The FBI said on Thursday it had received credible information about a "broad" threat to synagogues in New Jersey.The FBI's Newark office released a statement urging synagogues to "take all security precautions to protect your community and facility."The alert was posted after officials discovered an online threat directed broadly at synagogues in New Jersey, a law enforcement official said. The posting, though, did not target any specific synagogue by name, the official said. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.More specific details weren't released, and a message was left with the FBI in Newark.In Jersey City, Mayor Steven Fulop said police would be posted at the city's seven synagogues and foot patrols would be added in the broader Jewish community. In 2019, two assailants motivated by anti-Jewish hate killed three people in a kosher market in Jersey City, along with a police officer.Police officers armed with rifles guarded a synagogue one city over, in Hoboken, where the public safety director also announced increased patrols in Jewish communities.Five years ago, two New Jersey men were sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted for a series of attacks in 2012 that included the firebombings of two synagogues. They also threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a rabbi as he slept with his wife and children.Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, whose district encompasses part of the area in northern New Jersey affected by those attacks, said in a statement Thursday that recent comments by Kanye West and the social media post shared by NBA star Kyrie Irving have contributed to the problem."I am deeply concerned and outraged by today's alert from the FBI," Gottheimer said. "This is what happens after years of antisemitic comments from public figures, including, most recently, Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and others," he said.___Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.

The hunt begins in darkness. Les Giese and his son Thor make their way through a public forest in Annandale, New Jersey to a tree stand where they’ll wait for dawn and if they’re lucky — a deer. We settle in, 25 feet above the ground, watching the sun rise through the trees. 

NEWSY'S SAM EATON: So what's the secret? You just. It's a matter of just waiting?

THOR GIESE: It's getting in between where they live and where they eat.  

After about four hours and no deer, we call it a day. We meet again on the trail with Thor’s dad, Les, who also came up empty. 

"They’re either running through the woods like a freight train or they’re like a ninja, you know," said Thor Giese. 

Les Giese and his son aren’t hunting deer for themselves. They’ve already filled their freezer with enough venison for the year. Any deer they get from now on will instead feed families in need. It’s a program run by the New Jersey chapter of Hunters Helping the Hungry and Giese is the president. 

"Right now, we're doing roughly 25,000 pounds of venison a year. Pretty close to 100,000 meals across the various food banks and pantries of New Jersey," said Les Giese. 

In the two and a half decades since he founded the non-profit with friends, Giese says it’s become one of the top three game meat donation programs in the country. But he says it’s not just about providing food for the hungry. It’s also about saving these forests. 

"A forest, a healthy forest like you see behind me here can handle 15 deer per square mile. This particular forest has probably got close to 150 deer, 10 times the carrying capacity of this forest," said Les Giese. 

And with one in 10 U.S. households struggling to feed their families Giese says hunting more deer as a source of lean, healthy protein is a no brainer. It’s also become a lifeline for New Jersey food banks. 

The problem of deer overpopulation in the forests of states like New Jersey is getting worse, but so is hunger. And it's places like this where the solutions to those two crises come together. 

Shannon Williams is interim director of Norwescap Food Bank in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. She says the warehouse we visited distributes two million pounds of food a year to food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters all over the state.  

SEE MORE: Inflation, Surge In Prices Impacting Food Banks

"This is the Norwescap Food Bank. This is our warehouse," said Williams. "And this is some of the venison that we received through the processors and through hunters helping the hungry and that we distribute to our agencies." 

Williams says the venison is in high demand, especially as the cost of providing meat to families has soared. 

"With the pandemic and now with the food inflation and the costs rising on everything, it's been very difficult and the need has just continued to rise. And we're we're doing our best to to keep food coming in and out as quickly as we can," she continued.  

From the rockies to New England and the deep South, white-tailed deer populations have exploded in recent decades. After being decimated by hunters in the 1930s, deer have made a stunning recovery, increasing one-thousand-fold in less than a hundred years. 

But the process has imperiled the same ecosystems that have sustained their recovery. 

Jay Kelly is a biologist at Raritan Valley Community College. He says more and more deer squeezing into smaller and more fragmented forests is sending the entire ecosystem into free fall. 

