EDISON, N.J., Nov. 4 (ZFJ) — The Edison Town Council election saw a Democrat sweep, with Robert J. Kentos, Biral Patel, and Kelli Dima all securing seats on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The Democrat candidates outpaced the Republican candidates by a margin of over 10,000 votes. While the Democrats had three candidates, the Republican Party only had two nominations, and Elizabeth Conway was on David Tingle’s team, People’s Choice 2025. Patel had been a member of the Edison Board of Education from 2021 to 2024, serving as board president in 2024.

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 4 (ZFJ) — Vishal Patel, Russell J. Azzarello, and Xiaohan “Shannon” Peng won the three available seats on the Edison Board of Education on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Column 2, the Students First team, led by a margin of about 2,000-4,000 more votes than Column 3, the Shaping Edison’s Future team. Patel and Peng are incumbent members of the board. Patel is the current board vice president. Azzarello dropped out of running for Edison town council as a Republican candidate to join the board race instead.

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 4 (ZFJ) — A juvenile has been arrested for texting a false bomb threat to a North Brunswick poll on Tuesday, Nov. 4. At about 8:15 a.m. today, the North Brunswick Police Department began receiving several reports of a bomb threat at Livingston Park Elementary School via text message, according to a statement from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. North Brunswick police officers and Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department explosive detection K-9 officers responded to the polling location and cleared it of any bombs.

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 1 (ZFJ) — Federal immigration authorities arrested 29 people in a raid on a warehouse in Edison on Aug. 20. The raid occurred at the Smart Supply Chain Logistics and Freight Solutions warehouse at 45 Patrick Avenue. The arrest figure comes from the Edison mayor’s office, which distributed a statement to media organizations. The ZFJ was unable to obtain the statement firsthand despite repeated emails, phone calls, and an in-person visit to town hall, and is thus referencing other outlets’ reporting here.

AVENEL, N.J., Oct. 31 (ZFJ) — Federal immigration authorities arrested 46 people in a raid on a warehouse in the Avenel section of Woodbridge on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The raid occurred at the warehouse of Italian-based logistics company Savino Del Bene located at 34 Engelhard Avenue, according to Cosecha New Jersey. “The operation is part of DHS’ ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with customs and immigration regulations, safeguard the integrity of the supply chain, and verify that warehouse operators are adhering to all applicable security requirements,” said a U.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (ZFJ) — A judge’s order prohibiting immigration agents from stopping and detaining people based on race was overturned by the Supreme Court on Sept. 8. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting roving patrols in Los Angeles since this summer to fulfill arrest quotas as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. In response to a lawsuit by multiple ICE detainees and advocacy organizations against the federal government, U.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (ZFJ) — A federal district judge in California ruled on Sept. 2 that President Donald Trump’s use of the California National Guard and U.S. Marines in Los Angeles violated a federal law restricting the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Raising concerns about Trump’s potential use of the military elsewhere in the nation, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer found that Trump’s use of the soldiers violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for civilian law enforcement without authorization from Congress or the Constitution.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (ZFJ) — The Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) opened an exhibit of the restoration of the Revolutionary War-era gunboat Philadelphia on Friday, Aug. 22. Viewing windows at “The Gunboat Philadelphia Preservation Project” exhibit allow visitors to observe the vessel’s underwater restoration in real time, conducted by a team of underwater archaeologists and maritime conservators from Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program (under contract with the Smithsonian).

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (ZFJ) — President Donald Trump ordered all state National Guard forces as well as certain federal law enforcement agencies to create specialized public order units in an expansion of his declared D.C. crime emergency on Monday, Aug. 25. “PUBLIC SAFETY AND ORDER” UNITS In section 2(d)(i) of his executive order, Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia, Trump requires that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit” within the D.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (ZFJ) — National Guard soldiers patrolling D.C. as part of President Donald Trump’s federal intervention and declared crime emergency are now armed with rifles and pistols. Media reports indicated that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered that the guardsmen be armed in a directive announced by the Pentagon on Friday, Aug. 22. Prior to the order, the guardsmen were not armed, and the Pentagon declined to comment further on the topic.