Hidden at Home

NorthJersey.com reporters spent more than a year investigating the $1.5 billion system overseeing group homes that house adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, interviewing hundreds of people and sifting through tens of thousands of pages of documents.

• Introduction: NJ group homes are failing residents. What we uncovered

• Deaths: Alarming questions, few investigations of NJ group home deaths

• Staffing: NJ group home staff are overburdened, underpaid

• Medication errors: Wrong doses. Missed doses. Drug errors pose NJ group home risks

• Consequences: Amid NJ group home care lapses, state often fails to act

• Looking ahead: How could NJ group home reform bills impact the industry?

• Waiting: Over a year after their daughter’s sudden group home death, a NJ couple still wants answers

• Findings: Long awaited report on NJ group home medication death cites ‘neglect’

• Search tool: Search NorthJersey.com's interactive database of NJ group home violations and penalties

• Takeaways: Key takeaways from our Hidden at Home series on NJ group homes

Impact:

• Response: NJ advocates want stronger state oversight, better investigations of group homes

• Action: NJ halts admissions at large group home provider, says staff issues contributed to deaths

• Transparency: NJ takes step towards transparency about group home failures, then pulls back

• Election: Ciattarelli, Sherrill agree NJ group homes need better oversight

• Charges: NJ files neglect charges against major group home operator

• New proposed legislation: NJ system to investigate group homes would be overhauled under bill

• New website: NJ website posts group home abuse stats, but not company names

• First-ever fines signed into law: Group homes face fines in NJ with new law. How it works

Watchdog and influence

• NJ Senate President Scutari failed to disclose details of about $600K in campaign expenses (The Record)

• Complete coverage, timeline for murder-for-hire case that has NJ political world abuzz (The Record)

• Early leads in NJ murder for hire case included Russian mafia, art deco painting and meth (The Record)

• FBI raided home of political operative for info on murder-for-hire and dark money, docs show (The Record)

• ‘This is so bizarre': Why this NJ political murder-for-hire scandal may just be starting (The Record)

• Caddle’s dark money connections: Interactive graphic (The Record)

• Bob Menendez's wife hit and killed a man while driving on Bogota's Main Street in 2018 (The Record)

• NJ tax breaks often get bought by companies that were never approved to win them (The Record)

• Russian-born oil magnate gives big to Trump Victory (OpenSecrets.org)

• Surge in LLC contributions brings more mystery about true donors (OpenSecrets.org)

• You’re young and broke. Here’s how to still win a congressional seat (The Center for Public Integrity)

Housing

• When pals of a Bergen artist heard he was homeless, they rushed to help. Then time ran out (The Record)

• Benefit shortfalls can cost seniors their homes, and NJ shelters can't meet medical needs (The Record)

• Tenants often most at risk are in the dark on how close dangerous chemicals lurk (The Record)

• 'Nothing rapid about it:' NJ renters struggle to find housing even with COVID relief (The Record)

• How much can your rent go up in NJ? It depends on whether your town has rent control (The Record)

• NJ renters still being locked out by landlords despite COVID eviction freeze (The Record)

Criminal justice

• Knowing who police pull over can help end racial profiling. But few NJ towns track it (The Record)

• In fatal shootings by police, 1 in 5 officers' names go undisclosed (The Washington Post)

• 'These people are profitable': Under Trump, private prisons are cashing in on ICE detainees (USA Today)

• Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US (USA Today)

• What's it like to hear voices? NJ course aims to help police aid those in mental crisis (The Record)

• What could 'defunding the police' look like in New Jersey? (The Record)

• Pressure is on for more police transparency. But NJ delayed database showing seized property (The Record)

• Md. Gov. Larry Hogan signs bill limiting civil asset forfeiture (The Washington Post)

Education

• Unsafe stairs. Leaking closets. No walls. As Paterson schools crumble, students struggle (The Record)

Climate change

• Saturation Point: NJ puts affordable homes in flood-prone areas — and residents at risk (The Record)

• ‘Hope to Hopelessness’: Will government step up after second storm? (The Center for Public Integrity)

• Displacement looms for Ida victims still recovering from flooding (The Record)

• More than 3 months after Ida flooded Englewood apartment building, tenants remain in limbo (The Record)

• Because of climate change, Ida's watery wrath is no longer an aberration for the Northeast (The Record)