Katie Kausch

Reporter and writer. Fueled by coffee.

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A feed of Katie's current articles and tweets.

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N.J. wildfire: Stunning photos, videos emerge as firefighters battle intense blaze

Stunning photos and videos show the wildfire that ripped through southern Ocean County Tuesday night, cutting power to 25,000 homes and forcing the temporary evacuation of 3,000 residents. The Jones Road wildfire in Ocean and Lacey townships was 8,500 acres and 10% contained as of 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the most recent update on the size.It was unclear how extensive the damage was on Wednesday morning. Liberty Door & Awning on Old Shore Road in Lacey was destroyed.Evacuation orders have been lif...
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These 17 local N.J. high schools have the top SAT scores

Most of New Jersey’s high schools with the highest average SAT scores are magnet and specialized schools that admit only the state’s highest-achieving students.But, a few of the top-scoring schools are regular-admissions high schools in local towns where a high percentage of students regularly get near-perfect scores on the SAT college admissions test.Millburn High School in Essex County had the highest average SAT score of all public, open-admissions schools in New Jersey in 2024. Students aver...
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N.J. pain care company ran a $127M kickback scheme selling knee, back braces, feds say

The owners of a New Jersey-based healthcare marketing company were sentenced to prison for operating an illegal kickback scheme and defrauding the federal government out of $127 million.Eric Karlewicz, 46, from Rockland County, New York, and Nicco Romanowski, 33, of Roswell, Georgia, were sentenced in federal court in Newark, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey said. The two men ran Empire Pain Center Holdings, an Eatontown-based medical company. Between June...
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Man facing life in prison after shooting victim 5 times point-blank at N.J. nightclub

An Essex County man was found guilty of murdering a man outside of a bar in Newark in 2021, the prosecutor’s office announced.Isaiah J. Knight, 31, of East Orange, was convicted of murder, weapons charges, and conspiracy to commit witness tampering following a jury trial last week. In a second trial, he was also convicted of having a weapon he was not allowed to possess, and was found to be a “persistent offender.”He faces life in prison when he is sentenced on June 5.Knight shot and killed 23-y...
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N.J.’s top high schools ranked by latest state scores. See the full list.

The top high school in New Jersey is an ultra-competitive technical magnet school in Bergen County, according to new data released by the state Department of Education.The new ratings come from the annual School Performance Reports. Using data from the 2023-24 school year, parents can take a look at how their student’s school compares to others around the state.Bergen County Technical High School’s Teterboro campus, an admission-only career and technical school, had the highest rating in the sta...
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See the N.J. towns with the lowest property taxes in each county

New Jersey might be known for its sky-high property taxes, but there are still some towns where you can catch a break.New Jersey’s average homeowner paid a record $10,095 in property taxes last year. But, in some counties the lowest tax bill is less than one-quarter of that amount. (See the towns with the lowest property taxes in each county below.)The cheapest town in five counties has bills of under $2,500. The two lowest property tax bills in the state are outliers even among towns with low t...
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These 21 N.J. schools have the highest average SAT scores

A magnet school in Middlesex County had the highest average SAT score in New Jersey last year, according to new data.Edison Academy Magnet School students had an average SAT score of 1,530, just 70 points off of a perfect score of 1,600. Students averaged 782 on the math portion and 748 on the reading and writing portion of the exam. (See the ranking of the schools with the top SAT scores below.)The admissions-only public high school offers students concentrations in mechanical and civil enginee...
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N.J.’s new public school rankings are out. See how your school scored.

New data released by the state Department of Education gives parents an updated look at how their children’s schools compare to others across New Jersey.The School Performance Report data released last week comes from the 2023-24 school year. It is part of an annual update that breaks down the performance of nearly 2,500 public schools. (Search for your school’s rating and score in the chart below.)The overall scores for each school are calculated using standardized test scores, student academic...
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See Jersey Shore beach badge prices for 2025 — including some towns offering discounts

Summer may still be months away, but many Jersey Shore towns have announced 2025 beach badge pricing for daily and season tags.For early planners, some towns are offering preseason discounts on full season badges.Most New Jersey beaches require paid badges or tags, with prices ranging from $3.50 for a daily pass to $200 for a season pass.The towns offering discounts for season passes if you purchase them early include Barnegat Light, Beach Haven, Brigantine, Lavallette, Margate and more.MORE: Je...
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See the N.J. towns that slam homeowners with the highest property taxes in each county

It’s no secret New Jersey has some pretty high property taxes.But just how bad your taxes are largely depends on which county you live in.New Jersey’s average homeowner paid $10,095 in property taxes last year, a new record. But, in some counties, even the most expensive towns didn’t approach that average. (See the towns with the highest property taxes in each county below.)In Cumberland County, residents of Greenwich had the highest average taxes in the county, at $6,513. That’s still about $3,...
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N.J. just released report cards for 2,500 schools. Here’s how to look up your district.

