Township Council members didn’t have much to critique when they were shown the township’s newly redesigned Web site at the Jan. 7 meeting. The council was taken through the site’s new features by Justin Heyman, the township’s Information Technology director. The overarching thought behind the redesign, Heyman told the council, was to give residents “the information they want, the way …

Stung by criticism that they needlessly waited until the last minute to decide to close schools on Jan. 6 due to concerns over the district’s main bus contractor, district administrators have released more details about what happened during the time leading up to the decision and its aftermath. Schools Superintendent Edward Seto late in the evening of Jan. 5 decided …

Two Somerset men remain incarcerated at the Middlesex County Jail, New Brunswick, on robbery charges stemming from an alleged Jan. 4 home invasion. The two were among three men arrested as they allegedly fled from the scene, police said. Juan K. Dunlap, 31 and Rick R. Barley, 54, were charged with Robbery, Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and Possession of a …

Contracts for goods and services worth $289,723 were approved at the Jan. 7 Township Council meeting. The council approved the $39,918 purchase of a pick-up truck with snow plow from Beyer Brothers Corp. of Fairview. The money comes from the 2013 capital spending plan. A $13,000 contract with Peak Software, Sandy, Utah was also approved. The software will be used …

Agreeing that commissioners should appear at a meeting and explain why they feel they need a more than $100 a year raise, the Township Council Jan. 7 tabled approval for the proposed 2014 salaries for Fire District 3’s five commissioners. The council did, however, approve proposed raises for commissioners in fire districts 1, 2 and 4. Although fire district operations …

There’s a new portrait hanging among the presidents in the Township Council chambers, that of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The portrait was unveiled at the beginning of the Jan. 7 Township Council meeting. Officiating were Council members Rajiv Prasad and Kimberly Francois, both D-At Large; Mayor Brian Levine, R; Paul Curry from the Franklin Democratic …

Julia Presley was re-elected president of the Board of Education and Eva Nagy was elected vice president during the board’s rescheduled reorganization meeting. Presley and newly elected board members Christine Danielsen and Nancy LaCorte were sworn into their terms during the meeting. The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 2, but had to be postponed due to the snow storm. …

Two hectic days of meetings and negotiations – highlighted by an apparent revolt by bus drivers against their former company – ended Jan. 6 with the Board of Education transferring the contract for the bulk of the district’s school bus routes to a new company. The move means that schools will be open on Jan. 7. If board members breathed …

The la perle salon and spa in Rutgers Plaza, Easton Avenue, is celebrating its one-year anniversary 18 with a day of martinis and makeovers. The “ladies only” event – scheduled to run from noon to 4 p.m. – is the brainchild of la perle owner Maria Diras, who said she had prior experience in the space in which her shop is …

Township police and a Somerset couple are at odds over what happened to several Franklin Middle School students Nov. 21 after their bus driver called police to report some unruly students, and then a replacement driver refused to continue the route. The parents, B.K. and Michelle Redd, say that their 7th-grade son and two other students were left on the …