By Peter Fiorilla on RAHWAY
RAHWAY, NJ — Well over 11 million people watched Shanice Williams, a 19-year-old singer from Rahway, become the definitive Dorothy for a younger generation in NBC’s “The Wiz! Live” musical on Thursday, Dec. 3, as she impressed fans and critics alike in a universally acclaimed professional debut. It was an emotionally packed, veteran-like performance from […]
By Peter Fiorilla on BERKELEY HEIGHTS, COUNTY NEWS
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — When they first started rescuing dogs from kill shelters in the deep south, the founders of the Berkeley Heights-based Home For Good Dog Rescue — modestly working out of a nearby Summit home — gave themselves a rule. They would transport just 10 dogs a month from South Carolina and Georgia — […]
By Peter Fiorilla on COUNTY NEWS
American Association of University Professors claims reorganization is ‘demeaning’
UNION COUNTY, NJ — Citing changes in school policy put in place since 2009, a report published by the American Association of University Professors alleges that Union County College has bulldozed faculty rights by taking advantage of a state labor law, resulting in “demeaning” treatment of faculty and an inferior educational product. The report, released in […]
By Peter Fiorilla on HILLSIDE
HILLSIDE, NJ — The generosity of strangers has, time after time, stunned Hillside resident Tina Thomas in the fourteen months since she founded The Loving Arms Foundation, a Newark-based nonprofit which helps homeless people in the form of food, quarterly health fairs and more. Before the dawn of the foundation, said Thomas, she’d seen a […]
By Peter Fiorilla on CLARK
CLARK, NJ — As the blue spruce sitting in his front lawn shot up to about 30 feet tall, casting a shadow over his one-story Clark home, Michael Mignone realized he wasn’t going to be able to keep decorating it as he had in years past. “It got to be too tall. One year I took […]
By Peter Fiorilla on RAHWAY
RAHWAY, NJ — Members of the Sea Scouts chapter in Rahway have taken “Sea Horse,” a 65-foot, twin-engine boat originally purposed to be a gunboat in Vietnam, on various day trips and missions over the past two decades: Teenage recruits plot courses, navigate bodies of water and keep the boat in tip-top shape throughout their […]
By Peter Fiorilla on LINDEN
Terrorist attack hits home as exchange students share memories
LINDEN, NJ — Speak with some of the Linden High School students who are set to travel to France next spring, as part of a two-way foreign exchange program, and you’ll find a common thread beyond a desire to climb the Eiffel Tower or appreciate a different way of life: They all remember what they […]
By Peter Fiorilla on LINDEN
LINDEN, NJ — More than 100 people bustled in and out of a lively Thanksgiving eve feast in what’s ordinarily an empty Linden storefront, outfitted for the occasion by the neighboring tenants at St. George’s Family Pharmacy, as town residents joined each other for an iconic holiday meal: Mashed potatoes, heaps of turkey and an […]
By Peter Fiorilla on COUNTY NEWS
Former student, rally participant charged; ministers still calling for president’s resignation
UNION COUNTY, NJ — A two-week long investigation for the user of infamous Twitter account @keanuagainstblk, which published death threats against black students and sent the school community into chaos on Tuesday, Nov. 17, has led the Union County Prosecutor’s Office to a black activist that had participated in on-campus peace rallies for raising racial awareness. […]
By Peter Fiorilla on COUNTY NEWS
Union County celebrates ‘Adoption Day’ at courthouse rotunda
UNION COUNTY, NJ — The happiest day of the year at Union County Courthouse may have been on Friday, Nov. 20, as newly adopted children and their families kicked off a new era in their lives during Union County’s 8th annual Adoption Day celebration. “Every year, the goals of our event are to finalize multiple adoptions, […]