A Philadelphia man has been charged after authorities said he conducted a fraudulent cryptocurrency purchase for a valuable Pokémon card in Marlton.
After arranging the sale through Facebook Marketplace, Christian Elam, 26, allegedly met the seller at the Evesham Township Police Department Safe Exchange Zone, located in the lobby of police headquarters, Evesham police said in a statement posted to social media Monday.
Elam allegedly paid the seller for a Pokémon card worth $24,200 using cryptocurrency, which was later determined to be fraudulent, the department said.
Elam was charged with third-degree theft by deception and second-degree computer-related theft. He was being held at the Burlington County Jail awaiting a pre-indictment hearing scheduled for Aug. 26, according to the court docket.
The police department is encouraging residents to continue taking advantage of the 24-hour safe transaction zone but to remain diligent about potential scams.
“While the zone provides a well-lit, video-monitored location for in-person exchanges, residents are reminded to independently verify payment before transferring property, especially when cryptocurrency, electronic payments, or high-value items are involved,” the department said.
Cyber-enabled crimes are on the rise across the United States. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million complaints in 2025, a 17% increase from the previous year, with total reported losses of nearly $21 billion, according to an April report from the FBI.
Cryptocurrency crimes are often the costliest, with more than 181,565 complaints totaling more than $11 billion in losses in 2025 alone.
Cynthia Martini of Mantua Township visits Mood’s Farm Market every year to pick blueberries. During a typical summer, she collects 40 pounds of them. She used to bring her kids, but now that they’re older, she goes solo.
Her routine on June 30 didn’t look much different from the last 25 years. On a hot morning, she picked two Tupperware containers of blueberries in paint-streaked shorts.
“In an hour I picked 10 pounds,” Martini said. “So not bad.”
But rather than harvesting in the farm’s designated pick-your-own area, Martini kept to to an area typically reserved for staff.
Mood’s, a 180-acre fruit farm in Elk Township, Gloucester County, opened the off-limits fields as one strategy to survive the summer after a spring crop freeze destroyed about two-thirds of its blueberries and all its cherries, plums, nectarines, pears, and peaches. The farm will likely have only a handful of healthy apples come fall. That means no apple hayrides, even though pick-your-own operations are one of its primary revenue streams. A skeleton crew is working the land rather than a full staff, and it’s taking workers longer to pick fruit since there’s less on the bush.
After picking her own blueberries, Cynthia Martini (right) of Mantua talks with owners Richard Mood and daughter Patti Mood at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County on June 30. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
But South Jersey farms like Mood’s are getting creative to survive a summer with depleted income and damaged crops. From promoting frozen fruit to temporary closures to raising prices, here’s how farms are keeping on.
Spend less and plant more
Rowand’s Farm, a 20-acre sweet and sour cherry orchard in Glassboro, Gloucester County, is going through unprecedented circumstances.
Stephen Rowand, the farm’s third-generation owner, said he’s usually excited when a spring frost arrives, since the cold weather thins out the fruit and produces larger cherries.
“This season is unique for us as a first with NO CROP at all,” Rowand said via Facebook Messenger. “No income.”
Rowand decided to close the farm, but that hasn’t meant time off. To ensure the orchard blooms next season, the farm still needs mowing, irrigation, fertilizer, and trimming, and without the ability to hire farmworkers. Rowand, 60, is doing all that work himself through extreme heat. He said he’s currently living off his retirement savings and might have to get a job in the offseason next fall. He’s trying to stay frugal by avoiding vacations and eating out.
But Rowand has managed to find some solutions to survive.
To make sure they stay fed, his family planted a bigger garden of tomatoes, string beans, eggplants, cucumbers, greens, and herbs for their personal diets after figuring out the freeze had eliminated their income. He said he will likely apply for a loan from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency to pay bills, and a GoFundMe, which has raised $25,000 so far, has helped pay for some of Rowand’s farm expenses.
“It’s really helping keep the farm from going into debt,” Rowand said, “which is usually what puts a farm out of business in the end.”
