By Regina Smith, CGE Communications & Special Projects Manager. The Center for Great Expectations’ premier event of the year, the 2022 Hope Lives Here Gala, celebrates the hope renewed and families’ futures restored, thanks to our community — and with our supporters and honorees, the evening will recognize all we’ve accomplished together.

By Stanislav Jaracz, Franklin Township Environmental Commission. Earlier this year, the concept of No-Mow-May was brought to the Franklin Township Environmental Commission. What is it about? The No-Mow-May campaign is aimed at addressing the declining population of pollinators due to various human activities including loss of habitat and neonics.

McDonald’s has its eye on the former Burger King site in Rutgers Plaza. The former Burger King in Rutgers Plaza may soon become a McDonald’s. McDonald’s USA has made an application with the Planning Board to build a 4,456 square foot restaurant on the site of the former Burger King. The current building would be demolished to make way for …

Samuel Mauro, Jr., of Somerset passed away on October 3 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was 86.Born in Jersey City and raised in West New York, he lived in Pompton Plains before moving to Somerset in 2005.He worked as a Manager and Accountant for Lipton Tea, later Unilever in Englewood Cliffs before retiring in 1990.Sam …

Franklin High School field hockey team in action. (File photo). Both Franklin High School girls’ teams that played on October 3 won their matches, while the boys’ soccer team fell to Pingry, 7-0. The girls’ soccer team bested Voorhees 3-2 in overtime, while the field hockey team notched its first victory of the season with a 1-0 win over Koinonia.

By Mayor Phil Kramer. By coincidence two environmentally friendly energy programs were rolled out at the same time. Both come to you when the predictions of climatologists of more severe weather accompanying the warming of the planet appear to be coming true. 

By Ed Potosnak. Please vote for Walter Jackson, Nancy LaCorte and Ardaman Singh for Franklin Township Board of Education.

Franklin High School celebrated its Homecoming Day in a big way for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic on September 30. A pep rally in Warriors’ Stadium, a tailgate party near the varsity baseball field and crowning homecoming royalty during the halftime of the football game against North Brunswick highlighted the day.

The Franklin High School football homecoming game was spoiled September 30 by the North Brunswick Raiders, who furthered their undefeated season by topping the Warriors 34-24. North Brunswick tallied all of their points before Franklin scored in the third quarter. The warriors then completed the two-point conversion.

Editor’s Note: This is the last Covid daily update to be reported by the Township. Positive coronavirus test results were reported for another 24 Franklin residents, the township Office of Emergency Management reported on September 30. That brings to 15,972 the number of Franklin residents who have tested positive for the virus since mid-March 2020, OEM reported. The deaths of …