PERTH AMBOY, NJ–Just down the road from the embattled Landings at Harborside development – which never materialized into the condominium community, park, and marina that was promised by developer Charles Kushner – sits what is known to locals as "the Rosengarten Tract."

That empty pair of lots, formerly the General Cable manufacturing facility and the site of a large fire in the 1980's, was acquired by Middlesex County for $5.15 million in 2014 under the auspices of revitalizing it into a public waterfront park.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ—It’s been just shy of a year since the abandoned General Dynamics facility in Woodbridge Township was demolished, and now the remediation of the contaminated property at 150 Avenel Street is underway.

The environmental cleanup is expected to culminate with a multi-phase, $50 million redevelopment project to create an "artists' village" in the footprint of the military contractor's former manufacturing plant.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is getting back to business in 2016, after hosting its reorganization meeting on January 6.

A largely ceremonial affair to swear in newly elected or re-elected members, the reorganization meeting is a forum to set the committees for the year to come and appoint the county's Freeholder director, as well as give the officials-elect an opportunity to speak on their goals for the coming year.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—On January 21, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously introduced a proposed $439.5 million operating budget for 2016, which represents a 2% increase over the previous year's budget.

Prior to the budget presentation, Freeholder Director Ronald G. Rios commended the staff and department heads for their work creating the proposal.

HIGHLAND PARK, NJ–An unusually warm December afternoon brought with it spirited calls for peace, love, and acceptance as Central Jersey residents pushed back against rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War hosted the rally on the corner of Raritan and Adelaide Avenues, replete with signs proclaiming contempt for racism.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–Partners in Care (PIC), an independent healthcare practitioner’s association that services New Brunswick and the surrounding area, and NJ-HITEC, a program run out of NJIT that aids doctors and hospitals with the modernization of health records, announced a partnership yesterday which will bring NJ-HITEC’s assistance to the 450 member PIC network.

The network's mission is to reduce overall healthcare costs and prevent emergency room visits, thereby reducing the ultimate burden that all of society must shoulder.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Healthcare Quality Strategies, Inc. (HQSI), New Jersey’s recipient of Medicare quality improvement contracts for the past three decades, issued a report regarding behavioral health issues in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

New Brunswick was included as one of ten municipalities profiled within the report.

Nicole Skywer-Brandwene, a clinical program manager at HQSI, said the nature of the company’s work involves helping hospitals, nursing homes, and doctor’s offices to improve healthcare quality and access.