Duffield’s Farm Market in Sewell, Gloucester County, like Mood’s, won’t have peach picking this summer and is still considering whether it’ll apply for loans. Since the freeze halved their apple crop, the farm won’t offer apple picking trips for local schools this fall, either. To ensure people have enough to pick in the fall, owner Tracy Duffield said, farmers planted a field of pumpkins early.
As for labor, without peaches to pit, Duffield said there’s less to do, which means reducing hours for the farm’s migrant workers from Puerto Rico.
“It’s not just us. Everybody is kind of in the same boat,” Duffield said. “Just support your local farm. We’ll recover.”
‘A silver lining’
South Jersey farmers say the natural laws of supply and demand mean fruit prices will rise this year. Mood said their farm’s blueberry prices have doubled, while Duffield’s increased the cost about 50 cents per pound.
“We still have a business to run, and we have to support the families involved with the business,” Duffield said. “They just have to understand for this year, anyway, that things are going to be a bit higher.”
Blueberries for sale at the farm stand at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Anthony DiMeo owns DiMeo Farms and Blueberry Plants Nursery, which has a large pick-your-own blueberry operation in Hammonton, Atlantic County. With significant damage to his crop, DiMeo said, he anticipates the season to end a couple of weeks early.
“But there’s a silver lining to this, and that is the price is very high,” DiMeo said. “Even for blueberries that might not be the biggest or might not be the best, the price is exceptional.”
DiMeo, though, said he decided not to significantly raise prices this year, keeping blueberries at $2.50 per pint, a cheaper price than most grocery stores and farm markets. The choice to eat the losses was influenced by the price consumers are already paying to get through life right now.
“They’re spending enough as it is with gas and tolls and everything else,” DiMeo said.
‘Just luck’
Bob Fralinger of Fralinger Orchards, a fifth-generation peach and nectarine farm in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, said it was “just luck” that some of his peaches survived the freeze.
His farm sits along the Cohansey River, and the heat emitting from the water kept the temperature a couple of degrees warmer for the crops. Fralinger said he still lost about half his peaches, but since nearby South Jersey farmers weren’t quite as lucky, nearly 100 farm markets, some hours away, have come to him for fruit. Duffield’s and Mood’s are on that list.
The increased interest has meant Fralinger has to make sure he has enough peaches for everyone, including his typical wholesalers. And even though Fralinger is having no problem selling, the reduced harvest means he worries that the revenue won’t be enough to pay next year’s bills.
“Your margins are so close that you can’t survive from one year to the next unless you do things just right, and that’s the problem,” Fralinger said.
Like Fralinger, Robson’s Farm in Wrightstown, Burlington County, also managed to salvage some peaches from the harvest this year, but not nearly enough to meet the summer demand.
Customers travel from out of state for Robson’s peaches, fourth-generation farmer Rose Robson said, and many will be disappointed to arrive to find no peaches in sight.
But once she overcame her initial grief over the lost crops, Robson said, she quickly hatched a plan to adapt to a potentially peachless summer on the farm.
“Just because the farm is really sad and not great in one way doesn’t mean the whole summer has to be,” Robson said. “This could be a really fun opportunity to be creative and to bring some new people to the farm and still have a really great summer.”
Robson had already started developing ways to boost business during the farm’s offseason in the fall, like a walking club on the farm, she said. The spring freeze just forced her to consider starting sooner and making it active year-round.
Plus, Robson’s is focusing on what they can still offer customers.
“We doubled up on our U-pick cut flowers,” Robson said, “which has been growing over the years anyway, so that’s kind of fun.”
But more than anything, Robson said her priority has remained the same: “making the farm as grand an experience as we can possibly make it,” she said.
Sandy Trifiletti (front) of Glassboro and her daughter Hope Welch and granddaughter Rosie, 6, of Pitman, pick their own blueberries June 30 at Mood’s Farm in Gloucester County.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
As farms scramble to adapt, South Jersey residents, whether they’re in the market for fresh fruit or flowers, continue to support their local markets.
Back at Mood’s Farm, Hope Welch of Pitman picked blueberries with her two children and her mother, Sandy Trifiletti. The Welches have visited Mood’s for years.
Hope Welch, whose son spoke some of his first words during an annual Apple Festival, asked Mood about the fate of this year’s event. Mood said one would still happen, but it probably wouldn’t revolve around apples, since they won’t have very many.
