New Jersey
Paul McCartney spotted in Metuchen: This week in Central Jersey history, Feb. 24-March 2
It was reported on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 that former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was spotted in front of the Buttery Bake Shoppe on Main Street in Metuchen on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020 by borough resident John Manzo, who took a quick picture.
McCartney, 77, strolled around the borough. enjoying the spring-like day. He was seen taking pictures of the Metuchen’s downtown area.
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
Feb. 25, 2020: Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a $40.9 billion budget that raised taxes on millionaires, cigarettes and guns while setting aside a record amount of money for NJ Transit ― but helped pay for that by diverting money from other accounts, moves he’d denounced as budget gimmickry.
Feb. 26: According to several reports, the book “The Good Nurse” about Charles Cullen, a former nurse who was convicted in March 2006 of 22 counts of first-degree murder and is serving eight life sentences at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, might soon be turned into a Netflix film, it was reported.
Feb. 27: It was reported PharMedium, a South Brunswick healthcare company, would close on April 20, 2020 after the federal Food and Drug Administration said it manufactured and distributed drugs intended to be sterile, such as oxytocin and morphine sulfate, that were adulterated because the drugs were made under insanitary conditions.
Feb. 29: A patient at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel who was suspected of having the novel coronavirus was cleared after tests were performed. While test results were awaited, the patient was treated in isolation.
Feb. 29: The Rutgers Prep boys basketball team beat Watchung Hills, 71-57, winning its first Somerset County Tournament title since 1983.
March 1: In an episode called “Human Sawdust,” the show Forensic Files II, on HLN cable news channel, featured Melanie McGuire, the former Woodbridge resident convicted of killing her husband, cutting his body into pieces and discarding them inside suitcases thrown into the Chesapeake Bay.
10 years ago
Feb. 25, 2015: Gov. Chris Christie was proposing a $33.8 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting Wednesday, July 1, 2015 that included extensive changes to public workers’ pensions and health benefits, it was reported.
Feb. 26: It was reported Robert Heary, a surgeon at Rutgers University’s teaching hospital in Newark, was its highest paid employee, earning $3.14 million.
Feb. 26: In the 2015 Greater Middlesex County girls basketball tournament final, Piscataway High School beat Monroe, 77-74, in overtime, making it Piscataway’s third straight championship.
Feb. 27: The body of missing Perth Amboy man Moises Torres, an 80-year-old with dementia and hearing loss, was found at a spot along the Middlesex Greenway behind the former Boro Hardware in Metuchen, a more than seven-mile walk.
Feb. 27: HelloFresh, a delivery service for recipe kits, opened a warehouse and storage facility at 1501B W. Blancke St. in Linden, bringing more than 100 jobs to the city, it was reported.
Feb. 28: It was reported Jared Silverstein, a senior at Hillsborough High School who participated in the Grammy in the Schools Grammy Camp, performed on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015 at the 57th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
2000
Feb. 25, 2000: Tara Cunningham, 20, was sentenced to five years in prison ― the minimum prison sentence ― for stabbing and killing her boyfriend, Christopher Jay Hayes, in their Bound Brook apartment in November 1998.
Feb. 27: A growing movement of students at Livingston College at Rutgers University had started a grassroots effort to get Rutgers University to expand its student center, it was reported.
Feb. 27: The Westfield High School boys swimming team took first and second place in the 100-yard breaststroke and added a first and third place in the 400 freestyle relay to beat Cherry Hill East, 89.5-80.5, to win the Public A state title at The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
Feb. 29: A Somerset County grand jury indicted Monique Lozada and Francisco Demoscoso, both of North Plainfield, and Manuel Carmona of Plainfield, in connection with the alleged kidnapping of Wilber A. Ramirez of North Plainfield.
Feb. 29: Katie Couric, co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show since 1991, spoke to an audience of more than 1,800 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick as part of the “Unique Lives and Experiences Women’s Lecture Series.”
Feb. 29: The body of a man was found in New Market Pond in Piscataway by a crew of township employees who were repairing the Washington Avenue bridge. The body was later identified as Zahid Saleem, 26, of North Plainfield, who had been missing since Friday, Jan. 14, 2000.
1975
Feb. 24, 1975: The New Brunswick board of education adopted a $10,710,934 budget for 1975-76. It was reported on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1975, they would ask the city for $8,760,312 of the total amount.
Feb. 24: Rev. Thomas Quinlan, 38, a South Amboy native, was shot and killed in a first-floor hallway of St. James Parish School in Penns Grove where he was principal. It was reported on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1975 that he was acting as a decoy in an attempt to lure the gunman out of the elementary school.
Feb. 25: In the semi-finals of the 11th annual Middlesex County Coaches Basketball Tournament, Woodbridge High School beat St. Joseph’s, 56-45, at Madison High School.
Feb. 27-March 1: “Anastasia” was presented by the Wardlaw-Hartridge Dramatic Club at the Wardlaw Country Day School campus in Edison.
Feb. 28: According to information released by the state Department of Labor and Industry, unemployment in Middlesex County rose by 1.5 percent in February 1975 to 10.3 percent.
Feb. 28: Under the guidance of second-year head coach Jerry Moore, Somerville High School set a school record for most victories in a season by beating Highland Park High, 56-53, in a basketball game.
1925
Feb. 24, 1925: Raymond H. Morris of New Brunswick was given a term of six months in the Hudson County penitentiary in the United States District Court after he entered a plea of guilty to an indictment charging him with embezzlement. He was taken to the penitentiary to begin his sentence.
Feb. 25-26: The movie “Love’s Wilderness,” starring Corinne Griffith, was shown at Reade’s Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.
Feb. 27: In boys basketball, South River defeated Belleville High, 25-23.
Feb. 28: Plainfield experienced some sensations of an earthquake at about 9:30 p.m., the first of such an experience in the past 40 years, or since the more severe shock of 1885.
March 2: After taking a drink of orangeade at a Perth Amboy store, Anton Berlando, 4, of Carteret, became ill immediately and died before medical aid could be secured..
Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com