Here’s the stories you’ll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Tuesday:
Yvette C Barnes pleads guilty to Monmouth County attempted murder
Yvette C. Barnes pleads guilty to attempted murder in Monmouth County (Ocean County Jail, Google Maps)
🚨 Violent NJ crime: A Keansburg woman admitted trying to kill her boyfriend by running him down in a parking lot.
🏥 The victim was dragged under the vehicle and is now a quadriplegic after multiple surgeries.
⚖️ Prosecutors plan to seek 15 years, with more than 12 years before parole eligibility.
A 42-year-old Keansburg woman has admitted to trying to kill her then-boyfriend, by running him down with her vehicle about 18 months ago.
On Wednesday, Yvette C. Barnes pleaded guilty in Monmouth County Superior Court to first-degree attempted murder for the gruesome 2024 summer night incident.
The victim remains hospitalized as a quadriplegic, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said. The man’s identity was not publicly disclosed by authorities.
Ocean Township Police responded to the parking lot of a strip mall at 2301 Route 66 just after 11 p.m. on July 10, 2024.
Multiple witnesses reported a woman driving erratically and a vehicle hitting a pedestrian.
Officers found the victim laying motionless in the parking lot, with multiple traumatic injuries to his head, neck, and body.
Siena Brachelli
Siena Brachelli (@sienabrachelli via Instagram)
🚨NJ college student Siena Marie Brachelli, 19, was killed in a crash on I-95
🚨PA State police say her vehicle hit a guardrail near Academy Road and overturned
🚨She was a 2024 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Lawrence
CHESTERFIELD — A college student from New Jersey died Saturday morning when she lost control of her SUV on Route 95 in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania State Police said Siena Marie Brachelli, 19, was headed north in the left lane near Academy Road around 11:35 a.m. when she lost control of her Acura MDX.
It went into the left shoulder, hit the guardrail in the median and overturned onto its roof. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The resident of Chesterfield was a political science major at Saint Joseph’s University in Montgomery County, Pa, according to her LinkedIn account.
She was a 2024 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, according to the school.
At left, Julio Mejia before his conviction. At right, Mejia in prison after his conviction (Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office/New Jersey Department of Corrections)
At left, Julio Mejia before his conviction. At right, Mejia in prison after his conviction (Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office/New Jersey Department of Corrections)
🔴 A Lyft driver convicted of sexually assaulting a teen rider has been released.
🔴 Court records detailed encounters after Julio Mejia met her during a Lyft ride.
🔴 Mejia claimed that prosecutors failed to prove the victim’s age.
A Lyft driver, who had an intimate relationship with a 15-year-old girl he met on the job, is now out on parole after trying to contest her age in court.
In 2023, a Passaic County jury convicted 45-year-old Julio Mejia of second-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, third-degree child endangerment, and second-degree child luring. He was sentenced to a maximum of seven years in state prison.
Recently, on Dec. 24, 2025, he was released on parole. His maximum sentence would have kept him behind bars through Sept. 10, 2028.
Then, last Thursday, the former Lyft driver from Wharton lost a desperate appeal to have his conviction thrown out. He argued that prosecutors did not provide enough evidence at trial to prove that the victim was 15 years old.
A private attorney for Mejia did not respond to a request for comment from New Jersey 101.5.
ICE agent makes an arrest in Hoboken Sun., Feb 1, 2026
ICE agent makes an arrest in Hoboken Sun., Feb 1, 2026 (CBS New York via YouTube)
🚨 ICE agents detained multiple people over the weekend in Jersey City, Hoboken and New Brunswick, including on NJ Transit light rail.
📱 Local mayors and lawmakers urged residents to record ICE activity, warning of random detentions and unmarked vehicles.
🔥 Video and eyewitness accounts fueled outrage, as Democrats accused ICE of profiling and lawlessness.
As New Jersey Democrats escalated their pushback against federal immigration enforcement, ICE agents were active over the weekend in at least three New Jersey cities, with multiple people detained, according to local officials and advocacy groups.
Jersey City Mayor James Solomon confirmed reports of ICE activity in the city, saying individuals were detained “at random on their way to work.”
In Hoboken, Mayor Emily Jabbour said “several” people were detained Sunday on an NJ Transit light rail train and platform at the Ninth Street station.
In Jersey City, Councilman Jake Ephros recorded ICE agents at a light rail station and asked them questions as they rode an elevator to street level. The partially masked agent refused to answer questions about what they were doing and pushed back when Ephros asked if he had a warrant.
“We don’t need a warrant, bro. Stop getting that in your head,” the agent said.
Kateonice_ on Instagram
Kateonice_ on Instagram
❄️ Video shows people skating on frozen ocean ice in Wildwood
❄️ New Jersey’s famous Groundhog Day animals delivered split predictions winter
❄️ Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow believes in science, not shadows
Skaters took to the frozen ocean as New Jersey’s bitter cold winter continues, although the Garden State’s groundhog (and other) prognosticators are split on how long winter will last.
The ice in Wildwood at the beach appears to have frozen over skating on the ice. Surreal video of people skating with the roller coasters at Morey’s Pier in the background. New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow says that several reasons came together to cause the ocean to freeze.
“We all know that fresh water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But salty ocean water freezes at about 28 degrees. Air temperatures have been colder continuously for over a week. So the high surf driven onto the beaches by this weekend’s off-shore coastal storm was able to freeze in place as a giant sheet of ice. What a spectacular display,” Zarrow said.
Red flags for someone who claims to be from New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Kylie Moore
2026 NJ St. Patrick’s Day Parades (by date)
It’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade season in New Jersey with the wearing of the green at over a dozen parades around the state. All are subject to postponement and cancellation without notice here. Let us know about a parade with an email to dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com.
Gallery Credit: Dan Alexander
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