“That hurts my heart,” Welch said. “We’ll be back for the fall festival. Whatever it’s called.”
On Sunday morning, the doors of Fellowship Alliance Chapel were open for prayer on schedule despite a fire in the Medford church’s worship center less than 48 hours earlier.
“Just the heartfelt praise, the worship, the prayer time that we had together — it was just wonderful praising God for all his goodness. So many things could have really been much worse than they were,” Fellowship Alliance vice chairman Dave Gutekunst said.
No one was in the building when church officials say lighting struck the building’s roof around 9 p.m. Friday and no one was injured.
The fire was contained between the roof and the ceiling of the worship center, limiting the scope of damage inside the church to smoke and water, Gutekunst said.
“We just felt really blessed and I think people have had a renewed sense of hope that this is just one in a long list of many chapters of the history of our church,” he said. “God sustained us through trials and tribulations before and he’ll continue to sustain us and carry us through this one.”
The roof of Fellowship Alliance Chapel was damaged by a fire on Friday, July 3, 2026.Courtesy Robert Dovi
Gutekunst also expressed his gratitude for the dozens of firefighters who responded to the scene during the peak of the weekend heat wave.
It’s still too early for a clear timeline for repairs, he said, but the church is forming a team of experts to spearhead recovery. In the meantime, services will continue to be held in the temporary worship space that was set up in another building on the church’s campus after the fire.
While church leaders believe the fire was sparked by a lightning strike, the Medford fire marshal has not determined an official cause of the fire and it is still under investigation, according to Medford manager Robert Dovi.
Per protocol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also been notified because the fire occurred at a house of worship, Dovi said.
But lightning-caused fires aren’t uncommon in this area, Dovi said.
“This is a common occurrence for our area due to the large trees and open space,” Dovi said. “This weekend due to the severe nature of the storms there were a number of fires potentially related to lightning strikes.”
Countless parades, fireworks, drone shows, and more are scheduled for this weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July and the nation’s 250th birthday across South Jersey, but extreme heat is beginning to complicate plans.
With temperatures forecast to exceed 100 degrees through Independence Day, some South Jersey towns are taking steps to keep residents out of the heat — even if it means canceling their annual holiday events.
Others that haven’t taken any major steps yet are advising residents to stay hydrated and out of the direct sunlight as much as possible over the weekend.
Here are some South Jersey towns that have announced changes to their Fourth of July celebrations:
Bordentown Township
Bordentown Township postponed fireworks planned for Friday with plans to reschedule the show for Aug. 4.
“This wasn’t an easy call to make, but the heat forecast is dangerous, and that’s not something we’re willing to gamble with, not with your families, our volunteers, and our first responders out there for hours,” the township posted on social media Thursday.
Delanco Township
Delanco’s summer concert featuring the Nathan Renson Quartet scheduled for Thursday evening was canceled due to the heat. It will be rescheduled for a later date, the township said on social media.
Haddon Township
Due to the heat and humidity forecast for Saturday, Haddon Township has canceled its July Fourth parade.
“This was a difficult choice, but ensuring the health and safety of our participants and spectators alike is our highest priority,” the township wrote on social media.
The township’s “Happy Birthday America Celebration” fireworks will still take place on Friday night at the Haddon Township High School stadium.
Amid the heat wave, the township’s Crystal Lake Pool will be open and free to all township residents, their extended family, friends, and guests.
Haddonfield Borough
Haddonfield’s Independence Day Parade is taking place as scheduled on Friday morning, but due to the extreme heat forecast for later in the day, the block party and drone show scheduled to start at 5 p.m. have been postponed. A new date for the rescheduled events will be announced soon, according to the borough.
Magnolia Borough
Magnolia’s Fourth of July Fair is starting a bit earlier now because of the heat, the borough announced on social media. The fair, which includes food trucks, a beer garden, live music and more, will now take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday immediately after the parade.
Oaklyn Borough
Oaklyn is hoping to get ahead of the heat by moving up the start time for the borough’s annual July Fourth parade. The parade will now start at 9 a.m., two hours earlier than originally planned.
