The list will be continually updated.

ESSEX COUNTY -- Though the county did not get quite as much snow Tuesday as originally predicted, Essex towns were still left with quite a bit to dig out from Tuesday evening into Wednesday.

The clean-up prompted some area schools and colleges to announce delayed openings and closings for Wednesday.

This list will be continually updated as delays and closures are announced. Continue to check for updates.

Public School Districts:

• Belleville schools are closed.
• Bloomfield schools are closed, but the board of education meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m.
• Caldwell-West Caldwell schools are on a delayed opening schedule.
• Cedar Grove schools are on a two-hour delay.
• East Orange schools are on a delayed opening at 10 a.m.
• Fairfield schools are on a two-hour delay.
• Glen Ridge schools are on a two-hour delay.
• Irvington schools are closed.
• Livingston schools are closed.
• Millburn schools are closed.
• Montclair schools are closed.
• Newark public schools will not be open to students due to a pre-planned professional development training for teachers. Schools and the central office are on a delayed schedule and will open at 10 a.m. 
• Nutley schools are closed.
• Orange schools are closed.
• Roseland's Lester C. Noecker School is on a two-hour delay.
• South Orange Maplewood schools are opening on this delayed schedule.
• Verona schools are closed.
• West Essex Regional schools are on a two-hour delay.
• West Orange schools are closed.

Colleges:

• Bloomfield College will open at noon.
• Caldwell University is closed.
• Montclair State University will have a delayed opening at 9:30 a.m. Offices will open at 9:30 a.m., and classes and activities that start at 10 a.m. and later will occur as scheduled.
• Seton Hall University will open at noon.

Other:

• The Arc of Essex County Stepping Stones School on a delayed opening. Select locations of the adult day programs are open, but without transportation. Get more details here.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

"You never know when you're going to go home," Eugene Vic said, who showed up for his first shift at 11:30 p.m. Monday night before the snowstorm

NEWARK -- Hours before the first snowflake fell in New Jersey, city workers clocked in at the Department of Public Works building on Frelinghuysen Avenue.

"You never know when you're going to go home," said Eugene Vic, who showed for his first shift at 11:30 p.m. on Monday night. 

Vic, who's worked for the city for 17 years, opened a bag on the plow's bench seat, and said, "I got my water. I got my lunch. I got my toothbrush. I got everything." 

Seventy-one plows -- 90 percent of which were private companies contracted by the city -- were sent out early Tuesday morning to salt the roads ahead of the storm, according to Ronald Snead, a supervisor with the DPW. 

By 9 a.m., Lucious Jones said from the cabin of a front-end load in the South Ward, he had already loaded up at least 100 trucks with salt. The city had just stocked up on salt and had five tons available to crews, spread across three facilities in the South, West and North wards.  

"I guess they learned their lessons from last year," Snead said. "We have a lot more employees on the schedule."

Newark officials came under fire last year when a record-setting blizzard crippled the city for days as the budget-strapped sanitation department struggled to clear the roads of more than two feet of snow.

This year, the department was better funded, according to Snead, and Tuesday was all-hands-on-deck to make sure history didn't repeat.

"I started making calls to private vendors on Sunday," the supervisor said inside the make-shift snow command center in the public works garage Tuesday morning. 

Bundled-up workers walked in and out of the conference room, clocking in and out as shifts ended, others started and some continued. 

It was 7:30 a.m. It was sleeting in Newark, and there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground.

Vic had just parked his plow on Miller Street and walked into the facility. He was about to start his second shift in the South Ward clearing streets. His third shift would start at 4:30 p.m.

Snead was offering chicken noodle soup from a crockpot that his wife had made.

"We know we're going to be here for awhile, so we try to keep the guys feed," he said.

Tony Hughes sat at a folding table, waiting for calls from residents and monitoring the dozens of plows throughout the city on a monitor that stretched at least 70 inches. 

"Here, we have eyes on all the road," Hughes said as he scrolled through the city's traffic cameras. 

Scrawled on a whiteboard, was the name of each company or driver, separated into columns by neighborhood.

Hughes said supervisors will direct trucks to streets that haven't been plowed or if they received complaints from residents.

