DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Rabbi Daniel Cohen, standing, far right, of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange paid a recent visit to several dozen synagogue members who spend the winter or live full-time in Florida.

“Our seniors may be in the Sunshine State now, but they are never far from our hearts,” Cohen said in a release. “We look forward to welcoming them back in the spring.”

Cohen joined hosts Marge Weil of South Orange, seated center, and former Maplewood resident Judy Heyman, second from right, who now resides in Boca Raton, as well as other TSTI snowbirds at a luncheon at Gleneagles Country Club in Delray Beach. The Reform synagogue also helps its seniors, and others who live or travel out of the area, stay connected to their community by live streaming services via a link on its website.

Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, located at 432 Scotland Road in South Orange, is a vibrant Reform congregation that offers lifelong learning for adults as well as Early Childhood Education, Religious School, teen programs, and a full complement of religious services and cultural programs each month. TSTI serves member families from Maplewood, the Oranges, Livingston, Millburn, Short Hills and surrounding areas. For more information, visit www.tsti.org.

Photo Courtesy of Dee Billia
The Cowboy Junkies will be playing their hits at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on Feb. 27.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — It has been 30 years since the Cowboy Junkies released their debut album “Whites Off Earth Now!!” in 1986, yet record companies and critics alike have never quite been able to pin a label on the band. Straddling the lines between alternative country, blues and folk rock with frequent forays into other styles, the group’s moody, atmospheric sound does not fit comfortably within any one genre. But in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, the Junkies have developed a cult following that has lasted to this day.

For a small Canadian band whose music has refused to conform to modern commercial standards, such devotion means the world.

“We feel very blessed to have people who have followed us through the years,” guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins told the News-Record in a Feb. 12 phone interview. “People have certain eras or albums they like best, but the real hardcore following comes back. Even if they don’t like a specific record, they’ll check out the next one to see what we’re up to. So we’re very, very lucky and we’re appreciative of it.”

Some members of that following will no doubt be in attendance when the Junkies return to the South Orange Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Feb. 27. There Timmins, his singer sister Margo, brother Peter on drums and friend Alan Anton on bass will play some of their best-loved work, such as their most well-known single: their cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” from the Junkies’ seminal 1988 album “The Trinity Session.” But they will also play a lot of material from their new box set “Notes Falling Slow,” which consists of remastered versions of their 2000s records “Open,” “One Soul Now” and “At the End of Paths Taken,” plus a fourth disc containing newly recorded songs that were originally written at the time those albums were made.

Revisiting those albums has been an enjoyable experience, according to Timmins. More importantly, he said it gives the Junkies an opportunity to refocus attention onto three of what he described as the group’s most important releases, which were recorded during the pivotal moment when the band members started to enter parenthood while also returning to their independent roots after departing Geffen Records. He said that period of transition is reflected in the songs of that decade.
At the same time though, Timmins added that playing songs from at least 10 years ago is never the same experience as when recording them.

“It’s been a lot of fun re-examining those songs,” Timmins said. “They have different relevance. You always look at a song differently 10, 15 years later because your life circumstance changes and maybe the way you approach music or the way I approach songwriting changes. So you’re always looking at songs in a different light.”

One set of songs the Junkies certainly look at differently today are those featured in their sophomore effort “The Trinity Session.” The album — so named because it was recorded inside Toronto’s Church of the Holy Trinity — put the Junkies on the map as artists, garnering immense critical acclaim and reaching platinum status in the United States. A follow-up record, 2007’s “Trinity Revisited,” even attracted the likes of Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams to perform re-recordings of the material.

Looking back, Timmins said he and his bandmates will be forever grateful to “The Trinity Session” for helping to launch their career. But to say that the album’s success was unexpected would be an understatement.

“It was just a weird, little quirky record that for some reason took off and struck people in a certain way,” Timmins said. “It came out in the late ’80s, and for a lot of popular music that was a very sterile time. The type of recordings people were doing were very, very studio-oriented and they didn’t really have a lot of human feeling in them. But ‘The Trinity Session’ was a very natural, very organic-sounding recording that was done live off the floor and with one microphone. It was a very, very simple recording, very simple technique, which captured musicians communicating with one another through music.”

The success of “The Trinity Session” led to more than a dozen additional studio albums that often experimented with different styles ranging from psychedelic rock to Eastern-influenced sounds. It also made Hollywood take notice; more than 40 films and television shows feature the group’s music or have commissioned the band to perform original soundtrack material.

The group was even asked to perform the theme to the 1994 Meryl Streep action thriller “The River Wild,” an experience Timmins described as “interesting.” The guitarist-songwriter recalled that director Curtis Hanson asked the band to record a version of the traditional Scottish folk song “The Water is Wide,” only to reject their initial attempt as being too depressing. Its second, more upbeat version was used in the movie, but Timmins finds that whole process an amusing commentary on how the Junkies have always fit into the music scene.

