The Times of Trenton News

NJ government, politics, crime & local news

• A gathering place
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- Call it the missing piece.

• Development plan voted for rail area
WEST WINDSOR -- Years of stop and go progress on a sweeping redevelopment plan for the Princeton Junction train station area took a major leap forward with a narrow 3-2 vote in favor of a proposal with a controversial housing element.

• Death tied to med condition
HAMILTON -- A Bordentown teen who collapsed at a township car wash Monday died from an undiagnosed medical condition, an autopsy revealed, bringing closure to one of three unexplained deaths of young women in the township since Thanksgiving.

• License fee hike is taken off menu
HAMILTON -- The township council last night scrapped a plan to increase the annual license fee for food retailers, responding to concerns from restaurant owners who say they face sagging revenues in a slumping economy.

• Man felled by bullet was resident of Hamilton
TRENTON -- The son of a retired personnel director in Hamilton has been identified as the victim of a homicide Monday night on South Clinton Avenue.

• Pink slips prepared for 69 city workers
TRENTON -- The worst national economy in decades is about to get even grimmer for some 70 public employees slated to be laid off as early as Friday, city officials confirmed yesterday.

• A Hamilton teen's hair-raising experience
HAMILTON -- Kim Hartz, 14, an aspiring hairdresser, saved $200 toward the $400 it cost to strip her hair from black to blond with purple and blue streaks.

• Lifetime collection gone in a night
WEST WINDSOR -- A lifetime collection gone.

• Bodies of 2 females discovered in Hamilton Twp.
HAMILTON -- A young woman was found dead outside a township home yesterday morning and another was found dead at a local car wash hours later, leaving township police puzzled and searching for answers.

• 1 dead, 1 hurt in crash on I-295
HAMILTON -- A woman was killed and a man was critically injured after his car crossed the median on Interstate 295 yesterday morning and hit another car and a truck.

• Greater need squeezes shelters
EWING -- For 19-year-old Victoria Loftin, it was disagreements with a relative that sent her first to a shelter for pregnant women and then to her present, temporary home.

• Search called off for canal jumper
TRENTON -- The man who leapt into the Delaware and Raritan Canal early Saturday while trying to flee city police remains missing and is feared dead.

• New Jersey hospitals struggle with economy
Though health care may be a necessity even in trying times, local hospitals say they are not immune to the strains of the reeling economy.

• Cadwalader Park to ... paradise?
GERMANTOWN, N.Y. -- On a cold morning in the Hudson Valley, a herd of deer milled about quietly in the far corner of a 15-acre enclosed farm pasture. Against a wooded backdrop, the animals' brown and beige coats melded seamlessly, making it difficult to pinpoint where the landscape ended and the herd began.

• Scholars program as important as ever
Since the Young Scholars' Institute first opened its doors in 1990, more than 10,000 inner-city students and their parents have benefited from the array of educational, cultural and recreational activities it provides year-round. Unfortunately, the need is as great today as it was almost 19 years ago.

• Man fleeing police disappears into canal
TRENTON -- Rescue workers were searching for a man who jumped into the Delaware & Raritan Canal early yesterday while running from police.

• Students show care to soldiers in Iraq
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP -- "I love you," "Thank you" and "I miss you" were among the phrases crayoned on cards and letters to soldiers who will be spending the holidays in Iraq.

• Tragedy reverberates in N.J.
Even in times of tragedy, candles must still be lit and prayers recited. Especially in times of tragedy.

• Black Friday: Business as usual
Black Friday saw area residents out in force at shopping malls yesterday, although many said they were taking a frugal approach to holiday shopping due to financial uncertainty.

• A flimsy excuse for a robber
MONTGOMERY -- She truly was a two-dimensional villain.

• Still alive and kicking
Forget turkey.

• Corzine helps serve free lunch
TRENTON -- Gov. Jon S. Cor zine helped to hand out food at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen yesterday, but the sight of the state's top elected official caused some locals to ask for more than just a slice of pumpkin pie.

• 50 years of holiday tradition
HAMILTON -- Don't tell the Hornets athletic department, but Mark Gresavage never turned in his varsity football jersey from 1980.

• Literary spark on Rider campus
Ten years ago, he was a homeless college student.

• Florence to launch preschool in Sept.
FLORENCE -- This school district is launching a preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds in September next year, getting a jump on a state mandate that all districts provide preschool services for children from low-income families by the 2013-14 school year.

• Trading in an imaginary economy
WEST WINDSOR -- Danielle Griffith was dressed for business as she stepped up to the microphone during a drill in international trade at Mercer County Community College.

• Author Cornel West on hope and change
Celebrated intellectual Cornel West signed copies of his latest book, "Hope on a Tightrope," and spoke this week before a standing-room-only crowd at Princeton, the last stop on his book tour.

• Cross-town and crossover
HAMILTON -- There will always be diehard Spartans. You know, the kind who would "bleed green." And, for some ardent Hornets, those orange and black colors are not just for Halloween but are a staple year-round.

