🎃 An early welcome to spooky season | Inquirer South Jersey ^⁠7%

8/3/2026, 3:30:00 AM

Topics: Halloween, Spirit Halloween, Fema, Disaster Aid, Congress, Egg Harbor Township, Willingboro, Camden County, Pine Barrens

Keywords: Spirit Halloween Flagship Opening Spooky Fema Blizzard Disaster Aid Congress

BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, Bandwagon, and Halo Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 10.8% saturation with 97 hits. Analysis detected 535 faulty-reasoning hits from 901 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 17.5% and a BS Rank of ⁠7% (25,471 of 27,320 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.20% of the article peer group.

Confidence50%

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901 words

Good morning, South Jersey.

Our stormy summer seems to continue.

We’re under another flood watch until tonight.

Be prepared for more downpours.

Approximately 3,000 people attended the grand opening of Spirit Halloween’s flagship location at Harbor Square Mall in Egg Harbor Township.

And every Democrat in the New Jersey congressional delegation collectively asked President Donald Trump to reverse his FEMA aid rejection for the deadly snowstorm earlier this year.

Plus, prosecutors filed a civil complaint to remove Willingboro council member Nathaniel Anderson, who has not resigned from his position despite being behind bars for mortgage fraud, and more news of the day.

— Taylor Allen (southjersey@inquirer.com)

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🎃 Get in the spirit

There’s no such thing as too early for Halloween (in my opinion).

And I’m clearly not alone since about 3,000 people showed up to celebrate the annual grand opening of the flagship Spirit Halloween in Egg Harbor Township on Saturday.

Children and adults — some wearing shorts and T-shirts, others decked out in full costumes — were able to play outdoor games, enjoy food trucks, get their face painted, and of course, shop.

Some life-size animatronics sold out within minutes.

The chain operates more than 1,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada from August through early November.

Other locations that are now open include Mount Laurel, Cherry Hill, Deptford, and Sicklerville, with more to come.

Did you know?

The seasonally ubiquitous Spirit Halloween is a South Jersey company and Spencer’s is the parent corporation.

The Inquirer’s Sarah Nicell has more on the festive celebration.

A request to reverse FEMA aid rejection

All of the Democrats in the New Jersey congressional delegation signed a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to reverse his rejection of disaster aid for February’s deadly snowstorm.

Their plea in the letter —first obtained by The Inquirer —is in support of Gov.

Mikie Sherrill’s appeal of the denial of the $84 million request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the blizzard from earlier this year.

U.S.

Sens.

Cory Booker and Andy Kim led the effort.

All of the members of New Jersey were invited to join but only three Republicans did, according to Booker’s office.

Notably, South Jersey Republican U.S.

Rep.

Jeff Van Drew opted out despite initially supporting the FEMA request in April that sought money in every county in his district for costs related to the storm.

Reporter Aliya Schneider has the story.

What to know today

A man was charged with first-degree murder in the July 17 death of another inmate at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Chesterfield, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L.

Bradshaw said Friday.

Prosecutors have a filed a civil complaint to remove the jailed Willingboro council member, Nathaniel Anderson, who has not resigned from his position.

The new CEO of the Pennsauken-based Bayada Home Care spoke with The Inquirer to discuss the importance of providing additional care at home as the country’s healthcare providers navigate financial strain.

Washington Township High School teacher Matthew Groark and fellow food influencer Maxwell McGibbon is competing on Food Network’s grilling competition show Pitmasters, Philly Voice reports.

Starting today, Camden County will begin the $2.5 million project to make infrastructure improvements to Collings Avenue Bridge over Newton Creek on the border of Gloucester City and Camden.

The bridge will be closed for three months.

Back Alley Barbeque in Pennsauken is back after a deal for a seafood restaurant to take over the space fell through, according to South Jersey Food Scene.

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🧠 Trivia time

South Jersey singer Mara Justine came in what place when she competed on season 24 of The Voice?

A) Second

B) Third

C) Fifth

D) Seventh

Think you know?

Check your answer.

What we’re...

🗳️ Considering: Columnist Daniel Pearson’s opinion piece, which reflects on his previous role when he investigated allegations of election fraud in light of New Jersey’s noncitizen voter disclosure.

⛳ Remembering: That time when Steph and Ayesha Curry’s Underrated Golf Tour stopped in South Jersey.

❌ Preventing: Lanternfly damage on your property.

📬 Your South Jersey view

This submission was sent to us from Jess Fasano of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation who wrote:

New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s Franklin Parker Preserve encompasses 16 square miles in the heart of the Pine Barrens.

It’s open to the public year-round and contains some of the region’s most beautiful wetlands and provides critical habitat to more than 50 rare, threatened, or endangered species.

What does your community look like?

What South Jersey memory would you like to share?

Submit a photo and/or a brief description for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

🗞️ What other South Jersey residents are reading

Four Cheltenham High School football coaches, six players charged in assaults on teammate

6abc’s Cecily Tynan discusses her surprise retirement, sealed after a brief bout with vertigo

Mike Sielski: We are not part of Jalen Carter’s family, we shouldn’t care where LeBron lives, and other thoughts ...

I hope you have a great start to your week.

Catch you tomorrow!

📧

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

901 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers9.1%attributed speech819writer words

46 attributed words56% of attributed speech49% writer coverage

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

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🎃 An early welcome to spooky season | Inquirer South Jersey ^⁠7%

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New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Analysis

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🎃 An early welcome to spooky season | Inquirer South Jersey ⁠7%

Speakers

New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Analysis

Biases

Fallacies

Manipulations

🎃 An early welcome to spooky season | Inquirer South Jersey ^⁠7%