Paulsboro
In light of the heat, Paulsboro has also decided to cancel the borough’s annual Fourth of July parade.
“We understand how much this annual tradition means to our community. For generations, the Fourth of July Parade has been a source of hometown pride and a celebration that brings families, friends, and neighbors together. We share the disappointment of having to cancel this cherished event, but the safety and well-being of our community must always come first,” the borough wrote on social media.
Despite the parade cancellation, the borough’s 250th Anniversary Celebration at Fort Billingsport Park will continue as scheduled on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Stratford Borough
While Stratford will still be holding its annual Fourth of July parade, the borough has decided to cancel its plans for games, inflatables, and other activities scheduled for Mancini Field throughout the day.
Washington Township
Washington Township has canceled its annual parade on July 4 after recommendations from public safety and local meteorologists. The township’s fireworks will still proceed as planned at 9 p.m., launched from the Washington Township High School Complex.
Christopher Reynolds thought he was talking to a woman looking to exchange money for sex with her 13-year-old daughter, Bucks County prosecutors said Thursday.
Reynolds was adamant about certain graphic details while negotiating the price for the encounter, and even offered a higher rate so the woman could buy her daughter an emergency contraceptive pill, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
But in reality, Reynolds was speaking to an undercover detective who investigates human trafficking. And Reynolds, 35, was arrested late Wednesday after driving nearly an hour from New Jersey to a motel in Bensalem.
Reynolds, of Browns Mills, Burlington County, has been charged with criminal attempt to engage or perform a commercial sex act with a minor, criminal attempt to commit trafficking in individuals, and related crimes. He was held in lieu of $500,000 bail, and there was no indication that he had hired an attorney.
District Attorney Joe Khan said Reynolds’ arrest “sends an unmistakable message to those who look to prey on children in our communities.”
“This is the exact kind of proactive, aggressive enforcement the public can expect from our office’s revamped anti-trafficking operation,” he said. “We are going to use every tool and technology at our disposal, and we will continue to hunt down those who attempt to exploit vulnerable individuals.”
Investigators say the undercover detective first started communicating with Reynolds on Tuesday, after he responded to an ad on a website offering “taboo” with an underage girl, the affidavit said.
After negotiating the price and duration of the encounter, Reynolds agreed to meet the girl’s mother at a motel on Lincoln Highway. He nearly called off the appointment when detectives declined to send nude images of the girl, but relented when they sent a digitally de-aged photo of a female detective.
Investigators arrested Reynolds as soon as he entered the motel, the affidavit said. He was carrying $300 and a bottle of Mountain Dew, items the undercover detective told him to bring to the meeting while posing as the girl’s mother.
Reynolds is scheduled to appear before a district judge for his preliminary hearing on July 16.
Large-scale data centers will not be moving into Medford any time soon thanks to a new ordinance adopted unanimously by the Medford Township Council this week.
While the township has not yet received any formal applications for data centers, officials are taking steps like the ordinance passed Tuesday that specifically prohibits the land use within town limits as a chance to be proactive.
“These are extra precautions to ensure that we don’t move forward in a direction that we can’t come back from until we know full well what the impacts of data centers will be,” Medford Mayor Michael Czyzyk said at Tuesday’s public hearing.
The ordinance received support from Medford-area residents at the hearing but some questioned whether the township might be making its bed too early considering how quickly technology evolves, especially if there’s a chance to reap the rewards of a data center project without negatively impacting the surrounding community.
“If there’s no impacts to the residents and there’s only a financial benefit, I believe I would consider looking at that at that time, but we’re not there yet,” Czyzyk said.
While the ordinance constraints may seem all-limiting as it exists today, Czyzyk said, council maintains the authority to at any point amend the ordinance to permit data centers in the township’s redevelopment district.
“I definitely understand that things will evolve and there may be a time in the future that the term data center is something that is more amenable to the residents and the body that governs them,” Czyzyk said.
“I will feel comfortable with the vote I cast on this ordinance tonight knowing full well that today I feel that way and that there’s mechanisms in the future if things do change, a process will be undertaken to remedy that,” he said.
