General News

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 …

Six area families that were “adopted” by a township church will be sure to have a hearty Thanksgiving dinner this year. That’s because the families – two each in the township, South Bound Brook and Somerville – received holiday baskets complete with turkey and all of the fixings. Members of True-2-Life Ministries on Victor Street “adopted” the families for Thanksgiving, …

Bill Grippo, the longtime head of the township’s July 4th celebration committee, was commended by the Township Council at its Sept. 13 meeting. The commendation, Grippo said, “belongs to all the people” who contributed to the event. “Every year I go about the fun of asking for money for this event, and every year there are more donors,” he said. …

The 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks were observed in the township throughout the course of the day. At about 8:30 a.m., an observance organized by Mayor Philip Kramer was held at the township’s 9-11 Memorial near the library. Among those in attendance were Township Councilman Charles Onyejiaka (D-Ward 3), Township Councilman Rajiv Prasad (D-At Large), Alex Kharazi, head …