We recently asked High School Principal James R. Bevere for his thoughts on the upcoming 2013-2014 school year. Bevere was enthused about what the year holds for FHS students.

A Clover Place resident reported that someone tried to break into their home while they were away. Police said the resident said the incident happened between 2 p.m. and 4:19 p.m. The resident said she and her husband had just returned from a wake to find that someone had tried to break in through a rear door. Police said fresh …

Giannah Farag was all smiles as she waited for her teacher outside Hillcrest School in Somerset the morning of Sept. 9. The new Kindergartner made her first friend – Dylan Cauthen – shortly after arriving at the school. Giannah was accompanied by her mother, Heather, who was also smiling, but for a different reason. “I’m nervous,” Heather Farag said. “It’s …

About 22 percent of Franklin’s children younger than 18 – and about 15 percent of Franklin Township residents overall – are living below what one organization defines as the state’s poverty level, according to a report released over the weekend. The report showed that 2,959 of the township’s children younger than 18 are living in poverty, according to the report …

A state Assembly resolution sponsored by Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, D-Somerset, that urges Iran to release imprisoned members of the country’s Baha’i faith and treat them with respect was unanimously adopted Sept. 9 by the state Legislature’s lower house. The resolution, co-sponsored by Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, R-Westfield, notes that since the Iranian Revolution of  1979, “more than 200 members of the …

Hundreds of people took advantage of a 6-hour ban on most automobile traffic along a 4-mile stretch of Canal Road Sept. 8 to bicycle and jog without fear of getting run over. The reason was the inaugural “Bike Without Fear” event, spearheaded by Township Councilman Philip Cramer. Cramer, himself a Canal Road resident, said he got the council’s support for …

The Entrepreneur and dfree ministries of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens are holding a networking  party from 6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 10 at the church, 771 Somerset St. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the church’s C.H. Brown Jr. Memorial Fellowship Hall. “dfree” is a “First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens solutions-based …

Dawn Valdata walked in to her 2nd Grade classroom in Franklin Park School earlier this week and asked herself the same question she’s asked the past 11 years. “Where do I start?” Valdata, like her colleagues throughout the school district and in private schools located in the township, spent the week putting her classroom together in anticipation of next week’s …

  A portion of Hamilton Street was closed for several hours Wednesday after a tractor-trailer overturned at Veronica Avenue, dumping a 90,000-pound concrete form into the intersection. No one was injured in the 6:35 a.m. accident, police said. The tractor was driven by Ronald Kinmon, 57, of Bay Minette Alabama. Police blocked off Hamilton Street between Veronica Avenue and JFK …

A township man remains in the Somerset County Jail after being charged Sept. 3 with the attempted murder of a woman in her apartment. Ahmed Taylor-Kamara, 26, of Arlington Avenue, was charged with 1st Degree Attempted Murder and 3rd Degree Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes, according to a release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Bail for Taylor-Kamara …