“Once again, we’re too sad for popular culture,” Timmins joked.
While they may not have ever fit into the pop music category, but the Junkies surely will not disappoint their die-hard fans at SOPAC next week. Timmins said hearing the band’s music live is a totally different experience from just listening to one of its albums. And all genre labels aside, he encouraged anyone who enjoys a good concert performance in general to check out the show.

“Even if you’re not quite sure of who we are or what we do, or you think you know what we do, if you don’t hear us live then you don’t know completely what we do,” Timmins said. “We’re different than one might expect.”
To order tickets, call 973-313-2787 or visit www.sopacnow.org/cowboy-junkies.

Photo Courtesy of Christopher Petruzzi
Seton Hall University representatives Tracy Gottlieb, left, and Patrick Linfante, right, present a check to South Orange Rescue Squad Capt. Dan Cohen, center.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — On Tuesday, Feb. 16, Seton Hall University gave back to the volunteers of the South Orange Rescue Squad with a donation of $10,263. The check was presented to Rescue Squad Capt. Dan Cohen by Tracy Gottlieb, vice president of student services, and Patrick Linfante, assistant vice president for public safety and security.

“I’m here to say thank you,” Gottlieb said, according to a release. “Every year, we rely heavily on the rescue squad, and we’re very grateful. The partnership between the rescue squad and the police and fire departments of South Orange and Public Safety is invaluable to us. We very much want to continue to work with the rescue squad moving forward.”

Cohen echoed the appreciation for the partnership between the university and outside emergency services.

“Sharing South Orange with Seton Hall University is a huge advantage for us,” Cohen said. “Volunteer Emergency Medical Services is fading in some towns, but being near Seton Hall helps us not to fade away and provides a constant stream of new member volunteers.”

Linfante also expressed his appreciation for South Orange’s emergency services.

“We have a great working relationship with the rescue squad, police and fire department,” Linfante said. “They are here constantly — between fire drills and patrols — and we very much appreciate that presence.”

Student volunteers are vital to the everyday operations of the rescue squad, Cohen said. The squad is entirely volunteer, with approximately 40 current members, including seven Seton Hall students and several alumni.

“Volunteering on the South Orange Rescue Squad provides students with a great sense of giving back. It allows them to give back to Seton Hall and to the South Orange community,” Cohen said.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering can contact the South Orange Rescue Squad at sorescue@verizon.net or visit the website at www.southorangerescuesquad.org.

Photo Courtesy of Innes Borstel
The South Orange Symphony prepares for its Feb. 21 free family concert under the baton of Susan Haig of Summit.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Symphony will play its Winter Carnival, a free family concert, on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 3 p.m. at the South Orange Middle School Auditorium, 70 N. Ridgewood Road in South Orange.

The program is for adults and youngsters alike and will feature music by Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Shostakovich, as well as John Williams’ “Star Wars.” Children can visit a musical instrument petting zoo and dance to Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty.”

The orchestra’s annual silent auction fundraiser will also take place. South Orange Symphony, now under the direction of Susan Haig, has been presenting free concerts since 1949.

Visit www.sosymphony.org, send an email to southorangesym@aol.com or call 973-376-6349 for more information.

This concert is made possible in part by funds from the NJ State Arts Council and Essex County.

Photo courtesy of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
In attendance at the biennial were, standing, from left, Elizabeth Zwick, senior program officer, Ruderman Family Foundation; Rabbi Daniel Cohen, TSTI; and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, URJ president; and, seated, from left, Alanna Carter, Young Family Engagement coordinator, TSTI; Carol Paster, Early Childhood Education director, TSTI; and Rabbi Alexandra Klein, TSTI.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel is one of 27 Reform Jewish congregations from across North America recognized by the Union for Reform Judaism as an Exemplar Congregation for having made great strides in inclusion of people with disabilities in all facets of congregational life. Exemplar Congregations were recently honored with a certificate of merit in inclusion at the URJ Biennial in Orlando, Fla.

As an Exemplar Congregation, TSTI serves as a mentor and resource to other Jewish communities seeking to expand their inclusion work. All of the Exemplar Congregations are featured on the Disabilities Inclusion Learning Center site, an online portal designed to connect staff members, lay leaders and congregations across the country and provide opportunities for them to learn from and educate one another on issues of inclusion.

Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel is located at 432 Scotland Road in South Orange. For more information, visit www.tsti.org.

Photo Courtesy of Jodi Rotondo

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Teens from South Orange USY, which is affiliated with Oheb Shalom Congregation, visited Baltimore over Presidents Day weekend for a service trip. Pictured, the teens volunteer at Art With a Heart, an organization that helps at-risk children. The teens made art that the organization uses to support its projects.

