Two township residents were swindled out of about $9,000 each in separate incidents at the end of July, police said. In the first incident, which occurred on July 22 but was reported on July 27, the resident told police that he was told by an alleged Microsoft employee that his accounts had been compromised.

07/26/2026 A Somerset resident was the victim of a theft on 07/23/26 in the area of JFK Blvd. A female acquaintance failed to return the victim’s motor vehicle after she borrowed it. The vehicle was entered stolen into a national database. The vehicle was located several days later in an outside jurisdiction. The locating agency arrested two individuals who were …

FOOD INSECURITY ROUNDTABLE – U.S. Senator Cory Booker participated in a roundtable on the nation’s deepening food crisis on August 24 at the Franklin Food bank. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told food bank leaders from across New Jersey on August 24 that he intends to keep the U.S. Farm Bill bottled up in the Senate Agriculture Committee unless Republicans agree …

Dr. Samir Kumar Dutta passed away peacefully on August 22, 2026, at The Bristal Assisted Living Home in Somerset. He was 89 years old, just one day shy of his 90th birthday. Samir was born in 1936 in Burma (now Myanmar) while his father, Susanta Dutta, was serving on deployment with the Indian military. When he was five years old, …

BACK-TO-SCHOOL GIVEAWAY – Parents and students line up at the Franklin Youth Center on Lewis Street for the annual backpack and supply giveaway August 22. The Franklin Youth Center handed out backpacks, school supplies and health resources August 22 at its annual Ready, Set, School event, an effort to send Franklin Township students into the new academic year prepared and …

Here are events in a variety of venues in the area happening August 21 through August 23. Friday, August 21

GENERATIONS AT WORK – Peter and Jason Stavrianidis (left to right) inside Venus Jewelers in Rutgers Plaza. (Photo: Venus Jewelers). Submitted by Venus Jewelers.

BRIDGE CITY DISPENSARY – The Grand Opening of one of the last dispensaries to open in 2025. (File photo). Cannabis businesses in Franklin Township rang up $21.6 million in taxable sales in the first half of 2026, up 52% from a year earlier, but nearly all of that growth came from a single cultivator while many of the township’s retail …

TECHNOLOGICAL FLASHPOINT – Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers are the subject of controversy in the township. (Photo: Flock Safety). Some Franklin Township Council members are signaling a willingness to revisit the Township’s contract with Flock Safety, but stopped short of calling for its cancellation, a week after residents criticized the governing body at its Aug. 11 meeting for agreeing …

Please note due to extreme heat and weather conditions these dates are subject to change  Pierce St (Cedar Grove to Davidson) -Milling and paving to begin on or about 8/18 -In progress