Le Journal

The New Jersey attorney general’s office is investigating a deadly “encounter” between cops and civilians in the state’s largest city, as is customary in the case of any fatal civilian shooting by police. Specifically, the AG’s office of Public Integrity and Accountability is looking into what happened in Newark on Monday afternoon. According to preliminary information, Newark police officers “encountered several civilians” near Ross Street and Evergreen Avenue just after 1 p.m. During that encounter, the AG’s office says one of the officers fired his weapon, striking two civilians. One of them was pronounced dead a short time later. The other wounded individual is hospitalized for treatment. No police officers were wounded, though one was briefly taken to a hospital for evaluation. It’s not clear what prompted the gunfire. Neither the identities of the dead man nor the other civilians or officers involved in the incident are being released at this time. The investigation is ongoing. A 2019 law requires the attorney general’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.

The roar was deafening inside the train car as it hurtled off the tracks, then slid down a steep slope, ripping open its frame. And then, amid the twisted metal of the wreckage, the cries of the injured and the silence of the dead. Surrounded by bodies after the train accident in southern Spain, one little girl somehow emerged virtually unscathed. Newspaper La Vanguardia reported that a Civil Guard officer found her barefoot on the tracks after she escaped through a broken window. Relative Juan Barroso told reporters the 6-year-old is in good health after receiving three stitches in her head at a hospital. The mayor of her family’s village, located near the ill-fated rail line, said he was finding a measure of solace in the fact this girl was out of harm’s way. “There are many people who are very sad for the victims of this terrible accident, but there were also many who survived, like the miracle of the girl who is safe,” Punta Umbria’s Mayor José Carlos Hernández told reporters Tuesday after leading a minute of silence for the victims. Among them were the girl’s parents, brother and a cousin. At least 41 people were killed in the brutal accident that has shaken the nation and left the 6-year-old child an orphan. Her family’s last names are Zamorano Álvarez, officials said. But The Associated Press is not disclosing her first name. Punta Umbria has declared three days of mourning for victims including the Zamorano Álvarez family. They were seated in the front carriages that bore the brunt of the impact when a train coming the opposite direction suddenly jumped its track for reasons still unknown. Mayor Hernández said that the girl is now with her grandparents in a hotel in Cordoba, the nearest city to the crash. “She has a tremendous family who will do what it takes for her to have a happy life,” the mayor said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders rallied with nurses Tuesday in Manhattan during the ninth day of the largest strike of its kind that the city has seen in decades. The Democratic socialists, speaking to a boisterous crowd of nurses in front of Mount Sinai West on the Upper West Side, called on hospital executives to return to the negotiating table to resolve the contract impasse that prompted some 15,000 nurses to walk off the job last week. “The people of this country are sick and tired of the greed in this health care industry,” said Sanders, the long-serving Vermont senator and a native of Brooklyn, as he rattled off the multimillion-dollar salaries of the CEOs of the three hospital systems affected by the strike. “Now is your time of need, when we can assure that this is a city you don’t just work in, but a city you can also live in,” Mamdani added. The nurses union says it has held one bargaining session with each of the three hospital systems impacted — Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian — since the strike began on Jan. 12. But the sides say those hours-long meetings have ended with little progress, and there are no plans so far this week to resume talks. “They offered us nothing. It was all performative,” said Jonathan Hunter, a registered nurse at Mount Sinai and a member of the negotiating team. The New York State Nurses Association met Sunday evening with officials from Montefiore after holding negotiations Friday with Mount Sinai administrators and Thursday with NewYork-Presbyterian officials. Hospital administrators say they’ll follow the lead of contract mediators on when to meet again with their union counterparts. Each affected hospital is negotiating with the union independently. The hospitals say the union is proposing pay raises that amount to a 25% salary increase over three years. They maintain the request is unreasonable, as their nurses are already among the highest paid in the city. “NYSNA’s demands ignore the economic realities of healthcare in New York City and the country,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement Tuesday, citing federal cuts to Medicaid, as well as rising overall costs. Outside Mount Sinai West on Tuesday morning, nurses and their supporters marched in the frigid cold, chanting “one day longer, one day stronger” as a caravan of New York City taxi drivers honked their horns in support. Nicole Rodriguez, a nurse at Mount Sinai West, said her biggest concern in the contract dispute is preserving her health care benefits. She said she has an autoimmune disease that causes her to get sick often and pass along illnesses to her child. “If my son is not well, I’m not well, and I can’t be at the bedside and be the nurse I want to be,” she said. “I hope management opens their eyes to how much support we have out here, and they see that they need to reach into their pockets and give the nurses their health care.” The union says the hospitals are seeking to reduce nurses benefits but the hospitals say they’ve proposed maintaining their current employer-funded benefits, which they say exceed what most private employees receive. The hospitals, meanwhile, say their medical operations are running normally despite the walkout. They have brought on thousands of temporary nurses to fill shifts and say they’ve made financial commitments to extend their employment. “Everyone who has come to work — including many who have gone above and beyond to support the operational response — is helping to save lives,” Brendan Carr, CEO of Mount Sinai, said in a statement to staff Monday.

What to KnowCold enough for you? The coldest air of the season moved in overnight, dropping wind chills into the single digits, where they are expected to remain through the day TuesdayIt gets even colder, highs dropping below 20 degrees, for the weekend — and Sunday is looking like a snow day for the NYC areaAt this point, it’s too early to predict potential accumulation, given how much the models are shifting. It does appear, though, that a significant snow event is on tap: It may just be a matter of where. It’s a good Tuesday, as long as you don’t have to be outside. The coldest air of the season moved in overnight, dropping wind chills into the single digits, where they are expected to remain through the day. They could dip below zero degrees at points this week. Highs should only be in the 20s. Lows will be in the teens. The tri-state area will get a brief midweek bump into the 30s and lower 40s on Thursday before another push of arctic air arrives for the weekend, sending wind chills back into the single digits for virtually the whole weekend. Looking ahead, there is the potential for a snowfall event this weekend. At this point, it’s too early to predict potential accumulation, given how much the models are shifting. It does appear, though, that a significant snow event is on tap for the East Coast this weekend. It may just be a matter of where the heavy snow sets up.

Elementary school students in New Jersey will start to learn cursive again after Governor Phil Murphy signed a new bill into law. On Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, Gov. Murphy signed S1783/A3865. The bill requires public school districts in New Jersey to incorporate instruction on cursive handwriting into curriculum for students in 3rd through 5th grades. Senator Angela McKnight, Senator Shirley Turner, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, and Assemblywoman Rosaura Bagolie all co-sponsored the bill, which applies to the next full school year. According to a spokesperson for Gov. Murphy, New Jersey was one of multiple states impacted by the adoption of the Common Core State Standards in 2010 which omitted handwriting from its curriculum. The spokesperson said New Jersey and several other states are now reversing the decision by requiring cursive instruction in schools, citing benefits for students. “The return to including cursive instruction is especially meaningful as New Jersey celebrates the upcoming 250th anniversary of our country’s founding – giving our students the skills they need to read our nation’s founding documents and complete tasks like opening a bank account or signing a check, in addition to offering cognitive benefits,” Gov. Murphy said. “We owe it to our students to give them a well-rounded education that ensures they have the tools to fully understand our rich history and become competent leaders.”