ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — In a major milestone in the long-sought effort to create a multiuse recreational trail spanning Essex and Hudson counties, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Sept. 15 that the state has successfully acquired the inactive Norfolk Southern Railway Co. railway that stretches nearly 9 miles from Montclair to Jersey City, passing through Glen […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — One afternoon last week, Paul Williams, 85, related his experiences serving as Bloomfield High School’s running coach. He had been head coach for cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track from 1961 to 2002. Born in Jersey City, he moved with his family to Dearborn, Mich., due to his father’s employment with Ford […]
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Members of the Maplewood and South Orange community came together on Thursday, Sept. 15, to protest the purported plea deal between the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Yohan Hernandez, 21, of Newark, the defendant in the Moussa Fofana murder case. The rally and march, which began at Columbia High School and concluded […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — Essex County held its annual ceremony to honor the lives lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the 21st anniversary of the attacks. At the ceremony at Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, organizers read aloud the names of all 57 people from Essex County who died in the […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Two decades of perseverance paid off Aug. 24, 2021, for Stephanie Orgueira-Aponte, 32, when she was hired as the first female Bloomfield Fire Department firefighter. A graduate of Nutley High School, Class of 2009, she moved to Bloomfield four years ago in the hopes of being hired. “I fell in love with […]
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — When Che Tafari, age 12, didn’t get a callback following his audition for Netflix’s new hit “Me Time,” he was understandably feeling a bit dejected. But it turned out to be a good thing — a very good thing. Che had so impressed “Me Time” lead actor Kevin Hart and director […]
ORANGE, NJ — Orange Board of Education member Fatimah Turner, a licensed clinical social worker, has created a community center for residents of Orange and surrounding communities in her cafe on South Essex Avenue. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner realized the community was lacking a space where all members of the community […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Ask any number of writers how they go about their business and you will likely receive, boiled down, this answer: write, write, write. Simple enough. Ask Eda Uzuncakara, Glen Ridge resident and author of “Jumping on the Drips,” a collection of interconnecting short stories, and you will get two answers: draw, […]
WEST ORANGE, NJ — Multiple cannabis business owners took the podium during the public comment section of the Sept. 6 West Orange Township Council meeting to express frustration regarding delays in the town approving their applications, and to ask for updates regarding when the task force will interview them and pass their applications to the […]
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — On Sept. 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the United States’ first monkeypox death, that of a man in Los Angeles County, Calif. Here in New Jersey, health officials are urging residents to learn the facts about monkeypox and to protect themselves accordingly. The Essex County Health Department […]