With its his­tor­ic boathouses and mon­u­ment to Olym­pic gold med­al­ist John B. Kel­ly, the Schuylkill has been at the epi­cen­ter of Amer­i­can row­ing going back to the 19th cen­tu­ry. But when it comes to the realities of mod­ern racing many race or­gan­iz­ers now­a­days head across the Ben Frank­lin Bridge to the Coop­er River. The riv­er got its big break in 1993 when Lake On­on­da­ga in Up­state New York flooded, prompting or­gan­iz­ers of the In­ter­col­le­giate Row­ing Association cham­pi­on­ship to find an al­ter­nate race site. With­in two years, the Camden County riv­er had be­come the fixed site for what most con­sid­er col­lege row­ing’s most im­por­tant race.  http://bit.ly/KicvjW

The Freeholder Board will hold a dedication ceremony for the Camden County Veterans Cemetery at Harleigh on May 26 at 11 a.m.  Admiral William J. Fallon, Commander of U.S. Central Command from March 2007 to March 2008, will deliver the keynote address.  The Veterans Cemetery is located on Kaighn Avenue in Camden.

After a five-month hiatus for repairs, the 30-foot Virgin Mary statue was returned Tuesday to its home atop Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden. In a process that lasted six hours, the statue was hoisted in three parts to the hospital's highest point. The George Young company of Swedesboro took it down and restorers from Kreilick Conservation of Oreland repaired the cracks. http://bit.ly/HSPl1J

Retired four-star admiral and Merchantville native William J. Fallon delivered the keynote address on May 26th at the dedication of the Camden County Veterans Cemetery at Harleigh, an eight-acre section reserved to provide Camden County veterans with a place of honor and dignity. Established in 1885, Harleigh is currently the final resting place for hundreds of veterans, including more than 300 who served in the Civil War

Central School, which served students in Pennsauken for more than eight decades before being closed in 2007 is set to be demolished by the district. Mold and air-quality problems along with structural damage ultimately shuttered the school at Merchantville and Madison avenues. Saving the 45,000-square-foot structure was deemed to be a lost cause. Demolition bids will be opened and read by the township’s Board of Education May 15.

In a move that sent shock waves through the journalism world, South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross II yesterday added the region’s largest newspaper to his growing political, business and civic empire. Norcross, arguably the most powerful Democrat