COUNTDOWN: New Brunswick’s Top 12 Stories of 2012

It has been our pleasure to cover the City of New Brunswick for over a year now.  We launched this independent community newspaper in December 2011 to improve the level of discourse in our community.

Please enjoy our top twelve storylines from 2012, which represent the very best work of our staff of journalists, researchers, and photographers.

Thanks for reading!

9/19 – Student Pedestrian Hospitalized After Sustaining Injury From Rutgers Police Car 9/21 – University Silent on Pedestrian Struck By Rutgers Police Vehicle 9/21 – Rutgers: New Brunswick PD is Investigating RUPD-Pedestrian Accident 9/24 – Investigation Continues into 21-Year-Old Student Struck by Rutgers Police Car 10/4 –NBPD Report Blames Student Struck By Rutgers Police Car 10/5 – Video Shows RUPD Car Traveling at About 20mph Before Striking Rutgers Student 10/20 – College Avenue’s Flawed Design Partly Responsible for RUPD-Pedestrian Accident

5/20 – Wellness Center, FreshGrocer Store & Parking Deck Nears Completion 9/24 – Working on The Weekend: New Building Aims for Nov. Opening 10/10 – RWJ Wellness Center Career Fair

6/20 – New Brunswick Attorney Dead From Apparent Heart Attack 6/20 – Missing Autistic Girl Drowns in Neighbor’s Pool, As NBPD Searches For Her 8/6 – Two Missing Children, Ages 10 and 11, Found Dead in Raritan River 8/9 – Fund Established to Aid Families of Young Drowning Victims 9/22 – Charles Renda, Unsung Hero of New Brunswick, Dead at 69

7/18 – Ben Bucca & 5 Other City Attorneys Have Been Illegally in State Pension System Since 2008 7/19 – Democratic Party Chairman Among 6 City Lawyers Illegally In Pension System

1/10 – Income Requirement Expected to Keep Rutgers Students Out of Expensive New Building 1/19 – Rutgers Wants to Know How You Feel About The Grease Trucks 6/21 – Rutgers Wants to Force Students to Live On-Campus Their First 2 Years 7/9 – Board Endorses Proposed Devco Buildings For Seminary Site & Grease Trucks Lot 9/13 – Board Approves 1st New Building on College Ave. in Decades 10/3 – New Rutgers Vice President: Rockoff Hall Will Be Sold, No Longer Affiliated With RU

4/18 – Part 1: Secretive Political Groups in NB Raised Over $442K Since 2008 with Hardly Any Expenses 4/19 – Part 2: 1st Gift to “Women For Good Government” Came From Indicted Ex-Sheriff Accused of Harassing 5 Women 4/20 – Part 3: Mayor Cahill’s Campaigns Took In More Than $20K From Questionable Political Groups 4/24 – Part 4: Convicted Money-Launderer Was #3 Donor to Shadowy Political Fundraising Operations 4/30 – Part 5: Mayor Cahill Used Campaign Funds to Pay for Funeral of Man Killed by NBPD 5/2 – Part 6: New Brunswick Political Appointee “Likely” Under Investigation For $31K That Went Missing

2/20 – Rutgers DOES NOT Condemn NYPD For Spying on Its Muslim Student Organizations 6/12 – AP Sues City Police Over 2009 Outing of Secret NYPD Field Office in Downtown New Brunswick 7/28 – How a Routine Apartment Inspection Exposed a Secret NYPD Spy Office in New Brunswick

3/10 – Prosecution Rests Case Against Dharun Ravi After Introducing Damning Evidence and Testimony 5/19 – Prosecutor Plans to Appeal 30-Day Jail Sentence for Dharun Ravi

9/18 – For 7th Year, Broken Promises Put Kids in “Temporary” Warehouse 10/2 – Voters Could Take Control of City Schools From Mayor in November 11/5 – Mayor Cahill is Top Supporter of Campaign to Keep Mayor Cahill in Control of School Board 11/5 – Disgraced Trenton Mayor Tried to Oust Appointed School Board Members For Not Hiring New Brunswick Official 11/6 – Vote YES on Municipal Question Because New Brunswick Deserves Better Schools 11/7 – Too Close to Call: Mayor’s Campaign Against Elected School Board Leading by 13 Votes 11/9 – Former Adult School VP Arrested For Stealing Over $12,000 in Student Exam Fees 11/15 – Election Commissioner Stops Public From Recording Hearing That Could Decide Local Election 11/29 – School Board Will Be Elected For First Time After Voters Approve Change by 98 Votes

