Category: Independent News

  • Smoking ban outside county buildings takes effect May 1

    BY FRAIDY REISS Correspondent BY FRAIDY REISSCorrespondent Armed with a tape measure, four library employees hovered last month outside the Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan. They were not planning for a library expansion or security enhancements; they simply were trying to figure out where they will be allowed to stand during their cigarette breaks…

  • Festive folk art expresses ‘the brightness of human nature’

    Caribbean influence inspires works by outsider artist BY LINDA DeNICOLA Staff Writer BY LINDA DeNICOLAStaff Writer Betty Kern and daughter Jenny, 12, at the opening of an exhibit of Kern’s folk art at the Red Bank Public Library on April 6. The artwork on exhibit includes a portrait of Jenny in bold hues (below,) carved…

  • On Campus

    Christopher Nelson, Matawan, has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at the School of International Service at American University, Washington, D.C., where he is a junior majoring in international studies. Adriana Vecchio, Belford section of Middletown, was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at the School of Public…

  • Prosecutor drops KBA investigation

    Letter concludes no evidence of criminal actions by group BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer BY KAREN E. BOWESStaff Writer No criminal activity was found as a result of a county investigation into the inside dealings of the Keyport Business Alliance (KBA). The case was closed because “there was no evidence that the KBA had…

  • ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ says hello this weekend

    Spotlight Players open famed musical in Matawan Saturday BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer BY TOM CAIAZZAStaff Writer Top, the Spotlight Players will perform “Bye Bye Birdie” at the First Presbyterian Church in Matawan beginning this weekend. Above from left to right, Jeff Ronan (playing Albert) and E. Nicole Spadafino (Rosie), and Dylan Brennan (playing Conrad…

  • Photo

    MIGUEL JUAREZ staff A trio of friends walk in the water on Aberdeen’s beachfront on Thursday.

  • Taking a spin

    CHRIS KELLY staff Middletown’s Nathaniel Kue, 7, spins two plates on his fingertips during a Clowning Clinic at the Children’s Cultural Center, Red Bank, on Friday.

  • GOP off ballot in Hazlet

    Chairman failed to submit signatures to clerk on time BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer BY DAN NEWMANStaff Writer Steve Grossman Two Hazlet Republicans who thought they were going to be able to run in the June 6 primary will now have to run as write-in candidates, due to an insufficient amount of signatures on a…

  • A ‘million dollar view’ cheapened in Aberdeen

    Officials consider measures to fight excess littering on beachfront BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer BY TOM CAIAZZAStaff Writer MIGUEL JUAREZ staff An increase in litter along Cliffwood Beach in Aberdeen has caught officials’ attention. ABERDEEN – It has been called the jewel of Aberdeen. The beachfront and sea wall that overlook the Raritan Bay in…