file photo Boyd Loving
Booker Speaks
Cory Booker Senator in Hiding addresses uptick in Newark violence at Edison event
EDISON — As homicides surge in the city he governed for seven years, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker today addressed the killings in Newark for the first time since leaving City Hall in October.
“It’s grievous,” he said at an event in Edison, where he attended the swearing-in of Mayor Thomas Lankey. “Any time you have over 100 people murdered in Newark, it should capture the focus of everyone who represents it.”
Booker oversaw steep reductions in crime during his first years in office, but Newark’s homicide rate has been moving upward through 2013, when the city recorded 111 murders, the most in 23 years.
Booker said he’s looking at several programs to overhaul the U.S. criminal justice system and end the war on drugs, which he said fuels much of the violence. (Giambusso/Star-Ledger)
Shaking my head.