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N.J. snowfall totals: Which towns have the most snow so far?

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Early snowfall totals reported across New Jersey, as the second major coastal storm in March 2018 pesters the state.


Desperate drivers rescued by snowmobiles after hours trapped on N.J. highway

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Stranded drivers taken to warming center after being rescued from snowy highway.

Crews using snowmobiles were deployed to rescue drivers who were stranded on a snowy North Jersey highway for at least five hours after Wednesday's powerful winter storm.

Members of the state's specialized Urban Search and Rescue team were using snowmobiles to reach stranded motorists on Route 280 early Thursday, according to State Police spokesman Trooper Alejandro Goez. The rescued motorists were taken to a warming center while crews worked to clear the highway.

The traffic nightmare unfolded on Route 280 in Essex County and Route 78 as dozens of vehicles became stuck on the busy thoroughfares for at least five hours, according to accounts from people jammed on the highways.

A disabled tractor trailer on I-78 westbound, near Exit 50, snarled a portion of the highway for more than four hours. That incident, which also involved a hazardous materials spill, was cleared hours later, according to the state Department of Transportation.

"Been stuck on 78 westbound near Berkeley Heights for hours now, not moving. Everyone has their cars off. Zero movement," Twitter user Derek Mindler posted.

"People are walking up and down the road trying to see what's going on. Starting their cars for a few mins for warmth," another Twitter post said.

Mindler said traffic started moving again shortly before midnight on Route 78 west.

The jack-knifed tractor trailer was among two trucks that were disabled on a portion of the highway between about 6:20 and 6:30 p.m. near Springfield and Berkeley Heights, according to State Police and traffic maps.

Similar reports surfaced on Route 280 late Wednesday, where authorities responded to multiple disabled vehicles on the eastbound lanes.

"Dozens of cars including myself stuck on 280 east In west orange by prospect ave," a twitter post from user BriSilverman said.

Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Schapiro said the agency was working with State Police and the Office of Emergency Management to help disabled motorists and clear roadways.

Officials could not immediately provide a total number of cars stuck on either highway.

"North Jersey received a tremendous amount of snow in a very short period of time and disabled vehicles and tractor-trailers quickly prevented plows from keeping up with the storm on many routes. Additionally, there have been dozens of downed trees and downed wires blocking routes," Schapiro said in an email Wednesday night. 

"NJDOT has moved plow teams from Central Jersey to North Jersey to assist, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority has provided resources to help clear I-280, I-78, and Route 24," the spokesman added. "Additional contractor loaders are also being brought in to assist. Crews will be working throughout the night and will continue until all roads are clear."

Vintage photos of things you may have forgotten about

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"Children will always be blissfully unaware of the lives their parents or grandparents lived before them."

On a typical day in the 1970s, a guy like me might put on my Earth Shoes and drive an El Camino to school, opening the vent window on the way.

I may have listened to a teacher discuss the Jonathan Livingston Seagull novel and then climbed a rack of thick wooden dowels in gym class. Members of the A/V club might have wheeled a projector into a classroom for a film presentation.

After school, I might work on a term paper on an electric typewriter, keeping a bottle of Wite-Out correction fluid ready to employ.

I might listen to music on a boom box, or decide what to watch on TV after consulting TV guide. Naturally, I would change the channel by turning the knob on the set and I would hope the picture was decent after adjusting the vertical hold.

a65ada6bb37146db2a52eac35ef7ab22.jpgYou know what this was used for, right? 

As much as this might sound like someone speaking a foreign language to millennials, all of this was part of daily life not terribly long ago.

Many of the items in this gallery were technical wonders of their day ... and seem almost funny today. An article on vox.com notes that "It's easy to argue that generations of people no longer exist in neat baby-boomer time periods. Instead of years, we should label generations by the dominant technology they use. Children will always be blissfully unaware of the lives their parents or grandparents lived before them."

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

Which is why collections like this one are both entertaining ... and educational.

Here's a gallery of things you may have forgotten about, or put a great deal of effort into intentionally forgetting about. And here are links to some other galleries you might enjoy.

Vintage photos of things that have changed - for better or worse

Vintage photos of how things have changed in N.J.

Vintage photos of New Jerseyans engaged in 'dicey' activities

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

Girls basketball: Previews & predictions for all the Group semifinals

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Check out who NJ.com is picking in the group semifinals.

Boys basketball: Previews, predictions for all the Group semifinals

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Everything you need to know heading into the Group semifinals.