"Unlike a lot of other municipalities, we clean the streets all through the storm," Snead said. "But the big push comes when it stops and you leave when it's done."

Vic said he didn't expect to go home anytime soon. 

"I told my wife last night, 'I probably won't see you until Thursday,'" he said. 

By about 4 p.m., city workers had plowed more than 6,000 miles of road to clear the 10 inches that fell in Newark. During a press conference streamed by News12 Tuesday afternoon, Baraka said workers were continuing to work around the clock.

"Everybody is working together out here to make sure the streets are clear and the community is safe," Baraka said. "We have not stopped and we will continue to do so on a 24-hour basis all the way until the snow is completely gone out of this area."

Baraka said workers were salting the streets and plowing secondary and tertiary roads. He said no emergency calls were made during the storm. 

"Hopefully after the snow has stopped, 48 hours after that we should have the entire city ready to go," he said. Rain and freezing conditions were prompting crews to continue salting the streets, Baraka said, adding that city workers this year were doing a "great job."

Reporter Karen Yi contributed to this report.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

The governor announced the emergency declaration 5 p.m. Monday in anticipation of the nor'easter

TRENTON -- With the late-season storm that had paralyzed much of New Jersey on Tuesday now over, Gov. Chris Christie announced he was lifting the state of emergency designation at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

He also said state offices will reopen at their regular time Wednesday morning.

As of noon, the late-winter nor'easter had dropped heavy snow in North Jersey, sleet and snow in Central Jersey and heavy rain in South Jersey.

The governor announced the emergency declaration 5 p.m. Monday in anticipation of the nor'easter that was expected to arrive after midnight. He also closed all non-essential state offices.

Christie noted the storm was not as strong as meteorologists predicted, but advised residents to stay off the roads because the roads remained slippery.

Was N.J. blizzard forecast a bust? The experts weigh in

"For Tuesday today, stay off the road," the governor told reporters during a late-afternoon briefing Tuesday at state Department of Transportation's Bedminster Yard. "Tomorrow, we should be ready to deal with the normal rush hour traffic."

Declaring a state of emergency allows the state qualify for federal financial assistance should a storm cause costly damages. It also gives the state Office of Emergency Management the authority to close roads and make other decisions to protect public safety.

The storm, fueled by large amounts of moisture flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico, started moving into South Jersey at about 10 p.m. Monday and began dropping snow in central and northern counties a few hours before sunrise Tuesday.

Staff Writer Lenny Melisurgo contributed to this report. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Authorities arrested the man during a snowstorm Tuesday.

NEWARK -- While most of the city was digging out from Tuesday's snowstorm, one resident was being arrested for his alleged role in a scuffle two weeks ago that authorities said ended with him pointing a gun at a store clerk.

Pollard. (Courtesy Newark police)
 

Newark police allege 27-year-old Khalil Pollard, of Newark, was shopping at the 24 Supermarket on Central Avenue at about 10 p.m. on Feb. 23 when a supermarket employee confronted him about not paying for the items he had picked up.

Their back-and-forth allegedly ended with Pollard pulling a gun on the clerk, then running from the store, police said.

After identifying Pollard as a suspect in the incident, police say they arrested him Tuesday on aggravated assault and weapons charges. Though police have not yet commented specifically about how the storm impacted the arrest, they did say Pollard was taken into custody without incident.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Don't go to the airports after the snowstorm unless you have a confirmed flight, Port Authority officials said.

NEWARK -- The storm may be moving out, but the problems may be just beginning at Newark Liberty International and other area airports, officials said.

More than 3,000 flights were cancelled at Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport as the snowstorm slammed the region Tuesday with snow, sleet and rain.

Travelers should expect "significant vehicular traffic" at the airports on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as they try to get on rescheduled flights, said officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that oversees the airports.

Passengers should not attempt to go to the airport unless they have called their airline and rebooked their canceled flight, officials said.

Was the forecast a bust? Experts weigh in

"Many flights on Wednesday are already fully booked, and prior to traveling to the airport, passengers are urged to call their airlines. Travelers without confirmed flights should not come to LaGuardia, Kennedy or Newark Liberty airports," Port Authority officials said in a statement.

