Asbury Park Press
NEWARK UNREST SPURS CURFEW
Newark enacted a mandatory curfew for the halfmile surrounding the federal immigration detention center Delaney Hall starting Sunday, May 31, at midnight, after a night of unrest when three people were arrested. The curfew will remain in effect from 9...
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CHECKS IN THE MAIL?
Companies began receiving their refunds in May from President Donald Trump’s now-invalid tariffs – but consumers should not expect to see any of the money return to their own pockets right away, if ever. The refunds stem from the tariffs Trump imposed...
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The ways of Joe Mulliner: an outlaw or a Robin Hood?
Who was Joe Mulliner? A Tory outlaw? A Robin Hood-type of robber who stole from the rich and gave to the poor? And his grave? I have seen a few different markers over the years in the Pleasant Mills and Sweetwater areas. Doubt any were real, just...
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Driven by a smile
Carissa Schwartzberg couldn’t use her arms or legs, couldn’t eat on her own, couldn’t talk. But she could smile. “She smiled all the time,” stepfather Jay BowmanTorres recalled. “The only time she wasn’t smiling, that’s when we knew she wasn’t...
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Husband accused in his wife’s death
OCEAN TOWNSHIP – A husband has been charged with murder, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Court records show that Michael A. Kless, 67, of Seward Drive, was charged with murder and multiple weapons offenses in Ocean Township on...
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THE LIMITS OF LOCKDOWNS
There have been 63 school shootings – meaning any time there is gunfire on a school campus – so far in 2026. They happen so often that preparing for one has become normal. Students as young as 4 years old routinely practice for the possibility of a...
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Kim pepper-sprayed outside Delaney Hall
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim was pepper-sprayed outside Delaney Hall on Monday afternoon, he told NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network by phone Monday evening after the incident. New Jersey’s junior senator was visiting the facility on May 25 in support of...
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FOLLOWthe FOOTSTEPS HISTORY of
America turns 250 this summer, and if you are standing in New Jersey, you are standing on the most contested soil of the War for Independence. Situated as a vital corridor between the British stronghold of New York City and the rebel capital in...
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Rural hospitals close in increasing numbers
Some Pennsylvania hospitals are being pushed beyond the brink of closure. Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park closed in April 2025, Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland closed in May 2025, and Heritage Valley Kennedy Hospital, formerly the Ohio Valley...
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Summer of celebrations starts on somber note
Memorial Day weekend has arrived, and after the kind of winter we experienced I couldn’t be happier to mark the unofficial start of summer in New Jersey. Snow, cold, rainy weekends. I can’t be the only one looking forward to warmer weather, bright...
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What makes a good summer at Shore?
Betty’s Icebox in Convention Hall in Asbury Park has emerged from a frigid, snowy winter, ready to make up for lost ground thanks to what’s anticipated to be tens of thousands of visitors heading for the beach and the boardwalk this summer. But as...
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Brick vigil honors ‘just a chill kid’
BRICK – Amid rain and occasional flashes of lightning, hundreds of people attended a vigil Wednesday night for a ninth-grader who was killed in a hit-andrun crash the day before. Jackson Daniel Mueller, 15, a freshman at Brick Memorial High School,...
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Summer travel reconsidered
On a quick trip to Florida recently for a family matter, Donna Skettini of Butler and her husband opted to go the cheaper route. They drove the entire distance and took a lower-price hotel. “As long as they’re clean, I’m good,” she said of the hotel....
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4 LIFE SENTENCES
FREEHOLD – As his victims’ survivors called him a “monster” and “Satan,” Paul Caneiro sat stone-faced and remained silent before he was sentenced May 19 to four life terms with no possibility for parole for murdering his brother, sister-in-law and the...
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Goats put to work
SEA GIRT – A herd of goats are munching invasive species and nuisance plants near Wreck Pond, where the animals are tasked with eliminating poison ivy, Japanese knotweed and other plants so New Jersey native greens can thrive. This “targeted” goat...
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Judge: Kars4Kids ads are deceptive
Kars4Kids, the Lakewood-based car donation charity, has been found guilty of deception by a California judge and barred from running its popular jingle ads in that state for the foreseeable future. In addition, the court ordered Kars4Kids to reimburse...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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Liquor license upsets ex-mayor
TOMS RIVER – Approved by the Planning Board without fanfare nearly two years ago, a sports complex under construction at Hooper Avenue and Fischer Boulevard has come under scrutiny recently because both a bar and shooting range will be located on the...
