Archive for ‘News’
STAR-LEDGER:
The next time you order a 670-calorie Whopper at the drive-through, you may help create 2,000 watts of energy.
A Hillside Burger King is the first venue in the country to test a Maryland company’s device that looks like a metal speed bump and aims to capture energy from passing vehicles. As customers pull up to the pickup window to grab their food, they drive over the apparatus, setting off a chain reaction that creates a burst of energy.
READ MORE
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Hillside resident and township Democratic Committee treasurer Arthur Kobitz was the winner of a big-screen TV n a tricky-tray auction during the Runnells Specialized Hospital Foundation’s Third Annual Casino Night in Berkeley Heights, which helped raised money for the Union County hospital. MORE
PHOTO: Union County Freeholder Deborah Scanlon, Arthur Kobitz, of Hillside, and Freeholder Daniel Sullivan.
Posted in News | 4 Comments »
One smoke-eater taken to hospital after Blackburn Road blaze on Tuesday; no injuries at John Glenn Drive fire on Sunday. MORE
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Queen King, a 30-year Hillside resident and owner of the Fresh & Pretty flower shop on Maple Avenue, was honored Wednesday for her volunteer work with seniors and youth. MORE
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Hillside school officials say they have taken steps to prevent any school outbreaks of the deadly swine flu, which has killed an infant in Texas and is suspected in the deaths of over a hundred people in Mexico, where the virus is believed to have first struck.
“At this time there are no indications that any of our children have contracted this flu,” Interim Superintendent Michael Roth noted in a letter sent to parents last week a day before state officials confirmed five cases of virus in New Jersey.
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Posted in In the Schools, News | 1 Comment »
Janice Worthen-Caldwell, a 50-year-old mother of two, was recently awarded $1.86 million in a civil sexual harassment suit, after a jury in Brooklyn decided she was ridiculed and sexually abused by her employer at a home health care agency. MORE
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
The construction is in preparation for the upcoming Route 22 overpass reconstruction by the state Department of Transportation.
A $4.2 million project is in place to improve drainage along Route 22, between mile posts 58.12 and 58.82, said Stephen Dilts, commissioner for the state Department of Transportation. The project includes the installation of larger drainage pipes and a detention basin along the roadway, as well as new curbing and guard rails. “This stretch is among the top 10 hot spots for flooding in the state,” said DOT spokesperson Erin Phalon. MORE
Posted in News, Township Hall | No Comments »
The portion of Liberty Avenue running under the Route 22 overpass will be closed to traffic beginning next Friday, May 1, until Monday, May 4, Hillside Police Chief Robert Quinlan said.
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Posted in News, Police Blogger, Township Hall | 1 Comment »
Union County Freeholder Angel G. Estrada, left, presents resolutions to Daniel Capitao, of Elizabeth, and Bryan Galvao, of Hillside, with Scout Master John Livres, congratulating then on becoming Eagle Scouts.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
A Hillside couple died in the early hours of Easter after their van careened off a Georgia highway and landed upside-down in a marsh.
Six other passengers in the car, five of them children, survived with only minor injuries. According to police, Kavita Ali, 30, and her husband, Danny Ali, 39, were pronounced dead at the scene after their 2006 Toyota Sienna minivan crashed off the side of Interstate 95 in McIntosh County and landed in about 3 feet of water. MORE
Posted in News | 2 Comments »
Hillside resident Willie Palayo, 59, was featured today in the Star-Ledger’s “Faces of the Recession” special about how the economy has hit people from all walks of life.
You can read about Palayo and other here.
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Hillside resident honored by co-workers
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Dorothy Thomas receives an Employee of the Year plaque from Dr. Manuel Guantez, Turning Point's executive director, at the agency's 34th Anniversary Luncheon on St. Patrick’s Day.
Hillside resident Dorothy Thomas was selected “Employee of the Year” this month by her colleagues at Verona-based Turning Point.
The honor was announced at a celebration of Turning Point’s 34th anniversary of providing treatment services for alcoholism and drug dependency.
Thomas joined Turning Point in May 2007 and serves as a medical records clerk for the agency.
Turning Point has treated more than 35,000 clients from around the state since it opened in 1975. The agency provides compassionate treatment for alcoholism, drug addiction and related mental health issues regardless of a client’s ability to pay.
Turning Point was recognized as a model program in 2003 when the White House announced its nationwide Access to Recovery Treatment Initiative from a Turning Point treatment site.
Posted in News | 2 Comments »
Warren Brown, 68, a Hillside resident and former teacher in Summit made his first court appearance last Friday before Union County Superior Court Judge Joan Robinson Gross in Elizabeth, The Independent Press reports.
He has been charged with first and second degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor. . . Following additional interviews with the victim, it now appears their relationship became sexual in July of 2008. . . The relationship continued for several months after Mr. Brown left Kent Place. An investigation was launched after the victim’s parents became suspicious. MORE
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First Neil Cohen, the former Roselle assemblyman indicted on charges related to viewing child pornography in his office.
Now Rosemary McClave, indicted on charges she stole from Cohen’s campaign account.
What do the two have in common? Charlotte DeFilippo, Hillside’s political queen on King Street.
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The campaign treasurer for Hillside Democratic mayoral candidate Jerome Jewell was indicted today on charges she stole money from former Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s campaign account.
The grand jury indictment charges Rosemary McClave, 66, of Hillside, with one count of third-degree theft by deception and six counts of third-degree tampering with public records, which carry a maximum sentence of five years in state prison and a $15,000 fine, according the state Attorney General’s Office.
The indictment alleges that between March 2003 and November 2006, McClave, who was Cohen’s campaign treasurer, wrote 10 checks to herself from the election fund totaling $5,562.54.
