Category: Independent News

  • Mat-Ab district plugs into new technology

    Podcasts, whiteboards aim to engage students BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer Above: At Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School, students will use the new iPod nano, which has a camera, to produce and shoot video about Wilson Rawls’ classic novel “Where the Red Fern Grows” into a news podcast. Left: New interactive Promethean boards were added to classrooms.…

  • NOTESAround Town

    The Holmdel Half Century Club will meet at noon Jan. 19 and hold a pizza party for members only. Ladies’ Mystery Night Out will be held Jan. 21 at a cost of $30 per person. For Night Out information, call Agnes at 732-264-4131. ***** The Concordia Youth Chorale will participate in a performance at 7:30…

  • County jobless rate up 3.2 percent over 12 months, but stabilizing

    Data shows recovery under way; unemployment peaked in July BY TOM SHORTELL Staff Writer Monmouth County workers are still feeling the brunt of the 2008 economic collapse, as the county’s latest unemployment rate is 3.2 percent higher than it was 12 months earlier. An estimated 28,666 workers residing in the county were without jobs in…

  • Last call

    The Middlesex and Monmouth County Pipes and Drums lead a cadre of more than 200 members of the Middletown Fire and Police departments in full dress uniform as 1st Assistant Chief John “Jack” Wankel, of Independent Fire Company, Middletown Township Fire Department, is laid to rest with full honors on Jan. 7. Wankel, who was…

  • ‘My Middletown Photo Contest’ 2009 winners

    Winners of the 2009 My Middletown Photo Contest have been announced. Nearly 100 photos of local sites were entered in the competition. Winners are: • First place, Susan Boston, “Historic Murray Farm” • Second place, Cindy Jones, “Falls at Shadow Lake Falls” • Third place, Lois Wilkes, “Belford Dock” • Honorable mention, Fred Saunders, “Family…

  • Thorne Middle School honors namesake’s memory

    Memorial wall commemorates Medal of Honor winner BY TOM SHORTELL Staff Writer In December 1945, a local farm boy died in a hail of bullets while fighting the German war machine near a small village in Belgium. Edith Nowles speaks to students at Thorne Middle Schoo, Middletown, about her brother, Horace “Buddy” Thorne, at an…

  • NOTESAround Town

    Matawan Student Enrichment Program (MSEP) has announced two new Saturday classes, “Beginner Computer Programming” for students in grades five and up, and “Graffiti Art” for grades four through seven, and eight and up. Computer students need to have a basic knowledge of Windows and must bring a Windows XP-based laptop to class (or share one).…

  • Photo

    Holmdel resident William Cahill and Township Committeeman Larry Fink tour the Lady Slipper Preserve, a section of pristine forest and wetlands preserved as parkland adjacent to Allocco Park in Holmdel on Dec. 31. Story, page 3. ERIC SUCAR staff

  • Shared services, senior complex on Aberdeen agenda

    New mayor, council members sworn in at reorganization BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer Plans for a new senior center, reducing energy costs and sharing services are part of the 2010 Aberdeen Township Council objectives announced during the governing body’s annual reorganization meeting on Jan. 1. As his family looks on, Fred Tagliarini is sworn in…