All Highlights (1,196)

UNION, NJ - It’s the American dream – having your own business, being your own boss, setting your own hours….But before you take the plunge (or before you get in too deep in a business that you just started), you need to do some serious self-reflection and homework.

“The small business failure rate is…

UNION, NJ - It’s the American dream – having your own business, being your own boss, setting your own hours….But before you take the plunge (or before you get in too deep in a business that you just started), you need to do some serious self-reflection and homework.

“The small business failure rate is…

Photo: Maplewood's Jack Woods, right, competing against Jack Cortizas, Y14 of the Boston Fencing Club, at the Capital Clash SYC in Washington, D.C.

The nation’s top youth fencers in all age divisions flocked to Washington D.C., recently to compete in…

The Columbia High School varsity wrestling team ended its regular season with a 9-13 record. The most impressive thing about this team was the Cougars had at least three to four forfeits per match due to lack of experienced wrestlers. To give you an idea of the difficulty the coaches and the team had to endure, they started every match behind 18 to 24 points.

There were also quite a few matches such as the season finale at Bernards last Saturday Feb. 11 in which the Cougars lost a close…

Sophomore Olivia Baker won the 400-meter run and the 800-meter run to lead the Columbia High School girls' indoor track and field team to the team title at the state North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 Championships on Sunday Feb. 12 at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

The Lady Cougars amassed 71 points in the girls' team standings based on top-six finishes in each event. Union was second with 61 points.

Baker broker her own meet record in the 400. In the 800, Baker led a 1-2-3…

The fourth-seeded Columbia High School boys' varsity basketball team will meet top-seeded and defending champion Seton Hall Prep in the Essex County Tournament semifinals doubleheader at West Orange High School on Saturday Feb. 18.

The Cougars defeated No. 12 seed Bloomfield Tech, 63-42, in the quarterfinals on Saturday Feb. 11 at CHS to notch their eight win in the past nine games and ninth in the last 11 games to improve to 16-4.

Senior guard Justin Martin led the Cougars…

Shannon Galvin of Maplewood, a senior at Oak Knoll in Summit, signed her National Letter of Intent on Feb. 2 to play collegiate lacrosse at Villanova…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Columbia High School teachers considered time spent at the copy machine as time wasted.

Sometimes the machines have mechanical problems, other times there are lines of people waiting to use them.

“So much of the teacher’s day is spent…

It was déjà vu in the first round of the state high school fencing tournament with Columbia High School’s boys’ and girls’ teams quickly knocking off their opponents to move into the second round.

On Tuesday Feb. 7, the boys faced Bergen Tech, clinching the meet just 16 bouts into the 27-bout session, finishing with a score of 21-6. It was the girls’ turn on Wednesday Feb. 8 as they clinched against Ridge in the 19th bout and finishing with a score of 18-9.

As usual, Andrew Kelly,…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Maplewood is expected to become the latest town to ban smoking in all its parks and playgrounds.

The restriction, contained in an ordinance that the Township Committee introduced by a 5-0 vote Feb. 7, also applies to recreation areas, the municipal pool and the area immediately around the entrances to municipal…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

The Woman’s Club of Maplewood is required to make its annual financial payment to the town this month, even as the sale of the club’s property is held up by a lawsuit.

Based on a 2010 agreement between the township and the…

By Joe Ragozzino

Sports editor

Maxim Michel scored 23 points and Michael Runcie had 15 points and four rebounds as the fourth-seeded Columbia High School boys’ varsity basketball team began its Essex County Tournament run with a 64-57 home win over No. 20 seed Verona last Saturday Feb. 4 in the round of the 16.

The Cougars led 29-25 at halftime and 45-43 at the end of the third quarter before outscoring Verona, 19-14, in the fourth quarter.

Justin Martin had…

By Joe Ragozzino

Sports editor

The Columbia High School boys’ and girls’ indoor track and field teams each finished second in their respective boys’ and girls’ team standings at the Essex County Championships at Seton Hall University last Sunday Feb. 5.

Olivia Baker won three events to lead the girls’ team. The sophomore captured the 400-meter run in 56.87, just missing the meet record of 56.70. She also won the 200-meter dash in 25.70 and the 800-meter run in…

Alana Ferruggiaro scored 13 points but the 10th-seeded Columbia High School girls’ varsity basketball team lost to seventh-seeded University, 47-27, in the round of 16 of the Essex County Tournament last Saturday Feb. 4 in Newark. Leilani Schultz-Joy had six points and Kyrsten Van Natta netted four points for the Cougars, who lost their eighth straight game and fell to 2-12. In the previous day, the Cougars lost to West Essex, 47-27, in North Caldwell. Van Natta had 14 points, Iyonah…

The Columbia High School varsity wrestling team went right back to work after the Essex County Tournament on Jan. 28, facing a Nutley team that had won the ECT title.

Due to a few injuries and illness, the Cougars sent a shortened team to Nutley on Feb. 1 and had a few highlights despite the loss. Senior captain KJ Jarrett, who was named the ECT Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 106-pound title, continued his winning ways with a technical fall over Nutley’s Juilian Figueroa.…

A man charged with killing a Maplewood resident he had met in a chat room is due back in court later this month.

John Staten was scheduled to go before a Superior Court judge Tuesday morning for a status conference, but the appearance was postponed until Feb. 23.

Staten was indicted last year in the March 15, 2010 slaying of Arthur Downey inside Downey’s apartment on Henry Place. An autopsy determined the 27-year-old was bludgeoned and asphyxiated to…

    Gerry Kogel (born 1924), mother, grandmother and wonderful friend passed away after a brief illness at the Parker Home in New Brunswick on January 21, 2012.

     She was a brilliant self-taught woman who established herself as a nursing home administrator and worked for the Daughters of Israel,Twin Oaks, and Chestnut Hill during a career spanning four decades. A social activist, an avid gardener, and an extraordinary friend who was cherished by all those who had the pleasure to know…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A group of parents decided last week to end a bid to open a Chinese-language charter school after the state rejected its most recent attempt last month, said one of the founders of the school.

Maplewood resident Jutta Gassner-Snyder said Feb. 1 that the founders of Hua Mei school made that decision based on comments by Gov. Chris Christie that he opposed expanding charter schools into the…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Maplewood officials will apply greater scrutiny to how four local nonprofits are using taxpayer money.

Each year, the township financially supports YouthNet, the Community Coalition on Race, the Springfield Avenue Partnership and the Maplewood Village Alliance.

In 2011, those organizations received a combined $82,700. Mayor Vic De Luca announced Jan. 28 that the township and those…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

South Orange-Maplewood may not be eligible to move its annual school-board election from April to November, officials said Jan. 27.

School board President Beth Daugherty said the district fell through the “cracks” of a new law giving towns and school boards that option. Maplewood’s municipal legal department is researching the matter, said Township Committeeman Jerry Ryan.

“The law might not apply to…