May 2015

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–In a surprising turn of events, a well-respected member of the city's school board resigned creating a vacancy at a critical time.

Business Administrator Richard Jannarone explained that outgoing board member John Krenos, who was not present at the May 12 board meeting, expressed his "deep regret" and gratitude to his colleagues.

Krenos, a Rutgers professor and Second Ward resident, was first elected in 2013 after serving as an appointed school board member prior to the implementation of school elections.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–The Mason Gross School of the Arts' Theater Department is presenting a student project titled "Seeing Beyond with Maya Fantasma."

This project is a interactive theater experience described as a show about a man whose ex-girlfriend just won't leave him alone. The show is the directorial debut of Rutgers senior Zoe Milah De Jesus.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced the arrest of a 16-year-old male in connection with a tragic murder case, the first reported killing this year in the Hub City.

Three hours after police were first contacted, they arrested the teenager in Bridgewater, about 10 miles away from the scene of the crime, a luxury apartment building in downtown known as Skyline Tower.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–In March, Governor Chris Christie joined many Republican Governors in support of a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s executive order protecting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Christie has been relatively quiet about his own views on immigration until recently, all while weighing a run for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Some say his newfound opposition to the reform shows he is pandering to Republicans nationwide instead of thinking of the residents of New Jersey.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—City police are investigating a shooting that took place in the Riverside public housing development in the First Ward on the evening of May 9 at about 9:40pm, according to police radio transmissions.

According to the police radio transmissions, a gunshot victim walked into Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at about 10pm.

It is not clear yet if the victim, a man who police identified as a resident of that same block, was shot in Riverside or somewhere else.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–Judge Dennis Nieves suspended the proposed jail sentence of a 68-year-old former government worker, throwing out a plea deal that had been reached between her and prosecutors in December.

The lighter sentence means that, if Brennan stays out of trouble, she will avoid jail time completely despite writing herself checks from public bank accounts more than a dozen times in the final three years of her career.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Police are investigating a shots fired call on Wright Place 10:12pm, where at least eight shots were fired amid a fight in the 4th Ward neighborhood.

Similar to a reported shooting earlier in the week on the other side of town, police were unable to locate any victim.  It's unclear if anyone was hit by gunfire in the incident, which took place in the public.

According to witnesses, one man was chasing another while firing at him in the vicinity of the Schwarz Homes public housing.