• Campus abuzz over Coulter visit
EWING -- A chalk war has broken out at The College of New Jersey.

• Builder opposes rezoning attempt
HAMILTON -- The saga over the future of a housing complex near the Hamilton train station is once again before the courts.

• A feast for all
TRENTON -- John Gaines has been living off his disability payments.

• Mayor is honored for long service
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- The township committee gave Mayor Phyllis Marchand a standing ovation Monday, her last meeting, following more than 20 years on the township committee.

• Helping ex-cons go straight
TRENTON -- Abdul Muhammad, a 45-year-old Trenton resident, had been in and out of prison most of his adult life until a program helped him find a job and re-enter society successfully three years ago.

• On Rhodes to higher learning
PRINCETON BOROUGH -- Three Princeton University students -- two graduates and a senior -- are among 32 Americans this year awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships to complete their graduate work at Oxford University.

• Consultant up for rehire
TRENTON -- The city administration wants to rehire Barry Colicelli, a gang expert who worked closely with former Police Director Joseph Santiago for three years until the city council declined to renew his contract in February.

• A chief honor
WEST WINDSOR -- In the seven years since he retired as township police chief, Frank Cox has hardly ever been back to the building that now carries his name.

• Missing man died in car crash
FALLS, Pa. -- The body of a Philadelphia man who had been missing for nearly six weeks was found in his car at the bottom of a ravine off Route 1 this weekend, police reported.

• Retailers upbeat amid grim times
TRENTON -- The worst national economy in decades may be descending on a time normally filled with holiday cheer, but area retailers are offering sales, extending hours and keeping a positive outlook as they try to entice shoppers.

• Anti-gay marriage movement has Princeton ties
On the issue of same-sex marriage, Princeton Borough would seem to be a liberal town.

• Brash judge says he has no regrets
Relaxing in his tastefully appointed judicial chambers, sur rounded by abstract photographs of his own making and a collection of legal tomes, Judge Bill Mathesius joked about his impending unceremonious exit from the bench.

• Thanksgiving Parade opens holiday season
TRENTON -- Yesterday's cold, clear morning was downright dangerous to uncovered fingers and faces, yet residents lined State Street to watch the annual Thanksgiving Parade.

• Suspects charged in fatal shooting
TRENTON -- Two men have been charged with the murder of construction worker Richard Mason, who died May 4 after being shot three times on a city street.

• Extreme makeover: Old bakery gets new life as condos
TRENTON -- Step inside the old Exton oyster cracker factory on Centre Street and you'll get a glimpse of the past.

• Inauguration prelude will honor pioneers
TRENTON -- The anticipation over the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama is growing locally, with some area leaders planning to mark the occasion locally, and others hunting for tickets for the Washington, D.C., event.

• Ex-coach seeks job in Trenton
HAMILTON -- Embattled Hamilton school district teacher Carl Jordan has applied for a job at a Trenton elementary school, and his attorney is in the process of negotiating a settlement with the township and district officials.

• Womanspace to honor public health ally
PRINCETON --Womanspace will honor Nancy Snyderman, the chief medical editor for NBC News and a spokeswoman on public health issues, as this year's recipient of the Barbara Boggs Sigmund Award for making significant societal contributions to improving lives.

• Chamber honors its 1st chairman
HAMILTON -- In a 33-year career as a financial adviser and wealth manager in central New Jersey, Donald Loff has seen many changes.

• Suburbs see rash of home break-ins
As the winter holidays approach and unemployment rises in the state, a rash of home break-ins has hit at least three local suburbs.

• Bring on the snow
A surge in demand for road salt has overloaded supply lines elsewhere in the country and raised the price of the de-icer, but the caretakers of local roads say they are well stocked as winter approaches.

• 'Healer' guides Anchor House
TRENTON -- Nineteen and homeless.

• Biting off a big project
WEST WINDSOR -- If only all homework assignments could be as much fun.

• Lawmaker urges action on school building
TRENTON -- A local politician is urging the governor to expedite state-funded construction efforts in the city school district, saying delays in several key projects has caused students to suffer.

• Free parking hours extended in Hightstown

• Trenton eyes program for helping students
In public school systems, you hear a lot about programs.

• 2 EMTs aid man pinned by auto
TRENTON -- Two Capital Health System emergency medical technicians lifted a car off a man whose hand had become trapped underneath while he was changing a tire yesterday morning in the parking lot of the Fuld hospital campus.

• Four young men swim to safety as cars sink in golf course pond
WEST WINDSOR -- Four teenage boys "miraculously" escaped serious injury yesterday when the two vehicles in which they were traveling veered off Conover Road -- missing a utility pole by about a foot -- and sank out of sight in the frigid water of a pond on the Mercer Oaks East golf course, police and emergency officials said.

• Beleaguered coach wants to resign
HAMILTON -- Carl Jordan, the former head football coach at Steinert Spartans who was cleared of charges of inappropriate touching, notified the Hamilton school board last night he wants to resign his teaching and coaching jobs at Crockett Middle School.