Traffic is expected to be especially difficult at LaGuardia, where construction has caused severe problems on airport roadways in recent weeks. Airport traffic conditions are being regularly updated by airport officials on Facebook, on Twitter at @LGAairport and at LaGuardiaAirport.com.

Port Authority officials urged travelers to try to use mass transit to get to the area airports.

With today's storm winding down, Delta Flight 499 to Minneapolis just left @JFKairport #JFK as regional flight activity resumes. pic.twitter.com/m7rs0JFGYC

-- Port Authority NY&NJ (@PANYNJ) March 14, 2017

Nearly 6,000 U.S. flights were canceled Tuesday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Newark Liberty had the most cancelations in the nation, with more than 1,000 flights canceled on Tuesday alone.

As of 6 p.m., about 88 incoming flights and 73 incoming flights scheduled for Wednesday were canceled, according to FlightAware. However, more than 80 percent of the day's flights remain on the schedule for Wednesday.

Newark Liberty began getting back on track late Tuesday afternoon when Delta Flight 1724 arrived from Salt Lake City and landed on the newly-plowed runway, Port Authority officials said.

Princeton claimed the top spot in three categories and Rutgers cracked the top 10 on one list. Find out where other colleges ranked.

Barnes and Noble Rutgers opened a 10,000 square-foot store in the Hahne & Co. building on Halsey Street.

NEWARK -- The city's first major bookstore in decades has officially debuted in the heart of downtown Newark. 

The Barnes and Noble Rutgers bookstore opened last month inside the rebuilt Hahne & Co. building on Halsey Street. The roughly 10,000 square-foot store boasts two floors with seating areas, desks and work lounges open to the community.

"We have a stake and intrinsically are linked to the cities that we're in," said Arcelio Aponte, vice chancellor for administration and CFO for Rutgers-Newark. "There has not been a full-service quality bookstore open in downtown Newark in over 30 years." 

Aponte said the bookstore was moved from its location on the Rutgers-Newark campus because it was not visible to the community. 

"We took our resource and decided to make it a community resource," he said. "Let's put it on the street, let's make it accessible to the community so the community feels part of it."

Whole Foods opens in Hahne's building

The move is part of the university's larger push to be an anchor in its home city. Inside the bookstore that message is clear with the words "In Newark, of Newark" emblazoned on the red walls. Throughout the store, images of the city pepper the walls. 

In addition to textbooks, the store sells children's books, trade books, best sellers, snacks, office supplies and of course, Rutgers-branded merchandise. Of the bookstore's 16 employees, seven are Newark residents, according to the store manager. 

The bookstore is open on weekends and until 9 p.m. on weeknights. 

Above the Barnes and Noble, Rutgers opened a 50,000 square-foot studio arts space, with galleries and classrooms called Express Newark. The space will be used as an arts incubator and houses a 3D print shop, a portrait studio and the Institute of Jazz Studies.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

Who from New Jersey is playing in the NCAA Tournament?

The St. Barnabas Medical Center ski team also took part, competing in scrubs.

By George Hunter | For The Jersey Journal

Jersey City firefighters and officers hosted the New Jersey Firefighters 30th annual Ski Race last month to raise funds for the Burn Center at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.

The event took place at Mountain Creek Resort in Vernon Township on Feb. 17.

In all, 26 fire department ski teams registered to compete at the South Peak of the resort on the Bear Creek "Kamikaze" Trail.

Birchwood Fire Company No. 4 of Rockaway came in first place with a time of 24.71, followed by the Pompton Lakes Volunteer Fire Department of Passaic County with a time of 24.76 and the Clifton Fire Department with a time of 27.14.

The Vernon Township Fire Department, located down the road from Mountain Creek, got off to a bad start, losing a team member who fell then several others along the way. They were able to finish the race but their slow time put them out of contention.

The St. Barnabas Medical Center ski team also took part, competing in scrubs. They finished in the top tier with a respectable time of 32.51.

The Paterson Fire Department fielded two teams that did not win but finished in the top tier.

