Update: The budget was introduced at the March 10 Township Council meeting. A public hearing has been set for April 14. Original Story: The $57.2 million township budget expected to be introduced next month will carry with it a 3 percent hike in the amount to be raised by taxes, the Township Council was told Feb. 24.

A 22-year-old township man was among two men charged Feb. 24 in connection with the apparent drug-related death of a 17-year-old girl. Andrew A. Lindo of Somerset and William A. King, 22, of Edison, were charged with 3rd Degree endangering the welfare of a child, 3rd Degree hindering apprehension and 4th Degree tampering with physical evidence, police said.

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Plans for a WaWa gas station and convenience store – which could provide up to 35 jobs – were presented to the township Redevelopment Agency at its Feb. 23 meeting. The targeted site is the former home of Guaranteed Motors at Route 27 and Juliet Avenue. If approved, it would be the first WaWa in the township.

A township employee was fired Feb. 23 as a result of his refusal to take a breath test following a weekend accident with a township plow. Police said that Raymond T. Genovese, 36, of Somerset, a public works employee at the time, was charged with driving while intoxicated and several other motor vehicle offenses Feb. 21 after being involved in an accident …

Some of the township’s professional and amateur chili cooks squared off Feb. 20 for the Franklin Food Bank’s Chili Cook-Off. Contestants were divided into two groups, restaurants and fire houses. Participants tasted samples from each of the contestants, and then voted – with red and white beans – for their favorites in each category.

A settlement agreement involving a township Fire District and a former fire commissioner must be turned over to the township resident who requested it, a state Superior Court Judge ruled on Feb. 20. Judge Yolanda Ciccone, sitting in Somerville, also ruled that the Pennsylvania-based insurance company, Volunteer Fireman’s Insurance Services, Inc., must pay the to-be-determined legal fees of the resident, John Paff.

Members of the township Open Space Advisory Committee are willing to shoulder some of the cost of laborers to help maintain township parks, but they want the township to chip in, too. The committee on Feb. 17 voted down a suggestion from the Township Committee that it shoulder the entire $100,000 cost of two new laborers in the Department of …

Township drivers will continue to face detours and construction sites throughout the year. In addition to emergency work currently being done on the Delaware & Raritan Canal bridge on Amwell Road and the County Route 518 reconstruction project, a state official said bridge replacement work on Rt. 518 is slated to start later this year and road reconstruction on Route …

Township police say they have solved about 20 cases of criminal mischief occurring over the past several months with the apprehension of three people on Feb. 19. Stephen Weingart, 20, of Skillman and Tony Fresolone, 19, of Kendall Park were charged with criminal mischief after they allegedly damaged a mailbox on Old Georgetown Road, police said. A 17-year-old South Brunswick resident …