New Jersey

Mick Jagger stops in at NJ diner: This week in Central Jersey history, July 29-Aug. 4

Published

2 years ago

July 29, 2024

Mick Jagger stops in at NJ diner: This week in Central Jersey history, July 29-Aug. 4

Mick Jagger, hours before he went onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019, grabbed a classic NJ breakfast at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton.

Jagger ordered Taylor ham, egg and cheese. “So we went to the Tick Tock Diner!” Jagger told the audience. “We had Taylor ham, egg and cheese! With Disco fries! And sloppy joe to go!”

Here’s a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.

Five years ago

July 29, 2019: A state appellate court upheld the conviction of James Quackenbush, 51, of Plainfield, serving a 40-year sentence in NJ State Prison, for murdering his mother, Gail Vandewalle, 69, in February 2013 by hitting her on the head with a 12-pound dumbbell.

July 30: The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, on what would have been its namesake’s 16th birthday, commemorated its second anniversary, announcing the nonprofit had donated more than $100,000 to help pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.

July 30: Te’Rai Powell, a rising senior at St. Joseph Regional in Montvale, announced on Twitter that he would play football for Rutgers University. Powell helped the Green Knights capture the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 4 championship the previous season, averaging 6.4 yards per carry.

July 31: Walter Yovany-Gomez, aka “Cholo,” 35, an MS-13 member previously named one of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, was sentenced in Newark to 25 years in prison for killing Julio Matute of Plainfield in 2011.

Aug. 1: It became legal for NJ doctors to prescribe lethal medication to patients with less than six months to live. NJ was one of eight states that allowed medically assisted suicide or medical aid in dying.

Aug. 2-4: The Jersey Fringe Festival, featuring live music and a beer and wine garden, was held at 12 venues across downtown Hammonton, with the Eagle Theatre serving as the central location.

10 years ago

July 30, 2014: The Somerset Patriots beat the Lancaster Barnstormers, 7-0, on “Bark In The Park Night” at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater. Somerset won the nightcap 2-0. The Patriots established a new franchise record for wins in a half with 47, albeit three weeks after the half had actually ended.

July 30-31: Approximately 350 bicyclists, including some local residents, participated in a two-day Bike4Chai fundraiser, beginning in Piscataway and ending at Camp Simcha in Glen Spey, New York, raising more than $4 million for the overnight summer camp for children and teens with cancer and other serious illnesses.

July 31: It was reported Albert Thomson, 48, of Berkeley Heights, was indicted on charges he stole millions of dollars from his employers, Elizabeth-based New England Motor Freight, and two related companies, Eastern Freightways Inc. and Carrier Industries Inc., over eight years.

Aug. 1: Jeff Xie, 17, of Edison, a senior at J.P. Stevens High School, took home $75,000 on the “Jeopardy! Teen Tournament,” beating Alan Koolik of Boca Raton, Florida.

Aug. 3: The Under the Influence of Music tour, with Wiz Khalifa, Jeezy, Ty Dolla $ign, Rich Homie Quan, Mack Wilds, Iamsu! and DJ Drama, was held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Aug. 4: In Somerville, State Superior Court Judge Robert Reed ruled David Granskie Jr.’s statement to police two days after the murder of Bridgewater resident Carolyn Stone, 45, could be admitted into his trial, which was expected to begin Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Stone was killed on Memorial Day weekend of 2009 at Granskie’s father’s home in the Bradley Gardens section of Bridgewater,

1999

July 30, 1999: Deborah Caggiano, 34, of South Plainfield, who embezzled more than $2.5 million from Beumer Corp., a Bridgewater manufacturing company, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

July 31: Three teenage girls pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault for lacing the coffee cup of their teacher at Middlesex County Vocational-Technical High School in East Brunswick with rubbing alcohol, it was reported. The girls were from Spotswood, Perth Amboy and New Brunswick.