This year's firefighters race was extra special for the "Silk City's" Bravest. On Dec. 10, three Paterson firefighters suffered burns while battling a fire at a three-story residential building on East 18th Street.

The firefighters were treated at the Burn Center at St. Barnabas.

Capt. Frank Liscio and Firefighters Daniel Alcala and Brian Hirschmanner suffered burns. Alcala was treated and released the following day.

Hirschmanner and Liscio have since been released but are still in the Burn Center's care, Battalion Chief Michael D'Arco said.

None of the building's tenants suffered any injuries, according to authorities.

Ironically, the host team didn't finish as the Jersey City firefighters had a disqualifying crash at the finish line.

Police initially pulled the men over for running a red light, they said.

Dunn. (Courtesy Newark Police)
 

NEWARK -- Authorities have arrested a man who they say tried to rob another at knifepoint while the two were driving in Newark during Tuesday's snowstorm.

Police say they pulled over an SUV at about 1 p.m. Tuesday after seeing it run a red light on Elizabeth Avenue.

Inside the car, police say they found the passenger, 45-year-old Mark Dunn, trying to rob the driver, a 64-year-old Hillside man, at knifepoint.

Authorities arrested Dunn on aggravated assault, robbery, and weapons possession charges. The Hillside man was treated for minor cuts to his hands, police said.

Authorities said they are still investigating whether or not the two men knew each other prior to the incident, and why Dunn was in the man's car.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Officials say the city saw two separate homicides, one over the weekend and one on Monday.

NEWARK -- Authorities are investigating two recent homicides in Newark.

One person was killed over the weekend near the intersection of Rose and Bergen streets, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

Another person was killed in a separate incident Monday, she said.

Information about those who were killed, and additional details of both deaths were not immediately available.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Which women from New Jersey are playing in the 2017 NCAA Tournament?

The Newark Public Library hired Jeffrey Trzeciak as its new director. He will oversee the main library and its seven branches.

NEWARK -- The city's public library has a new leader and he's eager to widen the library's reach in the community -- starting with a new coffee shop. 

"I really see the library as a hub," said Jeffrey Trzeciak, 50, who was appointed director of the Newark Public Library last month. "In some ways drawing people in but also connecting us and providing the glue that brings together all these organizations."

Trzeciak will oversee the main library and its seven branches. He hopes to expand services to the city's growing Latino community and enhance children's services by hiring a children's librarian in every branch. There are also plans to bring a coffee shop to the first floor of the main library. 

Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Trzeciak previously worked as the university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. He and his husband bought a house and moved to Newark last month.

Jeffrey Trzeciak - Director, Newark Public Library (Cryrolfe Photography)Karen Yi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 

Trzeciak said he wants to promote diversity in the profession and diversity in its resources, make collections more accessible and strengthening relationships with the city's cultural institutions. 

"Newark has a long history of musical success," Trzeciak said, saying he was drawn to the city library's "long history of innovation" that started with its longtime leader, the late John Cotton Dana.

He cited the library's exhibits on World War II, African American art, the James Brown African American reading room, the Philip Roth library collection and its computer services that help more than 1,000 people a week apply for jobs.  

The library also boasts the state's only Sala Hispanoamericana, or Latin American reading room and received a $1 million donation from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to digitize its collection. 

"We are a city library, supporting the city of Newark but we are actively in the region and the state," Trzeciak said. He said the library also serves as a federal depository for federal documents. "Our reach extends beyond the city, it's really statewide and beyond."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

A look at some of the things people put in the street to save their shoveled out parking spaces.

If you live in an urban area and have on-street parking, freeing your car from its snow and ice prison can be a daunting task after a winter storm.

First, you have to trudge into the street and in the path of oncoming vehicles - including large SUVs that can't possibly veer an inch off course even zipping down a skinny, snowy street.

This is while you chip away at the ice, pick up heavy loads of snow, look for a place to dump it while fighting off thoughts of news reports about how many people die each year exerting themselves shoveling snow.

Then, hours later, you've finally created enough of a channel to get your vehicle out, thanks to a lot of wheel spinning, car rocking and maybe even a push from your neighbor.

