RED BANK: DEMS ERUPT OVER SENIOR CENTER

Jan 11, 2021

The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years following a pipe leak. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Tension among Red Bank Democrats over the future of the borough’s Senior Center erupted in public over the weekend.

Joined by Mayor Pasquale Menna, four of the council’s six Democrats lit into the other two, one of whom is the party chairman, as having “placed their own popularity over what’s best for our residents and taxpayers.”

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January 11, 2021 - 9:30 am |

RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER STILL ON ICE

Jan 8, 2021

The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Senior Center is not for sale, Mayor Pasquale Menna insists.

But two years after extensive damage caused by a burst pipe, multiple questions surround the still-closed Shrewsbury Avenue facility. Among them: will it reopen anytime soon, and will it stay where it is?

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January 8, 2021 - 1:00 pm |

RED BANK: COVID-19 CLAIMS THREE AT ATRIUM

Jan 5, 2021

The Atrium at Navesink Harbor as seen from the Molly Pitcher Inn in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Three residents of a senior assisted-living facility in Red Bank have died of COVID-19 since mid-December, according to data released by the New Jersey Health Department Monday.

The deaths at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor occurred as pandemic-driven hospitalizations, and the need for critical care, rose across Monmouth County.

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January 5, 2021 - 10:00 am |

RED BANK: YASSIN MOVES TO COUNCIL FORE

Jan 4, 2021

Councilman Hazim Yassin at a council meeting in February, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

After a year of butting heads with most of his fellow Democrats, Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard lost his seat on the budget-shaping finance committee Friday.

He was displaced by first-term Councilman Hazim Yassin at the borough government’s annual New Year’s Day reorganization meeting. More →

January 4, 2021 - 7:50 am |

RED BANK: MOLLY PITCHER TAKING ‘HIATUS’

Dec 23, 2020

Red Bank’s Molly Pitcher Inn is going on winter hiatus until March, the hotel’s owners announced Wednesday.  

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December 23, 2020 - 7:04 pm |

VIRUS UPDATES: DATA, OUTBREAKS & TESTING

Dec 22, 2020

An Immediate Care COVID-19 testing tent in Red Bank’s White Street lot Monday night. The company has been offering free tests at the site for weeks. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

COVID-19 pressure on Monmouth County hospitals continued to increase in the past week, according to the latest data from the county government.

At the same time, demand for intensive care and ventilators to treat patients with the virus showed slight signs of easing.

Separately, Red Bank Regional High announced a plan for free COVID-19 testing for staff and students.

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December 22, 2020 - 4:30 pm |

RED BANK: RBR BACK TO FULL-REMOTE SKED

Dec 21, 2020

Red Bank Regional High School goes back to a full-remote schedule Monday after a student who was present for two days last week tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Sunday.

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December 21, 2020 - 6:15 am |

VIRUS: ICU CASES RISING AS VACCINE DEBUTS

Dec 15, 2020

Intensive care bed usage in Monmouth County hospitals rose to 60 Monday, the highest level since May, while hospitalizations for COVID-19 declined to 418, from 446 a week earlier, the freeholders reported. (Monmouth County data. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

With an historic rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccine about to begin in New Jersey, “the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter,” Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.

At the same time, hospitals statewide and in Monmouth County are treating rising numbers of patients who need intensive care and ventilators because of the coronavirus, data show.

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December 15, 2020 - 7:25 am |

VIRUS: HEALTH WORKERS TO GET FIRST SHOTS

Dec 14, 2020

Frontline healthcare workers at Riverview Medical Center received cheers from the police, first aid and fire personnel in April. (Photo by  John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A nationwide rollout of America’s first COVID-19 vaccine is expected to begin Tuesday with inoculations of frontline healthcare workers.

Among them will be employees of Hackensack Meridian Health, the parent company of Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center, according to chief executive Robert Garrett.

“I truly believe this is going to be the beginning of the end of this terrible pandemic,” Garrett said on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation‘ Sunday.

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December 14, 2020 - 7:53 am |

RED BANK: SCHOOLS DIVERGE ON SCHEDULES

Dec 11, 2020

The construction fence surrounding an addition at Red Bank Regional High School has come down, in time for a resumption of a hybrid schedule that will bring students back to the Little Silver campus starting Monday, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Thursday.

But in Red Bank borough, RBR’s largest sending district, the primary and middle schools will remain off-limits to students and staff for another month due to the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said.

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December 11, 2020 - 7:55 am |

VIRUS UPDATE: COVID-19 CASES ON THE RISE

Dec 7, 2020

Red Bank schools, including the middle school, continued on all-remote learning Monday after a planned return to a hybrid schedule was postponed. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Governor Phil Murphy warned of a delayed post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge Monday, while cautioning New Jersey residents against gathering over the coming holiday season.

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December 7, 2020 - 6:30 pm |

LITTLE SILVER: PANDEMIC BONUSES ON DECK

Dec 7, 2020

Little Silver Mayor Bob Neff alone in the council chamber for the governing body’s first virtual meeting in April. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Little Silver plans to thank public employees for their extra efforts in the COVID-19 pandemic with $500 bonuses.

The payments, as well as new police salaries, are up for consideration by the borough council at its virtual meeting Monday night.

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December 7, 2020 - 7:00 am |

RED BANK: RIVERVIEW ‘NOT IMPACTED’

Dec 3, 2020

A temporary tent outside Riverview Medical Center’s emergency room entrance in May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

The current resurgence in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in New Jersey is not having an adverse impact on the hospital network that includes Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center, the organization said in a statement Thursday.

