Articles by Wayne Parry

New Jersey Voters May Get to Decide If They Have a Right to a Clean Environment

New Jersey, known as much for its beaches and blueberries as for the chemical plants and refineries that line some of its major highways, is considering asking voters a fundamental question: Should the state guarantee its citizens the right to …

New Bill Would Still Permit Smoking in Atlantic City Casinos But With More Restrictions

Atlantic City casinos would be able to continue to allow gamblers to smoke on the casino floor under a new bill that would impose additional restrictions on lighting up. New Jersey state Sen. John Burzichelli introduced a bill Monday giving …

New Jersey Denies Bulkhead for Shore Town With Wrecked Sand Dunes

New Jersey is refusing to allow a shore town whose sand dunes have washed away in places to build a bulkhead to protect itself, ruling that no one is in imminent danger. The state Department of Environmental Protection told North …

Bill to Ban Smoking in Atlantic City Casinos Advances

A measure that would prohibit smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos moved forward Monday after three years of going nowhere, heartening casino workers who say they are literally sick and tired of having smoke blown in their faces at work. The …

Jersey Shore Town Fighting State Over Beach Erosion Suffers Winter Storm Damage

A New Jersey shore town locked in a legal battle with the state over tens of millions of dollars it has spent trying — mostly in vain — to hold back the ocean now is more vulnerable than ever. A …

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Against Casino in COVID Business Interruption Case

New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Atlantic City casino is not entitled to payouts from business interruption insurance for losses during the COVID-19 outbreak, determining that the presence of the virus did not constitute the kind of “direct …

Mayday Call From Burning Cargo Ship Prompted Doomed Rescue Effort

The Grande Costa D’Avorio cargo ship was being loaded with 1,200 West Africa-bound cars at Port Newark last July when a deadly fire began. Dense black smoke limited visibility to about 3 feet, and the floor was so hot it …

Worker Tells of Fleeing Burning Jeep on Cargo Ship Where 2 Firefighters Died

Gaven Puchinsky had been pushing vehicles onto a huge cargo ship in one of the nation’s busiest seaports when he heard a loud “clunking” noise that he believed came from the yellow Jeep Wrangler he was using to nudge the …

Philadelphia News Helicopter Hit Trees, Broke Apart, Then Caught Fire After Fatal Crash

A Philadelphia television news helicopter returning from an assignment photographing Christmas lights earlier this week plunged into a southern New Jersey forest “at very high speed,” broke apart, then caught fire after it crashed, killing both occupants, a federal crash …

New Jersey Casino Workers Light Up in State House to Protest Smoking in Workplace

With prospects for a smoking ban in Atlantic City`s casinos looking hazier than ever, workers who want smoking banned took matters into their own hands, lips and lungs Thursday. Members of the United Auto Workers union disrupted a meeting of …