Backroom deals, COVID deaths, toxic secrets: NJ OPRA made these investigations possible
Four bills introduced in the state Assembly that would make significant changes to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act has alarmed transparency advocates and could have a profound impact on the ability of journalists and lawyers to hold local and state government officials accountable.
The bills are sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, D-Somerset.
New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, or OPRA, currently allows the public and news organizations to request government documents, contracts, emails and other data to help the public keep tabs on what their state and local elected officials and governments are doing. The law also provides an important tool to keep corporations accountable, such as providing information about how they pollute North Jersey's air, soil, groundwater and rivers.
Here are just a few examples of the recent investigative and watchdog journalism that NorthJersey.com has produced with documents and data obtained through New Jersey's Open Public Records Act.
Murphy donor contacted NJ Transit about HQ deal before agency sought bids, emails show
The deal-making to move NJ Transit’s headquarters to an expensive building owned by Murphy donors began in March 2021 with some of the agency’s top officials touring 2 Gateway that April — more than a year before the agency hired a real estate consultant and solicited bids for new office space, according to emails obtained exclusively by NorthJersey.com.
Crumbling Schools, Struggling Students
Studies show that students' learning environment is crucial to their academic success. Yet after $500 million of investment by New Jersey, the Paterson City School District remains in desperate need of new schools and extensive repairs to its aging buildings.
Najee Seabrooks case full coverage: From the Paterson police shooting to Platkin takeover
After Paterson anti-violence advocate Najee Seabrooks was fatally shot by police in early March 2023, NorthJersey.com and Paterson Press used OPRA to obtain footage from body-worn police cameras to understand how Seabrooks' interactions with police led to his shooting.
Hot mic catches backroom inner workings of Palisades Park Council
Two hours of audio obtained by NorthJersey.com through OPRA provide an unfiltered glimpse into the inner workings of a divided council, back-room deals in the works, what led to an internal fight and ongoing litigation over a vacant council seat and police issues.
What's lurking next door? Investigation reveals chemical hazards near North Jersey homes
A year after the Majestic Industries chemical fire in Passaic, NJ, we uncovered the latent dangers of hazmats near homes. There are 159 such sites in the more industrial towns in Bergen and Passaic counties, and many lie within a few hundred feet of homes, schools and entertainment venues. See our interactive map.
Rutgers athletics spends big — and builds big debt — to stay competitive in the Big Ten
After a months-long investigation involving nearly a hundred public records requests and a review of thousands of Rutgers financial documents, NorthJersey.com revealed that Rutgers athletics debt had grown to more than $250 million — with half of that being loans to cover operating deficits.
'Damage is done': Bergen knocks down 100 trees, trucks in soil at Overpeck Park for a lawn
When Don Torino noticed workers knocking down about 100 trees in an overgrown section of Overpeck Park near a butterfly garden, he was shocked. Then outraged. “We had robins, orioles, woodpeckers in those trees, and they’re just tearing them down. Then came the truckloads of dirt that were dumped at the site.
When NJ veterans homes spiraled amid COVID, NorthJersey.com revealed glaring missteps
COVID-19 devastated nursing homes in New Jersey, but nowhere was the virus more deadly than at two state-run veterans homes in Menlo Park and Paramus, which had more than 200 resident deaths. Deep reporting and the use of OPRA by NorthJersey.com revealed why the homes were so devastated.
He murdered three women and was hunting a fourth. These women outsmarted a serial killer
In the summer and fall of 2016, a serial killer stalked the streets of urban New Jersey. He attacked four women in 84 days. He killed three. He used his phone to hunt women. To learn faster ways to kill. Police didn't crack this case. Women did. Women outsmarted the killer. They found him. And they stopped him.
Degrees of Uncertainty: We analyzed financial data for NJ private colleges and rated them. Many are struggling
Many of the state’s independent four-year colleges and universities — which serve more than 70,000 full- and part-time students annually — were financially strained well before the COVID pandemic arrived, an analysis of their financial data by The Record and NorthJersey.com found.
Millions of your tax dollars have disappeared into NJ's flawed charter school experiment
More than two decades into the state’s experiment to create charter schools, which were conceived to provide residents with choices and to spur innovation, serious flaws in the design of the system have led to the diversion of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private companies that control real estate.
Toxic Secrets: Pollution, evasion and fear in North Jersey
For decades, an underground plume of toxic chemicals has lurked beneath 400 homes in the shadow of a now-shuttered munitions plant in suburban North Jersey. The groundwater contaminated with cancer-causing solvents migrated from a DuPont facility in Pompton Lakes.
A year after Wanaque deaths, NJ still refuses to release documents showing its response
When 11 medically fragile children died amid a 2018 viral outbreak at a Wanaque long-term care facility, NorthJersey.com filed an OPRA suit against the state health department after it refused to release information showing how the state handled the outbreak.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ OPRA made these watchdog investigation stories possible