(more…)
Tags: McClave
Posted in Mayor/Council '09, News | 2 Comments »
A campaign aide for Hillside/Newark state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (above) was indicted Monday on charges he changed votes on absentee ballots he collected during the senator’s 2007 run.
“Antonio Santana, 58, allegedly unsealed three ballots and changed the votes to Democratic candidates. The forgery was discovered by the voters, all members of the same family, when their ballots were accidentally returned by the Post Office,” the Star-Ledger reports.
Posted in News | 2 Comments »
A former Essex County College professor who admitted to stabbing his ex-wife to death in front of their two children was sentenced today to 25 years in state prison, authorities said. MORE
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UPDATE: A Hillside business is boasting of good news. Glowpoint says recent restructuring and stock sell-offs has allowed it to pay off its debt.
As township mayoral candidates promise to bring more businesses to Hillside, some businesses already in town are going through uncertain times — and one already has left.
(more…)
Posted in News | 4 Comments »
Here are just some of the earmarks Hillside’s Congressman Donald Payne, D-10, inserted without discussion into the $410 billion spending bill passed by Congress. Most of the projects had other congressional co-sponsors.
• Construction, Joseph G. Minish Waterfront New Jersey
$3,000,000
• PAL of N.J. After School Initiative
Freehold
$1,500,000
• Solar Panels and Environmental Education
$951,500
• The Newark Museum for an interactive platform for education on astronauts
Newark Museum
$500,000
• Returning offender initiative
Newark
$500,000
• Signalization Improvements
Elizabeth
$475,000
• East Orange PAL program to redirect youth
$400,000
• Services Administration (HRSAI) programs, including purchase of equipment Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
$381,000
• Facilities and equipment
UMDNJ
$333,000
• Operation/maintenance of Newark Bay, Hackensack and Passaic Rivers
$300,000
• Services Administration (HRSA) facilities and equipment Newark
$238,000
• Development of commercial retail space in the viaduct underneath the East Orange Train Station
$237,500
• Conservation operations, ConselVation Technical Assistance
$236,000
• Law Enforcement Technology
Maplewood
$200,000
• Offender Aid & Restoration for Essex County
$150,000
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Summit teacher who lives in Hillside faces kid sex charges
Friday, February 27th, 2009
A 67-year-old former music teacher at an exclusive all-girls preparatory school in Summit has been charged with having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student there.
Hillside resident Warren Brown was arrested at home Tuesday night and charged with first- and second-degree sexual assault, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and Summit police announced yesterday. READ MORE
In somewhat related news, Democrats in the state Assembly have introduced a 10-bill package to combat Internet crimes against children.
Hillside/Newark Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer discusses the legislation in this video.
Posted in News, Police Blogger | No Comments »
An Orange elementary school principal has been convicted of insurance fraud for having her vehicle torched to collect the insurance money, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
A jury found Amanda Wright-Stafford, 52, of Hillside, guilty Friday of third-degree insurance fraud, authorities said.
MORE
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Former school board member and photographer Raymond Royster died this past Saturday from a massive heart attack.
Funeral services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Zion Hill Baptist Church, 152 Osborne Terr., Newark. Visitation is Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. at the church. Interment is in Evergreen Cemetery.
He was an educator, photographer and longtime community activist. As a member of former Mayor Barbara Rowen’s Hillside Citizens Action Committee, he was elected to the Hillside Board of Education in 1995 and served for three years.
Surviving are his wife Sheila Royster; his children, Raymond and Rhea; and his brothers and sister, Jean Pruitt, Roger and Randy.
Posted in News | 3 Comments »
The state Assembly this week approved a bill sponsored by Assembly members Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, and L. Grace Spencer, D-Hillside/Newark, to require ATMs to inform customers when they’ll be charged fees for balance inquiries. MORE
Posted in County Watchers, News | No Comments »
Charlotte DeFilippo
King Street resident
Charlotte DeFilippo, who pulls the strings of the Hillside and Union County Democratic officials affiliated with her organizations, makes a living as executive director of something called the
Union County Improvement Authority.
But what does she do exactly for that cool $143,410 she makes a year?
The short answer: Who knows?
NJ.com columnist John Bury explains:
Basically, if you want something big built in Union County and don’t want to ask the taxpayers in any meaningful way, you run it through the UCIA. They bond to get the money for it; get it built; then bill the city or county to lease the property to repay the debt.
“For this they take $528,000 to run the office and funnel tax money to “vendors” of their choosing,” Bury says.
Some of those vendors — one of whom has collected over $4.3 million from the UCIA over the last four years — then give some of that money back to DeFilippo in the form of campaign contributions to her committees and candidates.
The operations of the UCIA are so out of the way, so removed from public scrutiny, that it’s practically impossible to know what they, er, she is doing with public money.
In fact, the UCIA operations are conducted from DeFilippo’s Hillside home, where she can smoke and surf the Internet all day at the same time she’s running her campaigns and keeping tabs on her freeholders.
“These people seem to think that their work schedules or lack of are something that they are entitled to,” writes Patricia Quattrocchi in her PolitickerNJ column about county “no-show” jobs.
“It appears that it is not against the law to have a no show job as long as one’s employment contract does not call for one to actually report to a job site where the work is expected to be carried out.”
Nice work, if you can get it.
Posted in County Watchers, News | 4 Comments »
NJ.com reports:
The Community FoodBank of New Jersey is observing a National Day of Service, “Renew America Together,” with a special event, “Community FoodBank of New Jersey Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy” today. MORE
Assemblyman Albert Coutinho, D-Hillside/Newark, and councilmen Edward Brewer and Shelly-Ann Bates, both pictured above, were there to help.
Posted in News, Township Hall | No Comments »