NJ.com girls basketball Top 20, March 8: State tournament upsets shake up rankings

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See the latest girls basketball Top 20.

'Sopranos' prequel movie 'The Many Saints of Newark' in the works

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Series creator David Chase wrote the screenplay for the film, which is set in the era of the Newark riots. Watch video

If you did not stop believing, here, at long last, is your reward.

A long-rumored "Sopranos" prequel has been given the green light, Deadline reports. 

"The Many Saints of Newark," a screenplay from "Sopranos" creator David Chase, has been picked up by New Line Cinema, the report says. The story is reportedly set in 1960s Newark, around the time of the Newark riots. 

Chase, who grew up in Clifton and North Caldwell, co-wrote the script with "Sopranos" collaborator Lawrence Konner.

Talk of a prequel has been in the air since not long after the HBO series, which premiered in 1999, ended with an abrupt cut to black in 2007. Though series star James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano, died in 2013, the report says some "Sopranos" regulars will show up in the film.

In 2014, Chase, now 72, spoke to the Associated Press about a potential prequel. 

"Even if I did it, it wouldn't be 'The Sopranos' that was on the air -- obviously at least one person is gone that we would need," he said, referring to Gandolfini. "There are a couple of eras that would be interesting for me to talk about, about Newark, New Jersey. One would be (the) late '60s, early '70s, about all the racial animosity, or the beginning, the really true beginning of the flood of drugs."

"The Sopranos" was largely set in northern New Jersey and often filmed there. The state's streets, businesses and highways functioned as familiar signposts in the acclaimed drama. In addition to Chase, series stars including Gandolfini, who grew up in Park Ridge, often had local ties. 

Chase, who will serve as a producer on the film and will help pick a director, has often said that he based Tony Soprano's fraught relationship with his mother, Livia Soprano, on his relationship with his own mother.

It remains to be seen who from the Soprano family will show up in the prequel (presumably played by much younger actors). The actress who played Livia, Nancy Marchand, died in 2000, early in the show's run. Junior Soprano, Tony's uncle, was played by Dominic Chianese, who is now 87.

Tony's father, Giovanni Francis "Johnny Boy" Soprano, died before the series began and was occasionally depicted in flashbacks. In the flashbacks (see clip below), which were already partially set during the Newark riots, Bobby Boriello played a young Tony, Laurie Williams played young Livia, Joseph Siravo played Johnny Boy and Juliet Fox played young Janice Soprano, Tony's sister. (Aida Turturro played her as an adult.)

Caution: Clip contains explicit language and violence

On Twitter, "Sopranos" fans reacted to the news, with some elated, making guesses as to which characters might be included, and others of the opinion that a good thing should be left well enough alone. Some said they had mixed feelings about a "Sopranos" story that would not feature Gandolfini.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

 

Stranded and scared: A night marooned on N.J. interstates

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A couple of wrecked tractor trailers on Route 78 were all it took to freeze traffic for hours. It got so bad on Route 280 that police resorted to snowmobiles to rescue stranded drivers. Watch video

As the nor'easter intensified shortly after noon Wednesday, Darral Connor's company told employees to hit the road in the hopes they would avoid the worst of the storm.

Connor didn't get very far. Just 15 minutes into his drive, the blinding snow prevented Connor from seeing the sides of Route 280 in West Orange. He skidded into a ditch and got stranded.

For 10 hours.

Connor, 33, soon had plenty of company. Similar plights played out on routes 287, 78 and 280 as bands of heavy snowfall swept through North Jersey, causing hundreds of crashes.

A couple of wrecked tractor trailers on Route 78 were all it took to freeze traffic for hours. It got so bad on Route 280 that the State Police resorted to snowmobiles to rescue stranded drivers and ferry them off the highway to get warm.

N.J. school closings, delayed openings Friday, March 9

Connor said he didn't want to risk leaving his car and having it towed. Instead, he waited. And waited.

"I was a little angry, I guess, but I had to understand what was going on with the situation," said Connor, of Jersey City. "I kind of accepted the fact that nothing was going to happen at that moment and I just had to sit there and wait."

Finally, a tow truck pulled his car from the ditch around midnight. By then his battery was dead and the tow truck provided a jump.

Stuck on Rt 280 this was at 1:30pm

A post shared by Rell (@freshairhdrell) on

The damage report from the State Police on Thursday was staggering. Troopers responded to 530 crashes and helped 1,017 motorists with spin outs, flat tires and other breakdowns. And that's just on the major highways and some local towns patrolled by the State Police.

