MONTCLAIR, NJ — The most recent short film that Damon “Abwon” Clindinin’s production company released wasn’t actually supposed to be a short film. It was going to be a music video, until at the last possible second the artists fell through. “We had the Airbnb booked and we had cast members coming,” Clindinin said in […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange School District will be expanding its preschool program over the next five years and is hoping to provide early education for 90 percent of the 3- and 4-year-old students in West Orange at no cost to parents, according to Assistant Superintendent Eveny de Mendez in a presentation to […]
EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange renamed the plaza outside of City Hall on June 1, changing it from City Hall Plaza to Congressman Donald M. Payne Sr. International Plaza, honoring the late congressman who was the longtime representative of East Orange in the U.S. House of Representatives. First elected in 1988, Payne Sr. represented […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Seven months after the South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education passed a resolution that placed a moratorium on most suspensions and school removals, Superintendent Ronald Taylor said in an update at the board’s May 16 meeting that the pause reduced the risk of suspensions across races, even though there are […]
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — A week before the South Orange Performing Arts Center was set to reopen after a year-and-a-half–long COVID-19 closure, the weather had other plans. The remnants of Hurricane Ida swept through the Northeast in September 2021, flooding Essex County and leaving parts of buildings underwater. South Orange Avenue was under 7 feet […]
CLARK, NJ — A youth basketball team from West Orange was forced to pull out of a tournament that was held in Clark after wearing warm up T-shirts that protested the actions of Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso, who has recently come under fire for using racial slurs. The tournament was being held in the gyms […]
ORANGE, NJ — When the Essex County governing body changed its name from the Board of Chosen Freeholders to the Board of County Commissioners, Orange Councilwoman Adrienne Wooten did research about the reasoning, which was that “freeholder” was an outdated term, used when political officials needed to be landowners, which often excluded women and people […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange residents gathered on the steps of Town Hall on May 30 for the town’s annual Memorial Day ceremony, honoring service members who have been lost and highlighting the next generation of the military with the West Orange High School Air Force JROTC members in attendance. At the event, township […]
ORANGE, NJ — Former Orange resident Salamishah Tillet became the latest writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism when the awards were announced on May 9, winning for her writing for The New York Times. A contributing critic at large, Tillet is also a professor of African American studies and creative writing at Rutgers […]
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education discussed the Columbia High School pool at its May 16 meeting, revisiting a conversation about the possibility of retaining the high school’s pool as part of the district’s ongoing long-range facilities plan. A group of residents advocated for the CHS pool with a presentation at a […]