There are dozens of data centers currently operating throughout the state with major hubs located primarily in North Jersey urban centers like Secaucus and Newark. But more recently, developers have been eyeing spots in rural South Jersey as the industry expands to meet growing demands for generative AI.
Developers and other data-center proponents say the facilities bring in tax revenue, create jobs, make use of old industrial sites, and put towns on the cutting edge of a hot industry, all without straining school districts or emergency services.
Opponents, meanwhile, cite concerns about pollution, noise, power and water use, and the impact on their electric bills. Some also say they worry the AI boom is a bubble that could soon burst.
As concerns continue to grow among towns across the Garden State, representatives from more than 60 environmental, labor, and community groups sent a letter to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill last month calling for a statewide moratorium on the approval and construction of new facilities that use 20 megawatts or more of power.
So far in response to the public pressure, Sherrill has proposed a plan that would require new data centers to cover grid upgrades, utilize their own power generators, and publicly report resource usage.
While some municipalities like Medford have issued moratoriums on new data centers, no state governments have successfully done so, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
This Fourth of July will be unlike any in recent memory. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Philadelphia and the surrounding region are packed with celebrations — and fireworks displays. From the city and suburbs to South Jersey and the Shore, there are dozens of opportunities to catch a show.
Whether you’re staying in Philadelphia, heading to the suburbs, or spending the holiday down the Shore, here’s where to find Fourth of July fireworks across the region.
Wawa Welcome America: 🕙 July 4, 5 p.m. 📍Christina Aguilera and Philadelphia native Jill Scott headline a concert followed by fireworks, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa., 19130, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Conshohocken Fireworks Display: 🕙 July 3, 9:15 p.m., 📍The fireworks will take place at Sutcliffe Park, but the borough is closing the park and surrounding areas to the public due to the size of the display. (They advise you to watch the show from another vantage point in town.), 🌐 conshohockenpa.gov
Nurses at Virtua Mount Holly Hospital have voted in favor of a new contract ensuring raises and safety enhancements under a deal reached with employers at the South Jersey hospital after their union threatened to strike last week.
Under the contract approved Friday, the hospital will enforce minimum staffing ratios to ensure a certain number of nurses are caring for a given patient at all times, and hire new staff in some areas.
Nurses will receive pay raises at an average of 16.5% through June 2028.
The three-yearcontract also includes provisions for new safety measures at the hospital, including panic buttons and wearable devices for staff, and increased visitor screening for weapons, the union said. The hospital will also implement a visitor ID system. Protocols will be improved to notify nurses when they have been exposed to an infectious disease.
“HPAE nurses are not willing to tolerate the status quo anymore so we are proud that we have won strong language to ensure nurses can care for their patients the way they were trained,” HPAE president Debbie White said in a statement.
The contract ratification comes after Mount Holly nurses, a local chapter of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union, voted earlier this month to strike on June 16 if they could not come to an agreement with Virtua officials.
Both sides had been negotiating for two months, including in a 21-hour session the night before the strike vote. More than 700 unionized nurses work at the Burlington County hospital.
Staffing levels, a concern raised by nursing unions across the country, were a particular sticking point in bargaining. Many nurses say that the number of nurses assigned to care for a given patient is a safety issue.
Nurses last week said the strike vote — in which 92% of nurses threatened to walk off the job — helped the union reached a tentative contract agreement with Virtua.
In a statement Monday, Chrisie Scott, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said the three-year contract “will enable Virtua Mount Holly to continue delivering safe, high-quality care for our patients, while providing wage increases, enhanced safety measures, and updated staffing levels for our nurses.”
“We look forward to moving ahead together,” she said.
VENTNOR, N.J. — The e-bike revolution will not be coming to Ventnor’s famously chaotic boardwalk. The city banned motorized bicycles decades ago, and raised the penalties in 2023, citing dangers from the speeds and heavier bicycles.
Ocean City tried doing the same in 2024, but reversed course on the lowest speed e-bikes after an outcry, particularly from seniors who have grown to cherish the electric bikes that take them farther and faster, and against the wind without breaking a sweat.
Wildwood allows them but has a 10 mph speed limit for any vehicle. Atlantic City prohibits them.