Photo Courtesy of Melissa Kopecky

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Amanda Cavanagh, a Seton Hall University student and DOVE volunteer who helps hold a storytime at South Orange Public Library at 10 a.m. every Friday, reads “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Despite allegations of bullying, Columbia High School’s four baseball coaches were re-appointed to their positions during the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting.

The board voted 6-3 in favor of re-appointing head baseball coach Joseph Fischetti and assistant varsity baseball coach Matt Becht. The three dissenting votes were cast by BOE President Elizabeth Baker, Johanna Wright and Chris Sabin.

In addition, junior varsity assistant coach Sam Maietta and freshman Coach Stephen Campo were re-appointed.

These votes came after numerous residents spoke out during public comment — some in support of the coaches and some pushing to have the coaches contracts terminated for alleged bullying behavior toward players.

Despite the re-appointments, the matter is not closed. Superintendent John Ramos said at the meeting that the district plans to hire an independent investigator to find out about any Harassment Intimidation and Bullying violations in the baseball program.

For more on this, check back in with the News-Record in print on March 3.

Photos Courtesy of Ashley Wilson
From left are Karen Gevirtz, Vanessa May, Rifat Salam and Leslie Bunnage.

From left are Angela Weisl, Miranda Hajduk, Caroline Fernandez, Noora Badwan and Toni-Anne Fajardo.

Bernadette Wilkowski

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — More than 260 scholars and advocates gathered for the Seton Hall University Conference on Women and Gender on Feb. 12. Sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Program, the event featured breakout sessions with expert panels and a keynote address by sociologist Rifat Salam. An awards luncheon honored the winners of college and high school essay contests as well as Seton Hall University’s 2016 Woman of the Year.

The Office of the Provost’s Woman of the Year award recognizes and honors “outstanding leaders at Seton Hall who have made significant contributions to the success of women at the University.” Bernadette Wilkowski, academic specialist for the Educational Opportunity Program’s Center for Learning, Instruction and Assessment, was presented the award by Joan Guetti, senior associate provost, for her motivational efforts promoting student engagement and success within the classroom and beyond for the past 30 years.

“I am incredibly humbled to have received this prestigious award,” Wilkowski, a resident of Roselle, said. “As a professional woman, I try to inspire, challenge and empower young women at Seton Hall with kindness and compassion, also conveying a definite set of values. I learned how important it is to talk and listen to young women and young men, showing interest in their dreams, goals and achievements. My precious Catholic faith keeps me centered, and I hope that I will be blessed to continue working in this special ‘vineyard’ called Seton Hall University.”

The Elizabeth Ann Seton Center for Women’s Studies writing prize was awarded to Toni-Anne Fajardo of Secaucus, an accounting major with minors in English and fine arts. Fajardo presented her essay, “The Marine Going Beyond the Binary: Lucy Brewer’s Subversion of Gendered Behaviors,” at a panel session moderated by English professor Angela Weisl. Joining them were students who received honorable mention, including Noora Badwan of Wayne, a senior English honors major and history minor, who shared her essay, “Subversive Storytelling: ‘Tricksters’ Attacking Misogyny through ‘Tales’ in Chaucer and the ‘Arabian Nights’”; Caroline Fernandez of Verona, a senior secondary education and English major, who read her essay, “Attachment and Motherhood in ‘The Turn of the Screw’”; and Miranda Hajduk of Belvidere, a senior English honors and creative writing double major, who presented her essay, “’Peyntyng Leones’: The Generic Validation of Female Experience and the Subversion of the Antifeminist Satire.”

The high school essay prize was presented by Mary Balkun, professor and chairwoman of the Department of English, to Aeva Karlsrud of Frenchtown, a junior at Delaware Valley Regional High School. Karlsrud read her essay, “Art Activist, Anonymous: The Woman Who Changed the Art World.” Students receiving honorable mention included Sara Portela of Livingston, a junior at Livingston High School, who wrote “A Declaration of Independence”; Rana Hussein of Mount Laurel, a sophomore at Lenape High School, who wrote “Unapologetically, Me”; and Matt Quinn of Livingston, a Livingston High School student, who wrote “The Thinker.”

The conference concluded with Salam’s keynote address, made possible by Leslie Bunnage, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work. Salam, associate professor of sociology and deputy chairwoman of the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice at City University of New York, discussed “Negotiating Identity, Navigating Divides and Building Bridges: South Asian Women in Millennial America” to a full audience.

“This was so incredible. I very rarely get to speak to a mixed audience. It’s usually graduate students and other academics. It was really stimulating to be in an audience that’s so diverse,” Salam said in the release. “I think the conference showed that academics isn’t some dry thing. With students, you have an opportunity to reach a broader understanding. I hope from my talk (on South Asian women), that my story resonated with the students and that they received an understanding of a different group of people that they may not know much about.”

The annual event was organized by Karen Gevirtz, associate professor of English, and Vanessa May, associate professor of history.