Aug. 1: It was reported the Hispanic Riverfront Festival of New Brunswick, featuring music, dance and food, would be held Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999, through Sunday, Aug. 8, 1999, at Boyd Park in New Brunswick.

Aug. 4: The Somerset Patriots regained sole possession of first place with a 4-2 win over the Bridgeport Bluefish in front of 5,384 at Somerset Ballpark in Bridgewater, erasing the sting of a 9-1 loss in the series opener on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999.

1974

July 29, 1974: Scott Siegrist and Rich Szumel combined for a no-hitter as Piscataway American West edged Spring Lake-Sea Girt 1-0 and advanced to the Section 3 finals of the state Little League Baseball Tournament.

July 31: N.J. Secretary of State J. Edward Crabiel, 58, was indicted along with The Franklin Contracting Co., which he once headed; George Katz of Fort Lee, a Democratic fund raiser; the Passaic Crushed Stone Co., and the Gallo Asphalt Co., on charges of bid-rigging.

Aug. 2: A fire routed the 130 tenants of the Royal Court Apartments in Perth Amboy from their beds and heavily damaged the first four floors of the five-story building. Ten apartments were destroyed and one elderly tenant was hospitalized.

Aug. 4: Patrolman Jeffrey Royte, who discovered John Burns Jr., 14, of Mount Laurel in Burlington County, sleeping peacefully in a wooded area in Clinton, unknowingly found the youth who was missing from South Jersey since the previous Monday, and was the subject of an intensive search by police and volunteers.

Aug. 4: “Show Boat,” the Jerome Kern musical classic, would be presented by Plays-in-the-Park beginning Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1974, at Roosevelt Park in Edison, it was reported.

1924

July 30, 1924: Three inmates of the NJ Reformatory at Rahway were shot when a riot broke out among the 500 inmates. Before the outbreak was stopped, the institution suffered considerable damage.

July 30: While swimming in Lake Nelson in South Plainfield, Emile Ulmric, 21, a member of the faculty of St. Joseph’s Normal College, near Metuchen, was seized with cramps and drowned before assistance could be given.

July 30-31: The movie “Her Temporary Husband,” starring Sidney Chaplin, Sylvia Breamer and Owen Moore, was shown at Reade’s Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Aug. 1: An attempt was made to “blow” the safe in the Forty-fifth street, Bayonne station of the NJ Central, but the burglars were frightened away by the police who were informed as to what was going on by a woman living near the station.

Aug. 4: In baseball, the St. Peter’s Lyceum beat the Pirates of Sayreville, 2-0.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

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New Jersey

Division 3 NCAA Tournament: Three NJ basketball teams make the bracket

Published

1 hour ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Division 3 NCAA Tournament: Three NJ basketball teams make the bracket

Manasquan HS grad Matthew Solomon has special motivation in leading red-hot TCNJ. Montclair State, Stevens also repping the Garden State.

It was the kind of sequence that embodies everything we love about sports – and especially college basketball.

With 10 seconds left in the Saturday’s New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament final, TCNJ guard David Alexandre drove the lane, got cut off, spun around a whipped a pass into the paint as he fell backward. There to receive it was forward Matthew Solomon, a Manasquan High School grad, who finished his hard cut with a dunk that gave the Lions a two-point lead at Montclair State.

Then, on the other end, Montclair State star Jacob Morales had a long look at a game-winner with two seconds left – but Solomon closed out and blocked the shot as time expired.

Both teams are headed to the Division III NCAA Tournament, which unveiled its bracket today (so is a third New Jersey representative, Stevens Institute of Technology). It was an incredible moment on its face, so exhilarating that former Villanova coach and two-time March Madness champion Jay Wright spotlighted it on social media.

“That’s surreal,” Solomon said. “I grew up watching Nova, so to see that was really cool. He was giving Division 3 basketball some love, which is deserved.”

One of the best-kept secrets in college sports is just how high-quality D-3 hoops is, and Jersey has long been a hotbed, regularly sending squads to the Final Four. On the men’s side the Garden State’s last national champion was Rowan in 1996. That could change in the coming weeks.

