The township Police Department recently received a $4,400 grant to aid in its participation in this year’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” anti-drunk driving campaign. The department was one of 144 in the state to receive the grants for the program, which runs from Dec. 6 through Jan. 2, 2014.

Four Somerset residents are among the 11 Rutgers Preparatory School flutists accompanying acclaimed flutist James Galway Dec. 5 in a Carnegie Hall performance. The students – Teresa Heath, Jennifer Rihacek, William Rubinstein, and Arthi Vaidyanathan – and their RPS classmates are among 20 student musicians accompanying Galway on “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Hall” during the famed New York City …

Christ the King Lutheran Church, 3330 Route 27, Kendall park, has set its Advent and Christmas services schedule. Advent services will be held 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Dec, 1, 8, 15 and 23, 2013.

For the first time in its history, the Franklin Township High School cheerleading squad has earned a  berth in a national competition. The 23-member squad has its sights set on the Universal Cheerleading Association’s High School National Championships, slated for Feb. 7 to 9, 2014 at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Center in Florida.

The Franklin High School bowling teams earned split decisions against their first two opponents this year. The boys’ team ended the first two competitions with a 1-1 record, while the girls’ team has yet to record a “W” at 0-2.

A proposed design for new historic village identification signs was shot down Dec. 3 by the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission. The commission gave Tiffany Delaney, the township’s special projects coordinator, a new set of guidelines for what chairman Andrew Burian said he hoped would be a more “elegant” design.

Parents and players in the Franklin Youth Basketball program got to know each other Dec. 3 at a pre-season “meet-and-greet” pizza party held at the Eternal Life Christian Center, Franklin Boulevard, Somerset. The event was designed to show the participants that the league is “more than just the team your kid is on,” said Ron Jordan, the league’s founder.

The extent to which trees were cleared at Middlebush Park sparked some comments from two Environmental Commission members at the Dec. 2 meeting. Commission vice-chair Arnold Schmidt and member David Triggs voiced some concern over the number of trees that were cleared for the park, and over the lack of a buffer between the park and nearby residents.

The annual Chanukah Festival, featuring the lighting of a giant Menorah, was held Dec. 2 at the Shop-Rite on Elizabeth Avenue, Somerset. Co-sponsored by the supermarket and the Hillsborough-based Chabad Center for Jewish Life, the festival featured Chanukah music and refreshments.

A Village Drive resident reported Nov. 29 that someone broke into their storage unit and stole and broke Christmas items. The resident told police the burglary happened sometime during November. The storage unit is located in the building’s laundry room, police said.