New Jersey Lt Gov Sheila Oliver has died one day after being hospitalised for treatment for an undisclosed medical issue while serving as acting governor. Ms Oliver was taken to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston on Monday, while Governor Phil Murphy was in Italy on a family vacation. Her family confirmed her death at the age of 71 in a statement on Tuesday. “It is with incredible sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of the Honorable Sheila Y. Oliver, Lieutenant Governor of the State of New Jersey,” the family said in a statement to ABC7. “She was not only a distinguished public servant but also our cherished daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and hero.” No cause of death has been released. In a statement, Gov Murphy said he and his family were “incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of our dear friend, colleague, and partner in government.” Ms Oliver, a Democrat, was selected as Gov Murphy’s running mate in 2017, and was a “trailblazer in every sense of the word”, he said. In 2010, she became the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the General Assembly, and was the second Black woman in US history to lead a house of a state legislature. “I knew then that her decades of public service made her the ideal partner for me to lead the State of New Jersey. It was the best decision I ever made.” Democratic Senate President Nicholas Scutari is serving as acting governor, the governor’s spokesperson Mahen Gunaratna said. The governor will be returning to the US “soon”, Mr Gunaratna added. Along with serving as Gov Murphy’s top lieutenant, Ms Oliver also oversaw the Department of Community Affairs, which coordinates state aid to towns and cities and supervises code enforcement. She had been twice elected to the lieutenant governor’s role in 2017 and 2021, becoming the second person to hold the post in New Jersey. Born and raised in Newark, Ms Oliver earned a degree in sociology from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University before being elected to the Essex County board of chosen freeholders in 1996. Ms Oliver had served on the New Jersey assembly since 2004. “She brought a unique and invaluable perspective to our public policy discourse and served as an inspiration to millions of women and girls everywhere, especially young women of colour,” Gov Murphy said in a statement. “Beyond all of that, she was an incredibly genuine and kind person whose friendship and partnership will be irreplaceable.” Ms Oliver’s family requested privacy, and said details of a memorial service would be provided at a later date. Read More New Jersey sues federal highway officials in bid to stop New York City's plan to charge big tolls Manhattan architect, family man and accused serial killer: Who is Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann? Chris Christie slams Trumps as ‘Corleones with no experience’ New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, first Black woman to serve as state Assembly speaker, dies at 71 The first generation of solar panels will wear out. A recycling industry is taking shape Blue blood from horseshoe crabs is valuable for medicine, but a declining bird needs them for food

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A Republican official charged with overseeing elections in the state of Georgia, where Donald Trump tried and failed to change the results of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, lamented on Sunday that the ex-president was able to make himself out as a “martyr” to his supporters as he continues to face deepening legal problems. Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer to Georgia’s secretary of state, watched his boss Brad Raffensperger survive a Trump-backed primary challenge in 2022 after Mr Raffensperger refused to go along with Mr Trump’s attempts to change the lawful election results. He has long said that the former president’s efforts after the 2020 election were inappropriate, including an early January 2021 phone call between Mr Raffensperger and the president during which Mr Trump asked the Georgia elections chief to “find” him 11,000 votes. That phone call and the effort by Mr Trump to change the results in Georgia are expected to result in a criminal indictment filed by Fulton County prosecutors within the next week or so; Fani Willis’s office is currently presenting evidence against the ex-president and his legal team to a grand jury. A “special purpose” grand jury – unique under Georgia law – had previously been called in the matter, but that body did not have the final authority to approve or reject criminal indictments. On Sunday, Mr Sterling spoke to ABC’s This Week about what he said was a troubling sign; that Republicans were flocking to Mr Trump as further consequences for his long-alleged criminal behaviour unfold. "This has been giving oxygen to his campaign," Mr Sterling said. "This is raising tons of money, and a lot of that money ... is being used to pay for his lawyers.” "He's making himself a martyr, and a lot of the American people are going behind him because they feel like some of these things are a little bit of a stretch," he said. Complicating the narrative regarding Mr Trump’s criminal indictments is the very first of the actions taken against him by prosecutors: The charging of Mr Trump more than 30 times by officials in Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office over the Stormy Daniels affair which is alleged to have played out as far back as 2016. Mr Trump is charged with falsifying business documents to hide hush payments to Ms Daniels, an issue which some have said is being prosecuted far too late and as a result detracting from the credibility of the unrelated investigations into both Mr Trump’s efforts to change the 2020 election results and the discovery of classified defence materials at his properties. Mr Trump remains the far-and-away leader of the 2024 GOP primary field, and has actively campaigned on the issue of his criminal charges, which he has portrayed as a weaponisation of the US justice system by Democrats. He continues to deny wrongdoing in all matters, including his embrace of conspiracies that led to thousands of his supporters attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Read More Trump steps up attacks on Fani Willis as Georgia probe links Trump team to voting system breach - latest Georgia prosecutors have text messages linking Trump team to voting system breach, report says Georgia grand jury to hear Trump election subversion case next week Ron DeSantis faces ‘pudding fingers’ chant and other protests during Iowa campaign stop

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