“We hope the conference supported attendees in their journey of servant leadership and social justice, encouraged them to embrace diversity and left them with excitement in the possibilities to make a difference,” Gevirtz said in the release. “We are absolutely thrilled about the conference’s growth over the past three years and can’t wait to see what next year will bring.”

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University and Hackensack University Health Network have named Dr. Bonita Stanton, a nationally recognized expert on pediatric medicine, as the founding dean of their new school of medicine, which is slated to open in fall 2018. She is expected to begin her new role in March.

“Whether working with low-income populations in the United States, women and children in Bangladesh, migrant workers in China, or rural youth in Africa, Dean Stanton’s calling has been to bring the healing and compassion of health care to the world’s most vulnerable peoples,” Seton Hall University President A. Gabriel Esteban said in a release. “Working with major universities and hospitals, as well as the World Bank, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, she exemplifies the servant leadership spirit that is a profound part of our mission at Seton Hall. It is with great honor that we name Bonita Stanton as the founding dean of our school of medicine.”

HackensackUHN’s leadership is equally pleased with Stanton’s appointment.

“We proudly welcome Dr. Bonita Stanton as the founding dean of our new medical school,” Robert C. Garrett, president and chief executive officer of the HackensackUHN, said in the release. “Our rigorous search yielded outstanding candidates from across the nation. President Esteban and I are confident that Dr. Stanton with her outstanding background and accomplishments will lead this school of medicine to become one of the finest in the United States, while maintaining our shared tradition and mission to educate the physicians of tomorrow in a groundbreaking, collaborative environment.”

Stanton graduated from Wellesley College and Yale University School of Medicine, completed her pediatric residency at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at Case Western Reserve and her pediatric infectious disease fellowship training at Yale University School of Medicine.

For the past four years Stanton has served as vice dean for research at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Previously, she served as the Schotanus professor and chairwoman of the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State; pediatrician-in-chief at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center; and chairwoman of the Department of Pediatrics, West Virginia University. Earlier in her career, she was a faculty member and division chief of general pediatrics at University of Maryland School of Medicine. For five years, she lived and worked with her family in Bangladesh, where she served as a health consultant to the World Bank and the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, and as director of a community-based research and service program designed to help women and children in the slums of Dhaka.

An author of more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, Stanton has served as an editor of the “Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics,” along with many other journals and books. Among many local, national and international advisory roles, she was a member of the advisory board of the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center and was president of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs.

“The partnership between Seton Hall, a nationally renowned university with a programmatic emphasis on high-quality inter-professional care, and HackensackUHN, a health care delivery system of great size, stature and innovation, sets the stage for the transformation of health care delivery, research and education in New Jersey, with implications for the nation and throughout the world,” Stanton said in the release. “I am honored and delighted to accept the opportunity to lead the development of an integrated education, research and care delivery system at a new school of medicine with such visionary partners.

“My career has focused on improving health outcomes for all persons regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geographic location,” Stanton continued. “I share the widespread concern that U.S. health care costs are among the highest in the world, but our health outcomes are only fair in comparison with all nations and poor in comparison with our socioeconomic peer nations. Extensive research speaks to the importance of delivering preventive and curative care with a far greater emphasis on community-based services, reserving our tertiary hospitals for technologically complex procedures and treatments and the very ill.”

In June 2015, Seton Hall and HackensackUHN signed a definitive agreement to form a new, four-year school of medicine.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Board of Trustees voted unanimously Feb. 22 to approve an ordinance allowing the village to bond more than $1.7 million, which will be used to pay for numerous improvements. But the village has already completed many of these improvements, according to village Administrator Barry Lewis Jr.

According to Ordinance No. 2016-05, which was passed on first reading Feb. 8 and on final reading Feb. 22, the village can now issue negotiable bonds in the principal amount of $1,738,500. The overall cost of the improvements, including down payments, is $1,830,000.

According to Lewis in a Feb. 18 email, all the projects these funds cover are either completed are in progress.

According to the ordinance, the funds will be used to pay for IT and communications equipment and systems, namely the acquisition and installation of computers and communications equipment, including but not limited to servers, computers, wireless network equipment and antennae, software systems and video broadcasting equipment; police network and communication hardware and software, namely the acquisition of network and computer hardware and software for police department operations, including but not limited to a CAD/RMS radio system and radio console replacement; and roadway upgrades, namely the reconstruction, repair and repaving streets, curbs and sidewalks including but not limited to Kingsland Court, Kingsland Terrace, Rynda Road and Ridgewood Road.

So, why is the board only now passing a bond-issuance ordinance for work that has already been completed? Well, a nearly identical ordinance was passed on final reading April 22, 2013, to issue the same bond amount for the same projects. However, a clerical error left the ordinance in limbo.