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Residents will get to voice concerns
MARLBORO – Residents will get a chance to voice their concerns about a controversial township proposal to build a mosque that has drawn large crowds with strong opinions at previous meetings. At one point in the meeting on Tuesday, May 12, the...
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A FAMILY AFFAIR
A few years back, Michael Simon was attending a church service with his family in Holmdel when an elderly woman in the congregation passed out. “You heard a thud,” Michael’s youngest son, Christian Simon, recalled. Michael, who is an internal...
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SURGING FUEL COSTS LIFT PRICES IN APRIL
Americans already struggling with affordability saw prices rise again in April as surging oil costs stemming from the Iran war kept driving up prices at the gas pump and affected supply chains for other goods. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer...
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NJ targets custom grocery pricing
With grocery prices creeping higher, proposed legislation moving through Trenton would keep food markets from setting or changing prices based on customers’ personal information. The proposed Fair Pricing Act looks to stop a practice called...
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Take a peek inside Springsteen Center
You won’t find Bruce Springsteen’s name in garish neon lights on the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University. The name, placed vertically, is almost hard to read at a distance on the new $50 million, 30,000-squarefoot...
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Find a hidden gem in Waretown
A surprise awaits anyone who drives through a Waretown residential area and ends up at a gravel road with an old metal gate. Follow from 7th Street and Navajo Drive to 140 Camp Lighthouse Road, drive slowly to the end, where a stunning view of...
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’25 shore tourism revenue hit $9.17B
TRENTON – Visitors and tourists to Monmouth and Ocean counties fueled the Jersey Shore economy in 2025, bringing $9.17 billion to restaurants, hotels and stores. More visitors came in 2025 and they spent more too, according to Tourism Economics, which...
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Keyport residents raise concerns over landfill
KEYPORT – A community is calling for answers after members raised concerns about a possible cancer cluster located near an old manufacturing site and landfill. They want to know: Is the Keyport Sanitary Landfill at the Aeromarine Industrial Park...
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Help in large doses
One day recently, staff members at the Ritesh Shah Charitable Pharmacy in Red Bank were discussing a client who had stopped picking up the refills of her heart medication. They wondered why. A volunteer at the pharmacy, a student at Brookdale...
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PAIN PUMP
The Iran war has been joined by a number of other factors – including the switch to a pricier summer gasoline formula – to send gas price to the highest level since 2022, and some analysts say that increases could continue well into the summer travel...
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Going to ‘the max’
From Mumbai to Monmouth County, a couple of Jersey Shore medical professionals got married and shut down Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue with a ceremony that culminated at Radio City Music Hall. Pankti Doshi and Avish Jain, a proud South Asian power...
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Aid helps people put food on their tables
Millie Morales believes in hard work. “I feel that as an American citizen, we all have a great opportunity to be able to improve our life,” the 58-year-old woman explained in an interview I conducted with her in 2025. “Are you willing to put in the...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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Return of a raider
MIDDLETOWN – You’re on a colonial-era farmstead in Monmouth County. Leaves are falling and a woodpile fire is burning in front of you. The sound of birdsong fills the air. There’s a rumble of thunder in the distance. The year is 1775, and you are a...
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What has Sherrill accomplished so far?
A new New Jersey governor’s first 100 days in office are always marked by symbolic beginnings. Gov. Mikie Sherrill hit that threshold on April 29, and while her administration is proceeding through the normal rhythms of Trenton’s budget process, it...
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‘I want him to be remembered’
With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, longtime Hazlet resident Melissa Pullis had an idea to honor her husband, Ed Pullis, who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Dedicating a street in his honor. That wish will come to...
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Jackson man pushes paraquat ban bill
Tim Lockard worked in the automotive industry for nearly 30 years, from the age of 17 until he had to retire after being diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease at 44. The Jackson resident believes the condition was caused by exposure to a...
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MOTIVE SOUGHT FOR SHOOTING
WASHINGTON – The man accused of opening fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was expected in court on April 27, as the White House planned to review security protocols and investigators piece together what led to the attack...
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Ex-teacher wanted in sex case found in Lakewood
LAKEWOOD − A U.S. Marshals Service task force captured a fugitive in the township who was sought by Israeli authorities on charges that he attempted to rape and committed indecent acts against children there from 2020 to 2023. Yechiel Yehoshua Farkas,...
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Frenchtown has tales of prosperity, woe
Where is Frenchtown? How many French immigrants settled in New Jersey? In a 1790 census there were about 4,000 French Huguenots (Protestants) settling in the western part of New Jersey. They had fled France in the late 1700s and early...
