Morris County

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A University of Michigan study to be released Thursday raises questions about how high blood pressure is routinely treated.

The study, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found that a pill containing two blood pressure drugs was more effective in lowering the risk of death and cardiovascular events in high-risk patients than taking a diuretic, or water pill.

Funded by the East Hanover-based drugmaker Novartis, the randomized study of 11,500 patients found that those taking a single tablet containing a combination of benazepril (Lotensin) and amlodipine (Norvasc), both high blood pressure medications, had 20 percent fewer heart- related events than those taking a pill containing benazepril and hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic.

A 12-year-old Morristown girl who died at her home on Monday "did not suffer any trauma or injury before she died,'' authorities said today.

But police are still trying to pinpoint the cause of death of sixth-grader Karen Martinez, with further medical testing to be done by the Morris County Medical Examiner's Office to solve the mystery of her passing, according to a statement issued by Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi.

Four months before Jonathan Zarate killed his next-door neighbor in July 2005, his mother took him to a psychiatrist because she was concerned he was defecating in his pants and all over the bathroom, showing an aversion to touching items and and taking very long showers, she testified today at his murder trial.

But the psychiatrist who evaluated Zarate in March 2005 did not diagnose the teen with any mental illness or prescribe any medication, and concluded the problem was a lack of communication between Zarate and his mother, Flora Mari, Morris County Executive Assistant Prosecutor Robert Lane pointed out.

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerFlora Mari, the mother of accused killer Jonathan Zarate, testifies today during his trial in Morristown.

Two Newark men and a teenager held another person at gunpoint on Monday night and drove to Drew University where they looking for a woman at least one of them knew. They wanted money from her, authorities and campus officials said.

Fuquan Cromwell and James Grate, both 22, and a 16-year-old boy were arrested at about 8 p.m. Monday after police found them inside their black Honda Civic with a loaded 9 mm handgun in the parking lot behind the student center on the Madison campus, authorities said. Authorities would not say how the male captive ended up in the car or how any of the men knew the woman, who lives in an undergraduate dormitory.

Jennifer Parks' blood was on blue jeans found in Jonathan Zarate's bedroom, on a metal pole he admitted beating her with, on a bandanna he shoved in her mouth and on the carpet where she died, but was not detected on a knife found in the jeans or another discovered outside his Randolph home, forensic scientists testified today.

The prosecution's last witness in its case against Zarate was a forensic DNA analyst from the New Jersey State Police crime lab, who gave jurors a science lesson on DNA and probability. Elliot Clark explained that the DNA found on the pole, the carpet, the bandanna and the jeans certainly belonged to the 16-year-old Randolph High School student.

Zarate, 21, is accused of beating, stabbing and choking Parks for insulting his younger brother, and then cutting off her legs to fit her body into a trunk on July 30, 2005. He was caught 24 hours later trying to dump the body off a Rutherford bridge with the help of his brother, then 14, and a 16-year-old Clifton boy.

Zarate confessed, but claims he was psychotic when he killed Parks and cannot be held criminally liable for her death.

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerMatthew Wood, a NJ State Police forensic expert, identifies three areas of the rug taken form the Zarate home that tested positive for blood.

Ten high school classmates, all age 43, were arrested on marijuana charges after police found them inside a hotel in Hanover celebrating their 25th reunion.

Police responded to the Hanover Marriott around 7:20 p.m. Friday after receiving a report about possible drug activity.

Morristown has jurisdiction to issue permits and conduct inspections for a massive solar panel project located in Hanover Township, a Superior Court judge ruled today.

Judge Theodore Bozonelis said Morristown has the right to be the "lead enforcing agency" for the $4.9 million project, which it has already started at its 18-acre sewage treatment site on Hanover Avenue.

The ruling culminates a legal battle between the two municipalities that began in October, when Hanover officials sued Morristown contending they had jurisdiction over the site because it is located within Hanover's borders.

AREA -- A new traffic pattern was put into place effective Monday, Dec. 8, to allow for construction of the new flyover ramp from the Garden State Parkway northbound to I-78 westbound. This ramp is expected to open to traffic by September 2009.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation announced the upcoming traffic shift on the I-78 express lanes in both directions on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

The $149 million project will improve traffic flow at the interchange by building the two missing ramp moves from the Garden State Parkway to I-78. New ramps will be constructed from the Garden State Parkway northbound to I-78 westbound and the Garden State Parkway southbound to I-78 eastbound, which will reduce driver delays and congestion.