“Under the Local Bond Law, a bond ordinance, after public hearing and adoption, is required to be published in the newspaper,” Lewis said. “Our bond counsel, in reviewing the documentation on this ordinance for purposes of funding discovered that the prior village clerk had not published the 2013 ordinance.”

Despite this technical issue, work began on the projects.

“Many of the authorized projects have been undertaken and completed or are in progress,” Lewis said. “Nothing was held up because, until the recent discovery, there was no knowledge of any defect in the proceedings.”

Therefore, in order to cover all the bases, the village’s bond counsel advised issuing a second ordinance and post it in the newspaper, according to Lewis.

Photo Courtesy of JLOSH
Sandra LoPiccolo of Maplewood with her daughters shows why it’s important to volunteer. This year’s ‘Kids For Kids’ event takes place in Millburn on March 12.

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Community groups are joining forces — for a fourth year — in Millburn next month for a children’s volunteering event to help youngsters in need.

‘Kids For Kids,’ organized by the Junior League of the Oranges and Short Hills, brings together local groups and children for a morning of hands-on volunteering and fun at the George Bauer Community Center in Taylor Park, Millburn, on Saturday, March 12.

Contributing community groups include Girl Scouts of America, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Interfaith Food Pantry, Interfaith Hospitality Network of Essex County, Family Intervention Services, Robin C. Crowley Food Pantry, Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Metro YMCA of the Oranges and league sponsors: gold sponsor Dun & Bradstreet, and silver sponsors Saint Barnabas Medical Center and Creative Wallcoverings & Interiors.

JLOSH Community Vice President Alison Corbin of Short Hills explained in a release that all elementary school-aged children are welcome to the event.

“This event has continued to be an ongoing success for JLOSH,” Corbin said in the release “An event that focuses on children and their contribution to JLOSH’s ongoing efforts to address food insecurity and basic needs issues hopefully encourages voluntarism at an early age and helps them develop into future civic leaders.”

The activities children aged 6 to 12 years will be able to take part in include: decorating placemats to be donated to a food pantry for distribution; filling bags with camp supplies and essentials; decorating a mural and making no sew blankets for pediatric patients at St. Barnabas; ‘The Littlest Volunteer Contest’, a contest that awards $100 to children’s ideas for helping to improve their community.

In addition, children will have the opportunity to learn about eco-literacy, dental hygiene, nutrition basics and more.

Donations of non-perishable goods, such as canned protein meals, and travel-sized toiletries can be brought to the event.

The JLOSH ‘Kids For Kids’ event goes a long way to helping children in need, while teaching youth and adults about the benefits of volunteering, and bringing together a host of community organizations.

‘Kids For Kids’ takes place from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 12, at the George Bauer Community Center in Taylor Park, ‪100 Main St. in Millburn.

To take part in Kids for Kids or learn more, visit www.jlosh.org, email jlosh1913@gmail.com or call ‪973-379-9655.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — There is a way to make your voice heard if you are a high school student with a desire to effect positive change on today’s global challenges and the needs of society. Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations is challenging high school students to be part of the solution and serve the greater good by participating in a Sustainable Development Challenge. This pitch competition is designed to engage high school students in thinking about the needs of society and the planet — encouraging them to be agents of change and embrace the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals to help end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. Sophomore, junior and senior high school students are invited to submit their 300- to 500-word statement that describes an innovative approach or idea for addressing one of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. This is an opportunity for them to share their thoughts about what they want to do to help make the world a better place, while having the opportunity to compete for $50,000 in prizes and scholarships.

Students can focus on any of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. They can present an idea aimed at creating awareness or change related to one or more of the goals. Proposals can be for a project, campaign or charity that will assist in attaining one or more of the goals. They can be local or global, with a focus on the students’ school, surrounding community, state, the U.S. or any country or region of the world.

“The Sustainable Development Goals are part of the United Nations agenda for the next 15 years. We train students to propose innovative solutions to real world problems and this scholarship competition offers us a means to invite high school students who will be our next generation of leaders to be part of the process. It’s a chance for them to think outside of themselves and think about how they can contribute to solving real-world problems,” associate professor Martin Edwards, director of the Center for United Nations and Global Governance Studies in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, said in a press release.

Submissions should briefly explain the idea and approach to implementing the idea; identify which U.N. Sustainable Development Goal or goals this idea supports; and explain how the idea will contribute to attaining this goal or goals. Submissions must be received by Sunday, March 27, at midnight.

Ten finalists will be selected by late March and invited to present their ideas to a panel of judges at Seton Hall University on Friday, April 22, from 3 to 5 p.m., with a reception to follow. Finalists who cannot come to campus can participate via Skype.

All submitters are also welcome to attend the presentations on April 22 as well as the reception to follow.

