LINDEN, NJ — State Sen. Nick Scutari, who served as city prosecutor for about 16 years, was removed from the position by a vote of the City Council at its Jan. 15 meeting. The council, the majority aligned with Scutari’s political rival, Mayor Derek Armstead, voted to replace him with Scotch Plains-based attorney Deirdre Mason. […]
LINDEN, NJ — The City Council has voted to leave the 8th Ward seat, which was vacated when Michele Yamakaitis took over as council president, open until the November general election. Some council members and members of the public bristled at the move during the Jan. 15 meeting, asserting that the seat is being left […]
CRANFORD, NJ — An attorney who assists homeowners with cell tower lease negotiations says there are ways to enhance the aesthetics of cell towers like the 130-foot-tall one Union County College proposes building on its campus. In a Jan. 11 interview with LocalSource, Hugh Odom, founder of Tennessee-based Vertical Consultants, said telecommunication giants call the […]
SPRINGFIELD, NJ — Bonnie Lafazan, who has two boys in the local school system, thinks her middle school son is being shortchanged. As a librarian, she is beside herself that none of the district’s five other schools, besides Jonathan Dayton High School, has a certified media specialist. “This is a disservice and a disappointment, and […]
UNION, NJ — Plans for a 24-unit apartment building were approved for the half-acre property at 580 North Ave. on the corner of Lynmar Way that was long home to the University Diner, at the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s Jan. 9 meeting, despite residents’ concerns. The plan passed 7-1 with member James DiGiovanni being the […]
KENILWORTH, NJ — The new council president envisions a revitalized Boulevard replete with flowers, benches and tables lining its spacious sidewalks, accentuating its small-town charm. Linda Karlovitch, who was selected as council president by a 6-0 vote in at the reorganization meeting on Jan. 1, doesn’t have to look far for a blueprint. Karlovitch said […]
UNION, NJ — School board members clashed at their annual reorganization meeting when board member Mary Lynn Williams was allowed to cast her vote for president remotely. Williams was the only one of the nine members absent from the Jan. 3, and she participated via a conference call due to a death in her family. […]
SUMMIT, NJ — Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire Summit-based Celgene Corp. in a cash and stock purchase for $74 billion, the two firms announced Jan. 3, creating a company with a combined $34 billion in annual pharmaceutical sales. Neither company addressed specifically how the merger would affect employees, although New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb said in a […]
ROSELLE, NJ — Archange Antoine, a former local school board member who was dismissed for missing meetings and is facing formal ethics complaints with state authorities in unrelated incidents, is running for mayor. Antoine, who was the longest-serving member of the Board of Education at the time he was removed by a 5-4 vote on […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — The school board’s annual reorganization meeting Jan. 3 turned from a simple swearing-in ceremony to a meeting punctuated by bickering when newly elected board members verbally introduced previously unannounced motions regarding appointments to the agenda. After new members Kim Cook, Laquana Best, Pinchas Shapiro and incumbents Joel Chapman and Hawaiian Thompson-Epps took […]