New Jersey schools performed well in several key areas compared to the rest of the nation last year, but students are still struggling to recover from learning lost during the pandemic, new education data shows.The school performance reports released Wednesday detail how each of the state’s nearly 2,500 public schools did during the 2023-24 school year.The reports showed growth in some educational areas, and room for improvement in others, state Department of Education officials said. New Jerse...
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N.J. residents shell out billions for health care. See which illnesses cost us the most.

Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025).© 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherw...
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These 160 N.J. towns are challenging how much affordable housing they need to build

More than a hundred New Jersey municipalities have challenged new affordable housing quotas issued by the state last fall in the latest round of efforts to make apartments and houses less costly for low- and middle-income families.Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable housing nonprofit group working with the state, said it reviewed all 446 municipal resolutions from towns that have opted into the state’s affordable housing program. Of those towns, 286 municipalities accepted the calculations...
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Jonas Brothers' huge N.J. mall convention was fun nostalgia, but logistical nightmare | Review

Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025).© 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherw...
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See where N.J.’s 588 abandoned mines are located after another collapse under I-80

A version of this story was originally published on Jan. 17, 2025.Drivers on Interstate 80 long have grappled with gridlock, sun glare and other unavoidable headaches of traveling in a densely populated region.Now a new and perhaps even more vexing concern has emerged: Highway sinkholes stemming from long-abandoned mines.Three sinkholes have opened up along I-80 in Wharton since late December. The most recent sinkhole appeared Wednesday and closed all westbound lanes as the state began lengthy r...
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N.J. pet owners left howling as insurance rates surge by up to 47%

Pet insurance prices have risen in New Jersey in the past year, surpassing the rise of veterinary care costs and adding additional strain to many pet parents' wallets.The average premium increase requested by insurance companies in 2024 was about 22%, while the average increase allowed was 13.5%, an NJ Advance Media analysis of increase requests submitted to the state found. (See how rates increased for all companies in the chart below.)On a typically-priced insurance plan, that’s an increase of...
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Tree crushes N.J. school bus with 10 kids and driver inside

Ten students and their school bus driver were taken to the hospital after a large tree branch fell on their bus Friday morning, police said.The students were on the bus at Fairmont Road East and Addison Drive in Tewksbury when the tree fell around 7 a.m., police said. The bus was on its way to drop students off at school when the branch fell.All 11 were taken to Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan for evaluation. Everyone has since been released, the school district said in a statement.School pe...
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Biggest losers in N.J.’s new school funding plan — including one district with a 27% cut

After years of painful budget cuts during the implementation of a new school funding plan, Gov. Phil Murphy promised schools that state funding losses would be limited this year.In his annual budget speech last month, Murphy said state funding cuts to school district would be capped at 3% in major spending categories.But four New Jersey school districts will see cuts above the promised cap in Murphy’s proposed budget, according to data provided by the state Department of Education. They are: Af...
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See N.J.’s 31 ‘bargain’ towns — where property taxes average less than $5K

It’s no secret property taxes in New Jersey are expensive. The average property tax bill topped $10,000 for the first time last year.But, there are still some towns where you can find a bargain — at least by New Jersey standards. There were 31 towns that had average property bills under $5,000 in 2024, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of data recently released by the state Department of Community Affairs. That was less than half the average tax bill residents received in the rest of the...
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These 31 N.J. towns pay lowest property taxes.

The average property tax bill topped $10,000 for the first time in New Jersey last year, but some towns see bills less than half than that amount.Thirty-one towns had average property tax bills lower than $5,000 in 2024, an NJ Advance Media analysis of data recently released by the state Department of Community Affairs found. Two of those towns had tax bills lower than $2,000.The majority of the property tax towns are in the southern half of the state. Eight of them are located in Cumberland Cou...
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