Finalists with the best ideas will win cash prizes and a scholarship to attend Seton Hall. The cash prize can assist in launching the idea or creating awareness about the sustainable development goal or region of the world that is most important to the submitter. The first place winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize and a $10,000 scholarship — $2,500 annually — to attend Seton Hall University. The second place winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize plus a $6,000 scholarship — $1,500 annually — to attend Seton Hall. The other finalists will each receive a $4,000 scholarship — $1,000 annually — to attend Seton Hall.

For more information and to apply, visit www.shu.edu/go/UNChallenge or contact Martin Edwards at UNStudies@shu.edu.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Historical and Preservation Society is offering a $1,000 scholarship in a competition open to all high school juniors and seniors living in South Orange and Maplewood who will be entering an accredited institution of higher education upon graduation from high school.

To win the prize, students must submit an essay on “The Library – What Has It Meant to Society?” In this essay contest, students will choose any period of time during the past 150 years and discuss the role public libraries played, either in a specific area or in general, and how South Orange Public Library fulfilled this role.

South Orange Public Library, founded in 1866, has been serving the people of the Village for 150 years. The SOHPS scholarship essay will serve to commemorate the library’s 150th anniversary. The essay may include personal anecdotes and/or interviews.

Essays are to be submitted directly to the screening committee at info@sohps.org. Essays must be between 1,000 and 1,200 words, written in MS-Word or a compatible format, with a 12-point type font, 1.5-line spacing and one-inch margins. The essay must be accompanied by an original source bibliography. The student may use personal interviews where appropriate, but specifics are to be provided in the bibliography. A cover page must include the student’s name, address, telephone number, email address, current high school and the college or university the student will be attending, if known.

The $1,000 award is a one-time payment not to be considered a renewal and will be paid directly to the winner’s chosen institution of higher education. The winning essay will be presented at the library’s anniversary celebration in May and at the SOHPS’s symposium in October.

Entries must be received by the screening committee no later than May 1. The scholarship winner will be notified no later than June 1.

The winning essay will become the property of the South Orange Historical and Preservation Society and may, with proper attribution to the writer, be reproduced, distributed and publicly displayed for the purposes of supporting the goals of SOHPS and the South Orange Public Library.

For more information, visit www.SOHPS.org.

NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey Blood Services, a division of New York Blood Center, is asking for help to maintain an adequate supply of all blood types, but especially O-negative — the “universal” blood which can be transfused into anyone in an emergency.  In addition, hundreds of additional blood drives need to be scheduled to meet projected hospital demand. Current inventory of several blood types is running below the desired target level.

Blood drives are scheduled for Sunday, March 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Mantena Global Care, 294 Ferry St., Newark, and Monday, March 28, from 2:30 to 7 p.m., at Baird Community Center, 5 Mead St., South Orange.

“It’s simple: hospital patient demand for blood often outpaces our best efforts to recruit donors and schedule blood drives,” said NYBC Executive Director of Donor Recruitment Andrea Cefarelli. “There are always reasons but we have to overcome that for the sake of hospital patients who need us.”

“This is one of the toughest times of the year,” Cefarelli added. “We’re asking for our dedicated supporters to roll up their sleeves to make sure we’re able to provide our hospital partners with whatever they need to take care of their patients.”

Blood products have a short shelf life — from five to 42 days — so constant replenishment is necessary. Each and every day, there are patients who depend on the transfusion of red blood cells, platelets and plasma to stay alive. But blood and blood products can’t be manufactured. They can only come from volunteer blood donors who take an hour to attend a blood drive or visit a donor center.

To donate blood or for information on how to organize a blood drive, call 1-800-933-2566 or visit www.nybloodcenter.org.

If you cannot donate but still wish to participate in bringing crucial blood products to patients in need, ask someone to donate for you or consider volunteering at a local blood drive.

Any company, community organization, place of worship or individual may host a blood drive. NYBC also offers special community service scholarships for students who organize community blood drives during summer months. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, blood pressure and hematocrit level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16 — with parental permission or consent — who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and NY or NJ State Department of Health donor criteria. People older than 75 may donate with a doctor’s note.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Achieve Foundation’s “Night of 100 Dinners” is an annual fundraising event, now in its 12th year, in which residents host dinners in their homes to raise awareness of and money for Achieve programs that directly impact students in the South Orange-Maplewood School District. Hosts donate their party costs to Achieve and guests contribute $50 per person to attend. Sixty party hosts and co-hosts have invited more than 1,000 guests throughout Maplewood and South Orange into their homes for the event, scheduled for March 5.

New for this year, Achieve has expanded the event by partnering with local restaurants, which will donate a percentage of their net proceeds to Achieve as “Night of 100 Dinners Restaurant Hosts” on the following dates and times:

• Thursday, March 3, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Verjus Restaurant at 1790 Springfield Ave. in Maplewood, reservations are encouraged;
• Sunday, March 6, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., The Maplewood Grille at 149 Maplewood Ave. in Maplewood; and
• Tuesday, March 8, from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Bunny’s Sports Bar at 14 West South Orange Ave. in South Orange, donation based on food purchases only.