10/28 – Mayor Declares State of Emergency, Mandatory Evacuations Underway 10/29 – Route 18 Shut Down as Hurricane Makes Landfall on New Jersey 10/31 – Drinking Water Problems Cause Rutgers to Evacuate Every Dorm in New Brunswick 11/2 – NJ Orders Gasoline Rationing System for Northern Half of State in Response to Shortage 11/5 – First Ward Polling Place MOVED Due to Hurricane

1/10 – Two Dead From Gunshots: Body Found in Pittman Park 1/30 – Former NBPD Internal Affairs Head INDICTED For Mishandling 81 Investigations 1/31 – 19-Year-Old Man Shot by NBPD Just One Block From Site of September 22 Police Killing 3/6 – EXCLUSIVE: NBPD Employee Quietly Resigns Following Drug Charges in Franklin 3/12 – Councilman: New Brunswick Police Car Might Have Been Involved in Somerset Drug Deal 3/16 – Lawsuit Filed By Police Lt. Says Former Director Used Racial Slur and Passed Him Over For Promotions 3/28 – More Officers File Suit Against NBPD: “For More Than 20 Years, Political Control of the City of New Brunswick Has Been Excercised by a Political Machine” 4/19 – A Bar Fight In Ward Two Leads to Fatal Bloodshed 5/6 – Man Killed By Stray Shot Fired in “Gated” Community Where Gate Has Been Left Open for More Than a Year 5/10 – Deloatch Sons Weren’t Notified of Grand Jury Decision Not to Indict NBPD Officer That Killed Their Father 5/17 – EXCLUSIVE: Before Asking Press to Leave, Polos Responds to Fatal Shooting In “Gated” Community His Company Manages 5/28 – Trenton Makes, New Brunswick Takes: NBPD Hires 7 Officers Laid Off by Trenton PD This Year 6/14 – 6 Weeks After Fatal Shooting, Gates Open At Fulton Square 7/26 – Questions Surround Sudden Departure of Prosecutor Who Presented Deloatch Case 7/28 – City Resurrects Auxiliary Police Program with 7 Volunteers 7/30 – EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: NBPD Shot Victor Rodriguez While He Was Face Down on Seaman Street 8/2 – Judge Finds RU Student Arrested by Swarm of Cops at Protest NOT GUILTY 8/22 – NBPD Officer Who Shot & Killed Barry Deloatch Resigns Seeking Disability Pension 8/27 – Taxpayers Pay $120,000 to Settle NBPD Beatdown Claim By 19-Year-Old RU Students 9/28 – Three Shootings Reported in New Brunswick This Week 10/1 – Student Neighborhood & Hometown Friends Cope with Fatal Shooting of Community College Student 10/7 – Homicide Victim Identified as Mother of a Two-Year-Old Son 11/11 – New Brunswick Teenager Stabbed to Death 11/15 – Second Murder in Three Days Claims Life of 24-Year-Old Man

#1 A Year of Big Changes for Rutgers: School Gets New President, Absorbs UMDNJ & Joins Big Ten

1/29 – Devastating Week for RU: Gov. Tries To Give Camden Campus Away & Schiano Goes Pro In 24-Hour Span 4/1 – Rutgers Student Body President Arrested in DC Protest of Sallie Mae 4/11 – New Rutgers President Will Make $100K More Than McCormick Did 5/19 – Anonymous Donor Matches $1.5M Gift to RU From Motorola 5/20 – Rutgers Graduates Largest Class Ever: 13,465 5/23 – Garbage Moratorium Dead: All Rutgers Students Can Request FREE Bulk “Move Out” Garbage Pick-Up 6/8 – RU Athletics Will Give Concessions Business to Sodexo in Privatization Deal 6/21 – Rutgers Wants to Force Students to Live On-Campus Their First 2 Years 7/4 – Outgoing RU President Moves into Downtown New Brunswick Condo 7/23 – Students Protest 2.5% Tuition Hike Approved by Rutgers Board 8/13 – NJ Supreme Court: Closed Rutgers Board Meeting Violated NJ Sunshine Law 8/24 – Christie Signs Bill Giving Rutgers Most of UMDNJ’s Campus & All of Its Debt 9/24 – Rutgers Football Nationally Ranked for 1st Time Since 2009 11/5 – Vote YES on State Question #1 to Fund New & Improved Classrooms at Rutgers 12/19 – After 18 Months of Delays, Martin Perez Joins Rutgers Board

Please share this with your friends and give us feedback.  Happy New Year, New Brunswick!

Charlie Kratovil

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.