“Mom, I would prefer not to sign up for weekend dance or swimming classes during the school year,” said my granddaughter, Fiona, to my daughter last summer. She was six years old and about to start first grade. Fiona loves to swim all summer long and dance during her school day. She is full of energ...

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramDon’t Let Your Disappointment In The Choices Dissuade You From VotingThe year is 2012, and I am sitting in my second-grade class. Images of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were projected on the SmartBoard: an elementary school attempt at ...

I Will Continue to Advocate for Full-Time DPW Employees The Mayor’s reliance on seasonal laborers to address staffing shortages in the Department of Public Works (DPW) is fundamentally flawed. Seasonal workers are, by definition, temporary and lack the consistency and dedication that full-time emplo...

The Clark Reservoir is gross. Our staff has a wager on how many mattresses and tires (and who knows — maybe even a whole car) will be uncovered when the county does finally decide to dredge it. A water company built the reservoir in 1907, and to the best of our knowledge, it has never been properly ...

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramJune 2024: A BittersweetFarewell to High SchoolJune 2024. Bittersweet is the only appropriate word to describe it. The rush of emotions that range from sadness to joy. This has been the date that was given to us from the beginning, the...

Zigbone Farm sits in a valley, nestled inside a verdant dip where sheep graze, donkeys bray, and contented cows moo, making farmland music. Last month, eight of us writers gathered at this one-hundredacre oasis in Western Maryland. We stayed in the original farmhouse insulated with strawbales that b...

New Jersey legislators eviscerated governmental transparency last week when both the House and the Senate voted to approve sweeping changes to the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). Now it sits on the desk of Governor Phil Murphy for his signature or veto.The bill, which restricts access to com...

TRENTON, N.J. – Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz stands with government transparency advocates in opposing the majority party’s latest power grab, the dismantling of New Jersey’s open public records act.The fast-tracked legislation (S2930/A4045), introduced in March by Democrats but pulled from considerati...

Proof by Counterexample: Indians in AthleticsA collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramTrue freshman Parvej Khan is one of the best mid-distance runners in the NCAA. The 19-year-old is not only leading the best track and field team in the country at the University of Florida b...

While I am relieved that congress has finally passed the bill to provide the much needed aid to Ukraine, I am dismayed that Tom Kean Jr. and his party withheld this aid for six months at a critical time in Ukraine's defense against Russia, causing undue loss of life and the surrender of hard fought ...