Celgene to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb

Celgene to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb

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 […]

Ousted Roselle school board member announces bid for mayor

Ousted Roselle school board member announces bid for mayor

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 […]

Acrimony punctuates Hillside BOE meeting

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 […]

DuBois chosen mayor of all-Dem Springfield committee

DuBois chosen mayor of all-Dem Springfield committee

SPRINGFIELD, NJ — Mayor Erica DuBois says having an all-Democratic Township Committee won’t be an issue for Springfield. “I’m sure that everyone is going to be concerned about this,” DuBois, who was chosen as the township’s fifth female mayor at the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting, said in a Jan. 2 phone interview. “We’re all going […]

Delisfort takes oath as Union’s first black woman mayor

Delisfort takes oath as Union’s first black woman mayor

UNION, NJ — Michele Delisfort took the oath of office as the township’s first black woman mayor on New Year’s Day, replacing Suzette Cavadas after her two-year reign and becoming the first female Haitian mayor in the state. “It is a given that none of us ascends to elected office without the sacrifices and support […]

Local police see body cams as big plus

Local police see body cams as big plus

UNION COUNTY, NJ — Clark police Chief Pedro Matos said he has been in a difficult position in the rare instance when resident said a township officer had acted unprofessionally and the officers denied it. But facts haven’t been in question since officers began wearing body cameras in January 2016, and Matos said that’s why […]

Rahway house fire kills one, but three escape

Rahway house fire kills one, but three escape

RAHWAY, NJ — A 44-year-old woman was killed when a two-alarm blaze swept through her single-family home on the morning of Jan. 2, Rahway fire Chief Michael Roberts said. Shonda Smith was found in her second-floor bedroom at 452 Washington St. after firefighters took nearly about an hour to extinguish the fire that had completely […]

Kean institute receives $100K grant to expand operations

Kean institute receives $100K grant to expand operations

UNION, NJ — The Institute for Life Science Entrepreneurship’s mission in part is to train the next generations of entrepreneurs, and officials belief that at a recent grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority will aid that goal. The nonprofit institute housed at Kean University has plans to use the $100,000 planning grant to […]