Matthew Feldman Archives - New Jersey Globe

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

July 29, 2020 12:10 amJuly 29, 2020 12:59 pm

Today is the 59th 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...

Jeremiah F. O’Connor, former state senator, dies at 86

May 14, 2020 2:36 pmMay 14, 2020 6:17 pm

Jeremiah F. O’Connor, an affable Democrat who won a State Senate seat at age 31 and sponsored a bill to give 18-year-olds the right to vote, died on May 13. He was 86. O’Connor, who served two terms on the...

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

January 20, 2020 1:01 amJanuary 20, 2020 10:19 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...

Martin Durkin, former Assembly candidate, dies at 88

October 27, 2019 1:08 pm

Martin T. Durkin, a Ridgefield Park attorney who was the Democratic candidate for State Assembly in 1969, died on October 17. He was 88. Durkin spent more than 20 years as the Borough Attorney for Ridgefield Park and also served...

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

July 29, 2019 8:02 amJanuary 20, 2020 5:31 pm

Today is the 58th 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...

Some 1960s Bergen County political history

March 3, 2019 10:22 pmMarch 4, 2019 8:59 am

Until the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-man, one-vote ruling, Bergen County began the 1960’s with one state Senator – Walter Jones (R-Norwood) — and seven Assembly seats. Jones gave up that Senate seat after eight years in 1961 to run for...

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

January 21, 2019 1:23 pmJanuary 21, 2019 2:30 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...