PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are not just an environmental hazard. They are an urgent public health issue threatening communities across New Jersey. Known as “forever chemicals” because they resist breakdown in the environment and accumulate in our bodies over time, PFAS have been used for more than 70 years in everything from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware. Their durability and resistance to water, heat and oil have made them domestic and industrial staples — but those same properties now haunt us.

A veteran federal prosecutor with decades of corruption-hunting experience has been tapped to run the state’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability following the recent departure of the unit’s former boss. New OPIA Executive Director Eric Gibson spent nearly two decades with the U.S. Department of Justice working on a “variety of complicated, sensitive public corruption investigations” involving racketeering, fraud, money laundering, and extortion allegations in New York and Pennsylvania, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.