"So this is a typical forest in central New Jersey. What you see here, you'll find pretty much throughout the region. And what's noteworthy is the absence of any living things in the understory." 

"[At} about 15 [deer] per square mile regeneration starts to decline. The, you know, waist high seedlings will begin to disappear. And above 20 per square mile, everything begins to shut down in the forest with loss of bird populations, all components of the vegetative understory, arthropod, amphibian densities and so forth," said Kelly.  

In New Jersey deer densities usually exceed a hundred per square mile, creating what Kelly calls a zombie forest. Not only is the biodiversity lost, the only thing replacing the older trees as they die are invasive species like this Japanese angelica tree. 

"The canopy of leaves will come out of these angelica trees are these enormous compound leaves that have thorns on the stems of the leaf thorns and the leaf leaves and leaflets themselves. It's just armed with all sorts of defenses on every inch of the tree. It's really incredible," said Kelly. 

The good news is that once deer populations are reduced, the forest recovers.  

Duke Farms Nature Preserve in Hillsborough, New Jersey is a stark example of how quickly that change can happen.  

"So what you see here is about 15 to 17 years worth of regeneration since deer were initially managed aggressively at the site," said Kelly

Kelly says deer densities here reached 250 per square mile. After installing deer fencing and maintaining deer populations at much lower densities, the invasive species disappeared and the forest regenerated. 

"The trees that you see growing up, these are ash trees. There are hickory trees and oaks all growing in this understory," said Kelly. 

Kelly says short of reintroducing predators like wolves to these forests, hunting is the most effective means of reducing deer populations. But the number of hunters in the U.S. has been in steady decline since its peak in the 1980s. 

And in order to process the meat for food banks you need USDA certified butchers like J.B. Person’s family-owned Game Butchers in Lebanon, New Jersey. 

Person says his father started the business back in the 1960s.  

SEE MORE: Hunters Keep Food Pantries And Stomachs Full

"It's a pretty unique business — unfortunately. It's a dying trade," said Person.  

With grants now covering the cost of butchering for food banks, Person hopes more butchers will come online to help the program expand. In the meantime, he struggles to keep up. 

"And it doesn't last long. I mean, they come, they come pick up the meat — it sits in in their freezers for only maybe a week or two. And it's distributed and it's gone," said Person. 

That venison ends up at food banks. Flemington Area Food Pantry Executive Director Jeannine Gorman says they’re busier now than they’ve ever been. 

"We see anywhere from 50 to 70 clients, which pretty much means since COVID. And now in the height of financial inflation and everything else, we can see on average a person every three minutes," said Gorman.  

Cars line up to load pre-ordered food items. This is what the food insecurity crisis in America looks like. Bob Flanagan is one of them.  

"I'm self-employed, I'm a contractor. The bottom fell out after I got COVID because I can't work. I couldn't work," said Flanagan. 

Flanagan also used to hunt. But since COVID wrecked his lungs, forcing him to carry an oxygen tank with him at all times, he’s had to rely on the donations. 

"There's the venison. This is hamburger. I'll mix it up with the tomato sauce and make a spaghetti," said Flanagan.

It’s a rare thing for one crisis to help solve another. But Les Giese hopes the partnership he’s created between the state, the hunters, the butchers and the food banks offers a glimmer of hope. 

"We're trying to make the herd healthier. We're trying to make the forest healthier. We're trying to make some of the less fortunate people have some protein, low fat meat. Win win all the way around," said Les Giese. 

That night Giese, his family and friends gather to grill venison backstrap and share a meal.  

He says he grew up on a dairy farm in Illinois where sharing with neighbors was a way of life. And as the forests suffer, and more of his neighbors struggle to feed their families, Giese hopes that spirit of sharing will catch on. 

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here. 