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December 3, 2020 - 1:15 pm |

RED BANK: REMOTE LEARNING GETS BOOST

Dec 3, 2020

The funding will pay for 500 Chromebooks, according to the announcement. (Photo by  John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Press release from the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund 

The New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund announced November 20 that it will provide $187,000 to Red Bank Borough Public Schools to help students stay connected via remote learning.

Red Bank is one of nine districts across the state sharing more than $2.6 million from the NJPRF to help bridge the digital divide exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced many New Jersey school districts to switch to remote learning.

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December 3, 2020 - 11:10 am |

LITTLE SILVER: ANOTHER REVERSAL FOR RBR

Dec 2, 2020

Fewer than 240 of the 653 students who might have attended classes did so Tuesday Moore said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Whipsawed students, parents and teachers at Red Bank Regional High are in for another schedule change starting Thursday.

With COVID-19 cases rising and absenteeism high, the Little Silver school will again suspend in-school instruction at least through December 11, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Wednesday.

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December 2, 2020 - 8:30 pm |

VIRUS: MURPHY NOTES HOSPITAL TREND

Dec 2, 2020

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to rise in New Jersey, data show. (New Jersey Health Department graphic. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Though New Jersey’s rate of COVID-19 transmission has been easing in recent weeks, that data conceals a harsh reality, Governor Phil Murphy said at his regular briefing Wednesday.

At 1.08 percent, the rate of COVID-19 transmission is at its lowest point since September 16, but “it still means that each new case is leading to more than one other new case,” he said. “This virus is still spreading.”

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December 2, 2020 - 3:30 pm |

RED BANK: BROAD REOPENED TO TRAFFIC

Dec 2, 2020

After a five-month closure, the northern blocks of Broad Street in downtown Red Bank were reopened to vehicular traffic this week.

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December 2, 2020 - 7:15 am |

VIRUS: MONMOUTH HOSPITALIZATIONS RISE

Dec 1, 2020

Monmouth County hospitals were treating 344 COVID-19 patients as of Monday, the county freeholders reported. Of those, 48 patients were in intensive care and 32 were on ventilators.

In its daily news release Tuesday, the county reported an increase of 309 confirmed COVID-19 cases in its 53 municipalities from Monday, for a total 20,626 since the start of the pandemic in March.

Separately, the New Jersey Health Department website indicated that, as of Tuesday, 816 Monmouth County resident deaths had been attributed to COVID-19, up 5 from Monday. Another 92 deaths were considered “probable,” according to the agency’s pandemic dashboard.

Ninety deaths statewide were added to the pandemic’s toll  Tuesday, bringing the total to 15,254, the agency reported.

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December 1, 2020 - 1:20 pm |

LITTLE SILVER: RBR EYES TUESDAY RESTART

Nov 30, 2020

After a month away, students and teachers are to begin their return to Red Bank Regional High for in-person classes Tuesday, Superintendent Lou Moore said Monday night.

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November 30, 2020 - 10:00 pm |

RED BANK: ‘PRECAUTION’ CLOSES TOWN HALL

Nov 30, 2020

Borough facilities will reopen Tuesday, Shehady said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s borough hall was closed Monday without public notice.

In response to redbankgreen inquiry Monday afternoon, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady said the shutdown was effective “just today” and imposed “as an added safety precaution after the holidays.”

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November 30, 2020 - 4:00 pm |

LITTLE SILVER: LAST-MINUTE CHANGE FOR RBR

Nov 30, 2020

Upending plans at the last minute, Red Bank Regional High will not reopen for in-person classes Monday, according to an announcement made shortly before dawn.

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November 30, 2020 - 6:52 am |

RED BANK: LOW-KEY TREE LIGHTING

Nov 25, 2020

Red Bank’s official Christmas tree, a blue spruce donated by the Jennings family of Little Silver, was installed in Riverside Gardens Park over the past weekend. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lighting of the tree will be a low-key affair.

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November 25, 2020 - 5:00 pm |

LITTLE SILVER: IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL FOR RBR

Nov 25, 2020

The Red Bank Regional building has been idle since November 2. (Photo by  John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

After four weeks of all-remote instruction, Red Bank Regional High plans to resume in-person classes Monday, Superintendent Lou Moore said in an announcement Wednesday.

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November 25, 2020 - 3:45 pm |

RED BANK: MENNA APOLOGIZES TO MURPHY

Nov 25, 2020

Governor Phil Murphy, right, and First Lady Tammy Murphy with Mayor Pasquale Menna at the Red Bank Classic in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said he apologized to Governor Phil Murphy Tuesday for an incident in which Murphy and his family were harassed by louts as they ate dinner downtown Sunday.

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November 25, 2020 - 7:59 am |

COVID-19 WATCH: HOSPITALIZATIONS CLIMB

Nov 24, 2020

Monmouth County hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 have been rising steeply in recent weeks. (Monmouth County government data. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

With COVID-19 hospitalizations rising rapidly, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy implored residents to curtail their traditional Thanksgiving gatherings this week.

“We know that there are those who are so yearning for normalcy that they’re willing to risk their family’s health for a big Thanksgiving,” he said at his regular briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic Monday. But “we urge you to think beyond this holiday,” he said.

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November 24, 2020 - 7:45 am |