News-pourri

State Assemblyman Joe Danielsen has had a good start to 2020. (File photo). Franklin resident and state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17) has had a good start to the new year: two of the bills he co-sponsored have been signed into law, and he was given a spot in the Assembly Speaker’s leadership organization. Danielsen was recently named as a Deputy …

Somerset County Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson speaks after receiving her commendation from the Somerset County Democratic Committee’s Black Caucus. Township resident and Somerset County Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson was one of two African-American trailblazers honored Feb. 1 by the Somerset County Democratic Committee’s Black Caucus during its Black History Month celebration. Robinson is the first African-American woman to serve as …

County Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson will be among those honored at the Somerset County Democratic Committee’s Black Caucus Black History Month event. Township resident Shanel Robinson, the first African-American woman to serve as Somerset County Freeholder Director, will be honored February 1 by the Somerset County Democratic Committee’s Black Caucus. The event is set for 2-5 p.m. at the township …

Township Councilman Ted Chase displays a reusable bag that could be substituted for single-use paper or plastic bags. A township ban on single-use plastic and paper bags, Styrofoam food containers and single-use straws – Somerset County’s first, if enacted – was the subject of a more than two-hour discussion at the January 28 Township Council meeting. At the heart of …

State Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet, center, speaks with state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, left, and Danielsen’s Chief of Staff, Wayne Dibofsky, at the annual Franklin Community Breakfast. Education can be a method to manifest Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of a “just society,” the state’s education commissioner said January 20. Lamont Repollet, the Franklin resident who was elevated from Asbury …

Census information was relayed in a number of ways, including through these Census coloring books. Somerset County brought its Census 2020 roadshow to the township on January 18, offering education under the guise of entertainment at one of the township schools. The event was called “Winterfest 2020,” a nod to Census 2020 and the county administration’s desire to have as …

Project engineer Vajira Gunawardana speaks to the Planning Board about a planned John F. Kennedy memorial on JFK Boulevard. A 792-square-foort memorial to Pres. John F. Kennedy at a strip shopping plaza on John F. Kennedy Boulevard was approved January 15 by the Planning Board. The memorial will feature a 9-foot-tall statue of Kennedy and his son, John, Jr. – …

The Somerset County Park Commission will be accepting natural Christmas trees for recycling through Friday, January 31. Somerset County residents may bring their tree to Colonial Park Gardens, Parking Lot F, 156 Mettlers Road in Somerset, Franklin Township or to North Branch Park at the lighted baseball field, 355 Milltown Road in Bridgewater. Both facilities will accept trees from 8:00 …

A New Brunswick attorney who is under a state ethics investigation for comments he made to a defendant while serving as Franklin Township’s presiding Municipal Court judge was not reappointed to that position at the January 6 Township Council reorganization. The Council chose to not reappoint Hector Rodriguez, who had served as the Municipal Court presiding judge since 2014. Instead, …

Township Councilman Charles Onyejiaka, right, is given the Oath of Office for Deputy Mayor by state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen at the Jan. 6 Council reorganization meeting. Township Councilman Charles Onyejiaka made history January 6 when he became the first West African to be voted in as Deputy Mayor. Onyejiaka (D-Ward 3), has been a member of the Council since 2016, …