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign next week in New Hampshire.Christie, who also ran in 2016, is planning to make the announcement at a town hall Tuesday evening at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, according to a person familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm Christie's plans.The timing, which was first reported by Axios, comes after several longtime Christie advisers started a super political action committee to support his expected candidacy.The Associated Press had previously reported that Christie was expected to enter the race "imminently."Christie has cast himself as the only potential candidate willing to aggressively take on former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the nomination. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, was a longtime friend and adviser to Trump, but broke with Trump over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. Christie has since emerged as a leading and vocal critic of the former president.Christie, who is currently polling at the bottom of the pack, dropped out of the 2016 presidential race a day after finishing sixth in New Hampshire's primary.In addition to Trump, Christie would be joining a GOP field that includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur and "anti-woke" activist Vivek Ramaswamy.North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is expected to announce his candidacy on June 7, according to two GOP operatives. And former Vice President Mike Pence is also expected to launch a campaign soon.Allies believe that Christie, who has been working as an ABC News analyst, has a unique ability to communicate. They say his candidacy could help prevent a repeat of 2016, when Trump's rivals largely refrained from directly attacking the New York businessman, wrongly assuming he would implode on his own.Christie has also said repeatedly that he will not run if he does not see a path to victory. "I'm not a paid assassin," he recently told Politico.While Christie is expected to spend much of his time in early-voting New Hampshire, as he did in 2016, advisers believe the path to the nomination runs through Trump and they envision an unconventional, national campaign for Christie with a focus on garnering media attention and directly engaging with Trump.

BRIDGEWATER TOWNSHIP, N.J. —

A video showing police officers breaking up a fight between a Black teenager and a white teenager at a New Jersey mall has prompted outrage over the police response.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday that the "appearance of what is racially disparate treatment is deeply, deeply disturbing."

One video of the incident reviewed by CNN shows the boys arguing before the white teenager points his finger at the Black teenager's face, and the Black teenager pushes the white teenager's hand back. The white teenager pushes the Black teenager, who begins to throw punches at the other boy. The white teenager punches back.

The Black teenager ends up on the ground. Two Bridgewater Township police officers arrive and separate the two boys.

The Black teenager begins to get up and is pinned to the ground by one officer and rolled onto his stomach, with his hands behind his back. The other officer pushes the white teenager onto a nearby couch and then assists in handcuffing the Black teenager. Eventually, officers stand the handcuffed Black teenager up.

It is unclear how the incident escalated between the boys or what happened after the Black teenager was handcuffed.

CNN has not been able to speak to either teenagers or their parents.

The Black teenager, who identified himself by his first name, Kye, spoke to CNN affiliate WABC, saying his friend was arguing with the white teenager and he "just kind of jumped in" before it turned into a physical fight. He said the officers on scene "basically tackled (him) to the ground" and one officer put his knee on his back.

"The male officer put his knee in my back, then he started putting me in cuffs and then the female officer came over and put her knee on my upper back too, and started helping putting cuffs on me ... while (the white teenager) was just sitting down on the couch watching the whole thing," Kye said.

The Bridgewater Township Police Department said in a Facebook post that they know video of the incident has upset members of the community. They have asked the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office to investigate the incident.

"We recognize that this video has made members of our community upset and are calling for an internal affairs investigation," the department wrote.

"The officers were able to respond quickly to this incident and stop it from escalating because of a tip we received from the community. We have requested that the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office assist us in this matter and are requesting patience as we strictly adhere to the New Jersey Attorney General's Internal Affairs Directive.

"We appreciate the videos that we have already received from community members and ask that anyone who has a video of this incident please email it to tips@bridgewaterpd.com. The men and women of the Bridgewater Township Police Department are thankful for our community partners and look forward to continuing to build our positive relationships."

Gov. Murphy on Wednesday also said that the incident is "just another reminder that the progress we made on the relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve ... our work is not done, and we need to continue that."

The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office confirmed to CNN Wednesday that their Internal Affairs Unit is investigating both the fight and the police response. The Mayor of Bridgewater, Matthew Moench, said in a letter to residents that it is "not appropriate for [him] or any other Township official to comment any further" while the investigation is ongoing, but said he is "completely confident that the Prosecutor's review will be impartial, objective and thorough."