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Bay Head raises $1M to fund rock jetties
BAY HEAD – Can a $1 million jetty project funded by donations do what government money could not? In short, can it stop Bay Head’s sand from washing away? Residents believe the two new jetties under construction along the beach at Mount and Karge...
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Man who ran race at age of 100 dies
Lester Wright had a mantra for living. “He never wanted to quit anything,” daughter Doreen Wright said. That’s why the longtime Long Branch resident was married for 81 years before his wife Adele died in 2023. And it’s why, in 2022, Wright set the...
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Nearly 69K in NJ drop their health insurance
TRENTON — Thousands of New Jerseyans who lost federal subsidies that helped them buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2026 have already dropped their coverage, a new state report said. The high dropout rate amounted to...
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Boss delivers music with a political edge
Rock ‘n’ roll can save America. Don’t believe it? Tell it to Bruce Springsteen and the 19,000 people at the Monday, April 20, Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour concert at the Prudential Center in Newark. They’ll tell you differently. The show was...
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Inkwell Lofts now open in Long Branch
LONG BRANCH – On a sun-splashed warm Thursday, the development team behind The Inkwell Lofts threw open the large windows of the new cafe that opens to the sidewalk, shared hors d’oeuvres, toasted the evening and generally looked optimistically to the...
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Beach erosion gets academic attention
A Kean University scientist and Monmouth County students hope their research on New Jersey beaches can lead to better solutions to one of the greatest threats to the Jersey Shore. Erosion. Each year, taxpayers spend millions of dollars on contractors...
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MS Saturnia had fascinating history in, out of military
Ever test your World War II knowledge? Here is a tricky question: what luxurious Italian ocean liner, after 18 years of service crossing the Atlantic, was handed over to the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) as a troop and hospital ship? Hint:...
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Mystery is solved
SEASIDE HEIGHTS – After about a week of being stuck on the beach here, the mystery of where a wayward channel marker buoy came from has been solved. The large, green channel marker, No. 13, which hasn’t budged since the waves pushed it in, came from...
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Turning to batteries
BEACH HAVEN – When Jim Ciulla looks out his living room window in Beach Haven, he sees a tan trailer designed to supply additional power to Long Beach Island on hot summer nights and busy tourist weekends. But the former volunteer firefighter also...
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Netflix series filmed all over New Jersey
EATONTOWN – There’s no mistake here. Netflix is making its presence known around New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. Its latest show, “Big Mistakes,” a comedic family saga and crime thriller co-created, written and starring Emmy Awardwinner Dan Levy,...
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Not giving up on a lost son
JACKSON − On an unseasonably warm day in the heart of the Pine Barrens, Johanna Reyes steps slowly along the trails near her township home, scanning the terrain with her two sisters at her side. Ever since her 22-year-old son Mortimer Wortman went...
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Rubber ducks on river
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it might be the Jersey Shore Lucky Ducky Race. This inaugural event took place Saturday on the Manasquan River, where thousands of rubber ducks rode the tide from Osborn Island to River Rock Restaurant &...
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More flood-prone Shore property is predicted
In 2050, imagine an Asbury Park where even inland locations like Asbury Park High School and the historic Turf Club are at the same risk for flooding as the beachfront and boardwalk are currently. In fewer than 25 years, the Jersey Shore could see...
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Going behind the headlines of NJ’s EMT shortage
There is a shortage of EMTs and rescue personnel across New Jersey. Erik Larsen’s story shows what Ocean County is doing to address the problem and restore EMT numbers. A lot of towns and counties rely on volunteer EMTs, and as home prices and other...
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Paramount renovation work starts this month
ASBURY PARK – After having to wait on the boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette to find a new contractor, the city has approved $11.7 million in federal grants to repair the historic Paramount Theatre, with the work expected to begin later this...
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Families hit by fire trying to repair lives
SEASIDE HEIGHTS − Mary Schuck and her family fled their home on Sheridan Avenue shortly before 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, April 4, without shoes, cell phones or anything else but the scant clothing they were wearing. Moments before, she had been...
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11 late officers honored
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Eleven law-enforcement officers who died as a result of their service over the years, one from as far back as 1905, were honored at the Diocese of Trenton’s Blue Mass, held at St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral here. This was the...
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SEVERE EROSION
SEA BRIGHT – Gene Costello spent the last 14 years enjoying about 100 yards of beach across Ocean Avenue from his Sea Bright home. But this April, his view of the beach looked quite different. Over the winter, the Atlantic Ocean carved away much of...
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Interfaith adding homes, museum
ASBURY PARK – For the better part of the last two decades, Interfaith Neighbors has played a big role in the revitalization of the historic Westside, from the Springwood Center to Kula Urban Farm to the Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk. Now, the...
