The presidential election and the coronavirus outbreak have largely overshadowed New Jersey’s highest-profile ballot question this year, but the state could be the latest to legalize recreational marijuana if voters say yes to a constitutional amendment. Ballots are about to go out to all registered voters in New Jersey’s first-ever mostly vote-by-mail election. In addition to voting for president, U.S. Senate and House, New Jerseyans will also decide whether to amend the state constitution to permit those 21 and older to use marijuana. The amendment also allows for the state to set up a regulated market for the drug. New Jersey would become the 12th state, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize recreational marijuana, if the question succeeds.

Gas prices have dipped in New Jersey and across the nation, and analysts say they expect the decline to continue. AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $2.22, down two cents from the week before. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.20, also down two cents from the previous week. Analysts say the approach of fall generally means decreased demand and therefore savings at the pump, but this year gas prices could drop even lower than prices seen so far this year. (AP)

For the first time in many years, new members of have been added to the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisroel of America. Their names have been released for the first time in a Kol Korei on Sunday afternoon. A statement released to YWN by the Agudah stated the following: “At the time of Agudas Yisroel’s founding in Katowitz in 1912, it established a body known as the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, consisting of gedolim from across Europe to stand at the helm of the movement. It has always been the hallmark of the Agudah, whether in pre-war Europe or post-war America, that its policies have been guided by the words of the Moetzes.

An early morning shooting near the Rutgers University campus in New Jersey killed two people and wounded six others, authorities said Sunday. Middlesex County prosecutors and New Brunswick police said officers responding to the scene shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday found eight people with apparent gunshot wounds. The victims were taken to various hospitals and two male victims were pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, police said Police and prosecutors said the investigation so far indicates that “there is no affiliation with Rutgers University or its students.” WABC-TV reported that the gunfire occurred at an off-campus party when someone started shouting and then fired a number of shots.

YWN rgerets to inform you of the Petira of Mrs. Devora Leah Hecht A”H, wife of Rabbi Pinchus Hecht, the Executive Director of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Flatbush. She was 59. Her children are Chayale, Tzpori, Rivky, Tova, Avigayil, Batsheva, Miriam and her son, Yossie. She was the daughter of HaRav Yeshaya Siff, the well-known Rov in the Lower East Side. The Levaya will take place on Sunday, September 13th at 11:45 a.m. in the TAG Elementary School, 444 Beach 6th Street Far Rockaway NY. The Kevurah will be at Beth Moses Cemetery -Wellwood Boruch Dayan HaEmmes… The Levaya will be live streamed here. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New Jersey drivers should expect to reach for a little extra pocket change when taking the state’s major highways starting Sunday. Construction and labor groups supported the plan, while environmental groups and some motorists criticized it. The higher tolls will fund a $24 billion construction plan that includes $16 billion to widen sections of the turnpike and parkway, permanently implement cashless toll payment and replace a bridge between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The toll hike was approved by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority back in May, and was signed by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Atlantic City Expressway tolls will increase an average of 57 cents. Garden State Parkway tolls will rise by 27%, increasing the cost of an average trip by 30 cents from $1.11.

Americans commemorated 9/11 on Friday as another national crisis, the coronavirus, reconfigured ceremonies and as a presidential campaign carved a path through the memorials. In New York, victims’ relatives gathered Friday morning for split-screen remembrances at the World Trade Center’s Sept. 11 memorial plaza and on a nearby corner, set up by separate organizations that differed on balancing tradition with virus safety. Standing on the plaza, with its serene waterfall pools and groves of trees, Jin Hee Cho said she couldn’t erase the memory of the death of her younger sister, Kyung, in the 2001 terrorist attack that destroyed the trade center’s twin towers. “It’s just hard to delete that in my mind.

The New York City teachers union warns it won’t let the nation’s largest school district reopen for in-person classes this month if the city doesn’t issue protective equipment, conduct testing and clean schools properly. Union leader Michael Mulgrew in a Friday video accuses the city of not acting with enough urgency on the pandemic. The return of public school students to classrooms was delayed from Sept. 10 to Sept. 21 so coronavirus safety precautions could be worked on further. Mulgrew says the city knows what it needs to do to make schools safe and, in his words, “if you can’t make that happen before the children come into schools, then we’re not going to let you open these schools.” (AP)

The largest container ship ever to call on a U.S. east coast port was headed to New Jersey on Saturday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced. The 1,200-foot (366-meter) CMA CGM Brazil will dock at the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal carrying cargo that includes clothing, pharmaceuticals, furniture, toys, holiday decorations and food, the authority said in a news release. Build this year, the Brazil is longer than four New York City blocks and wider than a football field at 167 feet (51 meters) wide. The container ship sailed from Sri Lanka and berthed at Halifax, Nova Scotia on Thursday before heading to the New York-New Jersey area. (AP)

The 9/11 Memorial Museum opened to the public on Saturday for the first time since cultural institutions across New York City shut down six months ago to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The museum at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan first reopened to family members only on Friday, the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attack that destroyed the trade center’s twin towers, before welcoming the general public on Saturday. Visitors have to wear masks, and only 25% of the museum’s maximum capacity is permitted inside. The museum has always required timed entry tickets purchased in advance, which will continue.