N.J. district with $7,500 signing bonuses has hired 115 teachers in 11 weeks

It was a sweetheart deal kept hidden for months, that suddenly blew up into a scandal. The school board didn’t tell Newark families about a rule that the superintendent would be automatically rehired for five more years at an annual salary of about $290,000, if they didn’t give him notice last May. They didn’t put it on the public agenda back when they wrote this into his contract in 2019, and it was approved without public comment.

The still-grieving family of two teenagers who drowned in a Bayonne school pool last year are close to filing a lawsuit against the city, school district and lifeguards who were present over what their attorneys describe as a systemic failure to operate the pool safely. Attorneys Daryl Zaslow and Barry...

The state’s oldest medical school, in a warning issued more than a year ago, was told its accreditation could be in jeopardy absent “substantial improvement” in areas that include research opportunities, and clinical experiences. Rutgers University made the Liaison Committee on Medical Education concerns public last week,...

Lolitha Brannon eagerly welcomed a visitor into her 11th-floor apartment at Georgia King Village, a sprawling affordable housing complex where she’s lived for the past seven years in Newark’s West Ward. But she wasn’t proud of what she had to show him. Brannon, 60, had pulled her...

Politicians and law enforcement officials across New Jersey stood united Friday night in their condemnation of the five Tennessee police officers charged with murder in the violent beating death of Tyre Nichols — video footage of which was released earlier in the evening. “We are horrified,” Gov. Phil Murphy...

A renovated indoor go-kart track has reopened in New Jersey. RPM Raceway unveiled its upgraded indoor go-kart experience in Jersey City on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The entertainment center at 99 Caven Point Rd. went through a six-month remodel that RPM Raceway now heralds as one of the world’s largest go-kart tracks.

The former director of buildings and grounds in the Hillsborough school district admitted he took part in a scheme to receive about $138,000 in overtime to which he was not entitled. Anthony DeLuca, 61, of Raritan, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of embezzling, stealing, and obtaining by fraud,...

A college football player from Morris County is one of two men facing charges in the rape of a woman during a house party last year in Pennsylvania. Daunte White, of Wharton, a linebacker for the Saint Francis University Red Flash, was charged Tuesday with participating in the assault that allegedly occurred in February 2022, according to court documents.

An iconic New Jersey bakery is closing after more than four decades. Dom’s Bakery Grand, a Hoboken baking staple, closed its doors for good on Saturday, Jan. 28. The 43-year-old bakery was located at 506 Grand St. “As many of you know, we have made the decision to close...

A state appeals court on Thursday upheld the firing of a state Department of Corrections officer who made several online posts that were derogatory about race, the Black Lives Matter movement, and George Floyd, the man killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020. Samantha Chirichello was a corrections officer from...

A well-regarded New Jersey restaurant just made Yelp’s new list of the Top 100 U.S. restaurants of 2023. Jessica’s Café, a popular eatery in Plainfield inspired by French and Italian cooking techniques, ranked No. 40 on the list, with Yelp praising its “branzino filets with crispy skin (and) plump Prince Edward Island mussels in a buttery sauce with applewood-smoked bacon and fresh herbs.

Dave Williamson died alone. The Absecon resident was hospitalized after testing positive for coronavirus in December 2021. He died a month later, never seeing his family again.

An Edgewater condo association that was ordered to grant access to its property for a section of the Hudson River Walkway had been working on a $3 million plan to build a bulkhead and walkway before the lawsuit was filed, its attorney said. The plans call for an eight foot...

Nearly 32 acres of open land owned by the Catholic Church in Brick will be preserved and a plan to build dozens of houses on the site will be scrapped under a preliminary deal reached Wednesday, county officials said. The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund Advisory Committee approved the...

All season long, Delaware Valley wrestlers, fans, coaches and community had waited for the ideal Terrier lineup to actually appear on the mat.

The college wrestling season is heading into its last month of dual meets with individual in-season tournaments in the rear-view mirror and conference tournaments and the NCAAs on the horizon. This week, Princeton heavyweight Travis Stefanik, Rutgers’ Tony White and Boonton graduate Danny Fongaro made some strides to gain traction...

New Jersey health officials on Friday reported another 1,637 COVID-19 cases and three new confirmed deaths. Those numbers were offset by some promising news: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered the number of counties it considers to have ‘high’ community levels of COVID-19 from seven to four Friday.

Newark police investigating a shooting at an apartment building on Shephard Avenue found one victim on Saturday morning–and another about four hours later when they were executing a search warrant, a spokeswoman said. Police were first called to 203 Shephard Avenue around 11:40 a.m. following a report of gunfire....

Authorities have charged an 81-year-old nursing home resident in the death of Clara Sutowski, 91, a fellow resident who suffered grievous injuries after he allegedly hit her in a hallway at AristaCare at Cedar Oaks in South Plainfield earlier this month. Angel Bermontiz, 81, of Piscataway, is accused of reckless...

The Passaic County Tournament was extremely cluttered at the top with many of the top fencers in the area putting on a show. In the end, Wayne Valley was able to complete the triumph and take home the team title at Passaic Tech in Wayne. The Indians clinched a team...