Brendan Byrne Archives - New Jersey Globe

Ruth Dugan, wife of former senator, will run for Senate in 39th district

March 4, 2021 9:30 amMarch 4, 2021 9:32 am

Former Saddle River Board of Education President Ruth Dugan will seek the Democratic nomination for State Senate in the 39th district. She will face either Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-River Vale) or Assemblyman Bob Auth (R-Old Tappan), depending on who Republicans...

Biden 1972 consultant worked on Dick Coffee for governor campaign in 1973

February 15, 2021 12:18 amFebruary 14, 2021 7:36 pm

The first link between Joe Biden and New Jersey politics came a few months after he won a seat in the United States Senate. Biden was just 29 when he unseated incumbent J. Caleb Boggs, a two-term Republican Senator who...

Kennedy demolished Carter in New Jersey

February 15, 2021 12:18 amFebruary 14, 2021 7:17 pm

The final day of the race for the race for the 1980 Democratic nomination came down to New Jersey and seven other states as Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy battled for delegates in a rare bid to deny a sitting...

N.J. lawmaker wanted Hank Aaron to be baseball commissioner, but Assembly never acted

January 22, 2021 6:00 pmJanuary 22, 2021 6:03 pm

The New Jersey Legislature never moved on a 1983 resolution supporting Hank Aaron to become the new Commissioner of Baseball. Assemblyman Willie Brown (D-Newark) proposed Aaron as a successor to Bowie Kuhn, a Ridgewood resident, but Assembly Speaker Alan Karcher...

New Jersey was against Dr. King state holiday before it was for it

January 18, 2021 12:21 amJanuary 17, 2021 11:29 pm

The road to establishing a legal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in New Jersey was a slow one. During the final days of the 1974-75 legislative session, the Democratic-controlled State Senate rejected the idea of a...

Trailblazer: Arnold Cream, aka Jersey Joe Wolcott

January 18, 2021 12:21 amJanuary 18, 2021 11:04 am

Arnold Cream, known as famed heavyweight boxing champion Jersey Joe Wolcott, was the first Black to win election as a county Sheriff in New Jersey. Cream first ran for sheriff in 1968, but lost the Democratic primary to Spencer H....

Trailblazer: Mayor Kenneth Gibson

January 18, 2021 12:09 amJanuary 17, 2021 1:51 pm

Kenneth Gibson (1932-2019) became the first Black to serve as mayor of a major northeastern city when he ousted two-term incumbent Hugh Addonizio in 1970. Gibson had served as an engineer for the New Jersey Highway Department and as the...