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Trenton, NJ – New Jersey’s $58.8 billion FY2026 budget bill, the largest ever for the state, passed both the Senate and the Assembly on Monday, June 30, and was signed by Gov. Philip Murphy late in the evening, successfully avoiding a shutdown. The passage mostly followed party lines, with the Senate approval coming through at 26-13 with one senator not voting, and the Assembly voting 52-27 with a single abstention.
News Poem
The arc of the moral universe bends
It doesn't bend on its own
It has, historically, only been bent by the weight of Black and brown bodies
Bent by the weight of their whole lives on their backs as our Indigenous Ancestors were death marched off their land
Bent by the weight of Black people, enslaved and “free,” hung from trees
Bent by the weight of Black men and women, spilling their blood onto the Edmund Pettus bridge
Bent by the weight of Iraqi children bombed – because if we must accept Black people's humanity we can still deny the humanity of Arabs and Muslims
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In the third public forum featuring the Gen Z Speakers’ Bureau members, Public Square Amplified hosts a virtual discussion on the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
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Newark, NJ - The U.S. Department of Justice still has its sights set on U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver. Over a week after Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka was arrested for allegedly trespassing at Delaney Hall, the DOJ dropped their charges against Baraka, only to charge McIver for reportedly assaulting two federal agents as the Newark Mayor was arrested on May 9th.
Newark, NJ - On June 14, while tanks roll down the streets of D.C. celebrating the sitting President’s birthday, New Jersey residents from Montclair to Cape May will gather in parks, town squares, and overpasses to declare: this is not what democracy looks like. This is the message behind the nationwide “No Kings” Day of Defiance — and in New Jersey, that message hits especially hard.
Philadelphia, PA - When our circle of collaborators first began this work together, we didn’t know that we would be creating our own form of journalism. We had convened a cohort of brilliant, principled media workers to manifest these goals, and found ourselves lucky that more than 20 journalists, media ethicists, mutual aid organizers and other subject-matter experts joined us for the journey. Making space for Black and Brown storytellers in news, looking at new models for coverage on crime and public safety, planting seeds for the news projects we wanted to see— this was all on our to-do list. Co-creating what we now call safer journalism happened along the way.
From the Community
Newark, NJ - The arrest of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka grounded the current discussion on “citizenship and rights” after federal officers arrested him outside Delaney Hall on Friday, May 9th, only to be freed within hours that same day. Baraka was arrested and detained by ICE for allegedly trespassing at Delaney Hall in Newark.
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