New Jersey

N.J. art gallery opens a show of places you can no longer visit

Published

2 years ago

January 14, 2024

N.J. art gallery opens a show of places you can no longer visit

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The Rowan University Art Gallery and Museum in South Jersey will soon open an exhibit of hundreds of small paintings depicting nostalgic places that no longer exist

Artist Ellen Harvey began her Disappointed Tourist project 5 years ago.

“They kind of look like those old postcards that were sort of printed in black and white and then hand-colored sometimes,” she said.

Artist Ellen Harvey at work on The Disappointed Tourist project. (Courtesy of Etienne Frossard)

All of the paintings have names and dates on them. The dates are all when those places were destroyed, she said.

“So it’s a room full of almost painted postcards of places you can’t go,” Harvey said. Harvey embarked on this project in 2019, when she began inviting people from around the world to send her suggestions of places they would like to visit, but they only exist in their memories..

She said The Disappointed Tourist collection includes submissions from 40 countries.

“There are lots of, of course, happy childhood memories and places people wish they could have gone, and then of course very sad and traumatic stories as well,” she said.

Gary Marino, 72, of Newfield, New Jersey, had suggested painting the Vineland Speedway because he has fond memories of going there with his father in the 1950s. The Speedway closed in 1967.

He said he was shocked when he found out Harvey had painted it.

“It made me feel like I was there at the time, back when I was young, it’s a feeling of remembrance, the good old days,” he said.

Marino, who works at Rowan University, said he got a sneak peek at the exhibit being assembled.

“I could spend hours in there, every painting looks like a personal postcard,” he said.

A painting of peaches — Harvey’s Zee Peach Farm painting, part of The Disappointed Tourist collection. (Courtesy of Ellen Harvey)

Harvey, who is now a resident of New York City, said she began working on The Disappointed Tourist at a time when many people felt divided and isolated.

Harvey said the project gained momentum at the start of the pandemic.

“I began to wonder what is it about the physical world that people love, what do they miss, where would they like to be able to go, that’s what I was thinking,” she said. “I wanted to make an art project that was incredibly welcoming to everyone, and that kind of took seriously the fact that we all feel nostalgic for things, but we all have very different nostalgic stories.”

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New Jersey

Devils Out to Rattle the Leafs | PREVIEW | New Jersey Devils

Published

10 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Devils Out to Rattle the Leafs | PREVIEW | New Jersey Devils

THE SCOOP

The Devils began their season-high seven-game homestand with a decisive victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. The win was their second consecutive victory after picking up a win in St. Louis earlier in the week.

There’s not a lot of runway left in the season, and stringing together a run of victories is at the top of their minds. New Jersey is 11 points out of the final Wild Card spot, and 13 out of third in the Metropolitan Division. Tuesday will mark the Devils final game before the NHL Trade Deadline, which is on Friday at 3 p.m.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are having a down year, based on where the expectations were set heading into the season. The Leafs have struggled to gain any traction in their season and sit just two points ahead of New Jersey with 64. Toronto is 12 points out of third in the Atlantic Division, and nine points out of a Wild Card spot.

The Leafs have a tendency to give up an abundance of shots to their opponents, ranking first in the league in shots against, per game with 31.8, which bodes will for a Devils team that averages 29.4 shots per game, ranking sixth in the league. Despite their overall struggles, the Leafs do have the league’s fourth-best penalty kill, working at an 83.1 percent efficiency.

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New Jersey

Former Lumberton, New Jersey, mayor Gina LaPlaca pleads guilty to 2025 DUI, sentenced to treatment program

Published

22 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Former Lumberton, New Jersey, mayor Gina LaPlaca pleads guilty to 2025 DUI, sentenced to treatment program

A former mayor in Burlington County, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to DUI and child endangerment charges after a 2025 traffic stop, according to prosecutors.

Lumberton Township committee member Gina LaPlaca, 46, was indicted last spring on child abuse charges after county prosecutors said she was observed driving drunk with her young child in the car, while serving as the township mayor.

Police arrested her at her home after reviewing video from a witness showing her swerving out of her lane and nearly hitting a utility pole. Lumberton police discovered her blood alcohol concentration was .30%, over three times the legal limit of .08%.

On Monday, LaPlaca was sentenced to three years in a diversionary program for first-time offenders after pleading guilty to driving under the influence and a fourth-degree child abuse charge. As part of the plea deal, LaPlaca will avoid jail time as long as she abides by the terms of the program.

Under the terms of the Pretrial Intervention or PTI program, she must attend regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and comply with any requirements set by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

Judge Craig A. Ambrose also ordered LaPlaca to have an ignition lock device on her car that will prevent it from starting up if the driver has consumed alcohol. She said in court she had already installed one in October 2025, the county prosecutor’s office said.

If LaPlaca violates the terms of the PTI program, she could be prosecuted for the child abuse charge.

LaPlaca completed an intensive treatment program in May 2025 and said in a statement that she is “fully committed to my recovery” and is doing the “daily, intentional work” that comes with it. She apologized to Lumberton residents while acknowledging a private struggle with alcohol addiction that was no longer private.

“The weight of my actions is something I carry deeply,” she said in a statement shared on social media. “What I did was wrong. It was dangerous. It was inexcusable. I drove while intoxicated with my child in the car — a choice that could have caused irreversible harm. That reality is something I will live with, and learn from, for the rest of my life.”

LaPlaca served as mayor through 2025 but remains on the township committee. Terrance Benson was sworn in as mayor of Lumberton this year.

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New Jersey

Newark-bound United flight returns to LA airport for evacuation after reported fire

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Newark-bound United flight returns to LA airport for evacuation after reported fire

NEWARK, New Jersey — A United Airlines flight headed to Newark, New Jersey returned to the Los Angeles airport Monday about 40 minutes after taking off for an emergency evacuation after a reported fire, authorities said.

All flights at the LAX International Airport were ordered to remain on the ground for about half an hour during the flight’s return and evacuation, according to advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. No injuries were reported.

The flight, which was en route to Newark Liberty International Airport returned to LAX to address an issue with one of the engines, the airline said in a statement. There was no mention of a fire, but the LA Fire Department said it responded and there was a fire that was contained as of an hour after the plane’s landing.

The flight took off at 10:43 a.m., began to turn around at about 11 a.m. and landed again at 11:19 a.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.

The LA Fire Department said they assisted with the evacuation of more than 250 passengers and crew. Passengers exited the plane on the taxiway using slides and stairs and were taken to the terminal, the airline said.

The airplane was a Boeing 787-9, a variant of the popular line of 787 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft.

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