Those totals don't include folks like Brian Silverman. He was headed home to Jersey City when his 2017 Volkswagen Passat could no longer handled the fast-accumulating snow on Route 280 east.

He was stranded for nine hours.

"Never seen it accumulate so fast," Silverman said Thursday. "I was alone and concerned I would be stuck in the car overnight and run out of gas."

Drivers started to panic and things went from bad to worse.

"I was also very worried people were going to crash into me," Silverman said. "People were driving erratically to try and get their cars [unstuck from the snow]."

Around 11 p.m., a plow came by and cleared the snow and he was able to move again without spinning his tires or skidding, he said.

For Ken Foster and girlfriend Michelle Wei, New Jersey's highways should have just been another link in their trek for a five-day snowboarding trip in the Catskills. The drive from their Washington, D.C., home should have taken six hours.

Instead, they spent six hours stranded on Route 287 north near Morristown.

"All of a sudden, four miles south of Morristown, we hit a standstill," Foster said Thursday. "We just sat there. For six hours."

Luckily, their Honda Civic was packed for the long weekend with thermal gloves, thick socks, and supplies. But ultimately, the journey for Foster, 30, and Wei, 28,  went no father Wednesday night.

"We took turns sleeping in the car - one of us monitoring in case anything happened like if we moved or if the police or someone told us anything," Ken said. "We were definitely bored. The weirdest part was there was no information."

Anyone else stuck on I 287 N for hours know why? Can't find any info anywhere. Know I 287 S is shut down but no news of why this side. #NewJersey #Traffic

-- Michelle Wei (@mawei324) March 8, 2018

When traffic began inching forward about 2 a.m., police guided cars toward an opening in the median and to Route 287 south. They retreated and stayed a motel in Edison - the only place they could find for under $300 a night.

They were waiting on Thursday morning for the roads to clear before resuming their trek.

"We're hoping to spend at least two or three days in the Catskills at this point," Foster said.

At the very least, there should be plenty of snow.

ken-michelle.jpgTraffic came to halt for six hours Wednesday night on Route 287 North near Morristown, said Ken Foster and his girlfriend, Michelle Wei, snowboarders who took turns sleeping until the nightmare was over.  

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 
 

Essex County school closings, delayed openings Friday (March 9, 2018)

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Snow still covers parts of New Jersey following this week's winter storm.

While parts of New Jersey work to clean up roadways following Wednesday's winter storm, some school districts are playing it safe with delayed openings and closings for Friday as crews work to restore power.

The following Essex County schools are closed or have delayed openings for Friday, March 9:

CLOSED:

  • Caldwell University
  • Livingston Public Schools

DELAYED OPENING:

  • No announcements yet

If you know of any delays or closures not on this list, let us know in the comments.

Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

Forget bread and milk. The mad rush to find rotisserie chicken in N.J. is on.

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Nor'easters have always been the great equalizer: We all like to dig in before we dig out.

Before a snow storm, everyone loads up on what grocers call the Holy Trinity -- bread, eggs and milk.

But what we lob into our carts after we've pried that last loaf of Home Pride Wheat Bread from the cold, dead hands of a rival shopper varies greatly.

An informal supermarket survey covering a five-mile radius in Essex County in the 24 hours preceding Winter Storm Quinn proves that we all stress-eat, albeit differently.

At City Supermarket in Maplewood, which specializes in ethnic products from Central and South America Eastern Europe, its best sellers after eggs (43,000, to be precise), bread rolls and milk were snacks, some savory, some sweet.

City's customers raced to stock up on Russian tea cookies, Polish wafers and, of all things, seltzer water, said Juan Gualdarrma, but also on chili-lemon flavored tortillas, plantains and Wise Variety Pack chips.

Just a mile away in South Orange, a different scene was unfolding at a local Stop & Shop, where it was rotisserie chickens that flew out the door in fourth place behind bread, eggs and milk.

"It was incredible," said Joe Heiser, Stop & Shop's store manager, who marveled at selling 300 rotisserie chickens in just 24 hours on Wednesday. "But if you don't have power..."

If another winter storm threatens, Heiser said he isn't sure if distributors can keep up with demand.

Heiser says he has only two cases of chicken left to last him through the rest of the week, having run through 25 cases in the last 24 hours.

Given that PSEG's outage map shows more than 1,500 customers still without power in Newark Heights, Maplewood and South Orange, Heiser might be right to be concerned.