The New Jersey Attorney General's office also said in a statement Wednesday that they are working closely with the prosecutor's office on the investigation. "The SPCO will follow the Attorney General's Office's strict guidelines and procedures for investigating possible misconduct, and to ensure transparency and accountability," a spokesperson said.

Kye's mother told CNN affiliate WCBS that she wants the officers involved to become "unemployable."

"Maybe they could have broken up the fight and maybe set them aside and called their parents. No cuffs, no aggression. Dealt with them like they were teenagers," the mother said. "I'm not happy about it, and I do want those two cops to become unemployable. That's what I would like."

PASSAIC, N.J. —

A fire at a New Jersey chemical plant with flames and smoke visible for miles in the night sky Friday has spread to multiple buildings, threatening to reach the plant's chemical storage area, authorities said.

Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told Northjersey.com that popping and small explosions within the fire at Qualco Inc. indicated it was getting closer to the chemicals, as residents were being evacuated from surrounding areas and told to keep their windows closed in at least one nearby municipality.

"This is a chemical fire. You will see the color in the sky," Lora told the news outlet.

Lora said firefighters were still assessing the situation. There were no initial reports of loss of life, he said.

New York City Emergency Management sent a notification Friday night saying residents might see or smell smoke from the fire.

The plant is about 13 miles west of Manhattan. It produces chemicals used to treat pools and spas, according to its website.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted about the fire, echoing calls for people who live near it to keep their windows closed.

"We urge everyone in Passaic to stay safe as firefighters battle a large eight-alarm fire at a chemical plant off of Route 21," Murphy wrote. "Praying for the safety of our first responders on the scene."

It was a snow day for Carter Dooley's school district in New Jersey. But snow and ice didn't keep the 10-year-old from his daily surfing routine.Dooley started going surfing every day when New Jersey first went into lockdown in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 590 days later, he's keeping the streak alive."Since there is nothing else to do, why not keep doing it?" he told News 12 New Jersey. "It's fun. And I got all these great things from doing it, so I'm just going to keep doing it."His initial goal was a 100-day surfing streak. Then, he moved it to a year. Now, he's bumped it to 1,000 days.Dooley's parents help out with transportation and motivation. "Me and Carter's dad, we're just so happy that he found his thing and the ocean has always been his thing that kind of calms him and grounds him and he's so happy to be out there, and we're happy to help his passion every day," Dooley's mother, Dawn, said. Dooley has used the attention he's received on social media and local news coverage to help others. He's collected food for a soup kitchen and raised money for an animal rescue in his community.See him hit the waves in the video above.

CINCINNATI — A New Jersey-based landlord says its West Side apartment complex is the victim of illegal trash dumpers. But some of its tenants say the problems run deeper at Eatondale Apartments in Sedamsville.

The 68-unit apartment complex at 269 Fairbanks Ave. was the scene of a half-day cleanup Friday, as residents and property managers filled three dumpsters with garbage they say was brought to the complex by strangers. Property Manager Marnica Ward said it’s a recurring problem that requires her to call Junk King for extra dumpsters every three days.

“I can’t catch who’s doing it,” Ward said. “I don’t know who’s doing it.”

But one tenant said the trash pile sat there for more than two weeks before she complained about it on Nextdoor, a social media app that lets neighbors alert each other about local events and problems.

“Enough is enough,” said Grecia Moore. “I’m sick and tired of being in unlivable conditions.”

Beyond the trash, Moore said, she has endured leaks, mold, a lack of heat and rodents in her basement apartment.

“Who wants to live like this? I can’t even stay here now because of the mold and mildew that’s in my house,” Moore said.

The Eatondale complex has a troubled history, with six different owners since 2008, all but two of them out-of-town investors. In 2014, the city of Cincinnati declared the property a chronic nuisance. In 2016, Cornerstone Redevelopment bought it with the goal of converting the property to housing for seniors.

Cornerstone’s former owner, Charles Tassell, said he sold the property to Newark-based Radiant Property Management in August 2020 because he thought the company would be good stewards of the complex.

“The company we sold to was well-established, well-reflected with HUD, had the breadth and depth to kind of take it to that next level,” Tassell said. “So, it was a good fit for them and a good fit for us and we kind of stepped away at that point.”