No invitation required! Simply show up at any — or all — of the restaurants at the specified dates and times, mention you are there for Achieve’s Night of 100 Dinners and dine as usual.

“Every year, we get inquiries from people in the community who want to participate in the event but aren’t able to host or attend a party,” Achieve Executive Director Deborah Prinz said in a press release. “Our Night of 100 Dinners restaurant hosts are creating an opportunity for anyone — even whole families — to be a part of it. At the same time, we welcome the support of these generous local businesses and hope that this great cause will increase their patronage.”

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Not many teenagers can say that their mastery of a video game led them to the opportunity to co-author a book about their hobby, but 15-year-old South Orange resident Jordon P. Hollow can. The teen recently co-authored two Minecraft books with his mother, Michele Hollow.

Jordon, an avid Minecraft player, recently joined forces with his journalist mother, who was asked to write two books about the popular video game.

The books, “Hilarious Jokes for Minecrafters: Mobs, Creepers, Skeletons and More” and “Jokes for Minecrafters: Booby Traps, Bombs, Boo-Boos and More,” are meant to be a fun read for all fans of the video game. The books are published by Sky Pony Press, a division of Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

Michele Hollow, who mostly writes nonfiction about animals, pets and the environment, knew that she would only be able to take on this newest project if she could call in an expert.

“When this opportunity came along I knew that I wanted to do it,” she said in a recent phone interview with the News-Record. “But I let the publisher know that I can only do it if my son can be involved in it because he knows so much more about the game than I do.”

Michele Hollow said her son’s contributions were not only in the materials that he added to the books, but also in helping to make her submissions more credible to true fans of the game.

“I think he had a lot of fun correcting me. I’ve played the game, but I don’t know it well,” Michele Hollow said. “Jordon would look over the things I had put together and say, ‘No Mom, creepers don’t do that, they do this,’ and he would change things around so that they made more sense to someone who is familiar with Minecraft.”

In addition to mother and son, the writing process was a true family affair as Jordon’s father and Michele’s husband, Steven Hollow, also contributed to the books.

“It was enormous fun. It would be at the oddest moments that we would come up with items for the books,” Steven Hollow said in a recent phone interview with the News-Record. “Very often we would be in the middle of driving Jordon somewhere and we would start going through jokes and ideas, and Jordon would chime in with another layer to make it more relevant to the game.”

Jordon wrote jokes, trivia, haikus, limericks and riddles for the books, and also did all the fact-checking. Each book contains more than 800 jokes, trivia, limericks and riddles, all of which are centered around the Minecraft game.

In addition to co-authoring the books with his mother, Jordon Hollow also had the opportunity to do readings from the two books at The Calais School in Whippany, where he is a student. He also presented two copies of the books to the school.

Both books are available for purchase at Words Bookstore on Maplewood Avenue in Maplewood.

So what’s next for this budding young author?

“I would like to take one of those Minecraft classes being taught to help learn science and technology,” Jordon told the News-Record.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Regina Carter grew up in Detroit and now lives in New Jersey but her roots, at least in part, run through the South. The acclaimed violinist’s grandfather was an Alabama coal miner who died before she was born. And while Carter never had the chance to meet him, she did know the type of music he probably listened to in the early 20th century, significant for a musician.

So when it came time to start a new album, the MacArthur Fellowship recipient who made a name for herself as a jazz violinist decided to arrange and perform a collection of Southern folk songs from her grandfather’s era. Of course, this was easier said than done; Carter spent the next two years reading books on the period, speaking with distant relatives and, above all, delving deep into the archives of the Library of Congress and respected folklorists so she could listen to their field recordings of songs her grandfather likely heard.

In doing so, Carter learned about a South rife with racial discrimination and struggle in general, such as the coal miners’ fight to unionize. She also learned of a blended Appalachian culture influenced by the Irish, Scottish, Native American and African slave descendants who populated the region. She discovered all of this and more through the music of the time, and she is grateful for the experience.

“It was pretty astounding,” Carter told the News-Record in a Feb. 19 phone interview. “That time period is a rich part of our history, so it was pretty amazing. I found a lot of beautiful music as well.”

Carter culled her initial list of 50 favorite Southern folk songs down to the 11 that appear on the finished 2014 album “Southern Comfort,” giving her own spin on each one. Residents can hear the results of her efforts for themselves when she performs the record, along with some of her other work, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on March 5.

Though every piece falls under the banner of traditional Southern folk, the music sounds far from uniform. From the upbeat, jazzy interpretation of “Trampin’” to the mournful tone of “I’m Coming Home,” Carter’s style certainly runs the gamut on “Southern Comfort.”