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Boosting mental health for students
Gov. Mikie Sherrill has proposed a $33 million overhaul of the system that provides mental health services to troubled students in New Jersey. Not all therapists in the state are on board. Outlined in her March 10 budget address, the SPARK program...
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NJ’s big-screen boom
My brother-in-law works in the movie business. Whenever he’s on a set in public — big semi trucks with gobs of lighting equipment, trailers full of costumes — he gets a lot of curious onlookers. They’ll often ask: “What are you filming?” Because that...
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ELECTRIC RATES SPIKING
New Jersey ratepayers are well aware that utility costs continue to rise. Most households in the state experienced rate hikes of more than $20 per month in the summer of 2025 — and further hikes could still come. But what’s driving up...
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Sea Girt removes boat from beach
SEA GIRT – At 7 a.m. Wednesday, a crane operated by Kremer Marine lifted Lawrence Kaehler’s sailboat Alestorm off the Sea Girt beach and into the air. It spun, and as it did, the vessel’s keel, buried in sand, tore off and water flooded out of it, as...
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Insanity verdict in brother’s killing
TRENTON – A former Toms River North soccer star who stabbed and beat his younger brother to death and also killed his cat has been found not guilty of murder, animal cruelty and related weapons charges by a judge who said the defendant believed he was...
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BRACED FOR IMPACT
At the height of the Cold War, federal officials drew maps that told Americans where to go in case of a nuclear attack. In Passaic, one of those places was a library. Inside the Reid Memorial Library, a fallout shelter sign still lists a capacity of...
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Neighbors sue operator of landfill
TINTON FALLS – A class action lawsuit seeking over $5 million in relief has been filed against Waste Management of New Jersey Inc., blaming it for “widespread noxious odors” emanating from the landfill here, which it leases, operates and...
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Paying cost of chaos
Since Darryl Monticello of Hollston Realty Group began building Five Dimes next to the Point Pleasant Beach train station three years ago, the costs for the craft brewery of both construction material and beer have soared. So he returned to his...
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These details offer understanding of NJ’s affordable housing battle
Between property taxes and rising home prices, the idea of “affordable housing” seems more like a dream than a reality in New Jersey. Sure, there are parts of the state where housing costs have not exploded, but the Jersey Shore is certainly not one...
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Kids of cop, mom he killed settle lawsuit
The nine children of Tamara Wilson-Seidle, who was gunned down by her ex-husband, a Neptune police sergeant, in Asbury Park in June 2015, with police and the Seidles’ 7-year-old daughter watching, has settled a lawsuit against authorities for $4...
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Eyes in the sky
JACKSON – The crackle of fire and a haze of smoke filled the air near the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson, as members of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service ignited the forest floor around a sign showing the iconic Smokey Bear. Firefighters...
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Apartments, retail rise in Long Branch
LONG BRANCH – The foundation of The Elbie, a new 78-unit rental community, is growing out of the ground on the vacant property across the street from Slocum Park, the public library and city hall on Broadway. By next summer, it should have its first...
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Brielle residents demand public vote on $15M loan for new borough hall
BRIELLE – The Borough Council president wants to convince skeptical residents that borrowing $15 million for a new borough hall and police department makes more sense than continuing to repair the current century-old building that was never designed to...
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Businesses look to fill empty supermarkets
TOMS RIVER – The doors at Stop & Shop on Lakewood Road closed for the last time at the end of the day on March 19. The supermarket chain, which still has 10 stores in Monmouth and Ocean counties, decided to not renew the store’s lease, saying the...
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Former store gets Netflix makeover
MIDDLETOWN — The former Circus liquor store on Route 35 here has been turned into Jep’s Xpress, a fictional truck stop offering gasoline, a free shower and $1 hot dogs, to serve as the setting of a Netflix series starring Adam Driver. The convenience...
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Why has nothing been done? Shining new light on Kars4Kids.
When we started digging into Kars4Kids, the first thing we did was a simple Google search to see what had been written before. We found stories from across the country, many from years ago, that detailed lawsuits claiming the charity misled donors....
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Driven away by tensions
CAPE MAY – With the summer season only a few months away, officials are split on whether the southern Jersey Shore will see the return of the tourists who, until recently, had been the region’s most loyal visitors. Last year, the number of Canadian...
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Jersey Shore oyster farmers struggling
Few people are looking forward to spring more than Dale Parsons, a fifth-generation bayman and oyster farmer from Tuckerton. Parsons is trying to put his oyster farm back together after what was probably the most disastrous winter he’s endured as a...
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