SOUTH ORANGE / BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Older Americans Month is usually in May, but Essex County took the liberty of delaying it until July, holding off on announcing the winners and honorable mention honorees of the Essex County Senior Citizen Legacies Writing Contest because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of an in-person celebration, all eight […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield School District Superintendent Sal Goncalves and Assistant Superintendent Joe Fleres presented the district’s reopening plan for September at the July 21 Board of Education meeting, a month after Gov. Phil Murphy announced that schools would resume in-person learning after being forced to move online because of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Public Library is open only for curbside pickup as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but that’s not stopping the staff from working on new projects. The library, always ready to preserve a story, is creating an archive to document the pandemic and is asking Bloomfield residents to […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Since portions of Bloomfield broke off from the town and became Glen Ridge in the late 1800s, six municipal clerks have worked for the borough. With the retirement of Michael Rohal earlier this summer, Glen Ridge welcomed Tara Ventola as his successor on July 14 — making her the only the […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Board of Education discussed the path back to reopening schools in the fall at its July 20 meeting. The health and safety of students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic is the top priority, and the school population will not all return to in-person instruction at the same […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange residents gathered on Northfield Avenue on July 25 for another Black Lives Matter protest, led by the West Orange African Heritage Organization. Standing on either side of the road down the street from the Turtle Back Zoo, protesters held up signs asking drivers to honk in support. “This is […]
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Maplewood Township Committee voted to further the discussion in 90 days about whether or not the town’s auxiliary police should be disarmed, in addition to preventing the use of the unit in the event of an emergency. Maplewood Police Chief Jimmy DeVaul had already deactivated the volunteer police during the COVID-19 […]
ORANGE, NJ — For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic turned daily life upside down, Orange’s Police Community Council had an in-person meeting. Residents set up socially distanced lawn chairs in the parking lot of Bethel Baptist Church on July 16 and discussed community policing issues with officers in the Orange Police Department, Councilwoman […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The Glen Ridge High School boys soccer team’s 2019 season ended with a 2-1 victory over Bound Brook in the state championship game in November, but a final chapter was written on June 30, when the team received their championship rings in the parking lot of GRHS in a socially distant […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield continued its community conversations on July 15, hosting a Zoom meeting about race and health equity with Michellene Davis, the executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer for RWJBarnabas Health. Moderated by Mayor Michael Venezia and Councilwoman Jenny Mundell, Davis talked about inequity in the health care system that disproportionately […]