By Michael D. Purzycki, Somerset Politics and government are serious subjects. We Americans seem to have forgotten that, especially over the last two years. Politics has become little more than entertainment for us, and politicians have become all too easy to dismiss as comical. But the words and actions of our leaders have serious, real-world consequences, and so do the …

Submitted by Stephanie Sprague, Move Within Yoga. A township-based yoga studio will join yoga practitioners across the country  in a fundraiser for veterans and their families. Diamonds & Pearls Dance Studio, 2 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, will partner with Move Within Yoga and the Veterans Yoga Project in providing donation-based classes from 9-10 a.m. on Nov. 12. The Veterans Yoga Project …

Sydney Place on Nov. 5 was honorably renamed after the late Patrick Gianotto for his efforts in the redevelopment of the Hamiton Street business district. Gianotto, a lifelong township resident and owner of Franklin Electric, died suddenly while on vacation in May. At the time of his death, he was serving as the chairman of the Hamilton Street Advisory Board, …

It was three years ago that nancy Llanos got the idea to help her special-needs son play soccer close to home. Llanos said she told her husband, Rich, a board member of the Franklin Township Soccer Club, that the club should offer soccer to kids with special needs. They turned to TOPSoccer, a national program designed to do just that. …

Hundreds of Muslims gathered Nov. 5 at Masjid-e-Ali Mosque to celebrate the life and mourn the death of one of the most significant prophets in Shi’a Islam, and to renew their commitments to social justice. More than 14 centuries ago, Husain Ibn Ai and about 70 of his followers were killed in Karbala, in present-day Iraq, after refusing to pledge allegiance to …

The township on Nov. 5 made its mark in the pickleball world with the inaugural “Battle of the Paddles” tournament at Sampson G. Smith School. The event, sponsored by the township’s Recreation Department and Onix, a pickleball gear manufacturer, drew 30 teams from as far away as Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, said Dan Reeve, the township’s superintendent of recreation. Each …

By Richard E. Barber, Sr., The Somerset Volunteer Group Greetings My Fellow Americans and Undecided Voters: During this strange, unstable and unpredictable presidential campaign season, I have often reflected on the “wit and wisdom of the late Dr. Samuel D. Proctor,” my college president at North Carolina A & T State University and my neighbor in New Jersey until his …

A printer’s error led to the names of Township Council candidates being left off the ballots sent to some residents, but that problem should be rectified this weekend. That’s the word from Somerset County Clerk Brett Radi, who said the affected ballots were sent to residents who live in District 24, which is part of Ward 3. Incumbent Charles Onyejiaka, …

Mr. Charles Krupinski, 91, passed away on Nov. 3 at the Care One of Bound Brook. He was born in Bayonne and lived in Nutley for a time prior to raising his family in Wayne. He was a part-time resident for many years of Manahawkin where he spent many summers and a majority of his retirement before relocating to Lincoln Park …

Mr. Donald W. Braun, 83, of Somerset passed away suddenly on Nov. 2 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick. Mr. Braun was born in Upper Darby, Pa. and graduated from Drexel University in 1956. He served his country in the US Army Infantry as Company Commander of a training company at Fort Dix. He moved to Somerset with …