Saturday, May 19, 2012
Crowd enjoys basketball antics, while Valerie Fund benefits.
A full gymnasium at Watchung Hills Regional laughed and cheered for their favorite teachers and school leaders, as the "Valerie Fund Warriors" played a hearty match against the Harlem Wizards, Friday. The game was a fundraising event for The Valerie Fund, part of Warren Township's effort to raise $100,000 for the group this month. Proceeds from the ticket sales, as well as the sales of bracelets and raffle tickets, benefitted the fund which supports Valerie Centers for children with cancers and their families. When not dazzling with ball-handling skills, the Wizards hammed it up for the crowd. Players rallied the audience to cheer or clap, and teased and joked. Although the Wizards spotted the Warriors 10 points at the beginning of the …
40.65112
-74.47799
Watchung Hills Regional
108 Stirling Rd, Warren, NJ
/articles/basketball-wizardry-for-a-cause
757983
/locations/7055943
Friday, May 18, 2012
Chocolate or vanilla, they're the favorites in our weekly poll.
White Castle proved to be a late bloomer in this week's Readers' Choice poll on favorite milkshakes—with only a handful of votes through most of the week, the chain's fans came through overnight and catapulted White Castle to first place. White Castle in Green Brook 105 (48 percent) Sonic Drive-In in Green Brook 4 (21 percent) Smoothie King in Warren 39 (17 percent) Country Squire in Warren 13 ( 5 percent) Cold Stone Creamery in Warren 11 ( 5 percent) Baskin Robbins in Watchung 3 ( 1 percent) Total votes: 217 Next week, we'll check to see which local music venue is the Readers' Choice—be sure to watch for the polling Monday morning.
40.632881
-74.427989
White Castle
366 Us Highway 22, North Plainfield, NJ
/articles/white-castle-shakes-are-readers-choice
1704704
/locations/7054517
Homes for Our Troops will be finishing a modified house for a U.S. soldier.
More than 100 area residents particpated in an April 29 event at the Uproot restaurant, benefitting Homes for Our Troops, the charity which builds specially modified house for disabled veterans. Now, you can help even more: Homes for Our Troops will be building a home in Scott Tonwship, Pa., on June 29 and 30, and July 1, for U.S. Army SSG Earl Granville. Can't wield a hammer or cut a straight line? Not a problem—the group can use all kinds of help at the site, as well as with other fundraisers. Homes for Our Troops works with professional general contractors and carpenters, with volunteers working alongside to provide support and assistance. In addition to labor, you can help by donating tents, tables and chairs, a podium and sound …
The Safety 1st toilet and cabinet locks were sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, Home Depot, Target and Walmart.
Hundreds of thousands of child safety locks are being recalled because they can fail, exposing children to dangerous situations. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Dorel Juvenile Group, Thursday announced a voluntary recall of about 183,000 toilet locks and 685,000 cabinet locks. Young children can unexpectedly disengage the toilet locks and gain access to water in the toilet, posing the risk of drowning, according to the CPSC, and the cabinet locks are being recalled because young children can disengage the lock, posing the risk of injury from dangerous or unsafe items stored in the cabinet. Have you had issues with these locks or others not working? Tell us in the comments below. Consumers …
Three-day event offers arts and crafts, food and music as well.
Patch is offering 50-percent off gate ticket prices to this weekend's 30th annual Festival of Ballooning. But you'll need to act quickly. The discounts are only available through this Sunday, May 20. The festival, held Friday-Sunday, July 27-29, at Solberg Airport in Readington, offers much, much more than ballooning. There are rides, an arts and crafts festival, yoga and Zumba demonstrations, and food—lots of it. Every evening, there will be a music concert and twice each day on Saturday and Sunday and once on Friday, more than 100 balloons will rise majestically into the sky. And Patch will offer all attendees a chance to leave all your troubles behind and take a free tethered balloon ride. Just find our table at the festival and sign up…
One-third of properties under contract in April priced above $1 million.
Inventory levels increased in April as more sellers came to market. There are a total of 148 active listings in Warren, and of the 20 that went under contract in the last 30 days, six—or 33 percent—were asking over the million mark. It is a good sign to see increased success at the higher end. There were a total of 13 homes that closed in April, more than double the number of closings from the prior month. The pace of sales remains strong in Warren. If you are considering selling your home in 2012, now is the time to get on the market.
Hillsborough, Watchung Hills meet Saturday in Somerset County finals for the first time since 19-inning marathon.
The Somerset County Softball Tournament has provided some of the greatest games played on the local varsity softball scene over the years, and the championship game has featured some of the absolute classics. But through all the late-inning heroics, unlikely rallies, dominating performances and extra-inning thrillers, the 2004 final sticks out in the mind of most, whether fan or participant. When the Raiders and Warriors meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Nap Torpey Field in Bridgewater in this year’s county final, it will mark the first time these teams have met for the title since those two nights eight years ago when they faced off at Bridgewater’s North Branch Park. It was the second straight year those teams had met in the final, after …
Mayor Carolann Garafola could just reach the number representing Warren Township's fundraising so far.
The next time, someone will need to bring a step ladder. Warren Mayor Carolann Garafola had the honor of moving the Valerie Fund fund drive thermometer on Mountain Boulevard to $40,000 Thursday, marking the total of donations collected so far in the township's project to benefit the fund—which was just about as high as she could push the needle. The tally represents the proceeds from last week's school walkathons, and private donations, and doesn't include the contributions coming from several ongoing projects or the Harlem Wizards basketball game set for 7 p.m. tonight.
40.6188
-74.49203
Mountain Blvd & Bardy Rd, Warren, NJ
/articles/video-valerie-fund-thermometer-rising
/locations/7048580
Visitors will be able to explore ‘living habitats’ and experience environmental stewardship.
Saturday’s grand opening of Duke Farms marks the first time in nearly 100 years that the public will have access to almost 1,000 acres of the historic Hillsborough property. Changes to the 2,740-acre tract have been made at a cost of more than $45 million and are in keeping with the Duke Farms Foundation’s mission of “being a model of environmental stewardship in the 21st century and to inspire visitors to become informed stewards of the land.” Once the home of renowned tobacco heiress and recluse, Doris Duke, the estate on Duke Parkway West was the vision of her father James Buchanan “Buck” Duke, a life-long conservationist who wanted to create a haven for native flora and fauna and purchased about 40 farmsteads to create the Duke estate…
40.547645
-74.615997
1112 Dukes Pkwy W, Hillsborough, NJ
/articles/after-nearly-a-century-duke-farms-opens-to-public
/locations/7048425
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Net victory in rescheduled game.
Watchung Hills Regional won a regular season game over Morristown at home, Thursday. The team travels to Montgomery Friday.
40.65112
-74.47799
Watchung Hills Regional
108 Stirling Rd, Warren, NJ
/articles/photos-warriors-win-slugfest-over-morristown
757983
/locations/7048548
Bruce Ruck
8:31 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
As director of Drug Information and Professional Education for the NJ Poison Center I can tell you it is imperative to lock up all meds. Keep them high and locked up. Child "safety locks are not good enough. Meds need to be locked up not only from little children but also your teens. Prescription drug abuse is at an all time high. Teens take meds form their house, homes of friends and relatives. … more ›