But while boardwalk rules vary, the state’s e-bike law, passed in January with a grace period through July 19, requires New Jerseyans with e-bikes to register them and, in some cases, purchase insurance.
The law was adopted amid a sense of urgency after a 13-year-old Scotch Plains boy on an electric bike was killed in a collision with a landscaping truck. Earlier this month, Chase Sudano, 16, a rising wrestling star at St. Augustine Prep, was killed after he collided with a UPS delivery truck in Southhampton, Burlington County.
The law defines two classes of e-bikes: low-speed, where the motor assists only while pedaling and shuts off when the bicycles reaches 20 miles per hour, and a motorized bicycle that is throttle-capable of assisted speeds up to 28 miles per hour.
All users of both categories must have a permit or driver’s license and wear helmets. Nobody under 15 can ride one at all.
‘It’s a mess’
So far, there is no way to actually comply. The state’s own Motor Vehicle Commission website has no way to register an e-bike. The state now says it will begin taking appointments only after the grace period ends.
Scott Chambers, owner of Zippy’s Bikes in Wildwood, says the new e-bike law in New Jersey “is a mess,” with no way for people to comply with registration requirements, and confusion over other issues.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
“It’s a mess,” said Scott Chambers, owner of Zippy’s Bikes in Wildwood. “It’s so overwhelming because they created this law, I don’t want to say haphazardly, but they rushed it.”
Crawford said his customers are reluctant to buy an e-bike until they know they can ride it in compliance with the law.
He says the law doesn’t mention e-tricycles, so it’s not clear where those might fall. (The state now says the law does not apply to e-tricycles.)
In Ventnor, there’s a big electronic sign on Atlantic Avenue alerting people to the new law’s helmet, insurance, and registration requirements. A new sign was added to the Boardwalk itself, highlighting two prohibited categories: e-bikes and dogs.
Ventnor police Lt. Bryan Gaviria says the department will have its hands full, educating and, at some point, enforcing the new e-bike law.
But first, he said, they need some answers themselves.
“We’re absolutely waiting for clarity all around,” he said, adding that the city’s bicycle officers are choosing to ride on non-electric bikes because they don’t want to be out of compliance themselves, and they don’t want to be on e-bikes while enforcing an e-bike ban.
Ventnor installed this sign on the Boardwalk warning that electric bikes were prohibited (as well as dogs). The state’s new e-bike law goes into effect July 19, but Pennsylvanians will not be required to register their e-bikes while in New Jersey, the state says.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
Waiting on the state
The state recently clarified some of the issues that were causing confusion.
William Connolly, the press secretary for the N.J. Motor Vehicle Commission, says the MVC will begin offering appointments for e-bike licensing and registration in July. The law’s grace period ends July 19.
“We will be making an announcement later this month about when appointments will become available, along with offering newly updated resources and step-by-step guidance for e-bike licensing and registration,” he said.
He said the delay was due to the “extensive IT upgrades” required for new licensing and registration systems, educational resources and testing procedures, not to mention buying new materials such as “specialized license plate stickers,” that will have to be displayed on the registered bikes.
“We are establishing a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive process for e-bikes,” he said.
Ventnor installed this electronic sign on Atlantic Avenue to educate people about the state’s new e-bike law. Pennsylvanians will not be required to register their e-bikes while in New Jersey, the state says.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
Connolly said there is one category of e-bikes that will not require insurance, though they will still require registration: the lowest speed e-bikes.
“These are the low-speed e-bikes with a motor that provide pedal assist only when the rider is pedaling and cease to provide assistance when the e-bike reaches 20 mph,” he said.
So what if you’re visiting the Shore and bring an e-bike?
Connolly said: “E-bike registration through the New Jersey MVC is only available to New Jersey residents.” Meaning, Pennsylvanians can bring their bikes and use them without registering them.
But bicycle advocates say the law is confusing, because it also states that any bike must display a sticker showing that it is registered.
While the law was prompted by a series of crashes, and particularly by the ubiquitous use by teenagers, it has been seniors that have taken to the e-bikes and urged towns to let them ride on their boardwalks.
