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Our NJ Decides 2024 Election Exchange political podcast series gives New Jersey voters insight into the candidates running for Congress. All 12 of New Jersey’s House seats and one Senate seat are up for grabs in November.
This evidence led the police department to request James Forte’s body to be exhumed for DNA collection. It turned out to be a positive match -- Schubert had finally cracked the case.
📷: Eric Schubert
Years later, then 15-year-old Schubert decided he’d try turning his genealogy hobby into a job and offered his skills to the community. To his surprise, it took off. He’d go on to solve over 1,000 family tree cases for people across the country.
Growing up with a passion for memorizing license plates and doing puzzles, Eric Schubert (
@ESGenealogy
) picked up genealogy as a hobby when he was 8 years old, fascinated by family trees and piecing together his ancestry.
After successfully cracking the case, Schubert offered his newfound services to other police departments. Within weeks, he had a partial case file with 9-year-old Marise Chiverella’s murder suspect’s DNA and a potential match list.
Even with his success, Schubert doesn’t plan on genealogy as a full-time job. “I used to love ‘Criminal Minds’ and all those shows,” he said. “Now I can’t watch anything true crime. I can’t even listen to podcasts because it’s like, that’s my life.”
Schubert went on to solve two more cold cases, each of which wrapped up this year. One of which involved the murder by stabbing and sexual assault of Lee Gunsalus Rotatori in Iowa in 1982.
Eventually Schubert and the Hazelton, PA Police Department narrowed down the suspect list to four, one of whom was James Forte — a bartender who died of natural causes in 1980.
For two years, Schubert used the murder suspect’s DNA to run down genetic leads. The goal? To find someone, anyone, whose DNA matched that of the suspect.
New Jersey is the second state in the nation to adopt a law creating a universal home nurse visitation program for new parents regardless of income, insurance or zip code. And at no cost.
Moms Demand Action is pushing for a bill to raise the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 years old to 21, another to allow Medicaid funding to be used to benefit victims of gun violence and a third to tighten requirements for a gun permit.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited New Jersey this week as part of his effort to highlight President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, six months after it was signed.
“The goal is for, again, teachers not to have to worry about every single thing that (they) say. It creates a climate of fear and intimidation” said former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who created a PAC with the goal of keeping culture wars out of schools.
“We texted back and forth every so often, and I looked over some of the texts today, particularly the one where she said … “women should be at the table and in the room and in the fray.” And Sheila was never afraid of the fray,” said
@SenatorLorettaW
.
Meet Karanveer Pannu, a community leader and the first Sikh member of the Vorhees Township Zoning Board who works as a bullying prevention specialist supporting diversity and tolerance.
Watch the newest episode of
@MyNJPBS
“21” digital documentary series:
New Jersey’s primary election is one week away and for the first time in state history, early voting is an option.
@SecretaryWay
joins
#NJSpotlightNews
to discuss the different ways voters can cast their ballot in next week’s primary.
#NJDecides
“Starting today, we should stop calling OPRA, OPRA,” said Antoinette Miles of the NJ Working Families Party. “We should begin calling it ‘NOPRA’ because I do believe that we have fundamentally weakened government transparency here in New Jersey.”
Michael Aron dedicated his life to journalism and the pursuit of the truth; no job was too small for a man whose legacy is so large. He will be missed. ❤️
An event on Tuesday was meant to be a show-and-tell about a $10 billion plan to expand eight miles of the New Jersey Turnpike between Newark and Jersey City. But advocates showed up to protest, arguing the plan will increase traffic and pollution.
This week New Jersey became the first state in the nation to have a walk-in urgent care center that also caters to those with mental health issues and addiction. Read more:
U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi has overturned NJ's county line system of ballot design.
Check back with NJ Spotlight News throughout the day, as we'll have ongoing coverage of this developing story.
Millions of Americans owe an estimated $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. That growing number has
@SenatorMenendez
and
@BillPascrell
calling on
@POTUS
Joe Biden to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt:
More than 266,000 New Jersey residents voted early in this year’s primary elections, marking the first time voters had an in-person early voting option for the primaries.
#NJDecides
Rep. Mikie Sherrill is pressing her colleagues to pass additional funding for Ukrainian forces. “We can either choose to stand with our allies or we can surrender to a brutal dictator whose vision for conquest goes beyond Ukraine’s borders,” she said.
Millions of Americans owe an estimated $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. That growing number has
@SenatorMenendez
and
@BillPascrell
calling on
@POTUS
Joe Biden to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt:
It's the age-old question: How can lawmakers make NJ more affordable?
Hear what
@StevenFulop
and three other 2025 gubernatorial candidates had to say on affordability and more:
New Jersey is prepared to become an abortion safe haven. Gov. Murphy told
#NJSpotlightNews
that any person seeking reproductive care is welcome in the Garden State.
“The line creates such an advantage over who ends up in office, and who gets to decide who has a line? The party bosses. Overwhelmingly white men themselves,” said
@henal214
of
@NJ_ISJ
36% of
@realDonaldTrump
's Bedminster golf course is taxed as farmland. Why does that matter? Well, it saves Trump National more than $240,000 in taxes when compared to the normal tax rate for the rest of his golf course. Dig into his tax bill and more at
A coalition of 40 female elected officials and former candidates are calling for the abolition of the “party line.” Among them was former Assemblywoman
@sadafjaffer
, who said the system “prevents and creates a glass ceiling for women to move ahead.”
Michael Aron took NJ’s political pulse for 40 years, speaking with governors, Senate presidents, Assembly speakers, U.S. senators and chief justices. He left us with this mantra: “Remember, if you’re a reporter — New Jersey never lets you down.”
On
@RoundtableNJ
, Sue Altman discusses her recent decision to run as a Democrat in the 7th Congressional District and why she thinks voters are ready for a change from Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
First lady Tammy Murphy’s candidacy for U.S. Senate has brought cries of nepotism from some. While NJ has its fair share of powerful political families, the situation with Tammy and Gov. Phil Murphy is almost unprecedented.
On Wednesday, Gov. Murphy signed legislation to codify a new system for ensuring NJ municipalities meet the state Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel doctrine, which requires all communities to provide for their “fair share” of affordable housing.
The state AG’s office released body camera footage from the standoff between Paterson police and Najee Seabrooks. Many say Seabrooks’ death could have been avoided and call for a federal investigation, citing a history of misconduct by Paterson police.
Of the states with a legal weed program, New Jersey is the only one that bans growing marijuana plants at home. State Sen.
@VinGopal
introduced a bill that would allow those age 21 and older to grow a set amount on their own.
NJ was once so reliant on enslaved labor that it was known as “the slave state of the North,” and by 1830, it was home to two-thirds of the Northeast’s enslaved population. According to
@NJ_ISJ
, people are unaware of that history and its enduring harm.
In October, a neighbor called the police on 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson while she was spraying trees with a natural solution to rid them of spotted lanternflies. Now, Wilson is being honored at Yale University’s Peabody Museum as the first spotted lanternfly contributor.
After a recent report by
@northjersey
revealed the Rutgers University football team racked up more than $450,000 worth of DoorDash deliveries from May 2021 to June 2022, Sen.
@declanoscanlon
is calling for an investigation.
Thank you Mary Alice Williams for 6 great years as anchor of
#NJTVNews
and decades of contributions to public television. Hear more about her career and future plans on tonight’s show at 6, 7:30 and 11.