InJersey

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — One down, several more to go. Construction crews this month demolished the long-abandoned High Hill Garage on the upper portion of Main Street , marking the first new development in a commercial strip marked by vacant and derelict buildings. The property, located next to the Woodbridge Community Center, will make way for a 10,000-square-foot child daycare [...]

It’s supposed to be the dawn of a new era for Middlesex County Democrats and the man at the helm will be a retired legislator who’s 82 years old. Peter J. Barnes Jr. , elected Tuesday night as the chairman of the county organization, isn’t slowing down in his self-avowed quest to root out corruption from the party [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Donna Lane remembers her brother, Tommy Shevlin , getting lots of headaches, daydreaming when people spoke to him, and forgetting where he placed things. Then, in January, after a car accident, the family learned what was wrong. The daydreaming episodes were seizures, which, along with the memory loss and pain, were symptoms of a rare terminal [...]

There may not be an India Day Parade this summer because of a rivalry between two local ethnic business groups and Edison’s refusal to grant either of them permits until they agree to work together, according to the Home News Tribune reports. The annual Indian Day Parade has been organized for the last six years [...]

Former Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes Jr. bested Kevin McCabe to become the county Democratic chairman during the organization’s convention Tuesday in Edison. Committee members from each of the county’s municipalities chose the retired FBI agent over former state labor secretary by a vote of 517 to 412. Barnes’ running mate, Perth Amboy Democratic chairwoman Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez , was elected vice [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Police are looking for witnesses to a hit-and-run accident Sunday evening that killed a 28-year-old Elizabeth man on Route 1. Emergency responders found Angel Hernandez in the right lane of the highway on the northbound side, near Mitchell Place in Avenel section. Police received a 9-1-1 call at 10:10 p.m. reporting a motorcycle [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, hasn’t given up trying to close tax loopholes used by oil companies to keep more than $20 billion in profits each year. While the legislation to end the oil-company subsidies failed to pass the Senate by eight votes last month, Menendez and other Democrats continue to push for [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Federal officials will deport an illegal immigrant arrested last month by Woodbridge police and charged with breaking into a car in Iselin and resisting arrest, police said. Christopher R. Morales , 21, was found hiding in a 2010 Ford Focus by police before 3:30 a.m., May 25, after a Madison Street resident phoned 911 to [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A gallon of gas cost about $1.20 when Woodbridge Checker Taxi Servive went into business 26 years ago. Today a gallon is reaching $4, with some experts predicting $5 prices by next year. Such costs and uncertainty led this local transportation company last month to buy 11 hybrid vehicles, nearly a third of [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — In 1911 the Fords section of Woodbridge was a farming village. Today it’s a densely populated blue-collar community of more than 15,000 people. Chicken coops made way for industrial warehouses. And a fire company that first went into service with a hand-powered chemical wagon is now equipped with a three fire engines and [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Kelli A. Wilkins lives in a neatly kept home with a garage near downtown Woodbridge — not some pleasure palace in a far-off land. And while her husband might be tall and handsome, he’s no shirtless horse-riding country singer — the kind you might find on the cover of one of her novels. Wilkins, [...]

Here are the latest tallies, including the one district whose machine wouldn’t spit out the results Tuesday night. Eduardo Ascolese, who ran on Christopher Struben’s slate, beat Kenneth Russo from the Robert Luban team by just one vote. The results mean all but one on Struben’s slate will make it onto the November ballot. The results [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — School districts around the state are announcing early dismissals Wednesday so students and employees can escape the record-breaking heat wave forecast for the region. Woodbridge announced Tuesday night that the high schools will dismiss students at 12:10 p.m., the middle schools at 12:45, elementary schools at 1:10 p.m and kindergarten classes at 11:35 [...]

Republican Christopher Struben may be taking on Mayor John E. McCormac in November. Unofficial results from today’s primary shows Struben beating Councilman Robert Luban by 39 votes. The final tally, however, may change Wednesday after the county counts the votes from Ward 1 District 2, which had a defective machine that wouldn’t print out a result tape after polls [...]

The Middlesex County election board has ruled that Municipal Court Judge Spencer B. Robbins was improperly voting from his office in Woodbridge while living with his family in Chatham Township. The unanimous decision by the board of two Democratic and two Republican commissioners came ahead of Tuesday’s primaries. Election workers in Woodbridge were asked to bar the judge, [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — The state’s cash-strapped school districts have found another way to save money: outsourcing substitute teachers. Woodbridge last month became the latest school district to privatize its ranks of substitutes, which number about 800 in a district with about 1,200 full-time teachers. Contracting with the Cherry Hill-based Source4Teachers is expected to save the school district [...]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy State Sen. Joseph Vitale , D-Woodbridge, took to cable TV last night to slam Republican Gov. Chris Christie ‘s proposal to cut health insurance benefits for low-income residents. Vitale appeared opposite liberal activist Al Sharpton , serving as a fill-in host on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” and Passaic resident Deborah Shupenko, a Medicaid [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — New Brunswick Avenue was a field of broken glass this week after thieves smashed through storefront windows of four businesses and tried opening the door of a fifth. Police also are investigating whether another smash-and-grab in Colonia early Tuesday may be connected. The burglaries occurred after midnight Tuesday. The unknown suspect or suspects grabbed [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Edison police arrested a teenager, and chased after another, whom Woodbridge police believe might have been involved in a series of car break-ins in the Fords section of the township on Monday. The arrest was made on a night Woodbridge saw break-ins to cars on 10 streets across the township, police said, although [...]

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Looking for a debate between the two Republican candidates for mayor of Woodbridge? Well, look no further. There won’t be one. Christopher Struben and his team spent weeks goading Robert Luban to go mano-a-mano. But Luban, the veteran Colonia councilman running as the Republican committee’s choice for mayor, refused to bite. Luban insisted from the [...]