The Renaissance Community Development Credit Union (RCDCU) and the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens (FBCLG) have teamed up to offer an auto loan “Refinance and Save” program. According to a press release about the program, it is “designed to encourage borrowers to take advantage of lower interest rates, which will result in lower monthly auto payments.  Financing will be …

Following is the list of events for March at the Quail Brook Senior Center, 625 New Brunswick Rd. in Somerset. The center is open  9a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. Bingo Tournament – Every Thursday

With nearly $4 million guaranteed for the proposed $85 million school referendum eyed for September, the Board of Education Feb. 27 approved applications for more than $79.7 million in additional state aid for the projects. The board also formally rescinded applications for $57.5 million in grant applications that were not awarded. Those projects were included in the new applications.

The Franklin Township school district will receive about $13.2 million in state aid in the 2014-2015 school year, a 1.2 percent increase over this year’s aid. State aid to the district was flat for the 2013-2014 school year, coming in at the same $12,991,848 as in the 2012-2013 school year. The district saw a $1.4 million bump – nearly 12 …

A 16-year-old township resident has been arrested in connection with the Feb. 27 fire that briefly emptied out Franklin Township High School. In a release about the incident, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Capt. Jack Bennett said the youth has been charged with 2nd Degree Aggravated Arson.

By Bill Connell, Somerset. I was watching the February 20, Board of Education meeting.  One of the board members explained their vote was due to being worried about an orderly transition.  This board member voted for the super’s non-renewal and early exit.  This does not reflect the goal of an orderly transition.  I could not tell if this over explanation …

An unoccupied car on Ray Street was shot at multiple times the evening of Feb. 25, police said. Township police received a call about gunshots at about 8:40 p.m., according to a release on the incident from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

The school district is no longer considering outsourcing its 123 paraprofessionals as a means to bridge a $1.7 million budget gap, but it has not ruled out some type of staff reduction. In a letter sent to staff members and posted on the district Web site, interim schools Superintendent Eveny Pagan said outsourcing the paraprofessionals “is no longer a consideration …

Two contracts worth $69,000 were approved by the Township Council at its Feb. 25 meeting. The largest of the two, worth $55,000 a year, was awarded to Joseph Smentkowski, Inc. of Jersey City for servicing the township mini-dump. The two-year contract expires on Feb. 28, 2016.

A fight over a cell phone charger led to a man being sent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, police said. Police reported that on Feb. 25, a fight between two men broke out in front of a Pickering Place home. Police said the two men – identified only as a 41-year-old Asian man and a 42-year-old black …