Yet tying the songs together, Carter said, is the fact that she made sure to preserve the austerity integral to their original recordings. As a result, her method of arranging the music proved to be quite different from the more intricate jazz with which she is often identified.

“I wanted to try and really highlight the rawness and the beauty that was there, to try and really keep the simplicity of the melodies,” Carter recalled. “So it’s very different stylewise. I just gave it its space and let those melodies be what they were.”

“Southern Comfort” was not the first time Carter looked into her own history for musical inspiration. Her 2006 album “I’ll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey” explored her late mother’s favorite early jazz standards while her 2010 offering “Reverse Thread” reimagined the traditional music of West Africa, where many of her ancestors originated. She explained that the reason for these trips through her family’s past stems from her own fascination with where she comes from, an interest that first sparked within her as a child reading about other cultures in National Geographic magazine. As an adult the spark grew to a flame, compelling her to compile a family tree tracing her lineage.

The more she learned about her family, the more she learned about herself, Carter said. And the more she learned about herself, the more she wanted to translate her relatives’ stories into her other passion — music. As a result, while all of her songs hold significant meaning for her, she said the music of her family’s past will always be special.

“It’s more personal,” Carter said. “It makes me feel like I have a direct connection. In some way, I feel like it belongs to me, or it’s of me.”

Carter will be turning to the past once again for her next album, though it will not be her own this time. She said her next record will be a collection of songs originally performed by Ella Fitzgerald — one of her favorite singers — and is due out in late 2016 or early 2017. But, she said, she is not done exploring her own history, promising that she will likely embark on another family-related project after that.

Meanwhile, Carter is content to continue sharing “Southern Comfort” with live audiences across the country, telling the News-Record that she hopes her music will inspire audience members to explore their own family’s story. It certainly has made her feel closer to her grandfather, she said, and she believes her grandfather is proud.

“After the whole project was finished, I had some old boxes here in our home that I hadn’t unpacked from when my mother passed away years ago in 2005,” Carter said. “So I thought ‘There’s three boxes, you have to get rid of these boxes now.’ And in one of the first boxes I opened up there was a (photo album) someone had made with all my grandparents’ pictures and all their 14 children. So for the very first time I saw a picture of my grandfather.

“I felt like it was a gift,” she said. “It was kind of a green light, like ‘You’re on the right path.’”

To order tickets, call 973-313-2787 or visit www.sopacnow.org/regina-carter.

MAPLEWOOD / SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Yet again, a Superior Court judge has rejected a bid from a former Maplewood teacher to dismiss charges that she sexually assaulted six male students.

Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin on Feb. 29 denied a motion from Nicole Dufault to reconsider his Dec. 18, 2015, ruling that denied her motion to dismiss the 40-count indictment issued against her by a grand jury more than a year ago.

Dufault’s attorney, Timothy Smith, has argued that the charges should be thrown out due to a seeming lack of proper procedure — but Ravin is not having any of it.

According to court documents, Dufault, 36, of Caldwell, a former language arts teacher at Columbia High School in Maplewood is charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with six male students on multiple occasions between July 2013 and August 2014.

According to prosecutors, the students were between ages 14 and 15 at the time of the incidents.

The alleged sex acts occurred in Dufault’s classroom and in her car — including one alleged incident in which one student recorded a video on his cell phone of Dufault performing oral sex on another student in her car, court documents state.

Smith has asserted Dufault suffers from frontal lobe syndrome, which he claims left her vulnerable to the students’ “over-aggressive behavior.” According to the defense, Dufault developed the syndrome after brain surgery she underwent following complications due to her first pregnancy.

These charges are merely accusations. All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — On Feb. 23 Police arrested a suspect in the Feb. 5 shooting of a Maplewood man in the area of Walker and William streets, according to a release from the Union Police Department.

Following an investigation, the suspect, Isaiah “Zay” Jackson, who has addresses in both Newark and South Orange, was arrested. According to the press release, detectives and members of the FBI Fugitive Task Force had been searching for Jackson since the shooting and had finally located him at a relative’s home in South Orange on Feb. 23.

Jackson was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Union Police Department where he was formally charged. He is charged with aggravated assault, weapons possession and certain persons not to have a weapon.

According to police, Jackson is a Grape Street Crips Gang member and associates with a Newark set. His bail was set at $500,000 by Union Municipal Court Judge Jonathan Rosenbluth. Jackson was sent to the Union County Jail.

Officers on the scene of the shooting on Feb. 5 had found an adult lying in the grass in the garden apartment complex. The wounded man, a 19-year-old man from Maplewood, was unconscious and bleeding from his torso and neck area and was taken to a trauma center; he survived.

The investigation is continuing. Detectives are attempting to identify other suspects involved in this shooting. If anyone has any information, contact the Union Police Department Detective Bureau at 908-851-5030.

These charges are merely accusations. All persons are presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law.