez when each were arrested previously - so as to determine their immigration status and prevent flight if bond was issued on earlier crimes. Failures to contact ICE meant that the illegal aliens were able to stay on the streets and commit still more crimes.

UPDATE:
Mitt Romney has also blasted the notion of sanctuary cities, in a new ad campaign. I guess he felt this was a way to go after Rudy and score points with the law and order types who have been on the case of those municipalities that have sought to become havens for illegal aliens.

"Immigration laws don't work if they're ignored," the ad's announcer states. "That's the problem with cities like Newark, San Francisco and New York City that adopt sanctuary policies. Sanctuary cities become magnets that encourage illegal immigration and undermine secure borders."

"Legal immigration is great," Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, himself says in the ad. "But illegal immigration, that we've got to end. And amnesty is not the way to do it."

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin weighs in on the arrest and indeterminate status of Jovel.

Return To Sender

It's good to see that the federal government finally did what needed to be done in deporting Elvira Arellano back to Mexico. She was in the US illegally, and had been claiming sanctuary in a church where she was organizing illegal alien protests. She was arrested upon her emerging from the church. Her deportation took place swiftly and she was sent to Tijuana.

An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church’s pastor said.

Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change.

She had just spoken at rally Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living.

“She has been deported. She is free and in Tijuana,” said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. “She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border.”

It is a travesty that it took this long for Arellano to be deported. The immigration courts had signed off on her deportation in 1997. Don Surber says good riddance. Too bad it took so long for immigration officials to finally do what they were sworn to do - uphold the law.

There's good reason to question the timing of this high profile deportation. What's also important to note is that immigration system can work quite efficiently when it wants to and many illegal aliens have absolutely no intention of assimilating into US culture, but rather want to continue with their own cultures, without regard for US culture, norms, or law.

Meanwhile, the final thug implicated in the heinous Newark execution slaying of three college students was arrested without incident. The survivor of the incident has fingered Melvin Jovell as the shooter who murdered her three friends. New Jersey law enforcement is still trying to sort out the excuses and reasons for why Godinez or Carranza were allowed to roam on the streets, including the overburdened criminal justice system and corrections system, especially when both were illegal aliens.

There are some NJ legislators who want to end the wall between the criminal justice system, law enforcement, and federal immigration authorities - so that if an illegal alien is arrested on other crimes, that status will be passed along to immigration officials. That it would take a legislator to write to the State Attorney General directing that they do such a thing shows the blind eye to which the state had turned on this serious issue.

Indeed, there are continuing signs that the thugs who executed Terrance Aeriel, Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower are members of MS-13, although Newark police continue to discount that aspect of the case:

According to the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, Newark police pieced the case together with the help of MySpace, the social networking Web site, where the 16-year-old suspect had a page. Information on his page revealed that he had left New Jersey and listed friends in Virginia.

Although the page has been removed, The Washington Post has a saved version of it, showing the young man in sunglasses and a bandanna making a gang sign. On the page, he claimed to be a member of Guanacos Little Cycos Salvatruchos, part of the Latino gang MS-13 with ties to Northern Virginia. He noted his occupation as "smoke Piff" and his income as "$250,000 and higher." The page showed that the "last login" was Aug. 5, the day after the killings.

A man who was at the Oxon Hill apartment at the time of Godinez's arrest said Godinez had talked about being a member of MS-13. Newark police and other authorities say, however, that they have found no gang link to the killings.

Perhaps the Newark police are withholding that information so as to develop further leads or saving information for trial, but I wonder why the police would discount the ties to MS-13. Are they turning a blind eye to the problem, even as it stares them in the face?

UPDATE:
Godinez is fighting his extradition from Maryland to New Jersey. Also, this report claims that Godinez is a legal resident.

The 24-year-old Nicaraguan national nabbed early Saturday in suburban Washington D.C. and charged in the Aug. 4 Newark schoolyard shootings is fighting extradition, officials said this morning.

Rodolfo Godinez is being held in Prince George's County, Md. Had he waived his extradition hearing, he could have been returned to New Jersey this week. Instead, he will remain in the Maryland jail until the Sept. 20 hearing.

Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Maryland State's Attorney Glenn Ivey, said the only argument Godinez, who is a legal resident, will be allowed to make during his extradition hearing is that he is not who the authorities say he is. If he can't make that case, Korionoff said, he will be returned to New Jersey.

Godinez was supposed to be deported in 1993 but no one ever bothered to follow up despite his numerous criminal justice entanglements, and no one apparently knew whether he was deported or not. Now, he's considered a legal resident? Can someone please clarify and straighten this out for me? When did he enter the country legally, and who determined this?

More on today's legal moves can be found at the WaPo.

UPDATE:
After days of saying that there weren't any links to gangs and discounting gang overtones with respect to the execution slayings, Mayor Booker has admitted that there are indeed gang overtones to the murders.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker acknowledged today there were "gang overtones" to the execution-style killings of three college students in a Newark school playground Aug. 4 but said police have no evidence to indicate the shootings were a gang attack.

"It is obvious that, as information continues to come forward, that we're seeing some gang overtones that are involved with this," Booker said at press conference a day after police arrested the sixth and final suspect. "Though we do not know with any specificity if this was a gang-related event whatsoever."

Police Director Garry McCarthy said the shootings have prompted his department to step up its intelligence on MS-13, a Hispanic gang with which some of the suspects identified.

It's better late than never, and Newark would be well served to get a crash course on dealing with these violent thugs. Dealing with them both via law enforcement and via immigration enforcement would be a good idea, though I doubt that Newark will change its sanctuary city status anytime soon, despite the links between violent crimes and illegal aliens in and around Newark and neighboring towns and cities.