Community Corner

Ocean City's Hispanic Population Growth in Top State News

Also, would-be robber takes his own life in Woodbridge

From Mexico City to Ocean City—2,006 miles as the crow flies—the American Dream is luring Hispanics away from their homeland, and they're for much the same reason everyone else does: It's a safe, quiet and beautiful place to live. In the last decade, the number of Hispanics in Ocean City increased from 1.99 percent of the population to 5.5 percent, according to U.S. Census data.

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For the past 15 years, Monique Smith-Andrews has hosted a free Thanksgiving dinner for the working-class community around her hair salon in Jersey City. For the 15th anniversary, she moved the feast outdoors, turning the dinner into a mid-autumn block party. [NJ.com]

Find out what's happening in East Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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A would-be bank robber  Wednesday after being confronted by police. Marck S. McMurry, 47, of Keansburg was stopped from trying to hold up the PNC Bank in the Tano Mall in Woodbridge by a guard who worked for an armored car company and who was in the bank during the attempted holdup. McMurry was brandishing a 9 mm pistol and demanded cash, officials said.

Find out what's happening in East Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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A pilot escaped serious injury when a small plane crashed following a hard landing at a northern New Jersey airport. Lincoln Park Police Sgt. William Karback says 32-year-old Ilya Kleyn of Cliffside Park was trying to land the Cessna 162 Sky Catcher at Lincoln Park Airport when he lost control of the aircraft around 1:15 p.m. Friday. [Asbury Park Press]

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Lee Evans, the man accused of killing five teenage boys who disappeared in Newark more than 30 years ago, was . The jury in State Superior Court found Evans, 58, not guilty on five counts of murder and five counts of felony murder in the deaths of 16-year-olds Michael McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner and 17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, officials said. Prosecutors alleged Evans, who represented himself at trial, was the mastermind behind the 1978 killings.

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Revenue from New Jersey’s toll roads fell $45 million short of projections this year through September as high gasoline prices, joblessness and storms kept drivers off the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority collected $845 million in the first nine months of 2011, 6 percent below targets, according to a financial report. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

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The body of a small girl was  in a stream of the Shark River by teens walking in the park early afternoon Tuesday, First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said. Gramiccioni would not confirm whether the girl found was Tierra Morgan, who has been missing since Monday when she did not return home from a visitation with her father. Gramiccioni said only authorities believe it to be the Lakehurst girl.

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Health coverage and medical care have changed tremendously in the last two decades. But Tom Stehr, 46, who owns and operates Rosvold Pharmacy in Cinnaminson, is a neighborhood anchor who has  in an ever-changing economic and political climate. With a CVS or Rite-Aid on many corners—not to mention the pharmacy departments of the big box stores like ShopRite and Walmart—Stehr says competition has put a squeeze on the independent owners.

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The Bridgewater school district is looking into child finding devices for all buses after a young student was  Monday when a substitute driver neglected to drive to the final stop on his route. Officials said the driver for the Barker Bus Company did not complete his route because he did not see the last page of instructions. The driver took the bus back to the depot with the child in tow.

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The Hopatcong school district  the state's initial refusal to excuse the district from making up the days it missed due to power outages after the late October snowstorm. The district missed four school days—and one school missed five—as Jersey Central Power & Light worked to restore power. Hopatcong will send the request directly to Gov. Chris Christie.


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