Eatondale is one of 21 properties with 2,547 apartment units owned or managed by Radiant in five states, according to records from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Radiant also owns the King Tower apartment complex in Madisonville, according to Hamilton County property records.

The company has invested “well over $300,000” at Eatondale in the last 16 months, said Jonathan Unger, regional manager for Radiant, who provided receipts documenting more than $180,000 of that spending.

The improvements included “new common areas, plumbing work throughout, new flooring, new exteriors, new access control system, new security cameras and lighting (and) repaving of the entire property,” Unger wrote in an email to the WCPO 9 I-Team. “Additionally, we took a pre-emptive approach and went door-to-door to tenants’ apartments, asking if they had any maintenance needs.”

On Aug. 3, the building scored 95 out of a possible 100 from HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center, which inspects subsidized housing. While the HUD inspection uncovered only minor deficiencies, city inspectors documented more serious problems eight days later.

“No progress with any repair,” wrote city inspector Matthew Flannery on Aug. 11. “The tenant/complainant (told Flannery) water is still getting on the floor of the common hallway when it rains and the mice infestation has gotten worse.”

On Oct. 20, Flannery documented the building’s failure to patch a “squirrel hole” that was first cited in February and was suspected of letting rodents and insects into the building.

Moore said her basement unit leaks when it rains and has no heat. She provided cell phone video showing puddles around her kitchen table and a dead mouse behind her couch.

“I hear so many people complaining,” Moore said. “We don’t have any heat. We don’t have no hot water. And I get so frustrated.”

Ward said there was a brief outage of heat and hot water in the last month, but those problems were quickly resolved. She also said all problems cited by city inspectors have been fixed and are awaiting a follow-up inspection to confirm those repairs.

“We do great work here,” Ward said. “Everything that’s supposed to be done is getting done.”

TRENTON, N.J. —

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly won reelection Wednesday, eking out a victory that spared Democrats the loss of a second gubernatorial seat.

Video above: NJ Gov. Phil Murphy touts accomplishments ahead of election

He's the state's first Democratic governor to get a second straight term in 44 years, defeating Republican former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli.

AP called the race Thursday evening when a new batch of votes from Republican leaning Monmouth County increased Murphy's lead and closed the door to a Ciattarelli comeback.

Ballots remaining to be counted included a significant number of votes from predominantly Democratic Essex County, along with mail-in votes spread across other counties. Murphy has won the mail-in vote by a wide margin even in Republican leaning counties like Monmouth.

Ciattarelli spokesperson Stami Williams disputed the call because of the close margin, calling it "irresponsible."

Murphy was scheduled to speak later on Wednesday.

Ciattarelli waged a formidable campaign in the heavily Democratic New Jersey, his spending nearly equaling the governor's and outpacing the GOP's performance four years ago. But Murphy's advantages, including 1 million more registered Democrats, proved too much for the Republican to overcome.

The victory gives Democrats a silver lining after GOP businessman Glenn Youngkin defeated Terry McAuliffe in Virginia's gubernatorial race — exacerbating worries that President Joe Biden's sagging approval ratings are hurting the party. This year's elections were the first major tests of voter sentiment since Biden took office and pointed to a potentially painful year ahead for Democrats as they try to maintain thin majorities in Congress.

The closeness of the race has surprised experts, who watched public polls showing Murphy leading comfortably and looked to his party's registration advantage.

"If you asked anybody several months ago within the state, I think anyone would have predicted a high double digit landslide for Murphy," said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University.

Murphy's win also ends the more than three-decade-old trend of the party opposite the president's winning in New Jersey's off-year governor's race. Voters came out in much higher rates for Ciattarelli this year than they did for his GOP predecessor in 2017.

The 64-year-old governor said he was acutely aware of the political trends, calling them an "animating" force for his reelection effort that spurred him to run as if he were 10 points behind.

Murphy built his campaign around the progressive accomplishments he signed into law — like a phased in $15 an hour minimum wage and paid sick leave along with taxes on the wealthy — and brought on Democratic allies, like progressive U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, in to campaign for him.

