Steven Rodas

3 weeks ago | nj.com | Steven Rodas

To afford to live comfortably, Margaret Essadik — a frank but friendly 70-year-old West Orange resident — makes certain compromises. She doesn’t have a car. Today I called out PJM — the organization that manages our electric grid — for making NJ residents pay more on their power bills. Because PJM failed to fix broken policies for years, electricity prices are now skyrocketing — jumping from $29 to $270 per unit. That means about $25… pic.twitter.com/KJdquaUa74— Rep.

4 weeks ago | nj.com | Steven Rodas |Brent Johnson

Paper bags would return to grocery stores in New Jersey were he elected governor, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. Since May 2022, large grocery stores and big box stores in the state have not been allowed to give customers plastic or paper bags, either for free or for a nominal fee. Forbidding paper bags was the biggest way New Jersey went above and beyond other states when it comes to waste-reduction laws.

1 month ago | nj.com | Steven Rodas

Since sinkholes began to form a stone’s throw away on I-80, Alexandra Lawler has counted 50 to 60 cracks throughout her Avalon Wharton apartment complex. She scrolls through pics of them on her phone. N.J. senator suggests bussing commuters off gridlocked I-80 after 3rd sinkhole https://t.co/bNyWxKmvVP— njdotcom (@njdotcom) March 21, 2025 If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.

1 month ago | nj.com | Steven Rodas

Given all the history, lawsuits, letters and meetings, it can easily feel like you’re neck-deep in sand when thinking about the “Five Mile Island” project. That’s the massive $54 million Jersey Shore project, which is meant to reinforce a roughly 5-mile stretch of coast in Cape May County amid severe erosion and build up defenses in the face of future storms. The project has been in the planning, design and finalization phase for over a decade.

1 month ago | nj.com | Steven Rodas |Larry Higgs

When nail tech Sabrina Cazorla left her house Thursday to run errands, she saw the line of traffic that’s become commonplace in front of her Wharton home and just sighed. The 28-year-old was frustrated. Cazorla commutes to work in this part of Morris County. She also lives across the street from a detour that was put in place since a series of sinkholes suddenly opened up on I-80 — the third and most recent on the westbound lane near the Route 15 overpass.