Trenton tows over 100 cars ahead of snowstorm

Now when you return only a short time later from your trip to Dunkin' Donuts, is it too much to ask that your spot, still warm from engine heat, is there for you?

Why take that chance? The stakes are too high.

Sure you trust most of your neighbors, but not all of them.

So, you spend a minute to toss an old chair or recycling bucket into the space. That will let them know you mean business.

If, on a regular day, fences make good neighbors, on snow days, a chair or two placed in your cleared-out parking space may just help prevent anarchy in the cities.

So far, we have seen:

- several types of chairs

- a milk crate

- traffic cones

- luggage

- garbage bags

In the comments below, share your photos and ideas of the creative items you've used - or seen - to save your urban parking spot.

Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @michaelmancuso Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook

Basim Henry, 36, of South Orange, is charged with murder, felony murder, carjacking and other offenses in slaying of Dustin Friedland, 30, at The Mall at Short Hills.

NEWARK -- As Jamie Schare Friedland waited for her 30-year-old husband Dustin in her father-in-law's Range Rover just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2013, she thought the muffled talking she heard outside the vehicle was just her husband making friends with someone, she told an Essex County jury on Wednesday.

Instead, she turned around to see her husband struggling with two men inside the parking deck at The Mall at Short Hills in Millburn.

The man on the passenger's side of the car was shorter, the one on the driver's side taller, she said.

"I saw the taller man who was beside the driver's side door -- I saw him put the gun to Dustin's head," Friedland said, making the sound of gunshots and the SUV's glass breaking.

After the taller of the two men leaned in and ordered her out of the Range Rover, they sped off with the vehicle, she said.

"I knew, I just knew when I turned around what I was going to see," Friedland said, choking back tears. "I saw Dustin lying in a pool of blood."

Jamie Friedland's testimony was the first presented Wednesday following opening arguments in the trial of Basim Henry, one of four men charged in the carjacking and the murder of her husband, before Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin.

Henry, 36, of South Orange, is charged with murder, felony murder, carjacking, conspiracy and weapons offenses.

Friedland said the couple, who lived in Hoboken, had gone to the mall that night to buy her a new laptop and cellphone from the Apple store, and had dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary and a new condominium they'd purchased.

Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata showed her an enlarged photo from one of the mall's surveillance cameras and asked her what it depicted. "Us, walking through the mall, holding hands," she said, smiling sadly.

But later the same night that image was captured, Friedland found herself beside her bleeding husband, his eyes following her as he gasped for air, she testified.

"I leaned down ... on the floor, covered in his blood and he was covered in his blood," she said. "I'm screaming, 'Stay with me, stay with me."

Friedland said emergency personnel separated her from her husband after they arrived on scene. He was later pronounced dead at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Henry, who has a prior robbery conviction and was on probation at the time of Dustin Friedland's slaying, was arrested less than a week after the carjacking by a federal fugitive task force in Easton, Pa.

He was later indicted in September 2014, along with Karif Ford, Kevin Roberts and Hanif Thompson. Thompson was identified as the man who shot Friedland, according to Assistant Prosecutor Brian C. Matthews, who is trying the case with Amirata.

Roberts, Ford and Thompson will be tried separately, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

In the state's opening arguments, Matthews told the jury that while Henry -- the alleged getaway driver -- wasn't the one who pulled the trigger or physically took control of the Range Rover, he was guilty of the murder, carjacking and weapons charges as an accomplice and participant in the conspiracy.

After Henry's capture in Pennsylvania, Matthews said, he gave a statement to investigators largely admitting his involvement in the crime.

"What corroborates his statement are the four phones taken from the four individuals who went to the Short Hills mall ... to steal a Range Rover," he said, explaining the phones' location data put all four men at the place authorities say they hid the SUV.

Location data for two of the phones, he said, also put their owners at the mall at the time of the carjacking.

What you need to know about the trial

Henry's attorney, Michael Rubas, acknowledged in his opening arguments that Jamie Friedland's testimony would be "gutwrenching," but they hadn't gathered in the courtroom "to let emotions get the best of us."

What Matthews had told them were arguments, not facts, Rubas said.