Meanwhile, just another mile down the road, at Kings in Maplewood, the top sellers -- after the usual trio of bread, eggs and milk -- were actually breakfast foods. The bacon sold out first. So did pancake mix, frozen waffles, sausages and hot chocolate mix.

"People have this fantasy," said Ed Greenwald, King's general manager, "of sitting in front of a fire, under a blanket with their kids, drinking hot cocoa."

Greenwald says that regardless of whether that happens, "it becomes a excuse to shop, driven by a combination of panic and the need for a sense of accomplishment."

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Michael B. Jordan: Inclusion rider will apply to all of my company's projects

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'In support of the women & men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company,' Jordan said, just days after Frances McDormand deployed the term in her Oscars acceptance speech.

When Michael B. Jordan isn't offering to pay for replacement retainers for teenagers who have clenched their teeth too hard during his shirtless "Black Panther" scene, he's working to make Hollywood more inclusive. 

At the Oscars on Sunday, Frances McDormand, who won an Academy Award for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," delivered a rousing acceptance speech that ended with the term "inclusion rider" (and a mic drop). Her mention of the term -- a practice that involves writing a requirement that a cast and crew be diverse into an actor's contract, or asking the same of the film's producers -- drew a wave of interest after the awards show. 

Jordan, 31, has pledged to apply the practice to all of the projects that come out of his production company, Outlier Society

"In support of the women & men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company Outlier Society," he posted on Instagram Wednesday. "I've been privileged to work with powerful woman (sic) & persons of color throughout my career & it's Outlier's mission to continue to create for talented individuals going forward."

McDormand, who asked all female nominees in every category to stand during her Oscars acceptance speech, has certainly done a lot in just a few days to popularize the idea of the rider, even without defining the term for the audience. But Stacy Smith, director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, is credited with introducing the term and helping actors work such agreements into their contracts alongside civil rights attorney Kalpana Kotagal

"It stipulates that in small and supporting roles, characters should reflect the world we live in," Smith told Vanity Fair after the Oscars. The requirement would also apply to "below the line" (non-acting, writing and directing) positions on a film's crew.

Jordan directed his followers to a link to the Inclusion Initiative in his Instagram bio. 

The actor, who grew up in Newark, plays villain Erik Killmonger in the Marvel movie "Black Panther" and will return as Adonis Johnson in "Creed II" this fall opposite Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Florian Munteanu. He started Outlier Society in 2016. 

Outlier Society productions currently include the upcoming "The Thomas Crown Affair" remake that will have Jordan starring the the lead role, the forthcoming Netflix series "Raising Dion," in which he will have a role, and a film adaptation of the YA novel "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" that will see Jordan in the director's chair for the first time. 

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

 

Newark group to challenge planning board decision for Wawa | Carter

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Is three votes enough to approve plans for a Wawa in Newark. A neighborhood group fighting the project doesn't think so and is challenging the planning board's decision.

A neighborhood block association fighting plans for a Wawa in Newark believes the city's Central Planning Board needed more than the three "yes'' votes it used to approve the project last fall.

The vote was 3-1, with four abstentions to allow a Wawa with 16 gas pumps and a convenience store to be built at McCarter Highway near Gouverneur and Clark streets.

The proposed project has these nearby residents worried about who might frequent an all-night convenience store without a security guard present. But the vote to approve has sparked a separate controversy.

"This is a hot mess,'' said Lisa Gray, president of the Broad Street Block Association. "It didn't pass. I don't care what they said."

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns

The group's attorney, Richard Schkolnick, laid out the reasoning about why the application should not have been approved in a letter to planning board Chairman Wayne Richardson.

According to state municipal land use laws, Schkolnick said, the planning board did not have a majority vote of its members to pass the measure. The board has nine members. Only eight were present.

"All actions shall be taken by a majority vote of the members of the municipal agency present at the meeting,'' the statute says. "Failure of a motion to receive the number of votes required to approve an application for development shall be deemed an action denying the application.''

Schkolnick believes the planning board needed five "yes" votes from the eight members present at the meeting to have a majority.

"I don't know how you get to three being a majority of those present,'' Schkolnick said.

He referred to Robert's Rules of Order, which considers abstentions to have the same effect as "no" votes if a majority of board members present is required.

However, the rules also state that abstentions are ordinarily counted and noted not as a "yes" or "no" vote, that abstentions do not affect the voting result.

Richardson, however, disagrees with Schkolnick. He said the agenda item was approved because the three members who voted in favor of the plan -- Richardson, Leon Purdie and Deon Mitchell -- represented the majority vote at the meeting.

