BELLEVILE, NJ — A rainy morning dampened everything but the spirits of Belleville High School’s Class of 2023, as the newest Buccaneer alumni walked from the school to Doc Ellis Field in a steady downpour to receive their diplomas on June 23. Even with less than stellar weather, the stands at Municipal Stadium were packed […]
The first class that never had a year of normal high school due to the COVID-19 pandemic finally threw their tassels in the air as the Columbia High School Class of 2023 ended their careers in the South Orange-Maplewood School District. Students, staff and their families celebrated the many triumphs of the now Cougar […]
Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding decided to write a book. It was the end of August 2020, and they, like a lot of people, had spent much of the year working from home while their children were going to online school. Bellezza and Harding, who […]
One day a few years ago, Trinity Davis-Floyd’s older brothers didn’t want to play with her so she went to find her dad to lodge a complaint and found him doing laundry. Anthony Floyd had a pile of socks waiting to be paired up, and he told her to jump into it like it was […]
MAPLEWOOD, N.J. — The shuttered movie theater on Maplewood Avenue is still waiting for a new occupant. Closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the theater never reopened to the public and is available for lease. The building is owned by Vinnie Loffredo, who is also the owner of next-door neighbor pizza restaurant Roman […]
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Columbia High School’s Special Dance Company and a group of art students joined forces to put together a show for the school’s Domarecki Gallery, bringing to life the movement of the dancers while art depicting them hung on the walls. The collaboration was the brainchild of Dance Company artistic director Kandice […]
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — When the publisher Quirk Books was looking to launch a series about supernatural phenomena for kids in the middle grades, writer Insha Fitzpatrick immediately knew she wanted in. A lifelong horror fan, Fitzpatrick penned the first book in the “Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural” series, released on March 28. […]
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Mia Johmann but she now has two medals to hang around her neck. One of them is gold, from the United States Synchronized Skating Championships, and one of the them is bronze, from the World Junior Synchronized Skating Championship. Her 16-person team, […]
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — When the Columbia High School theater and music teachers met with the senior drama students last summer to choose this year’s musical, there was one show at the top of both of their wish lists: “Something Rotten.” The musical comedy set in 1595 the chronicles the rivalry between William Shakespeare and […]
NUTLEY, NJ — Nutley’s Cub Scout Pack 141 returned to the John H. Walker Middle School gym on Friday, Jan. 27, for its annual Pinewood Derby, racing down a track to determine the fastest homemade cars. Joseph Kaplow’s car won first place with a speed of 159.25 miles per hour; Carter Teese came in second […]