But along with quality hoops, Division 3 ball features amazing stories, and the story behind Solomon’s heroics is even more incredible than jaw-dropping end to Saturday’s classic.

On his left wrist, the 6-foot-7 senior out of Spring Lake Heights wore protective tape over a wristband that read, “Paterno Strong” in honor of his cousin Billy Paterno, who died in 2024 at age 3 of leukemia. His parents, Point Pleasant residents Danielle and William, were at the NJAC title game.

“They’re an amazing family,” Solomon said. “The stuff they went through showed me what real strength looks like. Me facing adversity on the basketball court, when I look over and see them and look down on my wrist and see the Paterno Strong wristband, after what they did, I can keep playing for 40 minutes of basketball.”

Solomon finished the epic final with 22 points and 17 rebounds on 10-of-13 shooting, but he was quick to credit Saddle River Day grad Alexandre (24 points, 4 assists) and ace point guard and Don Bosco Prep grad Nick Koch (14 points) for their contributions.

For some context on the achievement: Montclair State was 24-0 and ranked No. 1 in all of Division 3 when TCNJ beat the Red Hawks twice in three-game span.

“Jersey basketball, you know how it is – the best in the country,” Solomon said. “We got a taste of playing the top team in the country and that definitely prepared us for what’s next, and hopefully we prepared them, so we can both show the whole country what New Jersey basketball is about.”

There’s one more powerful aspect to Solomon’s story. His father Larry Solomon died of Covid in February 2021, and a month later his brother Andrew Solomon hit the game-winning shot with one second left in the Shore Conference A final, capping a perfect season for Manasquan High. Andrew went on to serve as a manager with Monmouth’s basketball program.

“People are trying to compare my shot to his, but Andrew’s got me topped by a million,” Matthew said.

But between his father and his cousin Billy, “I’ve got people watching me from above,” Matthew said. “All the things I do are for them.”

Keep that in mind as TCNJ (21-6 overall, 14-4 NJAC) opens the Division 3 bracket against Johns Hopkins (20-7) Friday Randolph-Macon in Ashland Virginia. The winner will face either host Randolph-Macon (25-3) or North Carolina Wesleyan (21-6) Saturday at the same site.

“We know we can run with the best of them,” Solomon said. “We’re not pleased with just being here now. Maybe the past two years, just making it was enough. This year that’s not enough. We’ve got a special group.”

In a new wrinkle this year, the D-3 quarterfinals, semifinals and final will take place in Indianapolis, sharing a stage with the Division I Final Four. It’s a fitting reward.

“Playing Division 3 basketball has changed my life,” Solomon said. “You’ve really got to love the game, but I’ve built relationships with teammates, coaches and alumni – connections that I’m going to have the rest of my life. If I were to go back to high school, I would make the same exact decision a thousand times out of a thousand.”

Montclair State (25-1, overall, 17-1 NJAC)

The Red Hawks reached No. 1 in the nation after reeling off 24 straight wins to open the campaign. They average 92.1 points per game shooting a whopping 40.4 percent from 3-point range and hitting 13.1 triples per game.

They will play host to Maine-Farmington (22-5) on Friday, and if they win will host the winner of Bates (18-8) vs. Yeshiva (20-8) in the second round on Saturday.

Leading the way is senior forward Jacob Morales, a Montvale native, Pascack Hills High School grad and former Rutgers walk-on. The NJAC Player of the Year averages 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range.

Sophomore guard and Trenton native Kabrien Goss (14.7 ppg), freshman guard and Morris Catholic grad Cristian Nicholson (11.4 ppg) and sophomore forward and Lenape High School grad Myles Primas (9.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg) are key contributors.

Under head coach Justin Potts, the Red Hawks reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year and also made the field in 2022-23.

Stevens (18-9 overall, 10-4 MAC Freedom)

The Ducks are four-time MAAC Freedom champions under head coach Bobby Hurley, who won his 300^th game at the program’s helm in February.

