News-pourri

A multi-million-dollar preservation project on an iconic building on the Rutgers Preparatory School campus is set to begin sometime this summer. Representatives of the state’s oldest independent college-prep school received approval April 7 for their wide-ranging plans from the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission.

Republican Mayor Chris Kelly and Democratic Township Councilman Phil Kramer will lead their respective parties into the 2015 mayoral/council elections this November. Kelly, who was appointed mayor earlier this year to fill the term of County Freeholder Brian Levine, and Kramer, serving his second 4-year term as councilman, are running for mayor.

A delegation representing Franklin Township’s Fire District No. 1 – led by State Assemblyman Joe Danelsen (D-17) and his son, Joey – on March 21 donated their hair to a childhood cancer research foundation. The team joined nearly 100 other people from throughout central New Jersey at the North Plainfield Fire Department for the head-shaving event. Danielsen’s team raised more than $39,000 …

The township is planning to put a small “pocket park” in a wooded section of Arlington Avenue. Township Manager Robert Vornlocker told the Recreation Advisory Committee at its March 11 meeting that the park is still in planning stages.

A temporary schedule change at the Franklin Boulevard Post Office – which involved closing the office for an hour on Tuesdays – has ended, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said. The branch had been closing for an hour on Tuesdays so the lone clerk could take lunch.

Three of the four township residents who were named “Outstanding Women” in the county were honored at the March 10 Township Council meeting. Michéle Samarya-Timm, Joanne Polito and Lisa Frey were given council commendations for their accomplishments. The fourth honoree, Betty Barber, was not at the meeting.

A lifelong township resident was one of two new police officers sworn in at the March 10 Township Council meeting. Taking the oath were Kenneth Reid II and Patrick Nurthen.

The 14-ton weight restriction on the Amwell Road bridge must be “strictly observed” if the structure is to remain open until it can be replaced later this year, the state’s top transportation official said March 1o. The bridge, which was suddenly closed Jan. 16 for emergency repairs, is set to be reopened on March 11.

Update: State Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17) will temporarily work out of three locations in the township municipal complex on DeMott Lane. Video taken by state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen during his walk-through of his former office, destroyed along with other businesses’ offices in a March 6 fire.

“Fewer than six” of the more than 6,000 district students eligible for the controversial PARCC exams have opted out of the tests, interim schools Superintendent Lee Seitz said Feb. 26. The computerized tests – known as the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam – will be given to students in grades 3-11. They will be administered in …