"I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, the facts are going to show something different," he said.

Rubas declined to cross-examine Friedland. As she left the courtroom with family, she could be heard sobbing in the courthouse hallway.

Friedland is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the mall's owners, who her lawyer has alleged could have prevented Dustin Friedland's death with better security practices.

Surveillance footage obtained by Jamie Friedland's lawyer, Bruce Nagel, allegedly shows the suspects' SUV stalking another Range Rover in the mall's parking lots just days before the fatal carjacking, and later racing out of the parking structure the night of the shooting.

The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The 17-year-old boy and 62-year-old woman were killed in separate shootings, authorities said.

NEWARK -- Authorities have identified the two people shot and killed in separate slayings in the city over the past two days, while revealing few other details about their deaths.

A 17-year-old boy, Raquan Boundurant, of Irvington, was shot and killed Sunday near the intersection of Rose and Bergen Streets, Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, confirmed Wednesday.

Monday, a 62-year-old Maplewood woman, Deborah Burton, was shot and killed on 3rd Street, Carter said.

Additional details about what time the shootings occurred or what may have prompted them was not immediately available.

The prosecutor's office is investigating both shooting deaths. Authorities have not identified suspects in either shooting, or released any other details about their investigations.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

As New Jersey thaws out and mops up from Tuesday's snowstorm and rain, the following schools have closures or delayed openings.

As the state continues to dig out and thaw from the snow, sleet and ice from Tuesday's snowstorm, several schools around the state will close or have delayed openings Thursday.

ESSEX COUNTY

• Newark Public Schools - 2-hour delay
• University Heights Charter School - 2-hour delay

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

• East Brunswick Schools - 2-hour delay

MONMOUTH COUNTY 

• Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Schools - 90-minute delay

How did the nor'easter compare?

PASSAIC COUNTY

• Paterson Public Schools - closed
• Passaic County Technical Institute - closed
• Passaic Public Schools - 90-minute delay
• West Milford Schools - 90-minute delay

SOMERSET COUNTY

• Bridgewater-Raritan Schools - 2-hour delay
• Watchung Borough - 2-hour delay
• Watchung Hills Regional - 2-hour delay

SUSSEX COUNTY

• Vernon Township Schools - 2-hour delay
• Northern Hills Academy - 90-minute delay

WARREN COUNTY

• Belvidere School District - Delayed opening
• Greenwich Township School District - 90-minute delay
• Hackettstown School District -- 90-minute delay
• Harmony Township School - 2-hour delay
• Hope Township School - 2-hour delay, regular dismissal
• Mansfield Township Elementary School - 2-hour delay
• Phillipsburg School District - 2-hour delay
• Pohatcong Township School District - 2-hour delay
• Warren County Technical School - 2-hour delay
• Warren Hills Regional School District - 2-hour delay
• Washington Borough Schools - 2-hour delay
• Washington Township School District/Brass Castle and Port Colden - 90-minute delay. Before-care opens at 7 a.m.
• White Township School District (Brass Castle, Port Colden elementary schools) - 90-minute delay. Child care opens 7 a.m. at Brass Castle Elementary School.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The shooting occurred around 11 a.m., during a viewing for a 22-year-old East Orange man found dead with a gunshot wound after his car crashed in Newark last week

NEWARK -- Police are investigating a shooting outside a Newark funeral home Wednesday morning while a viewing was being held for a 22-year-old East Orange man found dead with a gunshot wound in Newark last week.

Newark Police are investigating a shooting Wednesday morning outside Cotton Funeral ServiceGoogle

Tyshone Overstreet, 21, of Irvington, was arrested in the 11 a.m. shooting outside the Cotton Funeral Service home on Bergen Street.

No one was hurt, and Overstreet was charged with possession of a handgun, police said.

The viewing was for Navis Treadwell, 22, of East Orange, who authorities said was found dead in his car at 6:45 p.m. on March 6, after it crashed on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark. Treadwell had been shot, authorities said.

Newark police said it was uncertain whether the shots fired Wednesday were related to Treadwell's viewing or to a group of men who were outside arguing across the street from the funeral home.

