The Moorestown Township Council is under orders to introduce its municipal budget or else. If it fails to introduce a municipal spending plan by the end of next week, each of the five members will be fined $25 a day until the job is done. Thomas Neff, director of the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services, gave council until Friday to crunch the numbers and come up with a plan and a tax levy. Thirty-eight other municipalities out of the state's 566 recently received the same notice of tardiness. http://bit.ly/LjGF8a
Alleged reptile in the Cooper River
The Camden County Parks Department and Parks Police received a report of an alleged 3-foot reptile in the Cooper River during the week of 6/4/12. Following through on standard operating procedure, the State Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Law Enforcement Bureau were contacted to conduct an investigation. The Cooper River and surrounding park are safe and open to the public. If you have any information regarding this incident, call the Division of the State Fish and Wildlife at (856) 629-0555.
Quake-damaged statue back in place
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
ShopRite employees star on cereal boxes
When local families sit down to breakfast, there may be familiar faces staring out from the back of their Cheerios boxes. Six ShopRite employees in three Burlington County stores will be on the special-edition cereal boxes. On Wednesday, at ShopRite of Marlton in Evesham, store associates Taryn Gunn of Evesham and Brenda Holland of Merchantville were honored. The photo celebrates the $1 million recently collected by 240 stores to benefit people in need of food. http://bit.ly/GY3mHx
Central School to be demolished
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.
Norcross Group Takes Over Inquirer
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