With a Democrat-led Legislature, Murphy achieved most of the promises he made in his first run four years ago when he vied to succeed Republican Chris Christie. Paid sick leave, taxpayer-financed community college and some pre-K, tighter gun laws, expanded voting access, recreational marijuana, more state aid for schools and a fully funded public pension — all promised and all delivered during the first term. A proposal for a public bank to finance projects went unfulfilled.

Murphy is a former Goldman Sachs executive and served as ambassador to Germany under former President Barack Obama, who campaigned for Murphy in the weeks before Election Day.

He has said his next term will be about enacting a Reproductive Freedom Act aimed at codifying Roe v. Wade in the state as well as additional gun control laws and the expansion of taxpayer-financed pre-K for 3-year-olds.

Headwinds facing Democrats, like President Joe Biden's falling approval ratings and congressional Democrats' struggles to enact their agenda didn't factor heavily enough into some experts' pre-election analysis, said Ben Dworkin, the director of Rowan University's Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship. He counted himself among them.

A spokesperson for Ciattarelli said Wednesday that the campaign was focused on the vote count and said that a possible legal pursuit of a recount was on the table. Murphy also called Wednesday morning for every vote to be counted.

New Jersey does not have an automatic recount law, but the candidates are permitted to request one. The party that wants a recount has to file a suit in State Superior Court in the counties where they want to contest tallies. That has to be done within 17 days of Election Day.

Ciattarelli is a former state Assembly member, serving until 2018. He's the founder of a medical publishing company called Galen Publishing, and served as a local and county official in Somerset.

He walked a line between standing up for the moderate stances he had in the Legislature — like supporting Roe v. Wade — and appealing to Republicans who embraced Trump, particularly on cultural issues that have captured attention across the country.

___

Associated Press writer Christina Paciolla contributed to this report.

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey is expanding its list of residents who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination and the inclusion of one group has led to some pushback – smokers.

In addition to those age 65 years and older, those between 16 and 64 years of age who have certain medical conditions are now eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Smoking is one of the ten conditions and state health officials say it’s the largest group, with millions of smokers in the state.

“Smoking puts you at significant risk for an adverse result from COVID-19. And there are 2 million smokers in New Jersey that fit into this category,” said the state’s health commissioner, Judith Persichilli at a Wednesday press conference with Gov. Phil Murphy.

The other conditions included are cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), Down syndrome, heart conditions (such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies), obesity, severe obesity, and sickle cell disease.

“We know individuals in these categories are at greater risk for severe COVID-19 illness and death,” said Persichilli.

The commissioner says 80% of COVID-19 deaths in New Jersey have been among those 65 years and older, and 67% of all COVID-19 deaths in the state had one or more underlying condition reported.

“However, we know this number is likely higher, because not all cases had data reported on whether those comorbidities or chronic conditions existed,” she said.

Persichilli said expanding vaccinations to these groups, “will help protect the most vulnerable amongst us.”

The decision to include smokers has already led to backlash, because they’ll be able to get vaccinated before some front-line workers, like teachers and public transit employees.

The state’s decision does lineup with guidance from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though. Smoking is listed as medical condition that could lead to severe illness from COVID-19.

If you’re a smoker, the CDC says to quit.

“If you used to smoke, don’t start again. If you’ve never smoked, don’t start,” the agency wrote on its website.

Click here for resources that can help you kick the habit.

WASHINGTON —

Video above: Biden pledges to aid Louisiana residents after Ida

President Joe Biden will survey damage in parts of the northeast that suffered catastrophic flash flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and use the muddy backdrop to call for federal spending to fortify infrastructure so it can better withstand such powerful storms.

Biden is set to tour Manville, New Jersey, and the New York City borough of Queens on Tuesday.

At least 50 people were killed in six Eastern states as record rainfall last week overwhelmed rivers and sewer systems. Some people were trapped in fast-filling basement apartments and cars, or were swept away as they tried to escape. The storm also spawned several tornadoes.

More than half of those deaths, 27, were recorded in New Jersey. In New York City, 13 people were killed, including 11 in Queens.

