Public Safety · Hoboken, NJ
On Thursday, October 29, a potential threat was reported at Hoboken Middle School, prompting Church Square Park to be evacuated and several school buildings placed on lockdown or shelter-in-place orders. Streets from Fourth Street to Sixth Street and from Bloomfield to Garden Street were closed as the Hoboken Police Department investigated. Students who were outside at recess were escorted to an alternative location by Vice Principal Shannon. Superintendent Dr. Christine Johnson confirmed the AJ Demarest building was in lockdown while the Calabro School, Hudson School, and Rue Building were under shelter-in-place orders.
Local Politics · Hudson County
Hudson County Executive Craig Guy has ordered a second investigation into all interactions between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, following findings that corrections personnel improperly facilitated an ICE transfer. The probe stems from the July 24 detention of Raul Raagas, a 62-year-old Jersey City resident arrested on a child-support warrant during a traffic stop in Palisades Park. After his same-day release from HCCF, Raagas was detained by ICE and transferred through facilities in Elizabeth and Adams County, Mississippi, before being granted bond on September 30. The investigation confirmed the transfer violated New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive and Guy's executive order barring federal immigration authorities from county-owned property. Corrections officers involved have been reassigned pending disciplinary action, and new protocols including supervisory review and documentation requirements are now in effect.
Local Politics · Hudson County
Eleven months into a two-year deal awarded Nov. 25, 2025, Hudson County's three auto-parts contracts have grown from $500,000 to $1,134,500, roughly 2.3 times the original awards, according to Board of Commissioners agendas reviewed by Hudson TV. A separate vehicle-maintenance contract with A.B. Undercar Repair grew from a $200,000 not-to-exceed award in February 2024 to $435,000, with three increases occurring more than two years after the original term. The agendas also contain arithmetic discrepancies between line-item totals and printed contract amounts. Hudson TV filed an Open Public Records Act request on Oct. 20 for bid documents, contracts, and payment records; as of publication morning, the county had not responded. The article states nothing in the agendas shows wrongdoing but questions whether significantly over-budget contracts should be re-bid.
Nearby · Housing & Development · Jersey City, NJ
The Jersey City Planning Board carried the application for a 42-story, 696-unit residential tower at 506 Summit Ave. in Journal Square off its Oct. 27, 2026 agenda due to two lawsuits over West Street. Developer attorney Eugene T. Paolino said the city filed a complaint Friday afternoon and that Judge Katz directed the board not to consider West Street circulation or drainage as part of the application review. Paolino confirmed his client separately filed suit to compel the city to vacate West Street, a vacation ordered by the municipal council in February 2018 but never executed. The developer objected to the carry—its eighth since the as-of-right application was filed in December 2025—but Chairwoman Vidya Gangadin and the board carried the matter to Dec. 8, 2026.
