Zoe Wu

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Patel, Errico, Shi decisively win Edison Board of Education election

Patel, Errico, Shi decisively win Edison Board of Education election

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 8 (ZFJ) — Column 1—Ronak Patel, Ralph Errico, and Jingwei “Jerry” Shi—won the three available seats on the Edison Board of Education by a landslide. Column 1, the Students First team, outpaced Column 3, the Champions for Students team, by about 6,000-7,000 votes. Shi reprises his role after coming in fourth place for three seats in last year’s board election. He previously served on the board from 2014 with a term as president.
Andy “Dean” DeNicola, J.P. Stevens band director for 50 years, dies at 72

Andy “Dean” DeNicola, J.P. Stevens band director for 50 years, dies at 72

EDISON, N.J., Aug. 11 (ZFJ) — Andrew “Dean” S. DeNicola, 55, band director at John P. Stevens High School for 50 years, died on May 20, 2024, after many years of battling heart disease. “His devotion toward music, the band program, and his students was unparalleled, and anyone who had the pleasure of getting to know Andy knew he was having fun and living his life to the fullest,” wrote the Central Jersey Music Educators Association on Instagram.
Edison man charged for Millbrook Village stabbing

Edison man charged for Millbrook Village stabbing

EDISON, N.J., July 26 (ZFJ) — Joan Franklin Polanco, 37, of Edison, has been charged in connection with the fatal stabbing that occurred in Edison on Sunday, July 21, 2024, announced Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Thomas Bryan of the Edison Police Department. On July 21, Edison police responded to a call for a welfare check of the victim, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit. Shortly after, at about 4:37 p.
Edison High assistant principal accused of threatening Muslim students

Edison High assistant principal accused of threatening Muslim students

EDISON, N.J., July 24 (ZFJ) — Muslim students from Edison High School are alleging that one of the school’s assistant principals intimidated them over their club’s annual iftar event during a February meeting. Iftar is the breaking of the daily fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), a Muslim civil rights group, says that Assistant Principal Nicole Himmelstein met with eight board members of the school’s Moon and Stars Association (MSA) following their request to hold a joint iftar event and invite students from Piscataway and North Brunswick.
Oak Tree Pond receives American Revolutionary War historical marker

Oak Tree Pond receives American Revolutionary War historical marker

EDISON, N.J., July 2 (ZFJ) — Edison unveiled a new sign commemorating the Battle of Short Hills at Oak Tree Pond Historic Park on Wednesday, June 26. The sign, installed 250 years after the American Revolutionary War battle, was a gift from the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners. The Short Hills Battlefield Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Edison police opens Menlo Park Mall substation

Edison police opens Menlo Park Mall substation

EDISON, N.J., June 30 (ZFJ) — Edison police opened a substation in Menlo Park Mall on May 24. It is located in the former Jos A. Bank store between Barnes & Noble and a parking garage. Police officials celebrated the opening, which Deputy Chief Robert Dudash said had been “a brainchild of the police department and the mall for a lot of years now.” “This substation will actually enhance our services to the public and to the mall,” said Chief Thomas Bryan at the ribbon cutting.
Woodbridge Center mall sold to new management

Woodbridge Center mall sold to new management

WOODBRIDGE, N.J., April 4 (ZFJ) — Woodbridge Center has been sold to new management, announced Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac in his State of the Township address on Feb. 23. “Woodbridge Center, like major malls across America, has struggled because of the internet and the ease of buying directly online,” he said. “It has done an admirable job of diversifying outside of basic retail by attracting new tenants, but it has just not been enough.
Recovered firearm in Union Catholic High School leads to lockdowns, student arrested

Recovered firearm in Union Catholic High School leads to lockdowns, student arrested

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J., Feb. 7 (ZFJ) — The discovery of a firearm in Union Catholic High School on Monday, Jan. 22, resulted in lockdowns at nearby schools and the arrest of one student. The Scotch Plains Police Department said in a press release that it received a call at about 10:45 a.m. from a Union Catholic administrator concerning a handgun that had been recovered in the school. The school was placed on lockdown, and Scotch Plains police officers recovered the weapon.
Gas odor prompts evacuation at J.P. Stevens High School

Gas odor prompts evacuation at J.P. Stevens High School

EDISON, N.J., Feb. 1 (ZFJ) — A suspected gas leak resulted in the evacuation of J.P. Stevens High School students and staff on Thursday, Feb. 1, according to the school district. An odor of gas near the art and music wing and in the back of the building caused the evacuation, which, according to a ZFJ reporter, began around the start of third period. The Edison Fire Department and Elizabethtown Gas Company concluded that a construction crew hit an inactive gas line that still had residual gas remaining in it, resulting in the odor, according to a statement by Edison Township Public Schools.
Not a Game Theory: MatPat announces upcoming retirement from YouTube

Not a Game Theory: MatPat announces upcoming retirement from YouTube

Jan. 16 (ZFJ) — “It’s not clickbait,” MatPat begins, in a video uploaded on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The title: “Goodbye Internet.” The video announces that MatPat’s last video on The Game Theorists, a channel centered around detangling the storylines of countless games, will be uploaded on March 9. Since its first theory, posted on April 18, 2011, Matthew “MatPat” Patrick has been the lead face of the channel, recounting theories around popular game franchises such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and Pokémon and ending each episode with his iconic, “But that’s just a theory—a Game Theory!