Biden's visit follows a Friday trip to Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida first made landfall, killing at least 13 people in the state and plunging New Orleans into darkness. Power is being slowly restored.

Manville, situated along New Jersey's Raritan River, is almost always hard-hit by major storms. It was the scene of catastrophic flooding in 1998 as the remnants of Tropical Storm Floyd swept over New Jersey. It also sustained serious flooding during the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Biden has approved major disaster declarations, making federal aid available for people in six New Jersey counties and five New York counties affected by the devastating floods.

Both New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio spent part of Labor Day touring damaged communities. Deanne Criswell, the former city emergency management director who's now in charge at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, joined the mayor.

Biden used his appearance in Louisiana to pitch his plan, pending in Congress, to spend $1 trillion on modernizing roads, bridges, sewers and drainage systems, and other infrastructure to make them better able to withstand the blows from more and more powerful storms.

"Hurricane Ida is another reminder that we need to be prepared for the next hurricane and superstorms that are going to come, and they're going to come more frequently and more ferociously," Biden said Friday in a hard-hit residential neighborhood in LaPlace.

Murphy said he would speak with Biden on Tuesday about adding other New Jersey counties to the disaster declaration.

Past presidents have been defined in part by how they handle such crises, and Biden has seen several weather-induced emergencies in his short presidency, starting with a February ice storm that caused the power grid in Texas to fail. He has also been monitoring wildfires in the West.

The White House has sought to portray Biden as in command of the federal response to these natural disasters, making it known that he is getting regular updates from his team and that he is keeping in touch with governors and other elected officials in the affected areas.

Scientists say climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, including large tropical storms that swirl into powerful hurricanes.

Ida was the fifth-most powerful storm to hit the U.S. when it made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29. The storm's remnants dropped devastating rainfall across parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, causing significant disruption in major cities.

In the midst of a racist tirade against his neighbor on Friday, a New Jersey man told his neighbor to "come see me" and gave out his address. By Monday, hundreds of protesters had arrived at his home, and that man had been arrested on harassment charges.

According to a Facebook post from the Mount Laurel Police Department, Edward Cagney Mathews, 45, was arrested Monday on charges of harassment and biased intimidation.

His arrest came days after a video of his confrontation with his neighbor viewed thousands of times on social media, which prompted a massive protest of hundreds of people outside of his home on Monday.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the incident began Friday, when a bystander recorded Mathews, who is white, arguing with a neighbor of his, who is Black.

In that clip, Mathews taunts his neighbor, uses racial slurs and refers to his neighbor as a "monkey."

"Learn your law. It's not Africa," Mathews said in the video, explaining his right to stand outside of his neighbor's home.

"I was born in America, sir," the neighbor replied.

"Come see me," Mathews said to a bystander filming the video, sharing his address. "Bring whoever."

Click here to see the video. Warning, it contains racist and explicit language.

Eventually, the video shows police arrived on the scene. That evening, police charged Mathews with "biased intimidation and harassment." CBS Philadelphia reports that Mathews was allowed to return home after being charged.

Neighbors told the Inquirer that Friday's incident wasn't the first time Mathews had run into issues with his neighbors. Ashleigh Gibbons, 35, told the newspaper that Mathews had been "harassing" neighbors for two years, allegations Mathews denied.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Mathews said his tirade involved a "long-running housing dispute" and that he was drunk at the time.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting an encounter like that and certainly wasn’t expecting to disrespect anybody,” Mathews told the Inquirer. “Let me be clear: That is no excuse for what I said, but I lost my temper.”

He also claimed he wasn't a racist and that he uses similar language around other white people.

“Anybody that knows me know that I just talk like this,” he told the Inquirer.

As the video of the racist rant continued to circulate online throughout the weekend, anger grew in the community. By Monday morning, many in the community decided to take up Mathews on his offer to "come see me."

On Monday morning, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside of Mathews' home. Carrying signs and Black Lives Matter flags, they chanted and asked him to come outside.

The Inquirer reports that at one point, Mathews attempted to apologize, but protesters grew irate.

