Matthew Feldman Archives - New Jersey Globe

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

January 16, 2023 12:20 amJanuary 17, 2023 8:54 am

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...

Old xenophobic mailer could haunt Caliguire bid for Bergen County Executive

March 17, 2022 2:07 amMarch 17, 2022 2:13 am

Republicans appear to have settled on perennial candidate Todd Caliguire as their pick for Bergen County Executive, but a controversial, race baiting, anti-Asian mailer from a campaign fifteen years ago might doom his candidacy. Buoyed by Jack Ciattarelli’s 47% showing...

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

January 17, 2022 12:01 amJanuary 16, 2022 5:15 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...

Freedom Rider Byron Baer spent 34 years in the NJ legislature — and 45 days in a Mississippi prison

July 29, 2021 12:01 amJuly 28, 2021 6:39 pm

Today is the 60th anniversary of the arrest of Freedom Rider Byron Baer, a longtime New Jersey legislator who was charged with attempting to desegregate a blacks-only waiting room at the Greyhound bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi. He spent 45...

Gordon Johnson has votes to win Bergen Democratic line for Senate

February 10, 2021 4:53 pmFebruary 11, 2021 10:34 am

Gordon Johnson has secured enough committed votes to win the Democratic organization line for State Senate in Bergen County, according to a New Jersey Globe tally of party leaders in the 37th legislative district. While the tally shows that Valerie...

Trailblazer: Marion West Higgins

February 9, 2021 12:14 amFebruary 7, 2021 9:10 pm

Marion West Higgins (1915-1991) was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly. The Bergen County Republican was also the first woman to serve as Assembly Majority Leader, and the first woman to serve as...

Since 1973, little turnover in solidly Democratic 37th district

January 24, 2021 9:42 pmJanuary 25, 2021 9:17 am

The 37th legislative district has had little turnover since New Jersey shifted to a 40-district map in 1973 and is one of seven districts in the state that has never sent a Republican to Trenton. In more than 47 years,...