Brianna Kudisch

New Jersey

Local Reporter at NJ.com

Local Reporter at The Star-Ledger

Reporter @njdotcom + @starledger | formerly @brooklynpaper | send tips: [email protected]

Articles

Police chief in tiny N.J. town resigns. His scandals led to criminal charges.

3 weeks ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

A scandal-ladden police chief in a tiny Monmouth County borough resigned last month, six months after he was criminally charged with illegally using a law enforcement database. Peter Cooke Jr., who served as the chief of the Englishtown Police Department, submitted his resignation on May 19, according to the borough council’s May 28 meeting agenda. It was submitted after a state judge issued a public employment forfeiture order.
See huge I-80 sinkhole minutes after it opened in chilling new video

1 month ago | lehighvalleylive.com | Brianna Kudisch

Newly obtained video recorded by a New Jersey State Police trooper’s body camera shows the moments soon after a massive I-80 sinkhole in Morris County opened up in December. The video footage was obtained by abc7, which filed a request under the state’s Open Public Records Act. The giant sinkhole opened up Dec. 26. It was filled in and repaired, but two additional I-80 sinkholes opened up in February and March.
Former mob hitman: Murder was his calling. Can he find atonement in N.J. politics?

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

The rapist needed to die. The order had come from above. And John Alite was ready to do his part. Back then, John Gotti Jr.’s right-hand man was always willing. The ex-mob enforcer now regrets much of what he did for the Gambino crime family, decades before he became an unlikely councilman in the quaint borough of Englishtown. But he doesn’t regret John Gebert‘s 1996 murder — or his role in it.
NJ Transit ends strike talks with no deal, vows to try again Sunday

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

The NJ Transit strike won’t be settled on Saturday, state officials said. A meeting between state officials and union negotiators with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ended without a deal Saturday afternoon, NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri said. “Today’s discussions continued to be constructive,” Kolluri said.
WATCH: New video shows moments after massive N.J. sinkhole opens up

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

Newly obtained video recorded by a New Jersey State Police trooper’s body camera shows the moments soon after a massive I-80 sinkhole in Morris County opened up in December. The video footage was obtained by ABC News, which filed a request under the state’s Open Public Records Act. The giant sinkhole opened up Dec. 26. It was filled in and repaired, but two additional I-80 sinkholes opened up in February and March.
New Rutgers president to be named Monday after secretive search

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

Rutgers University’s governing boards are expected to name the school’s new president at a meeting in New Brunswick Monday. Campus officials sent out a notice Saturday announcing a 10 a.m. meeting to vote on an “executive-level member of the administration.” The meeting is a joint session of the Rutgers Board of Governors and Rutgers Board of Trustees, the two bodies that usually come together to appoint the school’s president.
WATCH: An iconic N.J. hotel was just demolished

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch |Brent Johnson

A once-shimmering hospitality landmark in New Jersey is officially no more. The former Sheraton Mahwah Hotel — an iconic hotel that stood out for decades along the otherwise tree-lined highways near the New York border — was demolished Saturday morning. The 22-story building in Bergen County, with its dark glass exterior and double-L-shaped structure, stood at the intersection of routes 17 and 287 for nearly 40 years. But the hotel closed two years ago.
I’ll donate $1M if you approve my projects, N.J. developer tells town. But it’s not a bribe, he says.

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

The Bordentown Regional School District desperately needs money. Kevin Johnson, a local developer and business owner, just so happens to have some spare change. He also has two applications before the township, seeking to repurpose office buildings into housing.
Iconic N.J. hotel gets new demolition date

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

The third time’s the charm. Officials have rescheduled the demolition of the former Sheraton Mahwah Hotel to the morning of Saturday, May 10. The implosion of the 22-story Bergen County landmark, which closed two years ago, was initially scheduled for April 27. It was then postponed to Sunday, May 11 — Mother’s Day — the township’s business administrator, Ben Kezmarsky, told NJ Advance Media in an email.
N.J. astrophysicist announces astonishing interstellar discovery — 10 hours after giving birth

1 month ago | nj.com | Brianna Kudisch

It’s been a busy week for Blakesley Burkhart. On Monday, Rutgers University announced Burkhart’s international team of scientists made an astonishing discovery — a vast, once-invisible molecular cloud that could form a cluster of stars. It coincided with the team’s publication in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Astronomy. But just a day earlier, Burkhart experienced another watershed event: giving birth to her first child.