Monday December 8 News Updates Lakewood

Weather:  32° cloudy during the afternoon. High 32F. Tonight will bring the coldest weather of the season so far with lows in the single digits and teens. While record lows are not expected, several sites could come close.

- Reporter: Alina Habba says she’s stepping down after the court disqualified her

Trump: She’s not disqualified. You got a blue slip thing that’s horrible. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves… If I put up George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to be U.S. Attorney in New Jersey or to be U.S. Attorney in Virginia, they will not approve them..

- The New Jersey Assembly unanimously approved Avi Schnall’s construction-inspection reform bill, adopting Gov. Murphy’s recommended four-hour arrival window. The bill aims to reduce delays by requiring inspectors to give a set arrival time instead of just a date. It now moves to the Senate before returning to the governor.

- Earlier today, a pipe burst in the Irv dorm, causing flooding as water leaked to the floor below. A full crew was on hand to clean up the mess.

- Rav Moshe Hillel HIrsch shlita paid a visit to Passaic during his current US trip 

- President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Alina Habba, announced Monday that she will step down as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, ending her effort to remain in the role after an appeals court ruled she had been serving in the position unlawfully.

- Giyus: At a Hafgana today the organizers  claim there have been three ramming incidents at the protest on Highway 4. A vehicle drove several hundred meters with a protester on it, one protester was moderately injured, and a motorcycle ran over a protester and caught fire after being set alight.

- Gas prices in Lakewood at $2.89 a gallon gas tax will go up in January by 4 cents 

- Giyus: Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on the draft law: "We laid down the draft law in the committee. This is the beginning of a historic process to integrate the Haredi public into the IDF". "The law also regulates the status of Torah scholars whose Torah is their profession. The world of Torah has protected us for years and it will continue to protect us".

- New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill plans to replace Col. Patrick J. Callahan as superintendent of the State Police. As a result, Callahan said he plans to retire at the end of the year.

- Commenting on the new phenomenon in which it seems like everyone today has a podcast and countless hours of shtusim and nonsense are spoken daily the famed mashpia, Rav Avrum Mordechai Malach, suggested a simple way to counter it. He advised that people should fill their Shabbos seudos with divrei Torah and other divrei kedusha to “mix it all up” and create a positive spiritual balance.

-  Trump: There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI. We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY! I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!

- 2026-2028 New Jersey State Assembly Freshman Class With the largest majority since the Watergate era, 12 new members will be joining the majority party coalition in January. Five of those new members flipped seats held by Republicans in the 2025 election.

- The NJ gas tax increase will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026 adding 4 cents per gallon. This brings the total gas tax to nearly 50 cents per gallon. 

- Giyus: A Degel HaTorah official admitted that, according to him, there is an understanding with the IDF Military Police not to carry out arrests of bochurim in the major frum cities.

- Giyus: Rabbi Tzvi Friedman calls on his followers to join demonstrations, claiming there is a spiritual war against them. He warns that remaining passive would lead to defeat and declares strong opposition to military enlistment, saying they will not join the army under any circumstances. He emphasizes their commitment to preserving Torah life and frames the protest as an act of kiddush Hashem

- Yat Kislev Farbrengen tonight at Ateres Leah Yehudis 971 Caldwell Lakewood 9:00 pm

- A video showing how to curl payos for a chassidishe boy went viral on social media, racking up over 15 million views.

-A new petition is calling on Verizon to fix long-standing cell service issues in the Westgate area, where residents say weak and unreliable coverage affects daily life and even access to emergency services. The organizer describes the ongoing connectivity problems as both a quality-of-life and public-safety concern.

Sign Here 

- Jackson Township is introducing a new mandatory annual inspection, costing $100 per home, to curb the growing problem of illegal rentals in single-family houses. The rule—set to begin in January—will affect nearly 2,000 homes. Township Council President Mordechai Burnstein says improper use of single-family homes is widespread and a significant issue, noting that some houses in his own neighborhood appear to be used by multiple unrelated occupants. The new inspections aim to address this problem.