A person who answered the phone at the funeral home on Wednesday declined to comment.

Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the department's anonymous tip line at 877-695-8477 or 877-695-4867.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A federal appeals court blocked the deportation of an Afghan man who received a special visa to the U.S. for helping the U.S. military abroad.

NEWARK -- A federal appeals court late Wednesday temporarily blocked the imminent deportation of an Afghan national who arrived in Newark Monday on a special visa reserved for those who risk their lives to protect America troops abroad.

The Afghan immigrant, who lawyers declined to name, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Newark International Airport and held for more than 28 hours, court records allege. He was scheduled to be deported at 7 p.m. but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay of removal allowing the man to stay after U.S. District Court Judge Jose L. Linares rejected a plea to stop his deportation.

Linares said he had no jurisdiction because the man no longer held a valid visa. 

Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director with ACLU-NJ, which is representing the Afghan immigrant, said the man was "coerced" into signing a voluntary removal order that waived his right to enter the U.S. 

Jaime Ruiz, a CBP spokesman said the agency could not comment on pending litigation or divulge records of international travelers. But he said border officials have the discretion to vet travelers even if they have a visa. 

"A special visa is not necessarily a free pass or a guarantee that you'll be allowed entry to the U.S.," he said. "Coming to the U.S. with a visa allows you to knock on the door."

The 25-year-old Afghan man is being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center, LoCicero said. He has no family in the U.S.

"We're relieved that our client can remain in this country and that his life won't be at risk. His detention was arbitrary," she told NJ Advance Media. "The executive branch cannot promise people safe travel to the United States only to rip it away without due process."

The man was scrutinized by both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to obtain his visa, LoCicero said. 

She said he worked with the U.S. military since 2012 and lived on a military base in Kabul. He received a "special immigrant visa" in December reserved for Afghans and Iraqis who are no longer safe in their countries because they aided the U.S. government in its missions abroad. 

CBP said the Afghan man told officers he "had no fear of returning to Afghanistan" and voluntarily withdrew his application to enter the country, court filings show. 

The man was headed to Akron, Ohio when he was detained by border officials at Newark airport around 7:20 p.m. on Monday, according to court records filed by the International Refugee Assistance Project, a group advocating for the man's release. It's not clear why he was stopped. 

Ruiz said 1.2 million people enter the country every day and of those, about 200-300 are refused entry. At the airports, border officials can flag travelers for "secondary inspections" or more extensive questioning to determine if a person is deemed inadmissible to the country under the law, he said. 

"It could be something in your paperwork, it could be an overstay ... it could be just the officer's intuition, it could be a random check," Ruiz said. "This is a standard operation procedure for years, this is not because of a new administration."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

Roads become intrinsic parts of our lives.

So much has been written about New Jersey's "strange" or "mysterious" roads -- like Shades of Death Road in Warren County -- that the topic is getting pretty much worn out. Besides, it's not the "odd roads" that are special to New Jersey, it's the regular ones that become an intrinsic part of our lives.

I was driving on Route 22 the other day -- I live not far from it -- and got to thinking about how much time I've spent on this particular highway in the last 25 years; I've probably left four entire tires on it in wear. In my youth, it was Route 47 (Delsea Drive); we lived perhaps 200 yards from the roadway and I came in contact with it at least three or four times a day.

There are plenty of roads -- aside from the streets we live on -- that become part of our personal histories.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

Whether it's the Garden State Parkway and the exit that delivered you to the shore or the highways that you took you to malls for holiday shopping. Route 80, Route 195, Route 73, Route 40, all leading to bridges to go exploring in other states, then bringing you back home.

Delsea Drive and its tar strips -- ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Sure do miss them.Courtesy of Scott Solazzo 

I'm sure many of us have the memory of being out with family for a long day and knowing you were almost home when a certain road was reached. For me, it was the rhythmic bumps of the tar strips on Route 47, Delsea Drive; they felt like "almost home."

Here's a gallery of highways and local roads, interstates and main streets throughout New Jersey; I'm confident there will be one that will "bring you home." Make sure captions are enabled for each photo's information. And click here and here for previous galleries of streets and roads.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.