Annamarie, 70, and Mike Carr, 71, of Ventnor are best known for the Jagielky’s candy shops they own, but it’s e-bikes that have become their passion.
Loading their bikes back onto their truck in Ocean City, where they began and ended a bike ride around various bridges, Mike Carr said he’d be sure to wear a helmet, because he believes that will be the thing that officers will focus in on in the beginning.
Annamarie said, “Sure we’re upset,” about not being able to ride on Ventnor’s boardwalk, but they recognize the risks from people going too fast, particularly on electric scooters.
E-bikes have allowed the couple to go on numerous bike rides a week, for upward of 30 or more miles. They’d never do that on a regular bike.
“We parked here, we went the whole length of the boardwalk, we went down to 29th Street, we went back to Haven Avenue, came back and went over the bridge to go see the birds,” Mike said, describing the couple’s route that day.
With the e-bikes, they don’t have to worry about the wind, he said. The couple will typically go 13 miles an hour.
They are hooked on the freedom, distance, and exhilaration that e-bikes have given them, even as they passed 70. They ride all over the bridges of the barrier islands.
Mike’s got some of his regular routes timed so that he can get over the bridge without getting a red light and without automobile traffic catching him from behind. “When we’re going into Longport, you turn around, you look at the light. When it’s red, you have four minutes to get over. You hit the throttle and you go as fast as you can.”
He said they’ll try to register the bicycles and comply with the law, once they’re able to:
“I’ll have to wear a helmet because I’m guessing they’ll look for the guys with no helmet, pull them over.”
E-bike riders can sign up for direct updates from MVC here.
The South Jersey wrestling community is mourning 16-year-old Chase Sudano, who died in an electric bike crash involving a UPS truck in Burlington County on Tuesday morning.
New Jersey state troopers responded to a crash at 10:45 a.m. near the intersection of Tranquility Court and North Firelane Road near Route 70 in Southampton Township, N.J.
Sudano was driving a Talaria electric dirt bike east on North Firelane Road and collided with the right rear of the truck, which was traveling south on Tranquility Court and approaching the intersection of North Firelane Road, according to police.
Sudano was ejected from the bike and sustained fatal injuries from the impact. No other injuries were reported. The case remains under investigation, police say.
A UPS spokesperson wrote in a statement: “We are heartbroken by the tragic accident in Southampton Township, N.J. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones. We are fully cooperating with authorities to understand what happened. Since this is an active investigation, we must refer any additional questions to the authorities.”
Sudano, who attended St. Augustine Prep in Atlantic County, was approaching his 17th birthday and lived in Southampton, according to 6abc.
He was a rising wrestling star and had “exceptional character, integrity, and humility — not only on the wrestling mat, but in every aspect of his life,” St. Augustine Prep Athletics wrote.
As a sophomore, Sudano was a district champion and third-place finisher at regionals in the 126-pound weight class. He qualified for the NJSIAA state wrestling championship in Atlantic City, where he competed in the preliminary round, and finished his season with a 32-12 record.
South Jersey schools and wrestling programs, including Rutgers University, shared their condolences to the Sudano family.
“The St. Augustine Prep community is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our Hermit Brother,” the school’s athletic department wrote. “… He embodied the values of our brotherhood and left a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of knowing him. As we mourn this tremendous loss, we stand together in support of one another.”
Chase Sudano was a rising wrestling star. He qualified for states this past season.St. Augustine Preparatory School
Sudano wrestled in elementary school with the Rancocas Valley youth program and showed promise for a bright future, Rancocas Valley Wrestling said. The program also shared on social media that he’ll be remembered for “his strong work ethic, witty humor, and fierce competitive spirt.”
A GoFundMe page organized by John Chirico noted that Sudano “was laid back, funny, and genuinely well liked by everyone who knew him. He had a way of making people laugh and bringing a smile to those around him.”
His club team, River Club, which is based in Fort Washington in Montgomery County, posted on Instagram that Sudano was at more “wrestling practices than anyone in the last 13 years.”
Pride Wrestling Club in Newfield, Gloucester County, wrote on Facebook that he was “an [integral] part of the South Jersey wrestling community. … We will all miss you dearly as a friend, competitor, opponent and family.”
