General News

Replacement of the Route 518 bridge at Canal Road is expected to be finished by the end of February, but that date, unlike the bridge, is not set in stone. Work is progressing on the project, but winter weather could play havoc with the time frame, said Stephen Schapiro, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The $2.75 million …

  The township library has launched a new, improved, online historic photo database that will one day hold thousands of pieces of history. The new searchable database – located here – is comprised of photos that previously appeared in the library’s “Franklin Photo Archive,” as well as photos made by Elton H. L. Wade, the negatives for which were donated …

Weddings officiated this year by Mayor Phillip Kramer have been a boon to the Franklin Township Animal Shelter and the organization that funds it, Second Chance for Animals. That’s because the wedding fee – $50 each – goes to the group through a trust fund established by the township. As of Dec. 30, the date of the 89th and last …

The company wishing to build a gas compressor station in Franklin initially eyed six potential locations in the township and South Brunswick, a federal filing shows. The Williams Companies’ Transco affiliate is planning to build the 32,000-horsepower natural gas-powered station on a 52-acre parcel near the intersection of Routes 27 and 518. The controversial application has run into opposition from …

A 52-acre parcel near the intersection of Routes 27 and 518 has been selected as the location for the Williams-Transco gas compressor station project. The site was selected over another option because it minimizes the effects of the compressor station on the environment and on nearby residents by about 80 percent, a company spokesman said. The site, known as “Option …

Nearly one in every 10 township school-aged child lived in poverty in 2015, a figure that is 41 percent higher than in all of Somerset County. In its annual Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates for 2015, released Dec. 14, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 9.4 percent of children aged 5 to 17 years in the township live below …

  A school district administrator recovering from two strokes said he “felt the love” Dec. 9 when more than 200 people showed up for a fundraiser for his recovery efforts. They packed the banquet hall at the East Franklin Fire Department headquarters on Pine Grove Avenue for Rodney Wilkerson, the dean of students at Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School. He …

The deadline is fast approaching for donations to a college fund established for siblings of a township teenager killed over the summer in an automobile accident. Andrew Russoniello, 13, was killed Aug. 29 when he was struck by a car while riding his bicycle on Amwell Road. Russoniello was active in the township and Sampson G. Smith school theater community, …

  Submitted by Paul Walitsky. Records were set in 2016 by the Canal Walk community’s food drives for the Franklin Food Bank. On Dec. 3, the community donated 4,100 pounds of food, bringing the year’s total to a record 5,600 pounds. Monetary donations for December totaled $1,490, bringing the year’s total to another record of $2,800. The Canal Walk Men’s …

  The holidays are popping up all over the township. Sales were the main topic on Dec. 3, with several organizations – the Griggstown Historical Society, the Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition and St. Matthias Home School Association – offering wares for those early shoppers. The old Griggstown Schoolhouse on Canal Road was the site for the “Greens and Goodies” sale …