The abstentions, he said, are counted with the majority vote of the board members. So, that would mean the application passed 7-1. The members who abstained were Miguel Rodriguez, Jacqueline Ceola, Marshall Cooper and Michael Lockett, all whom did not state why they abstained.

Michael Oliveira, attorney for the applicant, TonyMar LLC in Elizabeth, which owns the land on which Wawa plans to construct the project, said he was not at liberty to speak about whether the project passed.

Further complicating the 3-1-4 vote is that the planning board was supposed to take another vote on a "memorialization resolution" to make its Oct. 30 approval official.

Whether that has happened is in question. Schkolnick said the city's Office of the Boards has yet to send the tally sheet that shows the planning board memorialized its Oct. 30 vote.

"I'm not clear that they've done that yet,'' he said.

Another issue is that Gray and Schkolnick say the project is not a permitted use and should have been presented to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Schkolnick said the project needs a conditional use variance pertaining to the width of the driveways. Gray said it's also not a permitted use because the gas pumps are not allowed under the city's riverfront redevelopment zone, which is near this project.

"The store is fine,'' Gray said. "We would take the store without the gas pumps.''

Richardson, again, disagrees. He said the project is a permitted use and does not need a conditional use variance.

The project, located in the Lower Broadway neighborhood, is near a mix of similar commercial businesses.

MORE CARTER: Newark's My Brother's Keeper program is pipeline to opportunity | Carter

Aside from the vote, though, Gray said her organization has worked hard over the past 10 years to improve the quality of life in the area, which includes ridding the neighborhood of prostitution.

She believes an unsavory element would return, because the proposed 24-hour Wawa doesn't have security guards, which would attract loitering.

The issue, however, most likely will wind up in court.

Gray said the association plans to appeal the decision, but it can't do that until the memorialization resolution is voted on by the planning board.

"We know it didn't pass,'' Gray said. "We're just waiting for the opportunity to go to court to say it didn't pass.''

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or 

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL

NJ Transit trains to N.Y. delayed after person is hit on tracks

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Midtown Direct trains are being diverted to Hoboken

NJ Transit trains are delayed by up to an hour between Newark Penn Station and New York after an Amtrak train struck a person.

The person was hit at 6:11 a.m. by Amtrak train 89 near the Secaucus Junction station, Amtrak said.

Midtown Direct trains are being diverted to Hoboken. NJ Transit passengers can board PATH trains for no extra charge at Newark Penn, Hoboken and New York's 33rd Street station.

NJ Transit and private bus operators will also accept train tickets.

Service was suspended earlier before resuming with heavy delays at abut 7:15 a.m.

Amtrak train 89 left New York Penn Station at 6:05 a.m. en route to Savannah, Ga. It also plans to make New Jersey stops in Newark and Trenton.

None of the 135 passengers and crew aboard the train were hurt.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

 

Senior cat has special needs

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Henrietta has diabetes, which is regulated with insulin and can be easily administered.

ex0311pet.jpgHenrietta 

BELLEVILLE -- Henrietta is an approximately 10-year-old cat in the care of Dap's Animals.

Rescued as a stray in Newark, she has diabetes, which is regulated with insulin and can be easily administered.

Henrietta needs a home where she will be an only-pet; she is FIV/FeLV negative, spayed and up-to-date on shots.

For more information on Henrietta and other adoptable pets, call 973-902-4763 or email dapsanimals@gmail.com. Dap's Animals is a volunteer foster/rescue organization currently caring for 45 animals. For information on other animals adoptable through Dap's, go to petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=NJ694.

Shelters interested in placing a pet in the Paw Print adoption column or submitting news should call 973-836-4922 or email essex@starledger.com

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

Do you recognize these tattoos? Police need help IDing woman found in lake

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She was found floating in the lake at at Weequahic Park recently

The Essex County Prosecutor's office is hoping members of the public can help identify a woman found floating in a lake at Weequahic Park last Saturday.

Composite Sketch .jpgNew Jersey State Police sketch. 

Two joggers found the body floating in the water when they were running on a track at Weequahic Park in Newark shortly before 11 a.m. on March 3.

Investigators have been unable to identify her.

She is between 5 feet and 5-feet 5-inches tall and weighed about 100 to 120 pounds.

A sketch created by a New Jersey State Police artist features a set of star tattoos on her neck, as well as a distinctive tattoo of a purple flower with the name Tiara - which is on the upper right side of the  woman's chest.

