The mayor of New Jersey's gambling destination of Atlantic City and his wife pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The mayor of Atlantic City and his wife, who is the Jersey Shore gambling resort's schools superintendent, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of beating and abusing their teenage daughter, with a lawyer saying that “parenting struggles are not criminal events.

The first couple of New Jersey's Atlantic City have pleaded not guilty to beatings and other abuse of their teenage daughter