They will visit Christopher Newport (21-5) in Newport News, Va., on Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s second round at the same site against either Mount Union (23-3) or Washington and Jefferson (22-6).

Junior guard Tommy Scholl, the MAC Freedom MVP, averages 18.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Junior forward Harmehar Chhabra, a South Brunswick High School grad, averages 14.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists and recorded a triple-double (12 points, 11 boards, 11 assists) against Lebanon Valley last month.

Junior guard Kyle Maddison (14.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.0 apg) and senior guard Matt Leming out of Haddonfield (9.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) add to an offense that shoots 47 percent from the field.

This is the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, all under Hurley. The Ducks reached the second round in 2022.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

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New Jersey

Blizzard causes heavy damage to New Jersey animal refuge

Published

13 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Blizzard causes heavy damage to New Jersey animal refuge

A New Jersey animal shelter is asking for the public’s help after last month’s blizzard did heavy damage to its property in Ocean County.

On social media, Popcorn Park Animal Refuge posted a video and described the fury of the storm. saying that the blizzard “caused unexpected damage… impacting habitats, fencing, structures, and critical infrastructure.”

The nonprofit animal haven says its team “worked tirelessly to keep every animal safe during the storm,” however, “the aftermath has left us facing urgent repairs and significant financial strain.”

Photo: Popcorn Park Animal Refuge

The refuge says this winter has been “especially challenging.” It says “repeated severe weather has forced extended closures to the public, further limiting vital support and creating an added burden during an already difficult recovery period,” adding “we need our community now more than ever.”

Popcorn Park was established in 1977, according to its website. It’s part of the Associated Humane Societies — which bills itself as New Jersey’s largest animal welfare organization. Popcorn Park describes itself as “a sanctuary for abandoned, injured, ill, exploited, abused, or elderly farm animals, birds, and wildlife (domestic and exotic).”

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Natural Daylight Time: What is it, and why New Jersey should adapt this practice instead

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Natural Daylight Time: What is it, and why New Jersey should adapt this practice instead

We’re now officially less than a week before we spring forward in New Jersey, and everyone has an opinion on it. The clock change, by the way, will happen on Sunday, Mar. 8, 2026. We’ll essentially skip the 2 a.m. hour and gain the extra hour of daylight in the evening.

But the reality is, we don’t gain a thing when we do this. We’re so conditioned to believe we gain sunlight, but all we’re doing is shifting the clocks. Animals don’t do this, and are unaffected by what a clock says.

ALSO READ: Snow vs. no snow: How most in NJ feel after latest blizzard

Our pets, on the other hand, are forced to change with our practice of doing this. It really is an outdated practice, but we can’t stop it just like that simply because we’ll either complain about it being too dark during winter mornings under daylight saving, or getting dark too soon during summer nights under standard time.

It should be a lot simpler. And for those of us in New Jersey, it can be. Here’s what I think we should do.

Time clocks calendar thumbs up green check approve sunrise sunset

Canva (Townsquare Illustration)

Leave the clock, adjust our day

When I worked on a golf course, all we did was adjust when we came in based on when the sun came up. During the longer days, we started at 6 a.m. And when the sunrise was later than 6 a.m., we adjusted our start time to 7 a.m.

Why can’t we just do this when it comes to work and school? Leave the clocks in standard time since that’s the one truly aligned with the Earths rotation. During the winter, make the regular workday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then adjust it to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the summer. It’s just that simple.

In other words, we’d be following Natural Daylight Time. Just get rid of the clock change, and adjust our day based on the sunrise. Problem solved.

Final flakes: When does snow season end in NJ?

Gallery Credit: Dan Zarrow

Significant or historical events in New Jersey for March (in chronological order)

Here are some of the historical or significant events that impacted New Jersey or happened in the Garden State during March. Is there an event missing? Let us know with an email to dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

Gallery Credit: Dan Alexander

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.

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