In the closing hours of New Jersey’s campaign for governor, Democratic incumbent Phil Murphy is travelling the state touting the progressive accomplishments during his first term and Republican Jack Ciattarelli is also on tour railing against high property taxes and mask mandates in schools. Murphy will be the first Democrat reelected in 44 years if he wins on Tuesday and the first person from the same party of the president to win in the off-off-year election in more than three decades. He’s staked his chances on a substantial list of progressive laws he’s signed: paid sick leave, a phased-in $15 minimum wage, higher taxes on the wealthy, taxpayer-financed community college and pre-kindergarten, and more.

The state of New York on Thursday announced on Thursday that it is taking action against Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, due to its boycott of Israel. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli stated that New York State’s Common Retirement Fund will divest its $111 million in Unilever shares. “Our review of the activities of the company, and its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s, found they engaged in BDS activities under our pension fund’s policy,” DiNapoli said in a statement to the New York Post. The New York State Common Retirement Fund, the third-largest public pension fund in the country, is estimated at $268 billion. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A Queens man who wanted to get his stolen car back told police falsely that there was a 7-year-old boy with Down syndrome in the car, police said Monday. The car owner made up the story about the child so that officers would work harder to find his red Ford Mustang, a police spokesperson said. The car was stolen shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday from in front of a house in the Hollis section. The Daily News reports that the 32-year-old car owner told police a boy with Down syndrome was inside the car when it disappeared, prompting a frantic search for the child. Several news outlets reported on the missing boy, who supposedly was unable to communicate. The car was located four hours later, and a 17-year-old suspected car thief was arrested, but there was no sign of a young boy.

Over 9,000 New York City employees, including thousands of police officers, firefighters, and sanitation workers are not at their jobs today due to Mayor Bill de Blasio Covid-19 vaccine mandate, which went into effect Monday morning. According to number provided by the Mayor’s Office, 91% of the city’s 378,000 employees are in compliance with the vaccine mandate, 9,000 are on unpaid leave, and 12,000 have filed for exemptions. Several thousand others have been accused of faking being sick. The unpaid leave designations of so many first responders have many New Yorkers concerned about what impact they will have on response time for the NYPD and NYFD, whose departments are now severely understaffed.

The Supreme Court is preparing to hear a gun rights case that could lead to more guns on the streets of New York and Los Angeles and threaten restrictions on guns in subways, airports, bars, churches, schools and other places where people gather. The case the justices will hear Wednesday comes as gun violence has surged, and it could dramatically increase the number of people eligible to carry firearms as they go about their daily lives. The case centers on New York’s restrictive gun permit law and whether challengers to the law have a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense. Gun control groups say if a high court ruling requires states to drop restrictions, the result will be more violence.

Drivers in New Jersey and around the nation are still seeing prices at the pump go up amid increasing demand. AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $3.45, up 2 cents from a week ago. Drivers were paying an average of $2.21 a gallon a year ago at this time. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.40 up three cents from last week. Drivers were paying $2.14 a gallon on average a year ago at this time. Analysts say robust demand as the economy recovers from the depths of the pandemic is combining with high crude prices to move gas prices to a level not seen since the fall of 2014. (AP)

Nine in 10 New York City municipal workers received COVID-19 vaccinations as a Monday deadline loomed under a city mandate, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio tweeted Saturday night that 91% of city workers had received the vaccine, which represented a jump from about 83% as of Friday night. Under a city mandate, those who haven’t received at least one dose of the vaccine will be put on unpaid leave starting Monday, raising the possibility of shortages of police, fire and EMS workers. New York has more than 300,000 employees.

New Jersey’s first ever early in-person voting wraps up Sunday, with more than 500,000 mail-in and in-person votes already cast, for Tuesday’s election in which voters will elect the governor and Legislature. The top of the ticket features Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy against Republican former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli. All 120 seats in the Assembly and Senate are also on the ballot, and along with them control of the Legislature. Voters will also weigh in on two ballot questions. Early in-person voting went from Oct. 23 through Oct. 31 for the first time under a bill Murphy signed last year. Mail-in ballots can be returned up until Election Day, which is Tuesday. A closer look at the contests and what’s at stake: GOVERNOR Murphy’s first-term agenda faces a test from voters.

A New York sheriff on Friday defended his decision to file a criminal complaint against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo without consulting prosecutors or the accuser, a woman who says the Democrat assaulted her late last year. But Sheriff Craig Apple said he was confident in the strength of the case, which he said was based on witness interviews and voluminous records. “I feel very confident that the district attorney is going to prosecute this,” he told reporters at a news conference in Albany, the state capital. A court summons requires Cuomo to appear for an arraignment on Nov. 17, though that date could change.

Twenty-six New York City firehouses were forced to close on Saturday amid an FDNY “sickout” in protest at the Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Hundreds of FDNY workers have reportedly been taking paid sick leave in protest over the mandate, which came into effect at 5pm on Friday. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican whose district includes Staten Island and Brooklyn, said five firehouses had closed in her district alone. “If someone dies due to a slower emergency response, it’s on Bill de Blasio and his overreaching mandates. I hope this fool fixes it ASAP!”