Eventually, police arrived at Mathews' home and removed him in handcuffs. Video from the scene showed protesters throwing objects at him as he was escorted away.

Warning: The video below contains explicit language.

The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said Mathews would remain jailed pending a detention hearing, which will likely take place on July 9.

"It is difficult to overstate how vile and despicable the conduct by this defendant towards his neighbors was on Friday night," Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a statement. "No one should ever have to deal with such hatred thrown in their face anywhere, but especially on their own doorstep."

However, Coffina also said that his office might file charges against protesters who showed up at Mathews' home.

"That said, it was unfortunate that some participants in yesterday's protest resorted to violence and the destruction of property, including that of the defendant's neighbors, as officers tried to escort the defendant from his home to the waiting patrol car," he wrote. "We will be reviewing evidence from the scene and will hold accountable anyone who committed criminal acts yesterday."

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A former U.S. soldier in New Jersey is donating 36 acres of his land to build a retreat for homeless veterans who are struggling with addiction and mental illness.

Earlier this month, Marty Weber signed a letter of intent to donate the land in memory of his longtime partner, Jeff Poissant, who he met and fell in love with while they were both stationed in Germany in the 1980s, NJ.com reports.

Weber told the newspaper that Poissant died of bladder cancer four years ago at the age of 56. Before his death, Weber said the two had discussed using their property in Barnegat Township to help other veterans who are struggling.

Weber eventually was put in contact with Paul Hulse, the CEO and President of Just Believe, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the homeless and disenfranchised in Ocean County, New Jersey.

Weber and the organization came up with the idea to build Jeff’s Camp on the land in honor of Poissant. They hope to build an 8,000-square-foot building that will be home to a professional treatment facility and a thrift store run by Just Believe that would employ veterans living on the property.

The facility would be operated by New Life Addiction Services. Just Believe says it would provide supportive transitioning, housing, detoxification care, intensive outpatient recovery, counseling programs, life skills training, and wraparound services.

They also plan to build a sober living residence that would include several bedrooms, common areas, and support group spaces.

Hulse says the project is estimated to cost about $2.5 million and the organization hopes to raise that money through private contributions, as well as grants. The first fundraiser for the project is a charity golf outing that’s set for Aug. 9 at Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck.

“A donation to the organization means we're just one step closer to achieving our goal of building Jeff's Camp, a vision that ensures the opportunity to transition our veterans that struggle with addiction or mild mental illness have an opportunity to get back into normal sustaining lives at some capacity and will always have Jeff's Camp to retreat to when they need our services,” Hulse said. “We thank you so much for your patronage in this great mission to help those in need in our community and who served our country.”

MERCER COUNTY, N.J. – Authorities broke up a 47-person “corona party” at a small New Jersey apartment and the person who lived there is now being charged for violating the state’s stay-at-home order.

The Ewing Township Police Department says it was called to the apartment at about 11:44 p.m. Friday after receiving an anonymous call about a party.

Officers say they dispersed over 40 guests that were attending the gathering, which the renter of that apartment called a “corona party.”

The renter, 47-year-old Wade E. Jackson, was advised that he was in violation of Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order that has banned “gatherings of individuals, such as parties, celebrations or other social events” to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Police say Jackson was issued summonses for obstructing administration of law or other governmental function, and violation of emergency and temporary acts.

“Last night, Ewing Township Police broke up a party with 47 people – including a DJ – crammed into a 550-square foot apartment. The organizer was charged, as they should have been and deserved to be,” wrote Gov. Murphy on Twitter. “This is not a game. Stay home. Be smart.”

During a

press conference

on Saturday, Gov. Murphy encouraged people to only go out if they need to go to a supermarket or a pharmacy and to remain six feet apart from others.

Can’t believe I have to say this at all, let alone for the second time. But here we are.

NO CORONA PARTIES. They’re illegal, dangerous, and stupid.

We will crash your party. You will pay a big fine. And we will name & shame you until EVERYONE gets this message into their heads.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)

March 28, 2020

New Jersey has confirmed more cases of COVID-19 than any other state in the country, besides its neighbor, New York. More than 13,300 people have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness in the Garden State as of Monday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.