While investigating the woman's discovery, police found a second body that day, a male, in another part of the lake, at about 3 p.m.

They have since identified him as Antoine Bennett, 24, of Newark.

Any with information that might be helpful in identify the woman is asked to contact Detective Wilfredo Perez at 973-985-9971 or to call the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Task Force tips line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

The investigations of the circumstances on how each died is ongoing.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on Facebook 

 

Boys basketball Championship Weekend: Previews, picks for every state final

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Everything you need to know heading into the state finals.

Girls basketball Championship Weekend: Previews, picks for all 6 state finals

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Who wins a state title this weekend? NJ.com takes a look at the finals.

Newark fought for this for 22 years. Why are some now walking away?

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Thirteen candidates are in the running for three open seats on the Newark School Board. It's the first time in 22 years the board will have final say in district decisions and not be overshadowed by the state.

Newark's public schools are finally back under local control, but three incumbent school board members who helped wrestle the reins from the state are not running in next month's elections. 

School Board Chairman Marques-Aquil Lewis and board member Dashay Carter announced their plans not to seek re-election to their seats. Board member Crystal Fonseca is switching lanes and running for East Ward Councilwoman in May's municipal elections.

That means it's an open field for the 13 candidates who are running for the three open spots on the School Board. And the stakes are higher than ever.

It'll be the first time in 22 years that the board will have the power to hire and fire its own schools superintendent

For more than two decades, the superintendent was state appointed and had veto power over board decisions. Last month, former Superintendent Christopher Cerf stepped down, paving the way for a national search to secure a new schools chief. The district is in the process of searching for a leader.

Lewis, the longest serving board member, said it was his decision to walk away -- he's served on the board since he was 21 years old. 

"After nine years of being on the board, I did everything in my power to get us back local control and I just believe that this is my time to make my exit," Lewis told NJ Advance Media. "I was able to open the door for other young people to be a part of the process. I believe it's time to pass the torch. I don't want to be like other folks who die in the seat."

Carter announced on Facebook last month her decision not to seek a second term.

Three of the candidates who are running to fill the seats are part of the renamed "Moving Newark Schools Forward," an alliance between Mayor Ras Baraka, North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos and charter school advocacy groups. 

The alliance, formerly known as the "Unity Slate" has swept board elections in the past two years. This year the ticket includes: Yambeli Gomez, an aide to At-Large Councilman Eddie Osborne; Asia J. Norton, a family engagement coordinator at Liberty Elementary School; and Dawn Haynes, PTO president at Harriet Tubman Elementary and city employee.

Lewis, Carter and Fonseca were supported by Baraka and part of the Children First Team in 2015. Fonseca is now running on a slate with Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, who is challenging Baraka for mayor.  

Among the other certified candidates: 

  • Marcus Allen
  • Denise Cole
  • Che' J. T. Colter
  • Khalil Hannah
  • Robert House
  • Jameel Ibrahim
  • Yolanda Johnson
  • Johnnie Lattner
  • Omayra Molina
  • Barbara Anne Todish

The School Board election will be held April 17. 

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

 

Felon gets 12-year prison deal for botched carjacking

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Police caught John Cottle, 47, after he shot a man after attempting to steal his vehicle in 2016.

An Essex County felon struck a deal with authorities Friday for more than a decade in prison over the shooting of a man during a failed carjacking in Hillside two years ago.

John Cottle, 47, pleaded guilty in Camden federal court to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of violation of supervised release for a previous felony, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a release Friday. 

John CottleJohn Cottle (Photo: Dept. of Public Safety) 

As part of the plea agreement, Cottle agreed to 12 years in prison, the maximum sentence for the charges, Carpenito said.

Police say in December 2016, Cottle surrendered in Hillside after an attempted carjacking where he got in a man's vehicle and ordered him to drive away.

Cottle then ordered the man out of the car and shot him near South 13th Street and Avon Avenue, according to authorities.

Cottle was carrying a handgun and the victim's belongings when he was detained, according to authorities.

Cottle was originally charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, carjacking, possession of marijuana, gun possession offenses and having a gun while being barred from having a weapon due to past convictions.

According to state corrections records, Cottle served prison time for death by auto from 1990 to 1998 and a separate robbery sentence from 1999 to 2007. Essex County jail records also show his arrest history included additional various weapons charges.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo.

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'Fix the power!' N.J. residents left in dark collectively complain

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Thousands of homes are still without power in New Jersey as power companies clean up after a pair of back-to-back nor'easters. Residents have used social media to vent.

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