Board of Education members will try again April 23 to pick someone to fill an unexpired term. The board could not agree on a candidate at a special April 13 meeting, although it did whittle the field from five candidates to two.

With opening day about three weeks away, Somerset Patriots faithful gathered at TD Bank Ballpark April 11 for the traditional Fan Fest. Visitors were treated to an old fashioned base ball game, autograph signings by Patriots and pictures with the Patriots’ mascots.

The Franklin Township Baseball League kicked off its 2015 season April 11 – its 63rd – with its traditional parade from Pine Grove Manor School to the baseball complex on Dekalb Street. Girls’ softball and boys’ baseball teams paraded down the streets, led by members holding their respective banners.

Three adults and one child were treated for smoke inhalation April 11 after a fire broke out in a Willow Avenue home. Police said multiple 9-1-1 calls were received at about 12:19 p.m. from people reporting the fire. Officers arrived at the scene to find smoke and fire coming from the home.

Three township non-profit organizations are among 19 in the running to receive up to $2,000 from Unity Bank in the bank’s “Join Forces” campaign. One winner and one runner-up will win in each of four categories, based on the number of votes the organizations receive: youth, housing, arts and animal advocacy.

A township man who is a deportation officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been charged with harboring an illegal alien and making false statements to authorities. Arnaldo Echevarria, 37, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court the afternoon of April 9.

A multi-million-dollar preservation project on an iconic building on the Rutgers Preparatory School campus is set to begin sometime this summer. Representatives of the state’s oldest independent college-prep school received approval April 7 for their wide-ranging plans from the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission.

A 29-year-old Rhode Island man remains in the Somerset County Jail two days after he was arrested in a township motel with a 14-year-old girl who had been reported missing. The man, Paul J. Monteiro, of Providence, was charged with First Degree human trafficking, First Degree kidnapping and Second Degree sexual assault, according to a press release on the arrest …

Bridgewater, NJ – The Somerset Patriots have announced the signings of outfielders Scott Cousins and Adalberto Santos and the return of former Major League pitcher Mitch Atkins. Cousins begins his first season with the Patriots with four years of Major League service to his name. He spent parts of 2010-12 in the majors with the Miami Marlins before appearing in …

A foundation has been formed to administer the annual Martin Luther King Community Breakfast and scholarship fund. Previously run through the Board of Education, the 18-year-old scholarship fund has awarded more than $120,000 in scholarships to Franklin high school graduating seniors.