NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Today at 1pm, a newly-expanded Rutgers Board of Governors met for the first time to open its hearing on the 2013-2014 academic year tuition cost.

But one of its newest members, New Brunswick resident Martin Perez was conspicuously absent.  Sources say State Senate President Steve Sweeney surprised the university with the threat of a lawsuit if Perez was permitted to participate in the meeting.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Bristol-Myers Squibb was recently fined in the deaths of two monkeys in their expansive facility on the border of the Hub City and North Brunswick.

The pharmaceutical company was fined $2,625 for the deaths and two other violations in 2010 regarding expired drug treatments in an emergency medical kit and storage of food according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The penalty was issued in February but was made public May 17 of this year.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—During their May 15 meeting, the five-member New Brunswick City Council made an abrupt reversal, unanimously deciding to table a law to ban smoking in parks and other public areas would not be passed as an ordinance.

All five members had previously voted for the oridnance on its first reading, and several spoke in support of it, as we reported last month.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—After videos of Mike Rice bullying the Rutgers men's basketball team became public on April 2, Tim Pernetti was forced to resign from his position as the Rutgers Athletic Director.

Six weeks later, Rutgers President Robert L. Barchi and an enormous committee hedged over the final choice of who would replace Pernetti, a university alum and popular personality.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–Inspired by the world’s problematic dependence on burning fossil fuels and coal for energy, professors at Rutgers University are researching better solutions for energy consumption in the hopes of combating the effects of climate change.

One of the top research schools in the nation, Rutgers conducts a vast range of research for a greener society including studies on biofuels, solar energy, photovoltaic, energy policies, wind energy, and hydrogen.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—The City Council's five members are poised to adopt an ordinance that would to ban smoking in all city parks and other city property.

A final vote scheduled for tomorrow will be preceeded by a public hearing where the council will hear questions and comments on the ordinance from anyone.

The hearing will take place at the council's regular meeting, held on the top floor of City Hall at 6:30pm.

Council President Rebecca Escobar, herself a smoker, has said publicly that she supports the law.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—A new initiative of the city's only soup kitchen, Elijah’s Promise, takes a different approach to helping the area's homeless population by directly finding and assisting those on the streets with shelter, medical care, and social services.

A joint effort of the kitchen and the University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ (UMDNJ), the Homeless Empowerment Action Recovery Team (HEART) is a mobile homeless outreach program that travels throughout Middlesex County in search for homeless individuals in need of help.